Daily Times

Humankind is familiar with two types of incendiaries: one afflicted by nature and the other self-inflicted. The latter has produced more catastrophic results than the former since such madness invariably beholds a method behind it. The most deliberate and dreadful of all amongst the latter kinds is attributed to Nero who, while playing his flute, turned Rome into ashes. However, the historical authenticity of this event is marred by ambiguity; the intent to propagate Christianity cannot be completely ruled out.

In England it all started after the police killed Mark Duggan, a young man alleged to have confronted the ‘the custodians of law’ with firepower. The relatives of the deceased pleaded for the right of explanation but police in its arrogance, which symbolises this department the world over, refused to attend to the aggrieved family. The flouting of public self-esteem is likely to carry a hazardous consequence, especially when an insult is superimposed on an injury. Hours ticked by and the grief and the gloom blossomed into indignation. The bashing, bullying and bludgeoning by the state, the atrocious deprivation caused by the system and the marginalisation gifted by the globalised market forces convulsed the uneasy calm and conflagrated the simmering fire. Soon smoke started billowing from the properties. The tradition of apportioning blames, finger pointing and political recrimination raised its head as a smokescreen to masquerade the reality of dispossession, expropriation and exploitation. Like always, no one amongst the elites was prepared to blame the system. However, responsibility had to be fixed, hence the old custom of capitalism was followed; the eternal sin hidden in human nature was singled out as a cause of all ills. No wonder capitalism and religion share the same traits.

The Conservatives in their opening salvoes are keen to stress that this mob reaction is “pure criminality” untainted by higher purpose. Mayor of London Boris Johnson alleged that the present generation has an “endless sense of entitlement”. Social conservatives are pointing to the collapse of family and discipline. From Cameron came an emphasis on responsibility, “Young people smashing windows and stealing televisions is not about inequality.” He further went on to say, “When you have a deep moral failure you do not hit it with a wall of money.” This is more than an avoidance of the implications of the financial cuts. Is it not tantamount to risking one’s stature as a statesman by imputing such comments that lack sagacity? While at the start of his leadership, Cameron has talked about the consequences of family meltdown and the need for social responsibility. He does not seem to think that these riots are at their heart a symptom of social injustice, economic inequality and state failure. No amount of extra-spending, in his view, could stop them. The Guardian tried to show him the way by suggesting him to “revisit the spirit that animated his 2006 hug-a-hoodie speech” (August 10, 2011) where his intention found to have a more human facade. The attitude of Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is no different. He too is talking about responsibility without rights. The blame is partly being fixed on the strategy of police that failed to respond to the online social networks used by the rioters who, while spreading the chaos, streamlined their contacts through these latest mediums of communication.

All is not lost, as the sane voices are no less vociferous. Nina Power, a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Roehampton and the author of One Dimensional Woman, is amongst those who refuse to shy away from the reality. She states, “Those condemning the events of the past couple of nights in North London and elsewhere would do well to take a step back and consider the bigger picture: a country in which the richest 10 percent are now 100 times better off than the poorest, where consumerism predicated on personal debt has been pushed for years as the solution to a faltering economy, and where, according to the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], social mobility is worse than any other developed country” (The Guardian, August 8, 2011). Camila Batmanghelidjh, who is the author of Shattered Lives, has movingly expressed her idea in The Independent (August 9, 2011). She concludes, “Walk on the estate stairwells with your baby in a buggy manoeuvring past the condoms, the needles, into the lift where the best outcome is that you will survive the urine stench and the worst is that you will be raped.” Feral and fragmented families and less cultivated natures are the consequences and not the causes of this situation.

Tottenham, an area of the London Borough of Haringey, from where this tempest arose, has the fourth highest level of child poverty in London and unemployment rate of 8.8 percent (about twice the national average), with one vacancy for every 54 job applicants. Apart from this marginalisation, ethnic and/or racial discrimination is rife. Needless to say, this situation is not Tottenham-specific. The whole of the UK is suffering from this malady and this course of events was long overdue. The Brixton riot of 1981/Scarman report is one proof of the simmering situation pervading London alone. Ever since the economic recession has struck and rocked the boats of capitalist countries, people — due to minimal presence of progressive forces — have been forced to deviate towards the far right, which is an amalgamation of religious and brute market forces. The slogan of ‘no free lunch’ can be read as ‘no free emotions’. Resultantly, the conservative parties have sneaked in to the corridors of power. According to them, the remedy for all financial ills is more privatisation and deregulation of the economy. The headache has to be treated with decapitation. The Tories and Labour are sailing in the same rudderless boat; the Lib-Dems are no exception. The Tory-Lib Dem collaboration has resulted in £ 81 billion cuts; the consequence of which is bound to ricochet into massive job losses manifesting in more disquiet. Last year the government took away the education maintenance allowance from 630,000 young people and tripled the university fees while simultaneously the combined fortune of the 1,000 richest people in Britain rose from £ 60 billion in 2011 to £ 400 billion. These were precisely the reasons that turned a nation into a tinderbox ready to ignite. A cold-blooded murder provided the trigger. According to Martin Luther King Jr, “Riots are the language of the unheard.” This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Lacerating wounds will continue to bleed time and again till the real cure is called for. A J P Taylor says, “The great question of our day will not be settled by speeches and majority resolutions but by blood and iron.” The antithesis of capitalism — the ultimate remedy and the destination of humankind — is bound to follow this chaos. Did someone whisper Marxism?

The writer is based in Australia and has authored books on socialism. He can be reached at saulatnagi@hotmail.com