Rights and Riots

The riots have come to an end, what started with a peaceful protest over the questionable shooting of a man in a poor area of London lead to wide spread rioting and Luton in a number of cities within England. It seems that finally nights of burning buildings and violence have come to an end and courts are pushing on through day and night to get convictions with police raiding houses and making arrests. As we look back over the last few days the papers and politicians and those of the general public cry out in disgust at the offenders, words bandy about of their “mindless” and “opportunistic” ways. Few look to the reasons behind them or for the best solution, all most care of is that youths were violent and retribution is required. I do not intend to deny that the violence, rioting, looting and arson are crimes worthy of punishment, I do not intend to wish any less sympathy upon those who have been affected directly or indirectly. I do, however, intend to argue that these incidents arise from situation not mere chance, I do intend to argue that the solutions are complicated and require understanding, and I do intend to argue that these rioters are far from the criminal masterminds or sources of evil as they have been made out to be.

It would very easy to claim as many have that all that has happened has been for gain and the thrill of violence, but I won’t. Though I doubt the majority of the rioters had socio-political and theoretical perspectives burning in their hearts as they burnt down Lidl, I also doubt that there aren’t undercurrents that drive these things, because if the riots were for purely non-political and social reasoning, or at least uninfluenced, then why have they not happened before? When we look at the areas where the rioting flared up they were the poorest of places, when we look at those being filed through courts some are homeless, drug addicts, previous offenders or from generally unenviable backgrounds. We are living in a society where even though there are benefits they don’t necessarily get to the right people, the education system is in a poor manner and the support for those who need is non-existent. Commercialism seems to rule our lives and you cannot help but see an advertisement for that thing that you really need or you life is worthless. Papers are full of stories of celebrities and high flyers and even more advertisements. When actual news is reported it often demonises and ostracises the youth and those who are poorer. The war on the poor remains it’s just a lot more underhanded than when Thatcher was on the attack. People are claiming that these youths have destroyed communities but for them there never was a community. I do not condone their acts but the fact remains we are in a sorry state of affairs that is not their fault.

So how do we react to these thugs and villains? Many call for their imprisonments, a naïve view as prisons only breed criminality, especially as they are currently crowded as it is and won’t get better for the extra hundreds of frustrated youths. There are even calls to cut the life lines that they have, one council is looking to oust any who were involved from their council flats and housing. Because forcing them onto the streets will improve things. And what about these new laws the politicians want to push through. I can understand I guess that police might want to be able to tell potential criminals to pull down their hoods or face masks, but to ban them out right? New restraints to be put on social networking because the minority used them to organise themselves a little, the permanent allowance of the police to use greater force and riot bullets. Those involved must be punished, in cases prison will be the most viable but in many would it not make more sense to have them work unpaid for the government, to rebuild the damaged areas?

Maybe some of you are questioning my liberal perspective, angry with what you have seen. You see the issue here is the crimes are easily seen, the damage real and physical. But if these criminals deserve all that some would have them face what about the bankers who led to the economic crisis and cost more than these riots ever could? What about the many MPs who took money from the tax man to fund their lifestyle? What about the huge amount of tax evasion by the rich? True these people have done damage and hurt people, but they are people themselves.