Riots, scapegoats and reactionary views

[Quail]

I apologise if what I'm going to write has already been covered. It's difficult to keep track of all the threads about the riots in the UK.

I've been speaking to my family about the riots and trying to explain the social conditions that could have led to people taking to the streets in such a way and to be honest, I've got absolutely nowhere.

Firstly, they equate my analysing why this might have happened (i.e. poverty, police harassment and brutality, etc) with supporting, excusing and justifying doing damage to communities and people's homes and other things which are damaging to the working class. I personally see the riots as an undirected or misdirected expression of underlying tensions. There might be people who are "just jumping on the bandwagon" or "doing it for the fun of it" but the working class have genuine cause to be angry. You can't expect people to bear the social problems that exist in such an unequal society forever. At some point they have to break.
This is a problem because it's difficult to explain to people why the riots are happening without them immediately reacting badly, if they think that by trying to explain something you're supporting actions that they disagree with. I haven't really found a way to overcome this. It might just be that the people I'm talking to see things in a particularly black and white way, but it seems like an issue that we should be thinking about when trying to win people over to our analysis.

Secondly, I've noticed that there seems to be a surge in support for the police. My family generally take the side of the police, and almost treat whoever is facing the police as guilty until proven innocent. For example when Ian Tomlinson was killed, their immediate reaction was to say, "Well he must have done something to provoke them," and it took a lot of convincing until they came round to the idea of *shock horror* a copper being in the wrong. I know that my facebook newsfeed isn't the most reliable source of information, but I have noticed that there are a lot of groups that are supporting the police, supporting army intervention, severe punishments for rioters, etc. I personally find this quite worrying.

My third observation follows on from the second, and is again facebook-based (sorry haha). I've noticed that there are a lot of racist groups against the rioters (such as "Not looting because I'm white" or whatever along those lines) and also a lot of classism. There are lots of people making comments about "chavs" rioting, and comments suggesting that the rioters are all uneducated. There is a lot of dehumanisation of the rioters. They're not seen as disillusioned young people with no future, or even just people. They're made out to be mindless thugs, the lot of them.

Finally, in a conversation I had earlier with my mother, I said that the riots are a sign that there is something wrong with our society, meaning that the inequality and lack of opportunities (and the whole damn capitalist system) are the root of problems, but what did she blame? Single parent families. It's a popular scapegoat I suppose. I do find it extremely worrying that instead of looking at the bigger picture, people are willing to blame anything/anyone and everything/everyone that isn't the actual cause of social unrest.

I suppose my real point here is that it seems (from my limited perspective) as though these riots are causing people to react by shifting to the right. People are calling for harsher punishments and giving the police more power, blaming scapegoats (and the single mother scapegoat is a dangerous one as it implies that the traditional family structure is healthier for society). I find all of this worrying.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I generally try to ignore internet racists and internet "movements" and/or trends. I'm just a little skeptical of how such things translate into real world sentiments.

Someone posted this quote on @news, though, and I thought it was good:


"Now I wanted to say something about the fact that we have lived over these last two or three summers with agony and we have seen our cities going up in flames. And I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view. I'm absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt. And I feel that we must always work with an effective, powerful weapon and method that brings about tangible results. But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity."

[Red Commissar]

I think this happens anytime you have something like rioting occur, especially if it "upsets" the calm. No matter how much you try to bring attention to the real conditions that brewed the discontent and explosion of anger, it will not be enough to combat what conceptions and ideas the ruling class has put into people, directly or indirectly.

Their mindset follows- People rioting? It must be immigrants or poor people wanting more handouts and angry they don't get any? Why must they burn down their communities to make a point? Shopowners had nothing to do with this! Those scum care nothing for for their condition, they just want to steal! Etc etc ad nauseum.

I'm afraid there's really nothing much that can be done about that mindset. It just demonstrates how much of a grip ruling class has on the way people think and evaluate events. We saw this with the rioting in France some years ago, and the US got it with LA. And each time it seems the prevailing "common sense" was focusing more on seeing this nothing more than criminal activity.

