In the aftermath of the London Riots, the David Cameron government seems convinced that it's "gangs" that organized and coordinated the violence, but are gangs simply the scapegoats of a wider problem? by Bill Gee
(centrist)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
In the aftermath of the worst rioting in London this century, justice has been swift and severe. From the time the riots broke out, the authorities blamed “gangs of youth” for coordinating the attacks via Blackberry Messenger, a service that is not monitored by police. The popular view is that the gangs used the messenger service to locate targets, gather their followers, and coordinate their looting efforts. Other young people, caught up in the frenzy of mob violence either joined the gangs in their looting or took to the streets on their own. Now that the violence is over, images from closed-circuit television cameras are being used to convict thousands of young people.
“It’s criminality”, says British Prime Minister David Cameron via BBC. As such, he promised that justice would be swift and severe and that he would not view this as a social uprising.
Gangs – Really?
Let us first take the British Government’s first argument that the attacks were started by organized gangs in London. Despite several so-called eyewitness accounts of young black men in hoodies converging at Footlocker (someone said at one store he saw a van pull up in front of the store), there is no real hard evidence that gang “elders” coordinated these attacks. On the contrary, Professor John Pitts, a criminologist, told BBC that looting during a riot is “bad for business” for London’s gangs. That’s because the primary business model for gangs in London is the selling of drugs. Why steal a £100 pair of sneakers in full view of police and TV cameras when you can make £1,000 selling drugs on a street corner?
If not Gangs, then “Drunk Hoodlums”
So if London’s gangs were not involved, then perhaps it was “drunk hoodlums with nothing else to do”. On the surface that may sound like a logical explanation, but again it does not make sense. The areas of London most affected by the rioting have the highest unemployment rates, between 10.91% and 15.71%. When you factor in that most young people are considered “unemployed non-claimants” or “inactive claimants”, which means they do not figure into the unemployment statistic, the numbers are more likely to be in the range of 25% to 40%. Most unemployed youth have been forced to move back home with their parents and most do not go out to the pubs at night as a single pint will cost you about £2.50. Therefore, while many young people were drunk after the riots began as they started looting the pubs and liquor stores, it is most likely they didn’t start out that way.
The more likely culprit of the violence is what I described in my earlier column on this subject. That is, pent up frustration combined with gripping boredom and a social networking culture that allows a wide range of people to communicate, commiserate, and ultimately coordinate and conspire to “get back at the man”. (Sounds a little bit like a social uprising or a revolution, doesn't it?)
Reacting Badly
So what’s the government doing to address the pent up anger and frustration of their young people? Are they recognizing that their program of high taxation and extreme austerity is creating an atmosphere of civil unrest? No – they have chosen to blame all of this on “gangs” and “hoodlums”, and they have started to turn London into a police state in order to deal with the unrest.
Uneven Sentencing
According to the BBC, more than 3,000 people have been arrested in connection to the riots, mostly using London’s extensive use of closed-circuit TV cameras to identify those who were involved. Of the 3,000, roughly 1,500 have already appeared in court. 21% of them are under 18 years-old, 90% of them are male, and 65% of them have been remanded to custody pending trial.
For those who have pleaded guilty, sentencing has been harsh and uneven. According to PRI’s The World, in one courthouse, a man was sentenced to a day in jail for stealing two tee-shirts from a store while on the same day another was sentenced to six months for stealing a case of bottled water. There is widespread evidence that sentencing guidelines are being flatly ignored by judges as rioters are receiving 18-month sentences for handling, not actually stealing, stolen goods. The State is clearly attempting to scare would-be rioters from taking to the streets again by making examples of those who were caught. It may just work for a while.
Conspiracy Theories & Reality
Some have made the argument that the UK Government is using the London Riots as an excuse to further a police-state agenda. They use the example of the 9/11 terror attacks as the excuse for America to pass the Patriot Act and extend American military might. That this is the plan for a State on the brink of failure.
Personally, I generally do not believe in conspiracy theories. I recall quite clearly on the day of 9/11 thinking that the events of that day would lead to war and a reduction of civil liberties, but that was because I know our history well enough that when events like that occur, that is the general reaction of the government. In this case, I do believe that the UK Government is moving toward more of a Police State, but not because the Cameron Parliament intentionally instigated the riots, but more because of their own inability to face the reality that their people are suffering, or they know they are suffering and they feel as though there is nothing they can do about it.
Looking Ahead
In the short-run, the London Riots of 2011 will fall into the history books and those unfortunate young people who got caught up in the excitement will be made to pay the consequences. Ironically, the cost to the British Government will be very high in terms of processing the thousands of arrests, trials and harsh sentences. In all likelihood, most of those arrested will be released from jail within six months due to reduced sentences for good behavior, appeals, or acquittals due to lack of evidence. It is unreasonable for the government to hold all of those arrested in jail for 18 months or more due to the fact that the British justice system simply does not have the resources to do so.
Meanwhile, unemployment will continue to climb both in the UK and elsewhere in the Western Industrialized World. Resentment against the government will grow, inflation and austerity will cause further shortages in essential services, and more rioting will break out in other cities. The Western Governments will try to contain the violence by fist blaming it on gangs, hoodlums, immigrants and criminals, (just like the Nazis blamed the Jews in the 1930s) but with resources already stretched to the breaking point, we are likely to see a fall of civil order in our major urban centers.
What happens after that, who knows? If history is an indicator, it does not look good but hopefully we’ve learned our lessons from WWII.
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Posted By: Bill Gee
Date: October 4, 2011 12:27:09 PM
Let us hope that those who are now mobilizing the "Occupy..." movement don't face the same injustice faced by those in London. If they can keep the protests peaceful, there is hope.
