Community | August 11, 2011 | 39 comments

British Riots: Elites "Shocked" The Poor Are Rising Up Against Brutal Austerity Measures

source: http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html

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Almibry
I’m huddled in the front room with some shell-shocked friends, watching my city burn. The BBC is interchanging footage of blazing cars and running street battles in Hackney, of police horses lining up in Lewisham, of roiling infernos that were once shops and houses in Croydon and in Peckham. Last night, Enfield, Walthamstow, Brixton and Wood Green were looted; there have been hundreds of arrests and dozens of serious injuries, and it will be a miracle if nobody dies tonight. This is the third consecutive night of rioting in London, and the disorder has now spread to Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham. Politicians and police officers who only hours ago were making stony-faced statements about criminality are now simply begging the young people of Britain’s inner cities to go home. Britain is a tinderbox, and on Friday, somebody lit a match. How the hell did this happen? And what are we going to do now?

In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder 'mindless, mindless'. Nick Clegg denounced it as 'needless, opportunistic theft and violence'. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was "utterly unacceptable." The violence on the streets is being dismissed as ‘pure criminality,’ as the work of a ‘violent minority’, as ‘opportunism.’ This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart.

Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there. Unquestionably there is far, far more to these riots than the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting sparked off the unrest on Saturday, when two police cars were set alight after a five-hour vigil at Tottenham police station. A peaceful protest over the death of a man at police hands, in a community where locals have been given every reason to mistrust the forces of law and order, is one sort of political statement. Raiding shops for technology and trainers that cost ten times as much as the benefits you’re no longer entitled to is another. A co-ordinated, viral wave of civil unrest across the poorest boroughs of Britain, with young people coming from across the capital and the country to battle the police, is another.

Months of conjecture will follow these riots. Already, the internet is teeming with racist vitriol and wild speculation. The truth is that very few people know why this is happening. They don’t know, because they were not watching these communities. Nobody has been watching Tottenham since the television cameras drifted away after the Broadwater Farm riots of 1985. Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news. In one NBC report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really achieved anything:

"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"

"Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."

Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere ‘’’

There are communities all over the country that nobody paid attention to unless there had recently been a riot or a murdered child. Well, they’re paying attention now.

Tonight in London, social order and the rule of law have broken down entirely. The city has been brought to a standstill; it is not safe to go out onto the streets, and where I am in Holloway, the violence is coming closer. As I write, the looting and arson attacks have spread to at least fifty different areas across the UK, including dozens in London, and communities are now turning on each other, with the Guardian reporting on rival gangs forming battle lines. It has become clear to the disenfranchised young people of Britain, who feel that they have no stake in society and nothing to lose, that they can do what they like tonight, and the police are utterly unable to stop them. That is what riots are all about.
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39 comments // British Riots: Elites "Shocked" The Poor Are Rising Up Against Brutal Austerity Measures

  • jubal
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • Almibry
  • PressCore
    • +1
      PressCore  

    • Why shouldn't they be angered beyond self control ? The Banksters
      in GB were tempting fate for a long time by squeezing the English as
      they've been squeezing us here in the States. The people have shown
      them they're not a tube of toothpaste to be used up and discarded w/
      contempt. The people are the horse that pulls the cart. If you don't
      show respect for the horse, and allow him to have all he needs, you're
      going to find out the hard way their element is fire. Like lions, they will
      stand on their hind legs and fight to protect themselves. The uberrich
      & their Bankster flunkies needed a lesson in reality contact. They got it.

    • 10 months ago
  • Almibry
    • -3
      Almibry  
    • PressCore:

      I think their anger would be far more effective if kept on a tighter leash. What's so damn great about letting reason be destroyed by any emotion?
      And who the hell are you to say what kind of treatment qualifies as contempt when you call the people you pretend to defend "horses"?

    • 10 months ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +2
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  
    • Almibry:

      Reason beyond one is a social contract which has not existed in this country, on this issue, since corporations first began buying congressional influence and legislative results. Reason is comparable to appeasement when defending against other's economic interests, all appearance of it is fraudulent and no more than a ploy to facilitate the next step in corporate's march on everything that isn't itself. If the jews new that they were being led to certain death, I'm sure than many of them would have gambled on resistance, revolt, and attempted escape. We now know what lies in store for us if we continue to follow the tunes of the corporate pipers. Why should we march silently, pliably, and complacently on to the slaughterhouse of corporatism and privatizing this nation when we have the power to physically turn this tide around?

