According to a report due to go before the government that examines the underlying social problems that led to this months riots in London and other major cities, has cited a mistrust of politicans as a "major factor"
The report There will be Burning and A-Looting Tonight put together by researchers at Essex Univeristy and Royal Holloway University says that, though poverty and lax moral standards were also a factor in people's decision to riot, a dislike and mistrust of the Government and Polticians in general seems to have been the biggest reason.
It states that politicians are seen as a "class apart" who abide "by their own rules" and also warns that mesures used to punish rioters such as stripping them of their benefits will only backfire and lead to a further alienation of certain sections of society.
But then this really isn't suprising is it? It was the Banks that caused the recession, but the working classes who had to pay the price and accept the cuts to their salaries and benefits while those responsible (such as Fred Goodwin) escape with six figure pay outs and pensions (in Goodwins case amounting to an intial £700,000 per year).
The Banking Crisis and the subsequent Expenses Scandal have from an outside perspective seem to have shown that politicans and others at the top of society are (to use their own favourite phrase) ring fenced from the rest of society and allowed to do what they want and to take what they want without adequate punishment when they are caught. And if that is the case, say those further down the society ladder, than why shouldn't we be able to do the same.
I'm not saying this is the right attidue and I'm certainly not condoing it - rioting and looting are of course never the right course of action and arson is beyond the pale - but I can certainly see why people may think this way. And as each election only seems to bring in a government that is as bad as the last I can understand why they didn't feel like waiting for polling day to make their feelings known.
When news of this report reached Whitehall it - as you would probably expect - showed the major differences between the three major parties. Mr Milliband and Mr Clegg representing Labour and the Lib Dems respectivly were more open minded about whether alienation played a role in the riots with Mr Clegg saying that " the perception that politicans, bankers and others at the top were "getting away with it" may have been a factor in the rioters ignoring the "rules of the game" as well." Downing Street on the other hand played down the idea with a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister saying "One can speculate but we are not necessarily going to know exactly what the causes were."
Now while I'm happy to see the Lib Dems speaking their mind for a change, in this instance I would be happier if their opinion was also the opinion of the Coalition. They are after all the ones who need to make sure, that something like the Riots don't happen again.
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Sunday 28 August 2011
Libya - What Next
So. Libya's Rebel Movement has finally captured the capital of Tripoli. The National Transitional Council is moving in and Gaddafi is on the run. I think the first thing we need to do is look at how what many people are calling Libya's Civil War came about.
The first thing that must be understood is that while the events in Libya were born out of the same types of protests that toppled Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, things in Libya turned out differently due to the character of Colonel Mummar Gaddafi. For starters Gaddafi held power for over forty years, longer than either Ben-Ali or Mubarak. Thus he had longer to cement his position and more to lose if he was toppled by protesters.
Thus when the protests began - peacefully as all the others were - Gaddafi had no trouble sending in the Military, who of course support him. As in Zimbabwe us Mugabi the Military in Libya has a very comfortable existence under Gaddafi and do not wish to see him gone. These intial protests took place in the eastern city of Bengazi, located on the other side of the country from Triopli and far removed from Gaddafi's stranglehold. When protests turned violent the citizens of Bengazi quickly overwhelmed the authorites and declared their oppistion to the Gaddafi regime. Other towns followed and soon what had been minor protests blossomed into a full blown revolution.
At first it was a distnticly amature rebellion, made up of civilians and occasional army defectors armed with weapons pillaged from military bases. Though they were able to capture several towns, they were no real threat. Hence the decision of the UN to insitiute a No Fly Zone around Libya to reduce Gaddafi's ability to bomb either the rebels or civilians who he had already targeted. A new government formed, the National Transitional Council which claimed to represent the views of the Rebellion.
So now after a long and arduous six months, the Rebels have control of Tripoli and have even over run Gaddafi's bunker. While there are still some pockets of fighting and they have to take control of all of Tripoli, the message is clear. The Gaddafi regime has fallen.
But now as the people of Libya look to the future two important questions spring to the fore.
1: How do you solve a problem like Colonel Gaddafi?
Gaddafi it appears got out of Tripoli when the rebels arrived. I'm not suprised frankly. If you've been a brutal dictator for forty years, the first thing you do is plan an escape route when the inevitable revolution comes. Most people believe he is now holed up in his home town of Sirte, surrounded by those still loyal to him. Today it has emerged that he has offered to engage in talks about an orderly transtion of power. Though some how I can't imagine that Gaddafi will just hand over power without a fight, so he must be searching for an angle.
The general expectation was that he would fight to the death - he said as much on the radio - but now a possiblity of surrender seems likely. In which case what happens once he is caught. The International Criminal Court would like to try him I suspect for various types of War Crimes, but I suspect what will actually happen is that he will be tried and either imprisoned or executed in Libya. It would act as closure for the Libyan people.
