London Riots 2011: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Good Evening guys. There is only one subject of any interest to most people right now if your living in London, and that has been the the events taking place on the streets for the last three days. Never in my lifetime I have seen anarchy in my home city like I have witnessed these last few days.
Whilst reading reports in the newspapers, hearing first hand accounts looking at the shocking images and unfortunately witnessing parts of the madness first hand, I felt a range of different emotions. Anger towards the police, sadness for the victims of crimes, and anger/disappointment at the behaviour of a lot of people vandalising and looting.
Its very easy in cases like this to make an instant judgement of the people committing some of the crazy crimes we have seen but as a BWNG I believe everything must be broken down and analysed properly. I’m from one of these areas; my family and my friends are also and these individuals I see are not alien to me or most of you reading, believe it or not they are normal people. This is not something we can just brush under the carpet, something is wrong and something is happening for people to act this way. In various areas all over London (coincidentally all the poorest boroughs) the streets are packed with people, not a few but masses. These are children, parents, student,s gang members and any type of person you can think of. So why are they rioting and looting?
“A riot is the language of the unheard” - Martin Luther King Jr
I saw this quote on twitter posted by Nicole Black and its simplicity and relevance could not be put any better. I’m a firm believer in cause and effect; people will say that what is going on is not behaviour that fits with what people are trying to achieve but somehow my heart and my head are in conflict over this matter. Regardless of what we think about what’s going on now, we can not escape the underlying issues here. I hear things like “these people need to behave” “why are they embarrassing themselves?” and this makes me wonder 1) what state do people think London is in? and 2) are we realistic about where we live right now? People are poorer, funding for services for the youth are being cut dramatically leaving them on the street and people are being made redundant panicking over financial stability; if you’re shocked I think we must live in a different London.
For something to erupt though we needed an event and that was the shooting of a man in Tottenham on Thursday which provided the emotional catalyst for the events to come. We have two types of people it seems clear now:
1. those who make the rules
2. those who attempt to abide by them
We have reached a point where in the case of the police we have a group who some feel are unaccountable for their actions and when the public present their concerns they feel they are not heard. “They are above the law” I hear many people say and do not abide by the same rules ordinary citizens do.
On Thursday Mark Duggan was shot and killed by our tax-funded London Metropolitan police service, this service which is paid for by the people, to serve the people and ultimately only in existence because of the people seems to have failed us once again. We were informed via the media that he was shot and killed after firing shots at a police officer with a bullet lodged in one of the police officers radios as a result. Last night however Guardian and Sky News informed us the bullet lodged in the radio may have actually been a police issue; something his family had taken into account beforehand. With this in the public domain it is fair to say that the people have a right to question how this service is being run and what they are being told. When did murder become a part of fighting crime? and why do police get away with changing stories that if those officers were a group of normal citizens they would be expecting jail time in excess of 100 years between them?
I can’t jump on my high horse and turn this into a moral crusade about what the public should and should not do because if I’m honest I don’t know and don’t pretend to. All I do is we live in a time where people feel they have no voice and are making a statement which rings louder than anything anybody could have put in speeches via some form of conference, which we have been doing since forever but falls on death ears.
The Good
This situation is not unique to the United Kingdom so we so called privileged people should wake up and realise that we are not special and immune from the ills of society. In Greece masses of people have been rioting, in Syria there have been recent riots also which have turned extremely violent and if I attempt to list every place in the world where there has been a riot in the last month I will have no space on this page for an article. People will say 
these are far more extreme cases which they probably are right in stating but part of the problem is still the same. The fact that we can be humbled and realise we are much further from a peaceful society than we have thought is a good thing because now we know more than ever work is needed.
Chaos is not exclusive to clips of other country’s problems on CNN, its in our backyard too. We now can see the reality of things we were missing and starting asking some questions. Why do we have a foreign policy which gets involved in everybody else’s business fight wars that have nothing to do with us whilst they are ignore their own backyard to such an extent that people are rioting and your police force is weaker than Arsenal’s defence? I know some people will say whatever happened to peaceful protesting, well despite the looters I think most people did exactly what they felt was right. I grew up in a deprived area where police abuse of power was normal towards ethnic minorities and I must admit we accepted it. Nobody saw the police as beneficial to them and they were rarely called to help with our problems because where we lived they only ever served to escalate them. So if you are not happy, confront them and let it be known 
and if I’m honest I’m happy that people will not accept people from their communities being mistreated anymore because you are from an undesirable postcode. If your whispers which turned to shouts and screams were not heard I suggest you try something else and be heard.
