I'm sure you've read the countless blogs by pundits, journos and political affiliates all throwing their cards on the table about the recent civil unrest in Dear Old England. And I'm sure you've seen the looped footage of Reeves Furniture store in Croydon constantly burning down, over and over again on BBC News 24 and the constant back and forth between the Police and the Government.
But here's my take on it all.
Ok, so the story goes that 29 year old Mark Duggan of Tottenham, was shot and killed by the Metropolitan Police after a shootout. Duggan was supposedly to be arrested for narcotics possession as part of Operation Trident. Now as the details of his death are still being investigated and to avoid embarrassing myself by jumping to conclusions, I'm not going to make any further comment on Mark Duggan's death.
But here's my take on it all.
Ok, so the story goes that 29 year old Mark Duggan of Tottenham, was shot and killed by the Metropolitan Police after a shootout. Duggan was supposedly to be arrested for narcotics possession as part of Operation Trident. Now as the details of his death are still being investigated and to avoid embarrassing myself by jumping to conclusions, I'm not going to make any further comment on Mark Duggan's death.
What happened next has never before been seen on such a scale outside of say the 1995 Brixton Riots or the August 1969 riots across Northern Ireland. Rioting, looting, murder, arson on a massive scale exploded across London, stretching from Enfield to Orpington. The violence then 'spread' to Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Wolverhampton. The rest you all know.
But what happens now? With the riots being pegged by many during the unrest as the 'imminent collapse of society' it certainly appeared that way with Sky News and BBC News 24 providing 'rolling' coverage of the violence, updates from Twitter and a live feed from the air of burning houses, shops and cars. We watched as riot police pathetically tried to contain the violence with the pitiful array of underwhelming tactics such as charging the rioters and deflecting missiles, bottles and bricks. Coming from Belfast, it was very apparent that the closest 99% of the Police officers had come to rioting was football hooliganism.
They looked frightened, unprepared and vulnerable in the shiny riot gear, it looked brand new and never before used, and probably wasn't. What had appeared in the past to have been a relatively Northern Irish problem had made its way onto the high streets of some of the largest cities in England for the first time.
I commend the actions of the Police in trying to tackle the rioting, for unlike their PSNI counterparts who expect riot season between July and August every summer, the Greater Manchester Police and the Met had no clue that this was coming. This wasn't violence fuelled by sectarian divisions or ethnic tension or political upheaval, this was an explosion of violent opportunism and frustration.
While many on the left have been quick to criticise the public sector cuts, the rising levels of unemployment and the upward surge of immigration as being the root causes of the violence, which might be true in some respects. But this does not explain the looting. Not at all.
I commend the actions of the Police in trying to tackle the rioting, for unlike their PSNI counterparts who expect riot season between July and August every summer, the Greater Manchester Police and the Met had no clue that this was coming. This wasn't violence fuelled by sectarian divisions or ethnic tension or political upheaval, this was an explosion of violent opportunism and frustration.
While many on the left have been quick to criticise the public sector cuts, the rising levels of unemployment and the upward surge of immigration as being the root causes of the violence, which might be true in some respects. But this does not explain the looting. Not at all.
People loot a store in Hackney
With levels of poverty rising in larger cities in the UK and the gap between the working class and the upper class increasing, the middle class is beginning to vanish completely. This has pushed people, rather aggressively, to the fringes of what they can tolerate. Benefits are being cut, education and health are having their guts ripped out and the private sector is haemorrhaging unemployment figures like never before.
How can a single mother with children to feed, rent to pay and schools to pay for relate to a Prime Minister who has never had to choose between going to bed hungry or keeping the lights on? How can we expect youth who have no hope of achieving a job on minimum wage to have respect for MPs who don't have to worry about whether or not they can afford the bus to the jobcentre or how to pay for a University degree that has now been reserved for the super-rich?
Ignorance is bliss: The Prime Minister, David Cameron
While I do not condone riotous behaviour of any kind, I can understand frustration at circumstances spilling into an expression of anger and violence towards those who uphold and maintain the status quo. But again that does not explain the looting. The looting and the destruction of property, both public and private amounts to nothing more than mass opportunism and was the most visible expression of the 'Me First' culture that had been fostered by the Labour government beforehand, by introducing a plethora of social reforms which removed moral boundaries and allowed for people to push the limits of what was allowed. The only problem was, nobody bit back and the boundaries kept being pushed.
However, as a youth worker, I refute the accusations that what we have seen on the news is indicative of 100% of the youth across the UK. I know for a fact that, as a young person myself, 99% of the young people I work for respect the rule of law, respect the values and property of others and that it is morally wrong to just take what they want without earning it.
Those we have seen on the streets represent the visible minority of youth that resort to violence, and I will not allow the generation I belong to and that of the youth I work for to be demonised by the Old Guard of the Tories or by the grey haired, right wing rhetoric of the Daily Mail's key demographic. We all know that reactionary sensationalism sells papers and fuels ignorant, biased blogs, but I challenge those that would have the youth of today locked away or put in the army or 'cracked down upon' work with them for a year, hear their stories, understand their frustrations and empathise with their circumstances before writing them off as anything other than the future of the country.
Those we have seen on the streets represent the visible minority of youth that resort to violence, and I will not allow the generation I belong to and that of the youth I work for to be demonised by the Old Guard of the Tories or by the grey haired, right wing rhetoric of the Daily Mail's key demographic. We all know that reactionary sensationalism sells papers and fuels ignorant, biased blogs, but I challenge those that would have the youth of today locked away or put in the army or 'cracked down upon' work with them for a year, hear their stories, understand their frustrations and empathise with their circumstances before writing them off as anything other than the future of the country.
Because that's exactly what they are. The future. The young people of today are going to be the council workers, teachers, doctors, dentists, care workers, youth workers, community workers, police officers, ambulance drivers, mechanics, joiners, civil servants and bus drivers of tomorrow. We will all rely on these young people to man our electrical stations, maintain our roads, police our communities, look after the country. If we codemn an entire section of society because of the actions of a few, we do ourselves an injustice as a free, fair and developed democracry. There are those that would have the rioters lose all of their benefits, their jobs and their homes. Brilliant.
Not only do we have an incredibly mobilised and aggressive minority, but we then condemn them to the streets where they will have nothing to lose. Now is not the time to fail them even further, I for one support a programme wherein we employ those convicted to rebuild the communities they have damaged, for minimum wage. They would learn the values of teamwork, how to respect authority, and learn valuable practical skills that will prepare them for a post-recession Britain (hopefully.) If they don't co-operate with these programmes, only then should we look at harsher punishments.
Not only do we have an incredibly mobilised and aggressive minority, but we then condemn them to the streets where they will have nothing to lose. Now is not the time to fail them even further, I for one support a programme wherein we employ those convicted to rebuild the communities they have damaged, for minimum wage. They would learn the values of teamwork, how to respect authority, and learn valuable practical skills that will prepare them for a post-recession Britain (hopefully.) If they don't co-operate with these programmes, only then should we look at harsher punishments.
Now is not the time to fail the young people of Britain, now is not the time to condemn them all as violent, thuggish criminals, this is the time in which we need to intervene, educate them on the benefits of societal participation (and not in a classroom) and if needs be, give them the responsibility to help themselves. It is a known fact amongst those in the youth work profession that young people who are given responsibility are imbued with a new energy for life, a more positive outlook on it and learn to appreciate and respect the authority that gives them that responsibility. None of this translates as state induced homelessness or lengthy spells in prison. We have a real chance as a society to appreciate the lessons this episode has taught us and take this as an opportunity to tackle the issues at hand, for good.