2: What Happens Next.
So far the National Transtional Council has not had to think about how to run the country. It has mostly been preocupied with running the civil war and the towns that is has taken over have had infrastructures already in place. But now that they have Tripoli, they have to restore water and power and create jobs and an infrastructure from the ground up. It has asked the UN to release millions of dollars worth of Gaddafi regime money that was frozen when fighting began but even that will take time to filter through.
What ever happens one thing is clear. Things in Libya are going to change. But whether for the worse or the better we will only know in time.
The first thing that must be understood is that while the events in Libya were born out of the same types of protests that toppled Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, things in Libya turned out differently due to the character of Colonel Mummar Gaddafi. For starters Gaddafi held power for over forty years, longer than either Ben-Ali or Mubarak. Thus he had longer to cement his position and more to lose if he was toppled by protesters.
Thus when the protests began - peacefully as all the others were - Gaddafi had no trouble sending in the Military, who of course support him. As in Zimbabwe us Mugabi the Military in Libya has a very comfortable existence under Gaddafi and do not wish to see him gone. These intial protests took place in the eastern city of Bengazi, located on the other side of the country from Triopli and far removed from Gaddafi's stranglehold. When protests turned violent the citizens of Bengazi quickly overwhelmed the authorites and declared their oppistion to the Gaddafi regime. Other towns followed and soon what had been minor protests blossomed into a full blown revolution.
At first it was a distnticly amature rebellion, made up of civilians and occasional army defectors armed with weapons pillaged from military bases. Though they were able to capture several towns, they were no real threat. Hence the decision of the UN to insitiute a No Fly Zone around Libya to reduce Gaddafi's ability to bomb either the rebels or civilians who he had already targeted. A new government formed, the National Transitional Council which claimed to represent the views of the Rebellion.
So now after a long and arduous six months, the Rebels have control of Tripoli and have even over run Gaddafi's bunker. While there are still some pockets of fighting and they have to take control of all of Tripoli, the message is clear. The Gaddafi regime has fallen.
But now as the people of Libya look to the future two important questions spring to the fore.
1: How do you solve a problem like Colonel Gaddafi?
Gaddafi it appears got out of Tripoli when the rebels arrived. I'm not suprised frankly. If you've been a brutal dictator for forty years, the first thing you do is plan an escape route when the inevitable revolution comes. Most people believe he is now holed up in his home town of Sirte, surrounded by those still loyal to him. Today it has emerged that he has offered to engage in talks about an orderly transtion of power. Though some how I can't imagine that Gaddafi will just hand over power without a fight, so he must be searching for an angle.
The general expectation was that he would fight to the death - he said as much on the radio - but now a possiblity of surrender seems likely. In which case what happens once he is caught. The International Criminal Court would like to try him I suspect for various types of War Crimes, but I suspect what will actually happen is that he will be tried and either imprisoned or executed in Libya. It would act as closure for the Libyan people.
2: What Happens Next.
So far the National Transtional Council has not had to think about how to run the country. It has mostly been preocupied with running the civil war and the towns that is has taken over have had infrastructures already in place. But now that they have Tripoli, they have to restore water and power and create jobs and an infrastructure from the ground up. It has asked the UN to release millions of dollars worth of Gaddafi regime money that was frozen when fighting began but even that will take time to filter through.
What ever happens one thing is clear. Things in Libya are going to change. But whether for the worse or the better we will only know in time.
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Strong in the Face of Adversity
It's been a hard few days for the people of London and the people of the UK. With less than a year to go until the 2012 Olympics, and with representatives from countries across the world here for Olympic heats, the nation that has been put on display is not a friendly, open and tolerant nation, but one supposedly filled with mindless, opportunistic thugs.
I don't think any person who has see the news or read the newspapers in the last few days is ever going to forget this image. I know I won't
Reeves Furniture Store, a shop that has been in buisness for over a hundred and fifty years being burned to the ground, live on the nightly news. And now of course the violence has spread out of the capital to this countries other major cities. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool all experiencing acts of copy cat violence.
But that's not what I want to talk about today. What I want to talk about is the good that has come out of this.
Call it The Big Society, call it Community Spirit, call it The British Spirit, but the British have never been a people to lie dowin the face of adversity. When faced with trouble, we simply roll up our sleeves and keep going, pulling together and helping one other.
It's been that way since long before I was born, the Blitz spirit being a prime example from the Second World War. We are a country for whom the phrase "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" could have been invented. And the UK Riots haven't changed that.
The media has often pointed out over the last three days how it is modern social networking site such as Twitter and Facebook that have allowed the rioters and looters to organize themselves. But yesterday morning as the country reeled in the wake of a third night of violence I awoke to discover that a group of people had decided the time had come to both do something about the rioting and to take back our social networks. I awoke to the glorious hash tag #riotcleanup.
