Another butterfly flaps it’s wings….A man is shot dead by police in Tottenham, London on Thursday and a neighbourhood explodes with rioting and looting on Saturday night. The family had been ill informed by the police about the circumstances of his death, and held a peaceful demonstration, that hours later turned to violence, which the police appeared ill prepared for. It would appear that lessons of history are ignored. (Tottenham exploded in 1985, that also was the result of a death at the hands of the police.) Perhapes if the police had been more open with the family of the man shot by officers as to what happened, they would not have felt the need to hold the initial demonstration, or perhaps the police daren’t have told the truth, because there was something dodgy about it, and they knew people would react by…. Rioting and Looting! Big chain stores were legitimate targets, but the local shops run by local people were not.
On Sunday night ‘copy cat’ disorder and destruction took place in numerous London boroughs.
These events are further evidence that their system is failing. Those that can’t compete are resorted to ‘cheating’ and getting what they want by any means necessary. The police are under resourced to deal with situations because of cut backs.
Some are calling for the Prime Minister to return from his holiday. Quite what good that’s gonna do I don’t know, it’s the politicians policies that help cause the problems, and that’s not an excuse….That’s a fact. From the breakdown of the family and the community to a country of have and have nots. Its easy for those to look, and see what’s wrong with the smaller picture rather than the big one. If what happened this weekend in London is reported as 'mindless violence' does that make the Student Protests earlier this year 'intelligent violence'? No because in their eyes all violence committed by the people is mindless, but state violence; wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia is justified violence, as is the shooting of people by the police.
London’s burning….What a great advert for their Olympic Games in 2012. How about some new events; The 100 metres dash while carrying a 40" flat screen TV or who can throw a petrol bomb the furthest.
On Sunday night ‘copy cat’ disorder and destruction took place in numerous London boroughs.
These events are further evidence that their system is failing. Those that can’t compete are resorted to ‘cheating’ and getting what they want by any means necessary. The police are under resourced to deal with situations because of cut backs.
Some are calling for the Prime Minister to return from his holiday. Quite what good that’s gonna do I don’t know, it’s the politicians policies that help cause the problems, and that’s not an excuse….That’s a fact. From the breakdown of the family and the community to a country of have and have nots. Its easy for those to look, and see what’s wrong with the smaller picture rather than the big one. If what happened this weekend in London is reported as 'mindless violence' does that make the Student Protests earlier this year 'intelligent violence'? No because in their eyes all violence committed by the people is mindless, but state violence; wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia is justified violence, as is the shooting of people by the police.
London’s burning….What a great advert for their Olympic Games in 2012. How about some new events; The 100 metres dash while carrying a 40" flat screen TV or who can throw a petrol bomb the furthest.
my daughter is stuck in birmingham at the moment she says they are smashing shops and looting.it just proves it has nothing to do with the bloke who was shot its just thugs and robbers rule our streets now i come from a poor family in a poor run down shit hole but ive never stole anything in my life all you ever hear is its not there fault they come from a deprived area and are poor or picked on yet they all have computers and mobile phones they dont know what its like to be poor,
ReplyDeleteHum...I guess all those guys smashing shops aand looting just want some clothes and jeans to do the revolution. I mean they need first a great custom to look great on the pics. Why don't they go to the police stations to protest or try to burn down the big ben? The next day many people will go to work and they will find they have lost their work cause crazy people destroy the only way they had to make some money and try to live. That kind of acts are useless.
ReplyDeleteRioting-the unbeatable high
ReplyDeleteAdrenalin shoots your nerves to the sky
Everyone knows this town is gonna blow
And it's all gonna blow right now:.
Now you can smash all the windows that you want
All you really need are some friends and a rock
Throwing a brick never felt so damn good
Smash more glass
Scream with a laugh
And wallow with the crowds
Watch them kicking peoples' ass
But you get to the place
Where the real slavedrivers live
It's walled off by the riot squad
Aiming guns right at your head
So you turn right around
And play right into their hands
And set your own neighbourhood
Burning to the ground instead
[Chorus]
Riot-the unbeatable high
Riot-shoots your nerves to the sky
Riot-playing into their hands
Tomorrow you're homeless
Tonight it's a blast
Get your kicks in quick
They're callin' the national guard
Now could be your only chance
To torch a police car
Climb the roof, kick the siren in
And jump and yelp for joy
Quickly-dive back in the crowd
Slip away, now don't get caught
Let's loot the spiffy hi-fi store
Grab as much as you can hold
Pray your full arms don't fall off
Here comes the owner with a gun
[Chorus]
The barricades spring up from nowhere
Cops in helmets line the lines
Shotguns prod into your bellies
The trigger fingers want an excuse
Now
The raging mob has lost its nerve
There's more of us but who goes first
No one dares to cross the line
The cops know that they've won
It's all over but not quite
The pigs have just begun to fight
They club your heads, kick your teeth
Police can riot all that they please
[Chorus]
Tomorrow you're homeless
Tonight it's a blast
Jello Biafra / Dead Kennedys
Easy to focus on the looters and the greed on display. Maybe too easy.
ReplyDeletehttp://itsaxxxxthing.blogspot.com/2011/08/londons-burning.html
They don’t appear to be rioting *against* anything particular as far as I can see. You could say the looting is a protest against capitalism and consumerism I suppose, but that would be stretching it a bit. Oh well, at least Dave had to cut short his tennis lessons in Tuscany, that must have pissed him off, so some goods come of it all. Re: all the Clash quotes, I seem to recall MJ being openly critical of the riots in the early eighties, in particular the innate senselessness of smashing up your own area.
ReplyDeleteThere's no excuse.
ReplyDeleteUsing this poor familys loss/distress for rioting/looting.
The arseholes need rounding up, put in a field, and wiped from the face of this earth.