No Excuses: The Playstation Revolutionaries
I left hot sunny Malta on Sunday, very much looking forward to enjoy a cup of tea back at my little place off Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, completely oblivious of the scale of the rioting that had kicked off in Tottenham the previous day. I was even less expecting #OperationCupofTea to kick off in exactly one hour GMT 2030 hours, two days later: London’s collective anti-riot gesture, in our own homes. Yet this is what the sky looked like yesterday evening:
No Excuses. Or are there? This time, I dare say, certainly. The questions I have been asking myself are many. Why lash out at our communities if it’s really about Mark Duggan’s death and the police? Protests in large numbers are no news in London. People have marched and rallied in hundreds of thousands in response to government policy. These actually turned out to be fun family events not mobs of kinder bandits mugging cyclists, burning homes, looting local businesses and generally terrorising the community that they may or may not live in. It’s never simple, granted. The talk is about disaffection, copycat behaviour, brewing rage, lack of respect and boundaries and therefore, a massive parenting fail. The repeated appeals on TV sum it all up nicely: “Do you know where your family members are? … Parents contact your kids and tell them to come home.”
This is not a ‘riot’ of ‘the people’. And the quarters trying to glean political mileage angered me the most on Tuesday, notoriously former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the mayor of a north London borough. “Is it not time to score political points”, asked the BBC journalists. Today the Labour party took the same line as government: there are no excuses for this behaviour: it is criminal and disgraceful. Finally, w-h-o-e-v-e-r said it first and cut-his-holiday-short. Now if only the police could be left to do their job. As I type, the news are showing a riot policeman pulling one of the local orange top recycling bins away, presumably to prevent it from getting burnt in a barricade.
Closer to home the residents in my neighbourhood, predominantly Turkish and Kurdish have been on a night watch outside their shops since early yesterday evening and it’s thanks to them that I have not woken up to a huge mess on the local high street. It was indeed very reassuring to see the locals standing up for themselves and the community, we could learn a thing or two from them. On my way to the local station this morning I only saw two broken windows: Santander Bank and Boots. A huge success of citizen patrol by any measure. In other areas, the Turks are hitting back, mostly due to the sheer absence of police protection
The area around my former workplace was not so lucky. As I learned colleagues were told to leave work at 4.30pm, the helicopters were already roving and the mayhem was live on TV, allegedly sparked off by a police search on a man. I was close to tears, disappointed and very angry all at the same time. Like many locals I’m a devout disciple of the I LOVE HACKNEY brand. We joked on Facebook the recycling bins need replacing (because that’s our job: replacing, not joking). In a couple of hours the looting and destruction went copycat viral across London: Newham, Croydon and Clapham were in flames, Lewisham as well, and beyond London Birmingham, Liverpool; and now Manchester city centre.
Londoners of all origins, no less the coffee guy at the train station complained these kids are not afraid of anyone, and the police are merely looking at them and doing nothing about it. By this afternoon, there was still discussion on whether it’s right to use rubber bullets – some of them are indeed 11 year olds. A policeman told us that reasonable force means that you can’t use a baton if they’re not armed. Do we let them burn people alive in their own houses then? I think not. I think we should cut some slack and let the police do their job since our revolutionaries are too happy with their new Xbox and trainers. From what I’ve seen in my neighbourhood the people resorted to successfully defend themselves precisely because of this vacuum and the deep lack of respect for any authority on the part of the mobbing youngsters. If it were for a couple of work colleagues they would shut down the social media and let the police deal with it “as it should be”.
On my way back home, most shops were boarded up. ‘Is it going to be another bad night?’. ‘Yessss’, the shop assistant said, ‘what can they do?’. She looked exasperated.
Fear not, London is a city that does not like losers and the people are resilient. The post-riot cleanup groups are on, and in a roundabout, insofar it’s providing a sense of restored pride for the majority of us that want it over already.
Comments
May I also say what an interesting article. I like the angle :)
Let me say from here in South London that an extra 10,000 police officers were on the streets of the capital last night (bringing the total to 16,000).
London was quiet. I hope you noticed the difference in Hackney.
Copycat disorder broke out across many cities in the UK caused mainly by youths out to get what they can. This had no bearing on the original problem here in London.
From what I can see the problem is the government here. The lack of legals powers over the young and the general feeling in the community about politicians who stole our money over their greedy expenses. But at the end of the day its the majority thats taken back control of our streets. I just hope the message is getting through to the here today gone tomorrow politicians in Westminster. Today is another day and tonight will be another night.
We are a nanny state gone mad.
Kids as young as 8 years old have been involved in looting here in South London. But you can't do a thing.
Under British law parents and elders are powerless. In many countries parents, the police and adults have the power to thrash youngsters.
When I was young that threat was always there and I am still alive to tell the tale.