I don't know if it "pushes" people to the right so much as it may reveal those sentiments they've always had but never really had a chance to bring to the foreground until then. When push comes to shove they'll do that.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I was reading the news paper Tuesday at work when the property owner walked in and ask what I was reading (she knows me and is around all the time). I said there's an article on the riots in England. She promptly laughed and said "Those fucking idiots ... biting the hand that feeds them ... they'll learn their place the hard way, I suppose."

It made me extremely angry.
Granted, I should have expected something like that from a bourgeois family.

[Invader Zim]

I don't really know what to think, I don't live in London, Birmingham or Manchester so am at a distance, so I can't really judge for myself the mood or the causes of these riots. My guess, however, is that they are due to a number of factors. Firstly, the injustices and inadequacies in the policing and penal systems that are corrupt, brutal and very often uttely disinterested in addressing the problems in working class areas. Secondly, the impact of severe cuts which have drastically limited the prospects and livelihoods of many young people in Britain (the vandalism to higher-education, the assault on widening access schemes, and the general attacks on any system that may help foster social mobility among individuals of that generation). Thirdly, anger at horrendous class prejudice that lies at the heart of any Tory government, cutting the costs of the rich while attacking the working and lower middle classes at every opportunity.

[Rafiq]

They (the bourgeoisie and their dogs) will try to blame the faults of our societies on a moral failure, on a misuse of our 'free will'.

But little do they know that our choices, our actions, and our behavior is in itself a product of society itself, and society in itself is a product of the mode of production.

Therefore all idealist notions(including morals) are nonsensical, that all morals and norms are merely reflections of the society around it.

Therefore it is a systematic issue and not a moral one.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I suppose my real point here is that it seems (from my limited perspective) as though these riots are causing people to react by shifting to the right. People are calling for harsher punishments and giving the police more power, blaming scapegoats (and the single mother scapegoat is a dangerous one as it implies that the traditional family structure is healthier for society). I find all of this worrying.

Well not being in the UK, I can't say how it is impacting attitudes on the ground, but reading the press from the UK it's apparent to me that it's not meanrly "people" who are calling for these right-wing measures but it's the government officials and politicians who are calling people "opportunistic thugs" and suggesting that they will prosecute minors as adults ("if they are old enough to commit the crime, they are old enough to pay for it").

This is rebellion in a time of austerity and increasing reforms for the poor is simply not on the table in the minds of the ruling class and so their alternative is to try and isolate the rioters and whip up increased racism against them. Of course neglect, isolation, stepped up police measures, and racism are some of the factors leading to this outburst of anger! So it could cause increased anger and more movements or uprisings in the future. It's polarizing and the ruling class seems to be pushing a harsh response and so I'm hearing politicians and reporters all hitting on common themes of "thuggery" and "criminal oppertunism" etc. and so of course many people, confused by this event, are going to also adopt these explanations. But when the dust settles and the underlying problems remain the same, there will also be lots of people out there for whom a left-wing and materialist explanation for why these sorts of things happen will resonate. Hopefully the left in the UK will be able to do some organizing around these issues and against police brutality and so on - that way there more of a chance that these alternative views and explanations can reach some people.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

I suppose my real point here is that it seems (from my limited perspective) as though these riots are causing people to react by shifting to the right. People are calling for harsher punishments and giving the police more power, blaming scapegoats (and the single mother scapegoat is a dangerous one as it implies that the traditional family structure is healthier for society). I find all of this worrying.

In other words, the class struggle intensifies!

But yeah, I agree with everything you have said and have had similar experiences. Attacked from the right by Police-loving, worker-hating Middle Englanders, and from the left by jump-on-the-riot-bandwagon, any-civil-unrest-is-good loving 'lefties'.

I do think that a lot of this comes down to a lack of education, in relation to peoples' attitudes to the police. They obviously don't make the link between the repressive state and the police being on its payroll, and thus cannot draw the conclusion that - just as the state is not a neutral arbiter of power - the police are not neutral enforcers of law and order.

In many ways, this is a sad reflection on the lack of penetration the revolutionary left has made in terms of education. I firmly believe our principles should be 'education, education, education', as opposed to 'agitation, internal-conflict, irrelevance', as it currently is, really.