The Riots We Deserve?
Aug. 11th, 2011 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI was expecting disturbances this summer- what with the cuts and the bankers and all that shit- but I was expecting them to be more overtly political. I was expecting marches, with banners and slogans- and some anarchistic carryings-on at the fringes- as we had earlier this year. I wasn't expecting the kind of Mardi Gras of looting and arson we've just experienced.
Nobody was. I don't think there's ever been anything quite like it before. I guess we have modern social media to blame/thank for the way it spread like a rash from city to city.
The politicians- Theresa May going "criminals, criminal, criminality", Boris Johnson hefting his unused broom on the streets of Camden like a majorette, Ed Milliband wonking on about bad parenting in Salford- seemed more than usually impotent and out of touch. None of them has been anywhere near a mean street in their lives- except to chat up the voters, of course. They haven't a clue.
David Cameron told us some parts of our society were "sick"- to which one wanted to reply, "Yeah, the city, the banks, the police, the politicians, the red tops", but that would have been cheap- though no cheaper than the point it was answering.
A society gets the riots it deserves. A society that cares about abstract notions like Justice and Liberty gets political riots, it gets people making political demands (maybe while parading heads on pikes.) A society that cares for nothing but wealth and celebrity gets masked looters and the torching of Miss Selfridges.
Nobody was. I don't think there's ever been anything quite like it before. I guess we have modern social media to blame/thank for the way it spread like a rash from city to city.
The politicians- Theresa May going "criminals, criminal, criminality", Boris Johnson hefting his unused broom on the streets of Camden like a majorette, Ed Milliband wonking on about bad parenting in Salford- seemed more than usually impotent and out of touch. None of them has been anywhere near a mean street in their lives- except to chat up the voters, of course. They haven't a clue.
David Cameron told us some parts of our society were "sick"- to which one wanted to reply, "Yeah, the city, the banks, the police, the politicians, the red tops", but that would have been cheap- though no cheaper than the point it was answering.
A society gets the riots it deserves. A society that cares about abstract notions like Justice and Liberty gets political riots, it gets people making political demands (maybe while parading heads on pikes.) A society that cares for nothing but wealth and celebrity gets masked looters and the torching of Miss Selfridges.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 01:44 pm (UTC)The uprising itself was due primarily to demographics. The energy was effectively channeled by trade union leaders and others, who had been organizing clandestinely for decades. They did not start the revolution, but they were ready for it and rode that wave to great effect. And never underestimate the role of al Jazeera, either.
Those leaders did indeed have specific demands. The core of the angry mob that rose up, however, was just so many young unemployed men and women with little to lose. The biggest difference I see between that mob and Brixton's is education, which may also explain quite a bit.