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Over the past few days, Londoners have been using the following vocabulary and phrases to describe the current state of affairs in the UK: 'communities destroyed' 'looting' 'hoodies' 'arson' 'senseless' 'government cuts' 'violence' 'social unrest.'
In the space of 24hrs, the news headlines changed from the London riots to the UK riots, as other cities followed suit, in a spate of attacks against ordinary predominantly working class neighbourhoods in the UK. As I watched the news and more stories unfold, it felt surreal, as though I was in a parallel universe, passively observing a sick and twisted computer game, a game in which I had no control over.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, Brixton was amongst those towns to be targeted by senseless and uncaring '----------.' A few hours before disaster hit, Brixton was revelling in its own local festivities, the Brixton Splash. A festival held once a year to celebrate everything that Brixton represents, in particular, its strong Caribbean roots, this happened to also fall in line with Jamaica's Independence day, which took place a few days before.
On the other side of town in Tottenham, a young father of four, Mark Duggan had been shot dead in his car by the police. I received a Broadcast via Blackberry that 'a known gangster known as Mark Duggan had been shot by the police'. The controversy surrounding his death, lay in the fact that Mr Duggan had been shot whilst defenceless, making his execution unlawful. The case is currently being investigated by the IPCC, who have confirmed that Mark Duggan was unarmed when he was forcedly put to death.
The question that I pose after trying to rationalise this whole sordid affair and having listened to arguments and opinions on both sides is: 'What is it that leads these '____' to commit such atrocities?' 'are they born criminals?' are they to be blamed for their actions. Or have they been dealt the cruel hand, 'conditioned to be criminals' making them victims of society and set up to fail.
A layman theorist argued that the government allowed the situation to escalate, i.e. the hooded youths were allowed to run riot, whilst the police 'helplessly 'looked on' as did the public, via the media in disgust, making the 'looters''scapegoats' for underlying problems within our society, problems some would argue have been caused by the government.
So, are these arsonists and criminals: victims; demons; marginalised; alienated; opportunists or anarchist, or maybe all of the aforementioned? Whatever it is, this is a moment in history that our children have lived through. I myself have experienced mixed emotions: anger; disappointment; resentment and sadness. I questioned the government, the parents and the individuals themselves. From a sociological perspective there is a lot of information to work with and an underlying issue, the class system, areas of Marxism and Interactionism, the labelling theory. From a religious perspective, the phrase 'the devil makes work for idle hands' springs to mind.
Image is everything!!! The images that have been shown in the media over the past few days reinforce the stereotype of those 'sinners' who live in 'Urban' areas and the 'saints' that partook in 'Operation clean-up.'
The Image, shows Footlocker in Brixton after it was torched.