Could the riots in England spread elsewhere in Europe? The authorities in many major cities are scratching their heads. Experience has shown it can happen anywhere and preventive measures involving youth welfare hardly make an impact against well-organised criminal ringleaders.
In fact, no one has any straightforward explanation for the riots and the way they spread like lightning across London and to other English cities. The opposition were quick to point to growing unemployment among the young and - just as in the Netherlands - radical cutbacks affecting youth welfare services. However, speaking in the BBC current affairs programme Newsnight, youth worker Shaun Bailey soon demolished that argument:
"You must understand that the vast majority of young people have nothing to do with this and the vast majority of young people who are involved are just criminals."
Scandal
Yvonne Heselmans, who was involved in a youth project in London for the International Debate Education Association, still see a link with cutbacks in youth welfare in various European countries including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
"They have few prospects and young people are increasingly the largest group in many cities. Despite this, they have little say in politics and decision-making. That creates enormous frustration and I think it's a scandal that funding for youth welfare is being cut this way, particularly when you look at London and the Netherlands."
Discontent
Heselmans does not deny that small-scale criminal gangs are playing an important role in escalating these kinds of disturbances at the point when an incident causes a flare-up. Gangs like these, which have long been familiar from Latin America, are gradually playing a greater role in major European cities. Heselmans is therefore calling for some kind of warning system to identify the risks at an early stage.
"Where are the mechanisms which cause the situation to deteriorate? There are the small criminal groups which are extremely violent, but there is also the discontent among the young. And it's the youth workers, together with the young people themselves, parents and police, who have a good view of what is going down."
Licence to loot
Joost Lanshage, spokesman for the Utrecht Youth Welfare Office, sees no connection at all with the cutbacks in youth welfare:
"I think this is really just a group who have decided for themselves using a variety of media that they have a licence to go looting. That might sound crude but, if you ask me, the whole thing has been blown out of all proportion. And I don't believe we're going to have the same thing in the Netherlands because of the cutbacks."
Following the riots in the Ondiep district of Utrecht in 2007 he was often approached by the media, who wanted to know if the troublemakers were known to his office. Only a few cases were. Lanshage does agree that discontent among young people makes for a dangerous breeding ground.
It is still fairly easy for criminal troublemakers to win the support of large groups of youths in European cities. A relatively minor incident with the police has often proved to be the spark that sets off the powder keg.
(imm)
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Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he nay be in the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species.
In democracies is entitled to go out and protest peacefully against the incorformidades the current government and its failed economic and social policies to the people but should NEVER be reached where violent incidents involving damage to third persons and property of others . what happens in London is but a product of organized delinquency through social networks in many cases. looting, arson and even murder are not part of civic conduct of any citizen in the world, if we change our society there are many ways to do this peacefully but never like this, each and every one of the participants in these acts of vandalism and violence should bring them to justice or condemn. you drop the weight of the law against anyone who tries to destroy the values of a civilized society. through violence.
They rationalized in many ways, but in the last analysis their motivation was greed, pure and simple.
Some looters wear hoodies and baggy pants, others wear expensive suits, ties and shoes!
Vera, you are correct. I bet you those looters in England, who looted the clothing stores, are sagging in their new, but very inexpensive suits, ties, and shoes. I wonder how many of them are to going wear their new clothing in the dock? Criminals normally get a short hair cut and clean themselves before going to court. I wonder why?
Those looters who are wearing expensive suits...the looters of Wall Street, the banks, etc. etc. And they will never see the inside of a jail. Only exception, so far: Maddoff.
They spread their wealth to the politicians. As to Maddoff, I am sure in a couple of years he will have his sentence overturned or reduced. You can bet on it. He is in the penalty box and as long as he doesn't turn over on anyone, he will be released. Why did his friends put him the box? Because they have to appease the public and deflect their crimes. Vera, they take away guns from the public because they are afraid of the repercussions of their crimes against the people. They don't it for public's safety but for theirs. In closing, the British government should have dealt with the looters like they did with the Irish nation and it's freedom fighters in their fight against British tyranny. That will teach them who is in charge! The only difference was: The Irish were fighting for their freedoms within their own land; whereas, a large percentage of those looters were fighting against a government that allowed them to live in England. I bet if the Irish were rioting, the Brits would have bloody the streets with Irish blood!
