These Riots Reflect a Society Run on Greed and Looting
It is essential for those in power in Britain that the riots now sweeping the country can have no cause beyond feral wickedness. This is nothing but "criminality, pure and simple", David Cameron declared after cutting short his holiday in Tuscany. The London mayor and fellow former Bullingdon Club member Boris Johnson, heckled by hostile Londoners in Clapham Junction, warned that rioters must stop hearing "economic and sociological justifications" (though who was offering them he never explained) for what they were doing.
When his predecessor Ken Livingstone linked the riots to the impact of public spending cuts, it was almost as if he'd torched a building himself. The Daily Mail thundered that blaming cuts was "immoral and cynical", echoed by a string of armchair riot control enthusiasts. There was nothing to explain, they've insisted, and the only response should be plastic bullets, water cannon and troops on the streets.
We'll hear a lot more of that when parliament meets – and it's not hard to see why. If these riots have no social or political causes, then clearly no one in authority can be held responsible. What's more, with many people terrified by the mayhem and angry at the failure of the police to halt its spread, it offers the government a chance to get back on the front foot and regain its seriously damaged credibility as a force for social order.
But it's also a nonsensical position. If this week's eruption is an expression of pure criminality and has nothing to do with police harassment or youth unemployment or rampant inequality or deepening economic crisis, why is it happening now and not a decade ago? The criminal classes, as the Victorians branded those at the margins of society, are always with us, after all. And if it has no connection with Britain's savage social divide and ghettoes of deprivation, why did it kick off in Haringey and not Henley?
To accuse those who make those obvious links of being apologists or "making excuses" for attacks on firefighters or robbing small shopkeepers is equally fatuous. To refuse to recognise the causes of the unrest is to make it more likely to recur – and ministers themselves certainly won't be making that mistake behind closed doors if they care about their own political futures.
It was the same when riots erupted in London and Liverpool 30 years ago, also triggered by confrontation between the police and black community, when another Conservative government was driving through cuts during a recession. The people of Brixton and Toxteth were denounced as criminals and thugs, but within weeks Michael Heseltine was writing a private memo to the cabinet, beginning with "it took a riot", and setting out the urgent necessity to take action over urban deprivation.
This time, the multi-ethnic unrest has spread far further and faster. It's been less politicised and there's been far more looting, to the point where in many areas grabbing "free stuff" has been the main action. But there's no mystery as to where the upheaval came from. It was triggered by the police killing a young black man in a country whereblack people are 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than their white counterparts. The riot that exploded in Tottenham in response at the weekend took place in an area with the highest unemployment in London, whose youth clubs have been closed to meet a 75% cut in its youth services budget.
It then erupted across what is now by some measures the most unequal city in the developed world, where the wealth of the richest 10% has risen to 273 times that of the poorest, drawing in young people who have had their educational maintenance allowance axed just as official youth unemployment has reached a record high and university places are being cut back under the weight of a tripling of tuition fees.
Now the unrest has gone nationwide. But it's not as if rioting was unexpected when the government embarked on its reckless programme to shrink the state. Last autumn the Police Superintendents' Association warned of the dangers of slashing police numbers at a time when they were likely to be needed to deal with "social tensions" or "widespread disorder". Less than a fortnight ago, Tottenham youths told the Guardian they expected a riot.
Politicians and media talking heads counter that none of that has anything to do with sociopathic teenagers smashing shop windows to walk off with plasma TVs and trainers. But where exactly did the rioters get the idea that there is no higher value than acquiring individual wealth, or that branded goods are the route to identity and self-respect?
While bankers have publicly looted the country's wealth and got away with it, it's not hard to see why those who are locked out of the gravy train might think they were entitled to help themselves to a mobile phone. Some of the rioters make the connection explicitly. "The politicians say that we loot and rob, they are the original gangsters," one told a reporter. Another explained to the BBC: "We're showing the rich people we can do what we want."