    • 10 months ago
  • PressCore
    • +2
      PressCore  
    • Almibry:

      I never called them horses. That's only YOUR interpretation of the analogy
      I used to describe their power to pull their economy forward while the uber
      rich & Banksters, being dead weight, have a free ride on their working class
      efforts. Nor did I ever claim it was great to allow their emotions to overrule
      their reason. That's an idea YOU originated. Whether their outburst is right
      or wrong, when a collective of people are wronged, as they know they're
      being cheated, it's proper for them to make an impact. Ie if they conditions
      they're being subjected to are revolting, well...Any culture only has Peace
      so long as it has Justice. Conditions for the working class there are aweful.
      Too many people being compressed in such a small area, with too many
      grievances, will behave like compressed gunpowder. Once something
      ignites an unstable situation, all that unrestrained anger pours out until
      the startled rediscover that humans are still 1/2 animal whether they like
      to hear that mentioned or not. Noone has to approve of human nature to
      simply agree on what it realy is. People can be taken out of the jungle very
      easily. Taking the jungle out of people is much more problematical.

    • 10 months ago
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
    • -2
      Almibry  
    • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM:

      Eh? I think you missed my point entirely. Don't you think they'd be more effective if, instead of destroying everything in sight, they focused soley on destroying what prevents them from having the life they want and need, or rebuilding the things they need that have already been destroyed?

    • 10 months ago
  • PressCore
    • +2
      PressCore  
    • Almibry:

      Weren't you the one who was complaining about people taking what you
      regarded as improper actions against you ? In fact you posted an article
      about it, complaining about it. I recall your abusing me before. Then when
      I told you you shouldn't be abusing the internet to dump insults on others
      whom you didn't agree with, you laughed, mentioning it was inconsequential
      because they couldn't get to you. Apparently they have.If you realy want
      to see someone " who's full of it ", look in your mirror. As the saying goes:
      " Everything you say & do always reflects the inner you " Try intospection
      the next time you feel you have to micromanage others minds because you
      can't control yourself, and get a grip. I'd appreciate it, considering your level
      of emotionalism and immaturity, if you'd not talk to me. I was only responding
      to the article posted, not reacting to you. Don't you understand the difference ??
      People brought up the right way know better than to say something wrong
      rather than to say nothing at all. Perhaps you should look up the term social
      in social community to get a better perspective. We shouldn't communicate
      to ANYONE with such a negative attitude we can't be objective but rather
      objectionable. I enjoy rational debate, but I intensely dislike being provoked
      into negativity.

    • 10 months ago
  • Almibry
  • PressCore
    • +2
      PressCore  
    • Almibry:

      Use the spell check program to spell your words correctly since you plainly
      haven't any inclination to proofread your comments to make sure they're
      palatable, any more than you'd respect the wishes of others you annoy.

    • 9 months ago
  • Almibry
  • PressCore
    • +1
      PressCore  
    • Almibry:

      I told you before you were annoying me with your unwanted contact.
      Apparently you ignore anything you don't want to read, though you
      did read that, and can still reread that. Answer your own question.
      Make like a leaf and blow away. I don't like to see community members
      picking fights with any other community member by continuously
      annoying them with unwanted contact. Current is a social community
      which is citizen Journalist oriented. Social means intellectual, not
      emotional. You obviously need lessons in self control.

    • 9 months ago
  • Almibry
  • Sarah_Honea
    • +4
      Sarah_Honea  

    • The time of King and Gandhi are past. People forget as aforementioned above, that there have been peaceful demonstrations and vigils in Britain---They have largely been ignored. The media has been trained like a golden retriever to go after what the Master[ MSM] wants.

      The 'Master' does not want to see a peaceful global movement, more than the politicians and corporations they serve. The people in Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Britain are fed up.The global citizens int he Working poor and destitute, the youth, have all compromised and asked for REAL JUSTICE for 40-80+ years, and have not found it.

      Those who are putting out asinine comments about these rioters should thank your lucky stars for what you all have, If you have not: empathize. It is only recently that the middle class has had a taste of what Industrial workers and working poor have endured for so long. For you, this is only the beginning.

