Initially, I felt exhilarated and excited by the idea that Londoners were finally standing up and "raging against the machine", then I felt confused by the apparent extreme indiscriminate way in which the rage was being directed. I couldn't help but think if these "rioters" were focusing on the monuments of oppression and the systems of suppression then I could try to see the validity of their right to fight.
I had always thought that if a day ever came where we could find the thing that gave us the justification so that we all finally stood up and waged war on the structures which have manipulated and orchestrated destruction, then i would see the very edifices that have been the physical manifestation of these symbols fall but instead what i saw was the fall of "Carpet Right"!!
I mean seriously we can only blame ourselves if the message is being somehow lost in translation and the young people coming up have no idea of who and what are the representative of the social inequality which we are all currently living in. Burning local people's businesses and homes just doesn't make sense and to me felt like a real sickness within the psyche running within these communities. Self harm and self hate seem to be apparent in these acts. They are no different to black on black crime.
But let's be clear. We are not the first place to see unhappy citizens raging and rioting for something, i think that in this case no one is quite sure of what that something is, because it's certainly not just about getting some trainers from JD sports.
I, for one, am not jumping on the condemnation wagon because i was not unhappy to see the images of unruly streets and burning buildings. I’m aware that some of us though were secretly wishing that those burning buildings were the buildings representing the halls of power or seats of manipulation or oppression that affect many. Its probably an unpopular opinion but i'm gonna voice it cause its true that this is what some people have expressed.
Now when we look at the context to which these events occurred i feel like there are a number of questions which have to be asked. We live in one of the most watched cities in the world we have innumerable amount of CCTV monitoring our streets and yet they claim they were unable to predict or work out where the rioters were and send the police or fire services to appropriate locations to stop even one of these outbreaks so tell me why the hell we are spending hundreds of millions on these nanny services??
I also have to wonder in the absence of threats from terrorist groups, is this yet another plot to submerge us in the pit of fear and "cold war" tactics? I was wondering if they had sent some undercovers/plain clothes into the midst of these communities to be the trigger for the initial events and being mammals which adhered to the group mentality without thought or conscience. Trust me these tactics are used across the world and after the chaos and the dust settles no-one quite knows who threw the first stone.
and finally as ever the media has their own agenda on what angle their working and what view of the end greater agenda they are pushing the masses too, maybe all those legislation are getting dusty or their a new one waiting in the wings or they just need some form of justification for doing some other bullshit. It will come out in the wash maybe 50 years from now.
All i know is i was embarrassed not only by the rioters but by those of us who allowed the fear to enter and push us to transform our views and way of being to accommodate the mass hysteria which was actually changing the very taste of the air. Lets take a moment to not let the hype creep in and have us acting like fools and pleading for the government to water-canon childrena and bring in the army. These are our communities and our children, our neighbours, our families, our friends, our people and we should have all got together and gone out in mass and stopped what was happening rather than calling those outside of our communities to deal with those who are not just their responsibility.
If we don't want them to decide how to govern us then we have to show them that we can govern ourselves.
Parents are not only responsible for their children, the community has a hand in raising them too. I remember the days when if you were caught on street acting up by someone who knew your parents then you knew you were going home for tough times!! But i acknowledge that right about now we are deeply fragmented community from many different backgrounds but it's time to take it to the old school and start building a new understanding and representation of community to reflect these changing times but with some solid old school principles!!
Stepping down from my soapbox now :)
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