The riots that not only set ablaze our tv screens but also the landmarks of London have come to an end. But after everything; all the violence, all the looting and the quick disregard of society's morals, we are left both tainted as Brits and not quite sure how/why it all happened. As the public watched in shock we couldn't quite comprehend how something often associated with far distance oppressed countries had reached our shores. To that end in order to understand what caused the riots we need to understand the people behind it.
The event surrounded the death of a single man, a man who undoubtedly wouldn't have ever dreamt that he would rise to such fame in his death. His demise initially brought about a peaceful demonstration against supposed police brutality, but somehow or another it was hijacked by the thugs of London's inner-city council estates. The rioters then used this platform to commit a level of unprecedented damage and destruction to the street of Britain. Starting in London, the fire soon spread across the country reaching as far as the northern-city of Liverpool. What unfolded beneath us was a mixture of anger, frustation & opportunism fused together all from a section of society that is often ignored. Subsequently the number of arrests have totaled the 2000 figure so I ask you all; did the riots break Britain or have parts of society being broken for a long time?
In fact Prime Minister David Cameron has for some time spoke about how he was going to fix 'Broken Britain' but the reality reflected by the riots is that not only is Britain broken but in the words our beloved PM 'sick'. That is true in certain sections of society but to be fair, it's not just the inner-city council estates of Britain who are broken but the coalition cabinet in it's self. Cameron's massive mismanagement of the riots only re-enforced the lack of resistance the rioters faced on streets considering he was in fact on holiday at the start of the event. Whilst, Theresa May (Home Secretary) only made the police's task harder with her constant interference. But lets overlook Cameron's failure for a second and look at the wider picture; consider that the council estates of Britain are really ablaze with anger, frustration & disgard to civil society; how would one go about fixing it?
Well from the offset the first task would be to identify the source of problem, on a surface level unemployment levels for young people in Britain is extremely high, nearly 1 in 4 are unemployed with prospects only becoming worse. Therefore with this in mind logic would dicate that if a under-privileged young person is unable to contribute to society & feel valued by holding steady paying job he/she will have some form of resentment. In fact many of the thugs rationale when being questioned was that it was 'the government's fault' for (in their minds) failing them. Nonetheless that still doesn't justify the level of violence we saw in the riots, however if this resentment was grow to such a level where the thugs felt like they had nothing to lose then this could have justified the riots (in their minds).
So I ask what could make this resentment explode? Could it be that recent coalition government policies may have affected this resentment, policies such as the tuition fee increase or more significantly the removal of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (that provided key funds for the young people who needed it most inorder to continue in full-time education) which were removed without dialogue (unlike NHS reform) even in the face of large scale protests. Undoubtedly some of Britain's young people are bound to feel disenfranchised with the system that it supposed to support them, especially when consider that these young people have no escape with funding to youth centres virtually non-existant, leaving them to turn into thugs on the streets. Yes these are legitimate concerns for all young people but does that mean everyone facing hardship should just lash out and do as they please without consideration of the implications on the rest of society? No because our morals tell us otherwise.
Generally speaking you have two options; you can justify this catastrophic event on basis that the state had it coming to it for it's lack of concern/attention for this forgotten section of society, or on the basis that these thugs were part of the 'Jeremy Kyle generation' who lacked morals & are evil minded people who saw an opportunity to get a pair of trainers for 'nothing'. In all honesty, I'm more minded to the latter because I am unable to justify of the level of violence caused by the riots on some bottled-up resentment. Yes times are tough but they are for everyone! Whilst if these thugs really feel that the government does not represent them & that they are disenfranchised they should turn to ballot box and vote. After-all we live in a democracy were young men aren't forced to burn themselves alive in order to get their frustration heard (unlike Tunisia). But you make your own mind.
Yet one thing is for sure that the concerns of the young people in Britain need to be heard, there have been some improvements in dialogue with under-privileged communities but there is still a long way to go. And until this dialogue is complete to the extent that the youths of council estates feel like valued & productive members of society, then Britain will remain fractured between two half's; the council estates & everyone else. With the implication being that although another event like the UK riots may never happen it won't be due to the removal of frustration & anger it will be due to a more prepared & experienced police force.
I would also like to note my admiration for the police forces across Britain who proved our politicians wrong and did their job right (& extremely well at that).
All in all, I wonder whether David Cameron still want's to 'hug a hoodie'?