      I would get mad as hell quick-- and do something positive soon--- or you may see yourself throwing a Molotov cocktail at a store that refused to hire you because you were already unemployed or too white or whatever color skin that is hated that day.

    • 10 months ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +2
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  
    • Sarah_Honea:

      KUDOS! The protesters against this status quo everywhere are international patriots fighting the tyrrany, corruption, and exploitation which has run this world into ruin and collapse. My opinion is that they are far too modest in their efforts. But I thank them for setting an example and at least running the flag of protest up the flag pole far enough that it's both seen and heard!

    • 10 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • CalgarC
  • Almibry
  • PressCore
    • +3
      PressCore  
    • CalgarC:

      Anarchy and violent upheavel are the tell tale signs that Revolution is fermenting.
      I watched the History channel documentary studying the origins of the legend of
      Robin Hood which was produced after the first of the trilogy in the Russel Crowe
      starred movies. Fascinating study. The evolution of feudalism into Democracy,
      which is what the documentary was all about, has been stalled and is reverting
      to what it was ithe past. The lowest rungs of the ladder are the first to realize
      that unless they have a genuine connection to other people outside of the gangs
      they originaly formed for self protection, and have now turned hyper agressive,
      they will not obey the laws, they will not be invisible as the shunned anymore.
      The austerity measures are the politics of what they apparently perceive to be
      a master race/class dictating terms to the Government to dictate to them. That
      is the feudal order in no uncertain terms. Feudalism was a political caste system
      based on the haves and have nots in which the lowest rung was despised and
      treated with contempt by the haves who exploited them, and killed them at will.
      I don't agreed with the lawless violence, but I understand the causes of it. These
      riots in GB's biggest cities have gone on intermittently for a lot longer than many
      are apparently aware of. The human condition has only made for a continuous
      battle between the forces of the propertied few gaining or loosing leverage over
      the unpropertied many. The middle class is a relatively new invention in History.
      You no doubt know, it's not doing well. The assault on it is extemely violent too.
      We merely don't see the mess it makes in public.

    • 10 months ago
  • Schnookums
    • +4
      Schnookums  

    • "Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school."

      This ALWAYS has predictable consequences.......it's only a matter of time. Wake up US, it's coming.

    • 10 months ago
  • PressCore
  • Nick19
    • +1
      Nick19  

    • This is the direct result of poverty in which many of the young are unemployed and find hope through gangs and other unscrupulous elements. The rioting has nothing to do with Austerity measures or the man who got shot. This has everything to do with opportunism sadly enough and people are simply stealing electronic goods, clothing, and other products that aren't really vital for living.

    • 10 months ago
  • PressCore
    • +3
      PressCore  
    • Nick19:

      Perhaps it might indirectly though. Imho, what we're witnessing are the long
      term effects of poverty and anti social behavior which translate into gangs
      and criminal violence. I've been to England, briefly, and have studied them
      from their history for a long time. The English police haven't typicaly carried
      the pistols Amercian police have so far as I know. During past riots, they've
      been shocked and horrified at the level of anarchy, brutality, viciouslness.
      I don't support violence and especialy not violent crime. But I believe what
      we're seeing are the long term effects of the jungle being reestablished w/in
      a culture that's accepted the lame idea that long term poverty is fine because
      there are always going to be poor people. And if they're taunted with the
      conspicuous consumption of the middle class haves, and the posh who have
      more than they need instead of less. That's OK too. Because they wouldn't
      be poor if they weren't lazy, shiftless rotters. They are separate but inequal
      to us. They should be shunned and considered invisible. On such a small
      island with too many people only a limited amount of opportunities it's OK if
      the cronic lower class has no future other than existing. We can contain the
      likes of them. We'll simply segregate them. They can sit in the back of the bus.

