This last week has been both disturbing and illuminating. A week ago no one could have foreseen the chaos and destructive force that has hit Britain as thousands of citizens rioted, rampaged and looted. The media and politicians have all commented on the cause of the riots and the state of “Broken Britian” but it is now towards the future we must look.
Those who looted and rioted broke the laws and deserve to suffer the penalties of the courts for what they did, but accompanied by the usual right wing rhetoric is some disturbing knee jerk reactions.
It is looking likely that all those who rioted will be stripped of benefits (if they were on them) and evicted from council houses (if they resided in them). These people were angry (even if the methods were wrong) but instead of moving on, healing the damage and trying to restore trust between communities and the establishment our Whitehall masters have decided that the perpetrators must be dragged to the dregs of existence and then shat on. Do they deserve it? Perhaps. Is it the right thing to do? Debatable. Will it help heal communities and allow us to move on. Doubt it.
Mark my words, there will be more anger. The communities will not build up trust – they will be torn further apart – and all in the name of “justice”, to allow our selfish leaders to look tough and pander to the masses. Then one day, be it three months, six months or a year or more down the line, we will be in the same position again!
The police did a remarkable job during this last week – despite facing cuts and indecisive politicians not willing to authorise measures that would bring the city under control – and now the politicians are trying to blame them for not restoring order quick enough. The police cancelled all leave and called in reinforcements from all over the country, swelling their usual force of 6,000 to 16,000 and are now being blamed by May and Cameron for not doing enough – the same people who were on holiday while these officers risked their lives trying to control the riots. Yes, a lot of rioters were seen by police looting and not stopped, but when there are over a hundred rioters and only a few officers how are you meant to make arrests? The polices operational priorities were to contain and control, and to make arrests later. The politicians have again pandered to reactionary news stories and criticism of themselves and are trying to find a scapegoat. Guess who?
Finally, perhaps the most disturbing post-riot suggestion – that in times of future unrest the government should curb access to Twitter, Facebook, mobile phones and even the internet!
Perhaps I should just save time and move to China or Korea and save the government the hassle? Yes, rioters were using these media to organise themselves, but without them riots still happen! Did riots not take place before this decasde because Twitter had yet to be invented? No!
Interestingly though, the law abiding of us were using Twitter to keep up to date and comment on the developing news story of the riots – and much criticism of the government was the talk of the day. This included campaigns to get them to return from holidays and impose tougher measures on the rioters. Could it be simply that the government are trying to spare themselves from future criticism in the future riots which I believe will inevitably occur? Maybe. With these meandering hypocritical tossers – who can tell?