The riots across England are like riots after an English football match. The losers, usually the English, go into a match thinking they are going to win, just because they are English, and find out the better prepared team beat them. Now, the English fans can not accept the fact they got beat by a better team. So what do they do? They justify to themselves they got cheated (discriminated) by the officials (police) and they go out into the streets and start rioting. Now, did they riot because of the lose to a better team or because the officials (police) discrimianted against them? No, they could not accept the fact they got beat by a better "prepared" team. So, what do they do? They turn their self-induced frustrations into negative actions by murdering and looting innocent people. When standing in the dock, they still can not accept blame for their negative actions. So what do they do? They blame the officials (police) for causing them to riot. Their statements are: "The officials discriminated because we are English." It is their fault we went on a rampage against the public. We are victims! In closing, why didn't all the citizens who live at the "Relative" poverty line riot in the streets of England? Poverty does play a part in why humans act out violently against innocent people but then why do rich people also go out and riot in the streets? In the English riots, the people who committed the crimes didn't do it out of poverty. They did it because they were conditioned to believe the "state" owes them. Who conditioned them? The British government! Why does the government appease them with welfare? To keep them from rioting! Why are they still rioting? Because they have been conditioned to riot in order to justify more welfare and to cover-up their crimes. The present riots and the Broadwater Farm ‘uprising’ were the results of the police doing their jobs. The criminals didn't like it and they instigated the riots and used poverty as an excuse to cover-up the riots. Like one British girl stated on BBC: It was to teach the rich a lesson that we can do what we want and there isn't anything they can do about it. (indirect quote--go to BBC and listen)
For a variety of reasons, marginalised, indigenous and immigrant populations in UK and NL are quite different. However, basic processes of inequality and exclusion from mainstream society have strong similarities. Relative and absolute poverty being the roots of most social ills.
As a social researcher in the mid-1980s, I was witness to the Broadwater Farm ‘uprising’ that culminated in destruction of property – albeit on a smaller scale – and the death of a policeman. Through my professional work, I knew some of the ‘rioters’ and affected families personally and was surprised that the degrees of deprivation, class and racial discrimination and police harassment of disadvantaged communities hadn’t resulted in a major outburst of collective anger earlier.
Researchers such as the epidemiologist, Richard Wilkinson have clearly demonstrated the inevitable, destructive consequences of increasing inequality in the distribution of wealth and opportunity in Anglo-American societies. Over the past 30 years in the UK, the gradually reduction in State investment in all aspects of general social and material infrastructure, a marked shift in the distribution of wealth away from the majority into the pockets of an increasingly well-off minority has characterised the ‘widening gap’ between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spirit-Level-Societies-Almost-Always/dp/18461403...
1. "In fact, no one has any straightforward explanation for the riots and the way they spread like lightning across London and to other English cities." There is a straightforward explanation for the riots in England but the British government has and will skirt around it. What will the British not say is "one of" the major reasons for the riots? Mass immigration, maybe! 2. Why have the riots spread across England? Maybe, because the government fail to react properly and immediately in the protection of the British citizens; and, those criminals then recognised the weakness and resolve of the British government's failure to enforce the law. 4. "A relatively minor incident with the police has often proved to be the spark that sets off the powder keg."....This is exactly why the British government will skirt around the issue of mass immigration by people who care nothing for British laws and customs. It does not want to spark the powder keg it built. The riots are the effects of years of insane government policies on mass immigration of people who have no educational and professional skills. You can't let millions of people enter into country without work skills and expect them to be good and law abiding citizens. You built your house on a foundation of sand and now it is falling down upon you. Riots could ignite anywhere and they all have causes but in this case the cause is: The British government's insane and political correct laws on immigration.
Very sad to see English cities in flames. The rioting youth there or anywhere, cannot get excused because they are jobless and frustrated...they are damaging public property and public trust and sympathy for them...the rioters should be punished.
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