Britain riots: my two cents (or rather a rant)

[alexandral]

I rarely rant about political matters, but I do so occasionally. This is the day for ranting because I have not seen anything as scary as current British riots in my life (and I lived through the fall-out from the collapse of USSR which at the time I thought to be the scariest time of my life). I do find it doubly-scary because I have always thought that the level of life and opportunities existing in Britain (even now), even in the poorest places, are much higher than in many many places in less developed countries. So I can not quite understand: why? When there is rioting in third-world countries, like China, it is often attributed to the countries' "regime". What are we to attribute the British riots to? Democracy?

I find the situation scary and I find it appalling. But the thing I do not understand personally is what is happening with the Police and other forces responsible for keeping the peace in the country. Where are they?

For example, there is an article explaining "What could the police do to stop the rioting?" on BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14459127. What it says is that Britain is not comfortable with the use of Water Canons, Baton rounds or Army forces. This is a typical phrase: "British policing traditionally did not rely on such methods" and that "In other countries they'd be deployed in the blink of an eye" (meaning Army forces). But seriously, may be this is the time to reconsider?

Comments

[issy-chan.livejournal.com]

First of all, Welcone back :-)
yeah, it's scary what happening these days. last night, it was in Ealing, my local shopping centre and very close by. they burned cars, broken shops widows and robbed stores. I don't see the point in their riot now. if it was a massage at the first day, now it's long forgotten. they don't think that us people have to pick up the cleaning bills afterwords. I am just speechless.

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Looks a lot like what we did have in Paris a couple of years ago. Except we seem to have less destroying stores maybe(it was more about facing the Police). That's why I'm not that shocked. The only thing that does strike me as odd is that I always though that th british were very respectful of the Police over there, contrary to here (no ones likes Police...no one and with good reasons tbh).

Everyone should just calm down, have a Gandhi talk and drink some tea :/. It will pass. It always pass. But it's still very scary to witness.

I'm not sure if the Army is the solution. I'm not sure either the all media talking and making it huge is a solution too. *shrugs*

[shapinglight]

Calling in the army really is the last resort. I hope it won't come to that.

[raffaella.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect to see something like this happen so fast in England. I remember that there were riots in the 80s, like in Brixton, but I was a kid so I don't know if this is comparable. Plus that was a while ago, and I always thought the social tensions and the potential for violence weren't as bad as in France. I don't even know what to say.

I can't get a clear idea from the media -- is this happening in localised areas of big cities or is it more widespread? I'm asking because a few years ago, the "Paris" riots didn't take place in Paris proper, "just" in some localised poor suburbs (it was bad enough, though), which meant that if you lived and worked in Paris intra-muros, you wouldn't have thought anything was happening. This looks worse, if only because they've burned buildings and there are deaths already.

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty shocked as well. Sure, we're used to having demonstrations and sometimes even small riots in Western Europe, but usually it's not that bad. As far as I remember the riots in Paris a while ago weren't quite this bad either. It's a clear sign, though, that a lot of sings are pretty fucked up not just in the UK, but probably also in other European countries in similar situations. There's a lot of discontent, and people feel generally helpless about it, and situations like that can easily escalate. But, yeah, it is pretty frightening. It's not like burning cars and houses is going to change anything or solve any problems.

I think in Western Europe many people just associate any kind of violent police action (let alone sending the army in) with the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships. The idea is that in those regimes people get oppressed, so the government uses the police/army to keep them in line. And democracies are hesitant to do the same, because they usually condemn the police taking strong, even violent action against people when it happens somewhere else. And whenever the police forces DO act like that, there's usually a public outcry about police violence etc. So I think the problem here is indeciveness: they feel like they should be doing something, but they don't want to appear as the bad guys who beat citizens. Especially since, if I heard it correctly, the first riots started because a man was shot by the police. Maybe they're afraid of what will happen if another person gets seriously injured by the police.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I've been worried about you. Please stay safe. You, your family, and Britain are in my thoughts and prayers.

[kittyhawk03.livejournal.com]

'When there is rioting in third-world countries, like China, it is often attributed to the countries' "regime". What are we to attribute the British riots to? Democracy?'

Yes. Democracy, by itself, is not a good thing. Pure Democracy is nothing but gang warfare: my gang is bigger than yours, so I win, and you lose. The loser isn't going to be happy. That's why what's necessary is a constitution that guarantees individual rights, and democracy is only used to choose who enforces the constitution.

What we are seeing in Britain, as in Greece, is people used to living off of the government dole being told they will have to make do with less. They've grown used to the dole, and pulling the rug out from under them makes them angry - so they riot.

It won't stop there. Every Western country is in the same situation. We've promised people more than we can deliver, and the chickens are coming home to roost. We can't give what we don't have.

I just watched what I assume was a British movie the other day, Harry Brown, with Michael Caine. Ever see it? Maybe the government just needs to turn him loose on the rioters for a day or two, and things will settle down. :)

[endlessdeep.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping an eye on what is going on over there. A childhood friend of my Mom's who lives in Hayes called my Mom today and said it's getting very close to where she lives and she's a little fearful. This is scary business. I think your friend linndechir explained it best. What would be the result of more forceful police or military action to stop the rioting. But I agree, something needs to be done to keep the peace.

There are too many people with nothing and so little with everything they could ever want. Everything is out of balance.

[madame-parker.livejournal.com]

I live in London and while it looks like it's gotten a bit more calm since yesterday, myself and my mother are still living in fear that we'll wake up to our whole building on fire. Also, I'm so angry at these thugs, I want them shot and right now. I don't think I've ever felt so angry in my life and it's got me thinking about the future, a lot.