Most have no stake in a society which has shut them out or an economic model which has now run into the sand. It's already become clear that divided Britain is in no state to absorb the austerity now being administered because three decades of neoliberal capitalism have already shattered so many social bonds of work and community.
What we're now seeing across the cities of England is the reflection of a society run on greed – and a poisonous failure of politics and social solidarity. There is now a danger that rioting might feed into ethnic conflict. Meanwhile, the latest phase of the economic crisis lurching back and forth between the United States and Europe risks tipping austerity Britain into slump or prolonged stagnation. We're starting to see the devastating costs of refusing to change course.
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British Establishment crisis
By Miller, Chris at Aug 12, 2011 15:44 PM
The British Establishment is in crisis. The whole world knows that the on-going economic crisis was and is caused by the greed-driven system of capitalism – general shorthand for which (in the UK) is 'the bankers'. Yet even as a new wave of financial meltdown sweeps stock markets, British Prime Minister David Cameron and his multi-millionaire cabinet still seek to blame anyone and everyone else - especially the previous (highly banker-friendly) administration. Their mantras, “We are all in it together”, and “No other way”, are looking just a little hollow.
Now, in the wake of a fatal police shooting, followed by the now familiar torrent of police lies, there are widespread youth-led street disturbances during the last week. The massive demonstrations by students last winter (met with police violence) and huge public sector demos and strikes in the Spring must now be expunged from the collective memory (by the ever compliant mainstream press and media) to make way for newly demonised youth. Cameron's, 'hug a hoodie' speech of 2006 has returned to haunt him.
Cameron, currently lecturing us about 'broken Britain' is well known for trashing restaurants, in his youth, with his chums in the posh boys' Bullingdon Club. Of course, when the poor follow his lead, his party and supporters call for ever more draconian punishments, as if this will deter those who have nothing to lose. Yet there is nothing new or unforeseen in the current unrest and rioting is as British as cricket. Festering inner cities and long neglected public housing estates form the backdrop against which waves of public spending cuts, and accompanying massive job losses, are being made. Already pitiful youth services are being smashed up, a crisis of housing (40% cut in the dire public housing budget) is driving hundreds of thousands to despair. Waiting lists for social housing are likely to soon reach 5 million (in a population of 61m). Mortgages in London are beyond the dreams of most young people.
Tellingly, during the recent disturbances one of the most frequently aired questions was, “What effect will this have on the (2012) London Olympics?”. This corporate bean-feast, with prices way out of reach of many Londoners and vast numbers of tickets swallowed by the nearby financial district corporations, is expected to be a cash cow, so must be protected at all costs. (In May it was announced that the Olympic Torch would tour 32 London boroughs next summer, in the light of numerous arson attacks officials may now be rethinking this.)
Britain continues its' self-imposed role as sidekick planetary policeman, the most warlike country on the planet, with involvement in more than 60 wars since the end of WW2. “Batting above our weight” - a cricketing mixed-metaphor – is a term commonly used to describe the constant 'small' wars the country is wastefully involved in. To take just one example: the current assault on Libya, a country the UK and allies were trying to arm until recently, is costing upwards of £40million each month, with no end in sight. Yet we are constantly told that community facilities must be closed, school spending cut, youth services closed down. Troops remain in Afghanistan, with a steady drip of soldier bodies to remind the public of the futility of that invasion. These constant conflicts are supposed to be supported – some are, most aren't – with the doublespeak (“war is peace”) press charged with ensuring compliance. But there is no genuine support for the Afghan war, there was none for the invasion of Iraq, there is none for Libya. Constant attempts to encourage charitable giving to veterans (Help for Heroes) have floundered on public indifference or outright hostility.
