No-one Predicted a Riot

It seems wrong to continue without making some mention of the fact that last week a huge, fuck off riot hit London and other cities across England.

On a personal level, it was really upsetting to see so many local businesses being hit in an already poor area like Hackney and to hear about residents being terrorised in the streets and on London Fields. A friend of mine living at the heart of it was effectively barricaded inside her home for two days. St Josephs Hospice- based on Mare Street where the trouble began- actually had bricks thrown over the walls. As if stopping people from visiting their dying relatives inside wasn’t bad enough.

Hackney was lucky though when set against the chilling levels to which violence escalated elsewhere. In Croydon a young man was shot in the head whilst in his car. Three men were deliberately mowed down in the street in Birmingham. And a 16 year old boy has just been arrested on suspicion of beating a pensioner to death in Ealing.

It makes me really sad that there are apparently so many horrendous people living in my city and my country. But the sheer numbers of people involved is scary in itself- and with it, the suggestion that this comes back to some fundamentals in human nature.

Psychological studies have found again and again that we are all capable of getting caught up in mob mentality and that ordinary people are capable of partaking in unthinkable atrocities. (Nazi Germany being the prime example of this.)

Whilst I am not excusing the behaviour of rioters, you also have to accept that poverty has always been a massive factor in criminality. And without coming over all Miliband, the crumbling of ethics in this country is and always has radiated from the top down.

The sad thing is that this entire incident is already being harnessed by right wing forces as a justification for further curtailing our civil liberties and scapegoating vulnerable groups. Seems like British politics is gearing up for a big 80s revival.

To help support some of the local groups and businesses who have been affected by the riots in Hackney and elsewhere, please see the links below:

http://riotscleanup.wordpress.com/
http://www.helpsilva.com/