I’ve got something of a hangover from imbibing too many words over the past few days. Thus I’m cautious about posting too many links and inducing a similar state in visitors to our site. This said, there are some illuminating pieces at odds with the prevalent authoritarian dross and some from unlikely sources. And, of course, you don’t have to binge-read like me! You can partake in moderation.
* Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley reflect Most young people did not riot, but can the ‘Lost Generations’ find their way?
They open by arguing that, there is more than one ‘lost generation’. We have seen at least two in the past months as young people have taken to the streets. Students have protested against fee rises and now a hard core urban youth have taken the stage. On both occasions, the media have focussed on the violent scenes – clashes with police and attacks on property, claiming student protesters were infiltrated by anarchists and that rioters were ‘classless’; but these two groups would seem to represent very different constituencies.
* The Daily Telegraph isn’t necessarily the first place you would go to find a scathing critique of ruling class hypocrisy and amorality, but Peter Oborne, its chief political commentator doesn’t pull his punches.
* Roy Ratcliffe takes ‘Middle England’ to task ,arguing,
The reaction of middle England to the riots, however, proves that this sector is incapable of understanding any other point of view than that stemming from its own immediate self-interests. Middle England managed to eliminate from short-term memory the repeated indignity of ‘stop-and-search‘, overlooked previous ‘deaths-in-custody‘, quickly blanked out past and recent ‘police-corruption’, and chose to ignore the earlier suspicious shooting of a black youth. During the week, middle England also failed to call for a much needed re-distribution of wealth. Neither did its representatives suggest the creation of jobs in the areas of greatest deprivation. No one from middle England called for the reinstatement of youth clubs and youth projects or the re-introduction of free university education. Instead middle England, left, right and centre bayed for the blood of a small group of rebellious, misguided lumpen proletariat it has itself helped to create.
Read in full, Middle England bays for blood
* Nick Smith provides a detailed eye-witness account of his experience, Walworth Road: Only Fools, No Horses, capturing more of the contradictions than most of the coverage. I’ve pinched a couple of his photos. He begins, fI’m no writer. I’m not particularly good at it and it doesn’t come easy to me, but after my journey home from work today (8th August 2011), I feel the need to share my experience on the looting (especially as I’ve read a lot of rubbish both in the press and online) and so have started this blog. I find writing can be a good outlet for anger and at the moment I’m feeling pretty angry.
* You’ve probably seen this article, but it’s interesting how many people have said it’s the best thing thus far they’ve read.
