There is genuine panic on the streets of London. Riots are raging (and have raged) in a multitude of boroughs all over the capital and it is becoming more and more obvious that the police simply cannot cope. Panic is not only present in London. It is now spreading north, south, east and west – there was glass on the streets of Birmingham last night, and troubles are currently stirring in Leeds, Nottingham, Liverpool and even some Kent Medway towns. The riots represent a sheer degradation of the social order; scenes on the street represent the metaphorical ‘state of nature’, and the human cost is proving to be high with many police injured and a man shot dead in Croydon. What on earth can prompt fellow members of humanity to turn on each other in such a way?
The right wing is lacking in explanation. Whilst it is clear that the violence now is not motivated by the Duggan affair, the Daily Mail seems gleefully happy to tell us that the violence is simply ‘mindless criminality’ and destruction, completely ‘copycat’ with no meaning. In my eyes, this fails to stand up. How can individuals risk so much (injury, imprisonment – and now death) ‘mindlessly’? It is no coincidence that the rioting is set to a backdrop of austerity measures and budget cuts that have hit communities in areas such as Tottenham and Hackney particularly hard. Tottenham has the highest incidence of child poverty in the UK and youth employment in Hackney is estimated to be in the region of 30%. It is hard to see opportunities as an impoverished youth today, and the perceived government disregard for the young people of this country (cuts in EMA, education funding and youth services) will inevitably result in a certain amount of contempt for government and the general image of ‘authority’. Many a youth of Hackney can see for himself no opportunities; no employment prospects, no career, and in many cases, no support network, so why not riot and loot? It satisfies the free market lust for consumerism, and probably gives a sense of power and meaning, though in a false, destructive and immoral way.
Yet I think restricting the explanation to simply socioeconomic issues is dangerous. Many of the areas in which riots have erupted have a deep history of segregation and poor relations with authority. Institutional racism in the Met is well documented and it is quite possible that the hatred of the police by many of the rioters dates back to prejudices that were present years ago, passed down generations through parental influence. This is a complex multifaceted issue and can’t be reduced to a single explanation; whilst the rioters must be condemned and punished through the courts, the government and the police must also take considerable responsibility here – it is hardly as if the riots were completely unforeseen (Nick Clegg ‘predicted’ them before the 2010 General Election’).
So, where to go from here? The immediate priority is to stop the rioting, and there is currently no real solution out there for this. Appeals to communities by government have so far fallen largely on death ears and the police at present appear powerless – there are too few officers available and they are restricted to what is essentially crowd control. There have been calls to bring in water cannons and rubber bullets; there are moral implications here, but they have to be weighed against the moral implications of rioters destroying people’s homes, businesses and livelihoods. May it be a case of human rights vs human right? What is certain here is that we are witnessing a very significant event here in the political and social history of the UK; commentators in ivory towers are likely to discuss causes and implications for months after the riots end, yet the ultimate judgements are likely to be made in future books on British history.
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