      No society can afford to live w/ such extreme selfishishness, hyperindividualism pretending they're remote from such unsavory elements their blind negligence
      has produced. Whether we like it or not, civilizations have progressed further
      than that by the 21st century. We as Americans suffer from the same unsocial
      disease. What's happening in London has happened in Watts in the early
      1960s, and in L.A. in 1992. It will spark anarchy, Arson and Murder when have
      nots are forced to witness the sullenness of the haves transpire long enough.
      They don't consider themselves part of British society. Not hard to see why.
      Same situation existed in New York City, another big city like London, long
      ago, and still does today. Gangs of New York. We don't see riots there as
      those gangs have incorporated themselves into the underworld. It's a process.
      There's segregation or intergration. There is no in between. Either ALL people
      are regarded as equal citizens as exists in the Scandanavian societies or there
      will be serious trouble. Too many humans are still too primitive to understand
      as invididuals what the term community means. You might not grasp the full
      connection right away. But essentialy, it means one for all and all for one. It's
      an advanced concept that eludes many. The term society stems from a Latin
      word meaning " friend " . Both the terms community & society have to embrace
      all citizens in a positive, equaly responsible way for them to work. As Jubal has
      said: Police do not enforce Justice or law. They enforce politics. Like dead fish
      and 3 day old houseguests, politics stinks. Worse, they're bracing for riots they
      expect will happen here in the States with para military measures as in Vietnam.
      Perhaps when people stop seeing each other as money & property and instead
      as souls things will change.

    • 10 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • PigFarmington
    • +2
      PigFarmington  

    • Gotta love the skewing of the overall issue by the media. Only one member of parliament isn't brushing this off as a "culture of violence" and actually wants to investigate why.

      Gotta love how they're literally saying there is "no deep rooted sociological issue". Sociologists and social psychologists around the world: wince in unison!

    • 10 months ago
  • Mark701
    • +2
      Mark701  

    • This is a precursor of the future for many nations including this one (USA). As the poster indicated, no one pays attention to the poor until they do something like riot. Or in other words, no one does anything until you inconvenience someone at the top. Well, the London politicians and elite are being "inconvenienced" and they'd better wake up soon. The fact these are poor people speaks volumes. The poor have no money, no power, no political influence, no future and no hope. The only way they can even get people to acknowledge their existence, is through acts of violence.

      I don't condone what is happening but I can certainly understand it. Violence is predictable when you take away any hope, or chance of decent future from large segments of the population. History is replete with examples of populations rising up against an indifferent and uncaring government. If the Brits are smart they will start trying to understand WHY these people are rioting rather than the fact that they are.

    • 10 months ago
  • EmperorThan
    • +1
      EmperorThan  

    • But as they pointed out on NPR these rioters aren't burning down chain stores, they're burning down mom and pop stores too.

      So "The Poor Rising Up Against The Poor?"

    • 10 months ago
  • kvb1
    • +3
      kvb1  
    • EmperorThan:

      Obviously you have never lived in or near a community that has rioted. These are not rich people, therefor you will find few chain stores near their communities. Frustration leads people to become mobs, and mobs rule, mostly mindlessly until someone starts to lead. When that happens the rest just follow blindly.

      "The Poor Rising Up Against The Poor?" No, just striking out at the nearest things that have what they cannot afford to have. If they could steal jobs they would take them. The point of society is to band together to protect the many from the few. When the many riot, it is because the few have taken over. There will be no revolution in the UK, just more oppression as the government tries to keep the mob from becoming too powerful to become a revolution.

    • 10 months ago
  • EmperorThan
    • +1
      EmperorThan  
    • kvb1:

      On NPR they said that when the rioting occurred in this SAME NEIGHBORHOOD where the 2011 London Riots started back in 1985 the people burned down chain stores NOT the mom and pop stores run opened and run by the people in the community.

      This time as they pointed out they were burning down anything they could.

      That is bullshit so FUCK THESE RIOTERS! Oppression is something worth fighting but KNOW WHO YOU'RE FIGHTING MORONS. These rioters are punk kids who have no respect for others around them whatsoever.

      You get more respect from those watching you with non-violent protesting. Martin Luther King Jr. anyone? Gandhi anyone? Last time I checked those two dudes brought down segregation and class warfare by telling their people NOT to fight anyone.

    • 10 months ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • Almibry
  • Incredulous
    • +7
      Incredulous  

    • "Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was "utterly unacceptable."

      in a nutshell.....there it is, right in front of us.

    • 10 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • squarethecircle
  • PoliticalAmazon
  • Wyley_Wombat
    • +4
      Wyley_Wombat  
    • PoliticalAmazon:

      I think that they have more than a clue. They are arming and preparing the police for this eventuality. What never occurs to them is they can take steps to ensure that it does not happen in the first place. That, however, would mean that "elites" would have to treat lower status persons as people.

    • 10 months ago
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