Across London and across the country people were fighting the rioters. Not with sticks or stones or violence, but with brooms, cups of tea and peace. People were donning the rubber gloves and going out to clean up their communities. Going out to show the rioters that no matter what they did, they couldn't frighten people away. They couldn't dampen the British Spirit.
The Riot Clean Up website says that "This is not about the riots. This is about the clean up - Londoners who care, coming together to engender a sense of community," and BBC Journalist Michael Hirst said that at Clapham Junction station there was "Sunshine, high spirits, lots of joking and a community vibe," as three hundred to four hundred volunteers took part in the clean up operation.
This is the London, this is the United Kingdom that I wish the global community could see. Not the riots and the arson and the violence. But the Community Spirit that such action prompts in people.
The Riot Wombles of Central London. This is what being British means.
I have read quotes by people over the last few days saying that the violence and rioting has made them ashamed to be British. And it is shameful. But after seeing images like the one above, after seeing the Police being cheered by onlookers in Clapham Junction, I'm not ashamed.
In fact, I've never been more proud to be British.
I don't think any person who has see the news or read the newspapers in the last few days is ever going to forget this image. I know I won't
Reeves Furniture Store, a shop that has been in buisness for over a hundred and fifty years being burned to the ground, live on the nightly news. And now of course the violence has spread out of the capital to this countries other major cities. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool all experiencing acts of copy cat violence.
But that's not what I want to talk about today. What I want to talk about is the good that has come out of this.
Call it The Big Society, call it Community Spirit, call it The British Spirit, but the British have never been a people to lie dowin the face of adversity. When faced with trouble, we simply roll up our sleeves and keep going, pulling together and helping one other.
It's been that way since long before I was born, the Blitz spirit being a prime example from the Second World War. We are a country for whom the phrase "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" could have been invented. And the UK Riots haven't changed that.
The media has often pointed out over the last three days how it is modern social networking site such as Twitter and Facebook that have allowed the rioters and looters to organize themselves. But yesterday morning as the country reeled in the wake of a third night of violence I awoke to discover that a group of people had decided the time had come to both do something about the rioting and to take back our social networks. I awoke to the glorious hash tag #riotcleanup.
Across London and across the country people were fighting the rioters. Not with sticks or stones or violence, but with brooms, cups of tea and peace. People were donning the rubber gloves and going out to clean up their communities. Going out to show the rioters that no matter what they did, they couldn't frighten people away. They couldn't dampen the British Spirit.
The Riot Clean Up website says that "This is not about the riots. This is about the clean up - Londoners who care, coming together to engender a sense of community," and BBC Journalist Michael Hirst said that at Clapham Junction station there was "Sunshine, high spirits, lots of joking and a community vibe," as three hundred to four hundred volunteers took part in the clean up operation.
This is the London, this is the United Kingdom that I wish the global community could see. Not the riots and the arson and the violence. But the Community Spirit that such action prompts in people.
The Riot Wombles of Central London. This is what being British means.
I have read quotes by people over the last few days saying that the violence and rioting has made them ashamed to be British. And it is shameful. But after seeing images like the one above, after seeing the Police being cheered by onlookers in Clapham Junction, I'm not ashamed.
In fact, I've never been more proud to be British.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
London Riots
I posted this to LJ last night but I think it should go here as well.
Mob mentality makes people do stupid things. When we get down to brass tacks that is why this is happening.
Let's break this down.
1: Last Thursday a Tottenham local Mark Duggan was killed during a Police operation. There is a chance he may have been shot by police. The Internal Police Complaints Commision are now investingating what happened.
2: On Saturday night a group of people marched to Tottenham Police Staion in order to protest over the shooting of Mark Duggan. This was a peacefull protest.
3: All hell broke loose.
Somehow the peaceful protest turned into a riot. No one knows how and no one knows why but it did. Shops were set alight and looting occured. Turning on the news on Sunday morning I was shocked and appalled. There didn't seem to be any point to it. What good does trashing your neighbourhood do?
And now. Now we're into the third night of rioting which has spread across a large section of London. There are now riots and spots of violence in Croydon, Lewisham, Peckham, Tottenham, Haringey, Islington, Oxford Circus, Hackeny, Southwark, Clapham, East Ham and Ealing. Buildings are alight and the Looters are out and about once again.
It seems as if the politicians have finally got their act together with the the Home Secretary back in the country and the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister returning from their holidays. In fact since I wrote this last night, Cameron has returned to London and chaired a meeting of COBRA.
But the question is. What is the point of all this?
As usually this is being blamed on disenfranchiesd youth (the Daily Mail will have a field day) and quite frankly I would like to grab the ring leaders by the neck, shake them very hard and ask them what they think they are doing.
