The blight of Blighty
A Tory in 10 Downing and rioting on the streets: seems like London is having an 80’s flashback. The spark that set off this powderkeg was the killing of Mark Duggan by the Met police, but one would be hard-pressed to find a plunderer in this smash-and-grab fest who could even name that unfortunate young man. As rioting has spread, it seems there is very little method to this madness. Three Pakistani men too lost their lives in this insanity as they attempted to safeguard their communities from the onslaught of violence.
Statements by politicos linking the rioting to spending cuts are fallacious. It would be wrong to forge a link between the disaffected’s nicking spree and the government’s recent policy reform. And much of the ire has been directed at the policing failure of the Met and its reluctance to jump into the fray. Cameron has been criticised more for not deploying the police sooner and authorising the use of water cannons and rubber bullets earlier than for his austerity drive.
But the political ramifications will come. While this nihilistic rioting may not be politically motivated, it must be situated in the larger sociopolitical context. There is after all a bigger picture. The profile of the average looter is not hard to peg: a disenfranchised, unemployed youth looking to assuage his/her sense of entitlement. Idle mind; devil’s workshop etc. The Tories will maintain that it is the culture of dependence fostered by doling out welfare and the fracturing familial structure while the liberals will counter that it’s the neo-liberalism fuelled inequality and lack of welfare that is adding fuel to the fire. Be what it may, the nation will be left with a bad case of PTSD and will have yawning ruptures to heal within its society and national psyche.
Meanwhile, our hearts go out to the Pakistani men taken by this lunacy. The Pakistani government must ensure that justice is done. Some of us here have experienced a very misplaced sense of vindication and schadenfreude at the fires in London and it’s unfortunate. Because, despite some very sorry stereotyping exhibited by media outlets in Britain, British society has flashed signs of the inclusive multiculturalism it’s known for. It was expressed too in the moving statement of Tariq Jahan as he exhorted peace not revenge for the death of his son. A noble sentiment and well worth following.
