England riots

[Silent Hunter]

Surprised there's no thread on this. The damage has been extensive.

<<Thread retitled - Peter>>

[J. J.]

Do you have a link.

[republicanism]

From what German news told us (man shot by police --> rioting) it sounds a bit like what happened in the French banlieus.

[Silent Hunter]

Do you have a link.

Yes, here you go.

[KEmperor]

I thought the British police didn't carry guns?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Looks nasty, yeah. What is it with all this eighties revivalism going on right now?

I thought the British police didn't carry guns?

Normal officers don't, but there are armed units.

[Lief 🗽]

Looks nasty, yeah. What is it with all this eighties revivalism going on right now?

Well, the Tories are in power...

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

By the looks of it, Id say this is the same type of rioting here on the other side of the Atlantic---over sensetive neighborhood riots! Its a smaller version of Rodney King I guess.

[Phony Moderate]

Riots in Walthamstow, Enfield, Islington, Brixton, and Hackney too, according to Twitter.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Quite a picture. They'll probably have to knock the building down.

Anyways, serious questions need to be asked about the policing. Multiple questions. Serious ones at that. This sort of sh!t really ought not to happen.

[Phony Moderate]

It's kicking off in Birmingham now....

[afleitch]

David Lammy was excellent at the weekend. I wonder what Bernie Grant would have said...

[Silent Hunter]

Just kicked off in Croydon now.

Romford and Barking are being closed up in preparation for something.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

and now they're talking about Clapham Junction and even Leeds

Little f'ing ratbags...

[afleitch]

It's times like this that I love the Guardian. After months of commentators gently inciting people 'toriseupagainsttorycutscapitalismnbankas' when people did riot...well they decided to screw their own communities over, smash up Tesco's and steal a Bang and Olufsen. Still came the hand-wringing from the same people, but the comments pages themselves were full of quite harsh heckling of those who Twittered while London Burned.

[Democratic Hawk]

We've hat riots before but I don't recall anything on par with this

[Filuwaúrdjan]

We've hat riots before but I don't recall anything on par with this

Mostly that's because of 24 news.

[Lief 🗽]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/07/7292281-the-sad-truth-behind-london-riot

[Beet]

Riot on, baby.

[John Doe]

What do the British have to be so angry about?  I can understand why the middle east, which went from colonies to pawns in an elaborate chess game are in flames, but the Brits have one of the highest standards of living in the world.

And, from what I understand, the now dead man shot first, necessitating the calling in of an armed squad.  If people are rioting over the capping of a criminal, they might as well just set the down on fire after their soccer team loses.

Regards,
John Doe

[MaxQue]

What do the British have to be so angry about?

Unemployment, dark future, being ignored by government.

The shooting of the guy on the other day is pretty irrelevent. Some poor neighbourhoods are like powder kegs and the shooting while the fire who caused it to explode.

It will happen periodically until government decides to "solve" poverty.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I understand the issues that are going on for poorer youth in such a difficult economic time... but that is NO excuse for what has been going on... none.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I understand the issues that are going on for poorer youth in such a difficult economic time... but that is NO excuse for what has been going on... none.

At this point, I can understand the impulse, honestly. Some people feel that there is no other recourse after years of being ignored and years of hard economic times, and governments, across the world, continue to fail them. The consequences are horrible, but I can see why people would riot, and almost feel like that is the only thing left.

[afleitch]

These riots are of course just riots; they aren't assaults on Santander or McDonald's that we've seen during May Day riots wrapped up as an expression of some political/anarchist bullsh-t. Instead it's localised; local shops, restaurants, 'cash converters', pawn shops. It's motivated by a desire to loot and generally to piss about. It can all be flogged off in the street or on eBay at a later date. They are rampaging through their own community. Many of these shops are owned by or employ locals. We've had bespoke wedding dresses stolen, people being stripped of their clothes while standing and rioters bursting into a restaurant and demanding customers hand over their posessions.

As for the catalyst; at the end of the day Mark Duggan was essentially a criminal gang leader who was no doubt a 'pillar of the community' because he indirectly helped finance the lifestyles of a number of associates; hence the faux expressions of 'solidarity' in the initial march. We need to recognise that this is a reality in many British cities; criminality provides employment, structure and yes even 'community' for potentially hundreds of people in a small area; if they can make money and personal gain out of looting, why on earth would they give a damn about torching and looting the local shop that employs their next door neighbour?

[opebo]

We need to recognise that this is a reality in many British cities; criminality provides employment, structure and yes even 'community' for potentially hundreds of people in a small area;

So isn't the point that capitalism and the tories have failed?  Otherwise why would the only recourse for employment, structure, and community be 'criminality'?