My friend sea_thoughts has this to say, "Lack of housing + lack of jobs = lack of mobility = tinder waiting for a spark" which I suppose makes sense in a way. Times have been very hard in the last few months with unemployment on the rise and the goverment cuts hitting people hard. But how exactly does going out and trashing your local Curries while setting fire to buses get you a job. How does it improve the global finacial situation? How does it create jobs? The answer is it doesn't.
To quote the MP Diana Abbot, "These people are trashing their own community. Who would invest here, who would create jobs?" The answer is of course no one. No company in their right mind is going to come and set up in shop in an area where this type of thing can happen. They will go far far away quite possible to other countries.
If people really want to create jobs then they need to work together to show that their communities are friendly welcoming places which any buisness would be happy to start up and create a branch. They need to show that they are proud of their community.
Somepeople will compare this to the Student Protests and the riots that followed them that occured earlier in the year. But to quote phantomreviewer, ""this is nothing like the Student Protests, this is pure and unjustifiable anarchy" The Student Protests had an aim. They wanted to convince the goverment not to raise university fees. Then they got hijacked by morons. The protests on Saturday in Tottenham had a point. Then they got hijacked by morons.
This. This has no point. This is just anarchy .
To quote Mike Fisher, the head of Croyden Council "This is just mindless thugs who probably have never even heard of Mark Duggan." To quote phantomreviewer again "This is absurd."
Acting like this isn't doing anybody good. All it is doing is harming people.
It's harming London.
Mob mentality makes people do stupid things. When we get down to brass tacks that is why this is happening.
Let's break this down.
1: Last Thursday a Tottenham local Mark Duggan was killed during a Police operation. There is a chance he may have been shot by police. The Internal Police Complaints Commision are now investingating what happened.
2: On Saturday night a group of people marched to Tottenham Police Staion in order to protest over the shooting of Mark Duggan. This was a peacefull protest.
3: All hell broke loose.
Somehow the peaceful protest turned into a riot. No one knows how and no one knows why but it did. Shops were set alight and looting occured. Turning on the news on Sunday morning I was shocked and appalled. There didn't seem to be any point to it. What good does trashing your neighbourhood do?
And now. Now we're into the third night of rioting which has spread across a large section of London. There are now riots and spots of violence in Croydon, Lewisham, Peckham, Tottenham, Haringey, Islington, Oxford Circus, Hackeny, Southwark, Clapham, East Ham and Ealing. Buildings are alight and the Looters are out and about once again.
It seems as if the politicians have finally got their act together with the the Home Secretary back in the country and the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister returning from their holidays. In fact since I wrote this last night, Cameron has returned to London and chaired a meeting of COBRA.
But the question is. What is the point of all this?
As usually this is being blamed on disenfranchiesd youth (the Daily Mail will have a field day) and quite frankly I would like to grab the ring leaders by the neck, shake them very hard and ask them what they think they are doing.
My friend sea_thoughts has this to say, "Lack of housing + lack of jobs = lack of mobility = tinder waiting for a spark" which I suppose makes sense in a way. Times have been very hard in the last few months with unemployment on the rise and the goverment cuts hitting people hard. But how exactly does going out and trashing your local Curries while setting fire to buses get you a job. How does it improve the global finacial situation? How does it create jobs? The answer is it doesn't.
To quote the MP Diana Abbot, "These people are trashing their own community. Who would invest here, who would create jobs?" The answer is of course no one. No company in their right mind is going to come and set up in shop in an area where this type of thing can happen. They will go far far away quite possible to other countries.
If people really want to create jobs then they need to work together to show that their communities are friendly welcoming places which any buisness would be happy to start up and create a branch. They need to show that they are proud of their community.
Somepeople will compare this to the Student Protests and the riots that followed them that occured earlier in the year. But to quote phantomreviewer, ""this is nothing like the Student Protests, this is pure and unjustifiable anarchy" The Student Protests had an aim. They wanted to convince the goverment not to raise university fees. Then they got hijacked by morons. The protests on Saturday in Tottenham had a point. Then they got hijacked by morons.
This. This has no point. This is just anarchy .
To quote Mike Fisher, the head of Croyden Council "This is just mindless thugs who probably have never even heard of Mark Duggan." To quote phantomreviewer again "This is absurd."
Acting like this isn't doing anybody good. All it is doing is harming people.
It's harming London.
Hey All
So on the advice of a friend, coupled with the fact that I'm hopefully starting a journalism degree in September I've decided to set up a blog for all my political/journalistic musings. (That and if LJ keeps crashing I'd like a backup).
I'm keeping my LJ of course. But it will now be for personal things, reviews and any pieces of writing I care to share. All political ramblings will be here.
So I guess I'll see you around.
Will.
I'm keeping my LJ of course. But it will now be for personal things, reviews and any pieces of writing I care to share. All political ramblings will be here.
So I guess I'll see you around.
Will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)