Sharing the responsibility for the riots

I was not going to write about the riots because so much has been said already and it is all starting to sound a bit like hang ‘em and flog ‘em.  This was also my initial reaction and I'm sure that, if someone burnt me out of my home or smashed up my car and set fire to it, I’d be talking about taking people out too. However, I’ve seen all this before. 

Back in the 80s when the last Tory Administration was torturing ordinary people with their "only for my mates” policies, we talked about disaffected young men without any investment in their communities.  There was looting and mindless violence then too.  If I recall a policeman, PC Blakelock, was hacked to death. So where is the failing really, with the youth or with the older generation.  

A generation later, yesteryears’s rioters are the parents of the new breed of street mobsters who are once again destroying the communities where they live.  Perhaps they do not value their communities because they do not serve them. 

For years we have been hearing about gangs, post-code wars, knife crimes and gun violence.  How many children have lost their lives to other children and what did we adults do?  Little if anything!  Did we protect them?  No!  Did we show them by our actions that lives are precious and what happens to our young people matters to us?  Not really.  Indeed, it could be argued that apart from the victim's friends and family, the rest of us just looked on and then looked away. 

At Lewisham people’s day earlier this year, the gatekeepers and the police stopped all the young men dressed in "urban" attire entering the park where it was being held and turned them away.  They want allowed to participate in people's day because it was assumed they would cause trouble.  However I'm sure the message the young people received was not that “were afraid you might cause trouble” rather I am pretty certain that what they took away was this:

“This is people's day for people. You are not people, you are not part of our community, we cannot trust you, you look wrong, therefore, you must be wrong!  You are not welcome here.”

I'm not saying that the rioting in Lewisham was a form of revenge, however, if you do not feel like you belong, if you do not have access to what is available to others, there is no social contract, and so there is no government by consent.  Compared to shooting or stabbing another human being to death, burning a few cars and helping yourself to the goods inside smashed up shops is small fry.  

What else do I want to say about the riots?  Just this: Almost 50 years of living has taught me that whilst there are always solutions, complex problems rarely lend themselves to quick fix remedies.  There is no quick fix, no easy solution to a problem that has been festering for a generation and a half.  Today people are talking about rebuilding and cleaning up trashed city centres.  Let's hope that they understand that the process of rebuilding and cleaning up also needs to be applied to our young people and our communities.

We need to rebuild and clean up our relationships with our youth - It is time that young people stop seeing adults as either child molesters or objects of ridicule; we need to clean up our understanding of what it means to live in community – ensuring that everyone benefits and no one is left behind. We need to clean up and rebuild our governments so that they are representative of the total experience and lives of the community, not just a privileged elite, so that we able put our trust in those who we have chosen to govern us; confident that they are seeking to create a fair, and just society that is more equitable. 

Relationships are built on trust and shared values. We all have a responsibility to be part of the dialogue to re-establish these.  

How much responsibility should the rest of us take for the riots? Please leave a comment I am interested to read your thoughts.