I had to refrain from posting on the London riots for a couple of reasons. First I simply was not informed enough about the situation and did not want to drag the '85 riot as a stand in for current issues. Secondly, when I saw all the white faces in the crowds I knew that this was not a simple "white-black" thing and therefore required more insight.
Let me say at the outset that my European roots of democracy is Locke. I believe the government runs by the permission of the people and when that government fails to respect the wishes of the people that it is illegitimate and the people are completely within' their rights to rise up against it (and it's agents). My African roots of democracy is from an example I read about many years ago, where the king of a people (I'm guessing an Akan group) wears these sandals. The king's feet were to never touch the ground. If that king abused his authority then the people would petition the elders of the community who would then meet with the king and remove his sandals representing an end of his rule. Again, an example of "by the will of the people".
Anyone who has followed the economic goings on in England knows that there has been quite a bit of unrest around the "austerity" programmes that have been enacted by the government. For example on March 26, 2011 there was a huge protest in Picadilly and oh yeah...there was violence. And do note all the white faces in this particular protest. And who could forget the protest from November of 2010? And lastly we have the rock thrown at Prince Charles' ride?
So it is easy to dismiss the claims by certain government officials that the recent spate of "violence" is simply the work of hoodlums and "people from outside Tottenham". Indeed as with any mass demonstration there are those who are criminals, those who are simply bored and those who are simply excited who join up and do what they like. But given the list of protests that I have given, it is not possible to say that there is not a pattern of people who are tired of the status quo in England.
So let's look at what sparked this particular incident. We have a young man who was allegedly doing something that caught the attention of the local anti-crime unit. In whatever ensued, this young man, Mark Duggan was accused by police to have shot at them. They claimed that they fired in self defense. This is a typical NYPD move and it is not surprising that Cameron has been calling on an old NYPD chief for "help". It turns out that Duggan had not fired a shot. That doesn't mean that he didn't pull it out or point it at anyone, but we know that the initial statement by police was a flat out lie and therefore anything else that they have to say on the matter is suspect.
We know that the community, which according to one man, has the same "stop and frisk" policy as the NYPD, with no doubt the same record of stopping people who have done nothing wrong, never did anything wrong, and will never do anything wrong; had rallied at the police station asking for "justice". There was a scuffle when a young woman was trying to verbally confront a police officer and she was struck. At that point the "rioting" started.
Whatever you think about rioting the details here are important. If we simply isolate this incident, the police made a series of errors. First they confronted a man in a cab who was not leaving a scene of a crime or suspected of going to a scene of a planned crime (as far as we know). In other words, as far as we know the police had no business bothering Duggan at all. Secondly they shot him up. Thirdly when confronted with a clearly angry crowd they decided to manhandle a young woman. A total PR failure. At this point I really have no sympathy for the Tottenham police. As far as I'm concerned had the crowd burnt the police station to the ground I wouldn't have shed so much as a tear. Again, I am of the belief that when the police act in a criminal manner, they are no longer acting under the color of law and are no more protected than any other citizen.
We should not be surprised that a community that is resentful for being harassed by police who may feel that the recent austerity actions by the government says that they are not worth the effort, would decide to burn and loot. Not surprising at all. Now add to this the recent spate of protests due to the austerity programme then we should not be surprised by recent reports that many of the rioters and looters are not poor but are the same people that were seen in the first linked Reuters piece. Folks who are being shafted by the government. When the people see that the bankers who were engaged in RICO (US corrupt organizations) activities and were not held responsible, but the common man has to "tighten his belt" and has to pay to drive in certain parts of town and tighten their belt for the "good of England", will say,"Fuck it, I'm gonna take this TV." When the banks are bailed out but you and I have to see our retirement ages rise, the benefits drop and the cost of education skyrockets, then why would the people feel particularly bad about stealing a pair of trainers? When these politicians talk about "where are the parents?" Where we know they are ignoring the whites, lets answer that they are probably out working second and third jobs.
But I'm going to repeat what I've said to people many times over the years. You put these billboards up with the glamorous lifestyles and televisions commercials where the people who have something are the ones that are something. Don't be surprised when those who do not have the legal means to get that something to be somebody go about it the wrong way. Don't be surprised when the youth, who are not stupid, see the clear double standard and due to not having the same impulse control as their elders and who may be medicating their anger with drugs and alcohol, jump up and decide "fuck it" and make stupid decisions. I'm not condoning that kind of decision. I'm simply not surprised when the decision is made.
Lastly I would be remiss to point out the fact that the British government has made noise about Twitter, Facebook and RIM needing to be blocked or to block user access. The hypocrisy of such a move cannot be going unnoticed by various Arab (and other) regimes. What is also of great importance is how user information is being mined by the English government in such a manner as to show just how much of our so called "private" information is not really all that private particularly when that information is something the government wants or wants to suppress. But anyone who has been paying attention knows that England has been well along the path of government Surveillance of citizens so it's wish to blackout communication is not surprising.
In conclusion, I have to say that my sentiments run as the woman in the above video. Random acts of looting and burning never help a cause. It turns people against whatever legitimate gripes a group may have. And of course that is always the risk of violence, that those who are not really in for "the cause" move in for their own ends and are used by the media to portray the entire operation as lawless. Indeed had the protestors in other cities had kept their violence simply to police and other representations of government, that would have been a powerful message to the "leadership" that this is real business.
(17 years of informed commentary)