“It is better to be violent if violence is in your hearts than to put on the cloak of non violence to cover impotence” – Gandhi
The Bad
The number of people that die in police custody per year in this country is ridiculous and the fact police officers are never charged does not send the right message. The public need credible stories not nonsense you feed to us like we are idiots. What happened to Mark Duggan? Smiley Culture? On a ground level most people will tell you the Tottenham riot started as a peaceful protest when violence towards a teenage girl was what sparked chaos. My job is not to speculate what did and didn’t happen however it would be very naive of people to believe that these riots are unexpected or the result of an isolated event. As said earlier this is not a riot in aid of one shooting, however this must incident must not be forgotten as unfortunately it has been massively overshadowed.
Also after three days of this, where is David Cameron, Nick Clegg or Boris Johnson?
The Ugly
Some people need to take a good honest look at themselves. Why people are burning down structures and businesses beneficial to you are beyond belief. This should not have been seen as an excuse to steal carpet, weave and rob trainers from JD sports. People were sending out broadcasts asking for people to meet up and come and get free stuff and smash things and calling it “fight the power”. This is nothing more than crazy behaviour especially where in some cases you are not looting franchises you are looting small family run businesses these people should be ashamed of themselves. Also the fact that people seem to be obsessed with JD Sports and stores which have plasma Television and MacBook pros makes me feel sad but hey this is the pitfalls of excessive materialism in our society. This started of focused on a sad event for a young man and his family and has turned into mass vandalism and burglary. London needs to examine itself deeply.
Let us remember those who should not be forgot and give our condolences to those who lost homes, businesses, their faith in people and the family of the deceased. R.I.P Mark Duggan, Smiley Culture, Kingsley Burrell Brown and all those whom I have forgot to mention.
Don Kwelu
What are your thoughts?
20 comments on “London Riots 2011: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”
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I have to say i am rather disappointed in this article. I too am a young adult in london suffering from these cuts etc. it has fuelled me to work harder not riot and destroy other people’s livelihoods. Aside from that there is absolutely no justification for this behaviour; and certanily cannot condone how the safety of the general public has been compromised. I believe the death of mr duggan requires investigation but this is not a response to his death this is merely an excuse. I must reiterate again how disappointed i am in your very well covered but most definite attempt at justification for this behaviour.
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@MissP, Ii’m sorry if you feel that’s what im trying to do and i do not intend to offend. This was wrote in relation to the events in Tottenham and was written yesterday, however i am not trying to defend them merely comment on issues we have as a society that should make us worried about today’s youth.This has not happened before and there has been many excuses why now? in the middle of a recession? I stated this also is not just because of a shooting in my opinion in the article. I think its better we acknowledge we have problems and try to fix them as things can get worse.You have hope work hard and feel you have something to offer society which is commendable but too many others seem to have a don’t care attitude and its dangerous.
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Thank you for this!
I’m American but my family lives in the UK (B’ham). I was asking my cousin about the riots and she was really trying to tell me that this is just people wanting an excuse to riot, they are making us black people look bad, and police brutality is very rare in the UK unlike in America –___–. England is not immune to inequality especially among the poor minorities and while I hate that there is looting etc, I hope these riots bring awareness so that these issues can finally be addressed head on. And those suffering in the poor neighborhoods cannot fight by themselves. If there are issues ALL people need to fight to have them heard. Just hope they can learn to do it peacefully. -
miss p – i don’t think he is attempting to justify it but merely explore the complexity of the issue at hand – we have to be honest about what is going on and dismissing the unfortunate violence, vandalism and looting doesn’t do much to get to the source of why a) folks are behaving this way b) why they deem it acceptable.
you may have not chosen such action but some have and instead of condemning these kids to ‘criminality and thuggery’ as the govt/police want to coin them as overlooks that folks act from a space they see/define as legitimate even when others do not believe it to be. as i always say creating context is necessary to understand perspective, all our actions/beliefs/thoughts are rooted in very personal experiences and circumstances and this means yes acknowledging personal/individual and social/collective responsibility as mutually shaping one another.
