There must be something inherently wrong, when urban centers in developed nations have their youth riot, steal and be so destructive.
I freely admit my own bias being an ex patriot from England who has lived in Canada for 20+ years. So, I am hesitant to make any qualified opinion having not been a resident of the UK so long. Yet, the parallel to Vancouver after the Stanley Cup riots in June and the London Riots,speaks to the society we live in and how young urban youth view the world today.
With destruction written this large – it defies logic. But the seeds of discontent seem evident pretty for this ex Brit looking from afar.
London has become a main player in the international real market. A recent report by Savills, an international real estate company, estimates over 3 billion pounds flows into London market annually from abroad every year. 1
This exclusive club includes the global billionaires that choose London as their home, the extremely well off, and the well off that man London’s Financial and Media industries.
Society can only ignore the growing disparity between this exclusive club that benefits very well from the British system and the rising numbers of urban youth that are unemployed, with little hope for a future we all want.
I can understand and have been vocal on this very blog at feeling the same emotions of shock and anger the day after the destruction that we witnessed here in Vancouver and London.
I want to see to justice done to those that should have known better, and took advantage of a society temporally in chaos.
Yeah, but Why?
But as a Youth Worker working with very similar at risk kids who we saw loot the public high streets – I have to support a black community worker, who turned the questioning back to an interviewer in West London and asked ‘Why’ were these kids kicking off in the first place?
It is easy, and quite rightly so, to condemn those we witness doing this mayhem. But it is harder to turn the mirror back on ourselves and look at the circumstances that created this situation to take place in trh first place.
For all the Copy – Cats, Opportunists and outright Criminals, this can only be half the story.
I only know that a society that creates a system where the most talented, and very powerful can benefit, while a sizable section struggle to varying degrees, can only cause strain, resentment, distrust and hopelessness within the greater community.
In this sense, the words of Elijah Kerr ring very true.
Kerr is an ex Gang Leader, who formed an organization to help youth. He rejected British Prime Minster David Camron’s view that the riots were gang directed. He argues the tensions were there, and like a fire in a room, ‘…someone opened the door and its spread through the house.’
If you exclude a generation of young people ‘…where people have no hope, have been forgotten, lost.’ this is bound to happen. 2
Against a background of MP’s caught dipping in their hands into public purse, the Police in inclusion with Murdock’s ‘News of the World’ newspaper to expose celebrities through phone tapping, it just creates an overall impression that the rich and powerful can just about do what they please with immunity.
If they can do it, why can’t I?
For as one apparent 13 year girl told a reporter in the middle of the riots:
‘All these rich businesses for rich people are getting a bit of payback and it’s about time the ordinary poor person had a say in this country.’ 3
Admit the violence and destruction in London, a local resident reflects on a community in crisis….
Addressing the immediate problems…..
If society wants the majority of its citizens to be law-abiding, it has to have clear consequences for mass discontent. Otherwise it undermines the confidence its populace has for its judicial system.
Clearly, unlike here, the British Judiciary are sending a very clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated and are actively hunting down the guilty.
So far, nearly 2000 arrests have been made in London. The courts have been in session day and night since the riots happened. (Even today, which is a Sunday).
It is very hard to imagine this happening here, as zero arrests have been made. Mayor Robertson continues to hunker down at City Hall while the media and the general public demand to see justice and questions answered.
Why isn't a van like this at Robson and Thurlow?
Fortunately, here in British Columbia we live a society – generally speaking – that has suffered little of the combined effects of recession and policies of greed to create similar tensions among our youth.
The same fuel of ‘What about me’ resentment just weren’t in place after Game 7 in June. More like intoxicated privileged white dick heads travelling from the suburbs who were out for a lark….
Yet, for all the immediate reaction that kicked in after the riots in England, there is no doubt that they will still have to address why so many youth took to the streets in so many numbers.
What I just said – is a load of crap…..
Laura Johnston - Getaway Driver...
Millionaires daughter Laura Johnson, 19 charged with being a ‘getaway driver’ who drove around three stores, caught with 5000 pounds worth of goods in her car.
Lives with her parents in a converted farmhouse worth 1 million pounds. 4
Primary School Worker: Alexis Bailey, 31 – accused of raiding an electrical store in Croydon. 5
Life Guard: Aaron Mulhooland 30, 2 nights in the cells after raiding a store in Camberwell. 6
Dental Nurse, Sherrecee Ashley, 20. Left her baby behind to loot a Tesco Store. Jailed 6 months. 7
University graduate Natasha Reid, 24, stole a £300 TV
Engineering Student, Nicolas Robinson, 23. Stole 6 bottles of water, worth 3 pounds 50 pence. Jailed 6 months. 8
Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, charged with raiding an electrical store in Clapham Junction, South London. His mother has been served with an eviction notice as council bosses seek to turf them out of their £225,000 taxpayer-subsidized flat.
His mother states: ‘As a mother, I’m not responsible for my son’s actions and they are penalizing me for his actions.’ 9
Primary school teacher, Alexis Bailey, from Battersea. Charged with looting a store in Croydon. 10
University graduate: Natasha Reid, 24, stole a £300 TV from a damaged Comet store. So overcome with guilt handed herself into Police next day. 11
So, I’ve just pitched my own opinion that a lethal combination of unemployment and hopelessness for a generation of youth, combined with a society which promotes those with access to power, privilege and wealth, created the conditions for this mass discontent to happen.
Yes, it’s all those feral black kids fault because they have no dads……
Then you hear about these completes idiots, who have lives, some purpose to life, the very things that inner city youth apparent lack in their lives…….caught looting, stealing and mayhem as well.
Are we really that fucked? Have we created a generation of young kids, so self centered, so lacking community?
Regardless of background, be it have or have not’s, it’s forever about ‘me, me, me’?
Are we going to have to live in an Police state to guard against ourselves?
In the meantime….
peeeaacccccceeee out sisters….
Sources:
1 – http://en.savills.com.cn/en.savills.com.cn/news-pdfs/world-in-london-intl-release.pdf
2 – http://www.theprovince.com/news/Tension+spilled+over+says+gangster/5253179/story.html
10 – http://www.tntmagazine.com/tnt-today/archive/2011/08/10/teacher-31-looted-in-london-riots.aspx)
skinnyscronnybrit.com 