Permanent costly war is just one facet of the current crisis of the Establishment, a crisis long time in the making. One damaging aspect has been how the attempt to hang on to the north of Ireland dragged the legal system into the mire, with the infamous Birmingham Six and Guildford Four frame-ups and eventual, grudging acquittals just the best known of serial and numerous miscarriages of justice. These events and others have seriously and permanently altered the public perception of the police and prosecution services. Juries remain sceptical of police evidence. The Metropolitan (London) Police are notorious for abuse of power, with 60 deaths in custody in the last decade but no convictions of officers. Incidents such as the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezez (2006), the killing in 2009 of a bystander at the G20 protests, Ian Tomlinson, (both innocent, both followed by police lies and cover-p) and the kettling of peaceful demonstrators, have undermined the normally polished media image of helpful bobbies. In fact they are a force of guards, generally deployed to protect the the rich and powerful, and with a permanent oppressive presence in the lives of thousands of young people, disproportionally black ones, in the form of stop and search.
In 2009 revelations of expenses cheating – corruption - amongst members of both Houses of Parliament angered the public and again caused a widespread re-think of the generally held belief that British public affairs were clean. Although the sums involved were often not that large, to a populace struggling with the financial crash fall-out they were another bitter pill, still being swallowed. And the last few years have seen repeated pension and mortgage selling scandals, the British Aerospace bribery cover-up, alongside massive and widespread corporate tax evasion.
The 2010 general election failed to return a majority party but few expected the Liberal Democrats to ditch all principle and form a coalition with the still widely despised Tories. The most notorious act in the first year was the imposition of student fees – widely set at £9000 a year – when the Lib Dems had promised there would be no such rise in fees. Local elections in May this year tore the Lib Dems to shreds and left them adrift, yet both Tory, Lib Dem and 'new' Labour leaders are essentially relaxed about this as it leaves the Tories in power to deal with the economic mess. And as many as 200,000 would-be university students will be unable to find a place this year. Meanwhile youth unemployment stands at around 25%, with many who are at work on minimum wage in Mac-jobs. This government has ignored employment, pursuing only the debt reduction economic strategy demanded by the financiers.
Another factor haunting the Establishment is the resounding victory of the Scottish Nationalist Party in May elections. This event sent a shock wave through the power structure; there is now a real prospect of a Scottish breakaway, something which would leave a rump English state to struggle in the European Union. The previous Labour government had been charged with kicking Scottish independence into the long grass, by limited devolution, but this strategy now has to be abandoned.
Alongside other scandals the long running News of the World, prop. R. Murdoch, debacle has entertained and even occasionally enriched the chattering classes for several years but, against the odds has finally broken through the Establishment barriers (newspapers don't generally attack each other) and secrecy to expose corruption at the heart of the police and in the press. The most senior policeman in the country is forced to resign, others senior officers are widely reviled. Murdoch's most profitable rag is closed, even a usually sycophantic House of Commons finds a few (blunt) teeth with which to chew the Murdochs. Cameron has been badly exposed by this, his long standing friendship with News International boss, Rebekah Brooks, and frequent meetings with the Murdochs and other NI staffers has been widely derided. The many other politicians who also bowed to Murdoch don't have much to say and are ridiculed as puppets of the News International empire.
In the wake of this week's rioting, the police and the Tory government are publicly feuding. Neither have much credibility left and although the police will emerge the winners - they will now avoid massive planned budget cuts - in London at least, they remain a tarnished and weakened force.
During the recent riots hundreds, possibly thousands of police, were sent to the wealthy West End even though no rioting was threatened there, or took place. Meanwhile poor neighbourhoods were left to burn. The Met are left apologising for their incompetence and corruption, then promising ever more “robust” i.e. violent policing. Whilst this may play well with an outraged public in the short term, it ramps up the street confrontation and must lead to increased resentment and further riots.
For now the coalition government survives, but only because Labour leaders are uninterested in government; their current obsession is to break the supposed power of trade unions within the Labour party, even while membership dwindles to an all-time low. While the media commentators, in various reactionary shades, out-do each other to condemn the youth they routinely ignore, vilify and neglect, neither they nor mainstream politicians have any answers.
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Thoughts on the London Riots
By Dominic, David at Aug 15, 2011 10:22 AM
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