Don rightly addresses the context of those engaging in the riots as well as addresses the need for Britain to now more than ever be honest about what is going on within communities, across them and overall as a state.
London are burning and from what we can see, as are our children. what is more important – buildings or the children burning them down?
Alice Walker says it best – “A society that ignores a crying child is a doomed society,” – “the most important question in the world is, ‘why is the child crying?’”.
and amidst the flames our children, they are crying.
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A very interesting article and a good read!!!
Now the eruption of this behavior on saturday in tottenham can (for lack of a better word) be justified by the points raised in the article.
If the people who have been rioting and looting from sunday onwards had put half as much thought into their actions as we have in the article and responses then maybe their cries can be (for lack of a better word) justified. But this is the actions of mindless, sheep-like individuals, who have used the last couple days as an excuse for low risk robbery and an occasion to deal with their boredom. They saw the material gain of those in tottenham and have repeated that behaviour, not once in the so called viral bbm’s going round have I seen (not that I’ve seen all, and please do correct me, if I’m mistaken) a message closely linked to political and emotional struggle and fight for inequality, no matter how colokial the messages maybe.
There are deep rooted complex issues linking to this behaviour, but let’s not start by continuing this blame culture of it being someones fault, its the homes from which these people are coming, the lack of thinking that goes into people actions these days (not just at this dramatic extent) and the materialistic culture we’ve been immersed in.
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@Creasy, Very well put, and to my knowledge you are correct well fro what i hv recieved, sensless bb broadcasts saying “bun the gang beef lets get free stuff tv’s etc” Shameful!! A point worth adding definitely was parents must take responsibility too as someone is clearly raising these kids and not educating them well enough to know that degrading yourself for a pair of trainers is not the way AT ALL.
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I have to admit to being somewhat confused by your inclusion of a quote by MLK Jr. – a man who espoused non-violence and peaceful congregation in the face of venomous attitudes, fire hoses, and German shepherds.
It seems almost (and I am perhaps not grasping the contextual use) as though you seem to justify this city-wide violence using the words of a man of peace.-
@Rob Spidle, The context of his use is quite simple really and these are his words I never made them up. He was in support of non violence as was Gandhi whom i also quoted, both men i greatly admire. But these individuals where able to see things were not black and white and because you may not do something yourself does not guarantee others wont either. People are all different and will express themselves in a manner they see fit and he saw that but chose peaceful protest. It is better to attempt to understand and be proactive than to be blind to our societies problems and struggle when being reactive. I am against what the people are doing as he would most definitely also be but condemning it and simply attempting to move on without understand is not the solution. Hence i went for Mlk’s words over that of a violent man because if the most peaceful of men could understand this concept we all should be able too.
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Don Kwelu….. excellent post!
It is good to see that significant issues that are affecting the community are being discussed on BWNG.
There are many reasons as to why particularly children/youth and opportunistic adults in the UK are engaging in such lawlessness. Some may argue that this is a result of poor parenting, lack of morals, fractions in the community/ or a lack of community, peer pressure, idleness, social inequality, lack of resources/services, economic disparities, decades of robust and heavy handed policing of specific ethnic minority groups and areas, poor life chances, intertwined with sheer criminality……the list is extensive.
However, I am not one to make excuses for outright criminal activity of which I have seen.
Sadly, I have come to the sad realisation that POVERTY, SOCIAL DEPRIVATION, IDLENESS and our hunger of MATERIALISM, is something that needs to highlighted as one of the core roots involved in the hive of criminal activity currently taking place.
What is more disappointing is that people are rioting without a cause………
If the numbers of people that organised themselves in the many different London areas to rob 3D LCD TVs, Rice, Weave, Trainers & ATMS….decided to attend and riot for Mark Duggan’s murder by Tottenham police….I may feel different.
What is more ironic….. is that no book stores seemed to have been looted!
Good post x
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These riots have highlighted a key number of facts and issues in our society today, which like you rightly pointed out has been ignored and shoved under the political carpet.
1) The increasingly unaccountable nature of police in the UK, of which there has been no formal check over the years, and has essentially wielded certain powers outside of their jurisdiction in some local areas more than others
2) This government dont care about common folk – I noticed those MP’s only came back to London from holiday after brixton, tottenham hackney etc had been left to burn. As soon as notting hill became a target they got the first plane back
3) There is poverty in the UK – People are suffering as a result of the recession and with the government having taken away every incentive including down youth schemes, family tax credits etc, some people are left to feel it is every man for himself.
