English Spring Riots.

English ‘Spring’ Riots.

Miles of black ink has been etched into print and volumes of hot air exhausted over the riots of early August 2011 that affected 5 areas of England. The causes have been  expressed as manifest ranging from class, poor, singles parents, family breakdown, benefits system, feral youths, stupidity, crooks, opportunism and any other angst descriptive term. In response to the ‘wonton theft, damage and destruction, the voices of the righteous have been vociferous in calling for the harshest possible sentences to nail the culprits.

The histrionics by all and sundry is understandable and a constructed full force of law retribution will be applied as if it were a terrorist orientated attack on the state, to find the culprits to punish short of hanging the lot. Yet with a more measured time, some degree of reasonableness can be made to play out on the approach and level of retribution. Maybe also elucidate the root cause.

No doubt, that the events were startlingly unusual in the speed and spread of ‘take up’ by mainly young participants, made all the more interesting in view of the relaxed and slow response of the police as witness by ‘innocent’ bystanders. Even with the disastrous handing of the spark that appears to have set off the disruption; recognised from an event that arose from the botched anti descriptive explanation antics given out by the police in the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham in August.

All analyse of the causes of the events so far are wrong. There are only three salient points to consider. (1) There is clearly a dysfunctional attributed attitude at large in the policing structure (2) That the events could happen at all indicates that something has gone very wrong with an unconnected constituent part of society, that is assumed to be stably civilised. (3) The speed of the breakdown of order in a few areas has more to do with unrequited stress in an element of society and the fact that given the right conditions the destructive elements of the human will quite easily be unleashed.

From this event no social remedial lessons (except one of control) will be learned, the message so far is to stamp on the perpetrators hard enough to name them and force them to desist from attempting any repeat of their rampage. This will be the authorities approach, as it cannot be allowed to be seen to be weak in the face of public concern and to protect the image of the UK as a managed law abiding country, especially as the Olympics is a prestigious costly event for 2012 that is not to be undermined. The authorities will devises an excuse to strengthen the laws of assembly, coordination of group action, dress, lock downs and pre-emptive intelligence on undesirables. 

Although there are a too few good examples of social economic order in other countries, that have over time built a more equitable society, the UK is not on a path of enlightened social reconstruction. The ability to address the background causes of such outbreaks is beyond the ability of the current administrative construct. Indeed for many years no government has applied consistent means to address the root causes although much verbal emolument has been spread over their superficial sorrow. It might also be said that there is considered an oppressive minority to whom it is an anathema to consider that the UK has developed, in part, a dysfunctional and inequitable society, refusing to condemn the miss-appropriation of the wealth of the county in which the rich become richer and the poor more so; a trend that will become worse. There is a large vested interest operating to ignore the impact of the social economic engineering of the past 40 years that has been undertaken made to benefit the global economic shift and a decreasing percentage of the affluent population in favour of maintaining a grasp on the remaining resources.

There is a unresolved struggle between the ‘right’ that see themselves as the guardian of the work ethic, self reliance, heritage privilege, independent and individual fiscal prudence and little state control of anything other than that to benefit its own interest. VS. the ‘left’  as progressive socialist, managed state control, profligate, rewards sloth pomp’s equality and reviles against those that control capital.  

Both are locked with a stance of opportunist dogmatic views expressed to garner support from their fringes and have little relevance to the norms of the extant social interaction. Yet they are a powerful force on the direction of subsequent policies despite consistent extensive empirical evidence that their views are unbalanced and ultimately destructive.  It is more important to be in power and discredit opposing views than be wrong, rather but do what is necessary. This is allowed to remain the situation of tension for as long as there is a lack of popular political education and a useful dysfunctional and flawed democratic system.

However what has any of this got to do with the sense of  uncalled for destruction and an English ‘spring’? In comparison to the strap line given to the surprising actions that have occurred in other countries, there may be no direct link for cause and effect but there is the obvious dynamics that it can happen. For instance, that sense attached to the “Arab Spring”.  A people conflict rise against administrative oppression caused by despots and dictatorships that opposes ‘freedoms’ which in the past is a situation largely legitimised by indifference and self interest from the west, with recent public dissenting action tacitly now supported by (cautiously) the west. A similar ‘sense’ of hopeful purpose not extended to the events occurring in Greece. A country that is undergoing a analogous growth in public action and dissent caused by mal-administration, structural vested interest, engorging expenditure without controlling oversight and to now impoverish many giving a explosive rise against created financial oppression.

Now although the English riots are quelled, punishment exuded and steps taken to understand the mechanism of the build up to the riots to forestall anymore, the events are not read with any positive sense and are more a pointer to the Autumn of England’s days, which may yet lead to a ‘spring’. 

© Renot 2011

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