Peter Twomey
Web Editor
Over the past few days London has been gripped by some of the most startling acts of civil unrest experienced by the capital in decades. More recently, similar scenes have spread across Britain and it certainly seems that the trouble is far from finished for our British neighbours.
Yet, when one thinks to history and other comparable acts of social disharmony throughout the ages, it is usually relatively easy to distinguish a point or reason for all the distress caused. The race riots of 1960’s America, although with similar acts of looting, had the over-riding point of dissatisfaction towards unequal racial treatment towards black people in a country where segregation had yet to be fully abolished. Even looking to the troubles in Paris, a mere six years ago, one can again pick out some logic to the actions of the disaffected rioters. Beginning in similar suspicious circumstances to the London troubles, the Parisian youths, which were almost entirely made up of immigrants from low income areas, rebelled against a French society which is, on the whole, far more openly discriminatory towards minority races than Britain. This was typified by the then interior minister Sarkozy who ordered the deportation of non-French nationals caught in the rioting, regardless of whether they possessed a working visa or not.
Can the British rioters of 2011 seek any such moral high ground? Started by the shooting of Mark Duggan last Thursday by armed forces in Tottenham, a suspected drug dealer, the initial reaction by angered locals was for a peaceful protest. This, however, soon gave way to rioting, which quickly spread throughout the capital last weekend and across the rest of the country in the past couple of days. But what is their reason? Racial discrimination? An unequal social structure? Religious persecution? Perhaps, these will be the rationale given by liberal activists, looking to over-analyse the actions of these wanton hooligans, but in reality there is no true reason, those involved are merely doing so because they can, and do so without the fear of any serious repercussions.
Think to what has been targeted by these “activists”. Where, in the past, many protestors would show their frustrations on government buildings and prominent national landmarks, these “zealots” have focused on their local Primarks and Dixons. Looting is the name of the game, and each night the most appealing retail outlets are targeted and the masses return home with a fresh bundle new LCD TVs in tow. As one quick-witted Waterstones owner tweeted “We’re staying open, they might learn something.”
To truly comprehend what has occurred and what is occurring one must understand the minds of those involved. The youth of today in the worst of the low-income areas of Britain have little opportunity. This is not to be blamed on the current government, however, or, even, on the one before it. It is, in fact, a result of a vicious cycle that has been in place for decades. The welfare state has bred a class of people that see their unemployment benefits as an entitlement, a god given right. They view a steady job as something that is unobtainable, and something that there is little point in trying to achieve. This mentality is obvious to anyone that switches on Jeremy Kyle on a weekday morning and sees the endless scores of alcoholic morons that infest our screens. Their lives revolve around the most base of human desires; eating, drinking, fighting and sex, with a bit of casual drug abuse thrown into the mix for good measure.
The reason society offers little for these kinds of people though is because they have little to offer it in return. Fundamentally, everyone involved knows what they are doing is wrong, yet they do it anyway because morals lack importance. They flout the rule of law not because they see a benefit to the consequences of their actions by way of better living standards or greater employment opportunities, but because it seems like an enjoyable thing to do. As such, the events of the past days have brought a welcome window of excitement to the otherwise stagnant lives of Britain’s broken class.
In the eventual aftermath of these riots the British government will have to come together and, once and for all, attempt to tackle the yob culture that has so viciously planted itself in the psyche of many in the past few years. Solutions are tough, and it might be too late to save Britain from itself. I like to think, however, that such scroungebags are less likely to exist in Ireland, that we have, in general, a greater sense of national pride and identity to ever systematically trash our own streets. Yet, we can view the events in Britain as a strong warning of what may happen if we too let our future generations slip into a culture of universal indifference.