4) The UK school system is messed up – Some of the children they are interviewing dont know sh!t!! One said she was rioting cause of “them government people in control”, the idiot didnt know what the name of the political party was! I mean what do they teach them in those buildings these days….
I dont condone this violence one bit, at the end of the day the people being affected tare the ones who need the most help.
However as has been their attitude with everything else its the government who have essentially left people and their property to burn. If this violence had been stopped from the beggining in the minority areas (which they obviously didnt care to do) they wouldnt have their west end stores slowly getting infultrated #justsaying -
I don’t think your article is condoning the riots Don Kwelu. I think what you have done is highlight potential causes for the majority of the article more than maybe condemning these actions, although it is clear that you do. I think why your article may cause a stir with some is that people seem to be falling into two camps over all of this:
1) This is mindless senseless violence, these people don’t really have a cause they are just the lawless youth.
or
2) The people the understand whether these people engaging in violence are able to articulate a ’cause’ or not there is clearly a cause and clearly some sort of social breakdown has occurred.
Labelling them all as criminals (although clearly their acts are illegal and should be treated as such) who are doing this for no reason is far too easy. Nothing is that simple and things like this don’t just happen for no reason.
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I wouldn’t consider those points mutually exclusive. I agree with the observation of most peoples response, I just don’t think either negates the other. This definitely didn’t happen for no reason and it is a very complex issue. It’s also true how easy it is to vilify these people, and they are people. With mothers, many of whom I’m sure, will be heartbroken at what they’re child is getting into, despite their best efforts. (well ,the kids anyway, I’ve less pity when you’re 30 odd and taking part in this rubbish)
But. Amid the poverty, the poor education system, the recession, institutional racism, government ineptitude and police abuse, many youths, some even friends of the looters, rioters and arsonists; said no. They didn’t take part. They were in the same boat, but they made a decision, and refused to engage in the random destruction and have a go robbery.
There’s very little that can compensate for taking on personal responsibility and having the basic morals to do that.
Of course all the factors i listed before make this kind of thing much more likely, and like Don said the positive aspect is that England will be forced to take a good, hard look at all of these issues and face just how bad things have become. But, rather than the two points you stated above i would rather separate the issue as:
1) Turning around our current societies greatest ills on an institutional, and national scale
or 2) Creating a stronger sense of values and on an individual level
We should strive for both, but a civilization with no flaws may never happen. Instilling a greater strength of character in People i think, is far more attainable. Life should never be this bad, but it will never be perfect.
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”
John F. Kennedy
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The looters stole my game this morning..hold up I never had any to begin with hahahaha. they are gonna be pissed once they open that box and realise its empty….lol
ok *serious face* , I dont wanna get all political, and I wont focus on the riot so to speak but more on the mofo’s looting up the place..ok serious face again ..
I feel a combination of many things have allowed not just london to experience what it has experienced over the last few days however I’ll quickly highlight the under lay…. People just have no fear for authority anymore as we have come to a point where people generally believe they have nothing to lose….i.e. job cuts, no potential prospects, cuts in other general community expenditure…its due that lack of fear which has diminished all traits of rational within thoses involved mental.
ok Don can i kid now ..i joke i joke.
good post bro
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Looking to the future, i think it’s important the government and the people embrace calculated, and long term measures, not just reactionary ones.
I found it surprising, and a bit disturbing how quickly people were demanding plastic bullets and even the army. I’m concerned about the precedence that sets. Making policies in the midst of fear is usually a prelude to regret, not progression.
About these kids themselves, they need help, and truly the best help some of them can get is firstly feeling the consequences of their actions. This ego-centric, self-centred, empowerment based era is just making our youth arrogant and careless. Every body is just out for what they have been convinced they deserve. Whether it’s riches or respect, nobody wants to work for anything. It is, after all, already due to them.
Secondly, they need hope.
“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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I enjoyed your article, and i very much agree with the point that issues should be address rather than pretend that they are not there, as proven by the riots, they are just beneath the surface!
I like most people was outraged at all the destruction that was taking place, but my only question though is why didn’t the police use more force, tear gas for instance, I just think the police could have done so much more, and probably things wouldn’t have escalated to the point they did.
This is just sad =(