When the police shot 29 year old Mark Duggan dead on Thursday
People's fury at fatal police shooting explodes in flames in Tottenham
night, they couldn’t have expected the anger they would un-leash. Perhaps they picked the wrong man to kill, perhaps people have just seen too many police killings with no justice served. Whatever the reason, this time people had had enough – after 300 gathered on Tottenham High Road demanding justice on Saturday, riots broke out that saw cop cars torched, petrol bombs thrown, corporate chain stores looted and burned to the ground and corporate media equipment smashed. Riots with this much anger and anti-police hatred have not been seen in this country for years, but after the deaths of so many like Ian Tomlinson at the hands of the Met Police, it looks like people have had enough. After similar scenes in San Francisco earlier this year, perhaps it’s time the police forces the world over start to listen to the people and stop using lethal force. The courts might not convict them, but people denied justice are dangerous.
UPDATE: Eyewitness claims the rioting started after police assulted a 16 year old girl asking questions at the origionally peacful demo – hear interview here.
Some reports are claiming that residents have lost their homes to fires started looters hours after origional demo had ended.
Some interesting insights. Not much is talked about here, and the basic questions are not asked, who are these rioters, what economic, social and political problems are there in these marginalised places in the outskirts of London, although now spreading over to Liverpool and Manchester. The media and the headlines seem to concentrate on how this riots have spoiled the holidays of local council pseudo politicians and preventing the joy for holidays of Mr. David Cameron. The other day I watched in BBC how a writer was called a rioter without a single trace of respect for him, about the history of his peaceful struggle to strengthen his community, bring libraries, an adequate education, social welfare, etc (probably but not certain). It is outrageous how the media and the State are treating this riots. Here is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=player_embedded#at=130
One more thing, I totally agree that it is violence felt directly from the State; police forces and special intelligence forces, but I was talking more about the systemic violence that is embedded within the capitalist system; labour that exploits, alienates people, furthermore the social apartheid that is created causes indirectly domestic violence, problems within schools, psychological problems and so on, which is originated from the capitalist system.
Perhaps the riots are part of a larger problem that exist in all big cities, social apartheids that have been created over the years and since modernity; urbanisation, industrialisation and capitalism, forming contemporary marginalized societies in the outskirts of the city. The people that live in these sectors of the city suffer growing levels of unemployment, there’s high social discontent, high levels of poverty, suffering cuts in the public sector and are now basically witnessing and suffering the annihilation of the welfare state, which is part of the systemic crisis of capitalism. This seems at least to me a violent outburst to the systemic violence; exploitation, alienation that humanity suffers that is inherent within the capitalist system, especially during crises. I may be completely wrong, but how could one explain the force and violent reaction (already 3 days of riots) and why has it only been felt in the most marginalised zones in London? I’ve just heard that it is spread to Birmingham… might this be turned into an uprising and protest having emancipatory qualities???
As much as I would love it to be the case, I don’t think this will evolve into something emancipatory. There’s been too little organisation, the targets haven’t been picked and planned and people have ended up destroying their own neighbourhoods instead of those belonging to the people who caused all this rage. Not that I’m condeming what’s happened – you’re totally right, this has been a backlash against the systematic violence applied by the state to those at the bottom of the pile every single day! Unemployment, high rents, welfare cuts and police brutality – all of it far more violent than property damage, which is what these riots have all been. However, I think we’re about to see the clampdown – more excessive force from the cops, witch hunts in the press and scapgoating all round.
Perhaps if the action moves to Chipping Norton then we’ll start to see something of an uprising…