This photo might a bit explain the ‘yob’ culture Britain is currently facing. Obviously, I am referring the guy at the back (or right) not the one at the front who became a Prime Minister later. Some people call these young kids ‘hoodies’ as they usually wear hoodies as a sign of ‘coolness’ (or a face cover from the CCTV cameras as seen in the UK riots this week).
The incident took place during David Cameron’s visit to a council estate in Manchester, more than 4 years ago, to discuss gun culture within the youth! The teenage made a gun gesture towards David Cameron behind his back, ‘on-high’, full of confidence and other stuff in his other hand. He was later charged with drugs offences.
I personally witnessed abuses in town centres and night buses from drunk or otherwise youth, simply because innocent people dared to complain or even look towards them in the bus while making noise. What about happy slapping? if you have not heard how yobs film people they proudly beat, check this video. This youth culture is a result of failures on both the state and the parents sides. As one rioters put it during a Sky News interview: ‘…it’s about games and fun’, while other one said: ‘I’m watching TV on my new plasma, Christmas came early this year’.
The state should be dealing with the reasons of the problem and not the symptoms. The reasons lie specifically in the fact that certain areas are less socially privileged in terms of employment and education. on the other hand, parents have a certain role to play in this, but the problem is exacerbated when they are not ‘qualified’ to play this role, because of the ‘state-related-reason’ mentioned above! The recent spending cuts of the British government, specially in its welfare offerings are not helping at all. People really got angry when they knew their child or housing benefits will be reduced (although impact is still due to take effect). Many trade unions went on strike too in last year as a protest against the different types of cuts.
This week’s UK riots causes have roots in the social injustice these people are living with, but I can never justify looting a 42″ Plasma TV, or some bottles of wine and ‘ciggies’ (check photo). There should be some moral boundaries here, although I understand that when you do these actions, you probably feel you have nothing to loose.
Although the 2011 riots seem the biggest of all, but let’s not forget this is not first time UK faces such riots. it happened in 1981 due to racial tensions, in 1990 against the Poll Tax, in 2007 against the G20 summit, 2010 the Students riots and many others. Moreover, this country is plagued with football hooliganism with endless examples, with the riots intensity relative the alcohol rates in their rioters bodies.
Anyway, I thought the above background is relevant before putting these riots in the perspective of the ongoing Arab Spring; on the blogosphere level, there was some strange sympathy with the riots (unless you are an anarchist). Some bloggers tried to resemble what happened in Britain to what happened in Egypt this year, when the youth took to the streets to topple their dictator Hosni Mubarak. I think these bloggers were carried away with the ‘Arab Spring spirit’, with a sense of ‘comradery’ and probably little knowledge of the UK social problems; a poor in the UK is richer than the poor in Egypt, with relatively more help from the state. Plus Egyptians were calling for basic human rights, and didn’t burn and loot their local shops on a global scale. Same in Syria where protesters are facing live fire from the security forces, and as far as I know, they are not looting their local markets, and burning down their neighbours cars and properties.
However on the Middle East governments level, the reaction to the riots took a sillier twist with totalitarian regimes calling the UK police to avert using violence, and start ‘dialogue’ with the ‘protesters’ etc. What started as satirical comments on social media turned up to be an opportunity for some countries to pick on Britain in reference to these riots, with really some plain wacky comments. These countries were Iran, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Zimbabwe and China. Note that all of them have ‘great’ records in human rights. Playing the game, Britain responded that they are happy to involve human organisation in monitoring their actions (but still a good idea to push for that anyway!).
Although until yesterday, UK police were still debating if they want to use water cannons or not, these regimes were happily using live cannons with full ammunition against their people when they protested for freedom. In the UK, they arrest rioters (although the judiciary process seems tough and unfair), and don’t shoot them on a full scale, and their Independent Police Complaints Commission investigates whether the police has breached the laws in any way, as curretly happening. The UK police has just been powers to uncover masked faces if they suspect criminal activities (imagine they didn’t have powers to do that).
The main reason the UK riots hasn’t much to do with the Arab Spring is that the people taking to the streets are called rioters, while they are called protesters in the Arab Spring.
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I’m not a ‘hooligan’ and I wear a hoodie. Stereotypes like the ones you have written really do not help. The problem is alot more complex and if you think that all the rioters were drunk then you need to do some more research. There were no student riots in 2010, there were demonstrations, marches and protests, absolutely nothing on the scale of a riot. The riots last week were about alot more than simple financial poverty. Please, check your facts, read about how many people have died in police custody and then tell me how many officers have been held accountable for their actions. Anarchists weren’t the people calling for rioters to be shot dead in the street, for the army to be called in, or for rubber bullets or water canon to be used. There are many injustices in the UK. They may not be the same as in other countries but inequality, discrimination, corruption and poverty still exist and it is always wrong. There is a difference between understanding the causes of the awful actions carried out last week and condoning them.
Thanks for your comment. I actually agree %100 in what you said, I know there are problems with the police, and poverty, and I said that. But my question was about how far you want to go in your reaction, which you haven’t tackled in your answer. Is smashing people’s shops acceptable? Especially when they are everything they own, and are basically their life savings?
I have nothing against hoodies, and I didn’t accuse them of anything, but I am describing general observations. I didn’t accuse anybody of being drunk, but I was talking about hooligans.
Some people feel intimated by hoodies, why? Why criminals cover their face under CCTV? Aren’t these facts? Of course, not everyone with hoodie is bad! But I am highlighting that there is a certain culture that could be better! As I said, I experience it myself like many others.
If you read my post against, you see I sympathise with the rioters cause, but I disagree with actions. So I am not brushing the problems under carpet, which are stated clearly in my post.
Of course I condemn the idiots who were calling the army to intervene too, including some celebrities: Sky News and Piers Morgan.
Just a last word, the post was written in an Arab Spring context, and I still think that Britain’s problems are different from the Arab world’s.
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