Tottenham Riots

[Exi5tentialist]

Sorry Ronja - I thought you were just being inane for the sake of it. My bad.

No, I wasn't joking. Everyone is welcome.

[Bella Fortuna]

This thread needs to be moved to 'Yes it is etc.' As could a number of threads that go the predictable route of being dominated by a few oft-repeated ideologies.

[Exi5tentialist]

This thread needs to be moved to 'Yes it is etc.' As could a number of threads that go the predictable route of being dominated by a few oft-repeated ideologies.

So what do you think, Bella F.? Do politics, sociology or economics offer any legitimate explanations for the rioting? Any thoughts?

[Robert_S]

Why don't these guys go down to the financial district and raise hell?

[Ironclad]

No ipods down there. This is about robbing in numbers, little else.

[Exi5tentialist]

Why don't these guys go down to the financial district and raise hell?

Be careful. Incitement, don't you know.

Although apparently it's ok to incite politicians to shoot the thugs, use baton rounds and plastic bullets to take their eyes out or taze them into cardial arrhythmia, but , you know, upsetting the financial district, that's just beyond the pale.

[Robert_S]

Why don't these guys go down to the financial district and raise hell?

Be careful. Incitement, don't you know.

Although apparently it's ok to incite politicians to shoot the thugs, use baton rounds and plastic bullets to take their eyes out or taze them into cardial arrhythmia, but , you know, upsetting the financial district, that's just beyond the pale.

No, I meant what is the motivation for the location?

I know that the right finances and skin color mean you can get away with more crimes, but does that excuse criminality? If it were retaliatory criminality then I'd have a great deal more sympathy but as it stands, these fuckers are just acting like the investment bankers that screwed us all.

[HomerJay]

The police station that is up the road from the hotel that some of the Ratz stayed in for the Nottingham meet has been firebombed, but it was put out, so it ain't exactly Assault on Precinct 13.

[james1v]

Being a fashion conscious man, i have to say, the clobber they wore when looting, was by far more fashionable, than the stuff they looted! JD Sports! They wouldn't have been seen dead by their mates in there!

[Azathoth]

Why don't these guys go down to the financial district and raise hell?

fuck all to steal and sell on without a trace there

[Geoff]

Why don't these guys go down to the financial district and raise hell?

fuck all to steal and sell on without a trace there

Exactly.

Liverpool football fans have cancelled their trip to the Arsenal match...they reckon all the good stuff's already been taken.

[Atheist-Lite]

Raising class consciousness by raising the neighbourhood? They just need a guidance system now? And a genuine revolutionary mandate that'll come with food inflation next year?

[Warren Dew]

It's not all that roundabout. For those used to living on government handouts under socialism, the concept of private property becomes blurred and even seen as illegitimate and looting then does come to be seen as "getting their share of tax money". To the extent Rum doesn't see that, I agree with Exi5stentialist that he doesn't understand how socialism actually works.

Well yeah but I'd like to know where you think this concept of 'socialism' as you call it has been implemented. 13 years of Labour Government does not a socialist society make. Actually this Labour Party probably couldn't achieve it in 130 years.

Evidently it's been implemented in at least a few neighborhoods in London.

Oh I see - a joke.

Not a joke at all. It's an excellent example of what attitudes and actions, in practice, real socialism encourages.

[Atheist-Lite]

It's not all that roundabout. For those used to living on government handouts under socialism, the concept of private property becomes blurred and even seen as illegitimate and looting then does come to be seen as "getting their share of tax money". To the extent Rum doesn't see that, I agree with Exi5stentialist that he doesn't understand how socialism actually works.

Well yeah but I'd like to know where you think this concept of 'socialism' as you call it has been implemented. 13 years of Labour Government does not a socialist society make. Actually this Labour Party probably couldn't achieve it in 130 years.

Evidently it's been implemented in at least a few neighborhoods in London.

Oh I see - a joke.

Not a joke at all. It's an excellent example of what attitudes and actions, in practice, real socialism encourages.

It's capatalism. These are not looters, their the next generation of entrepeneurs removing stock from a weakened and incompetant former middle class. Starting small but this is The Big Society in action, the new middle class claiming what is theirs. Their main mission right now is to increase access, announce their presence, and help overcome the digital divide.

[Bella Fortuna]

This thread needs to be moved to 'Yes it is etc.' As could a number of threads that go the predictable route of being dominated by a few oft-repeated ideologies.

So what do you think, Bella F.? Do politics, sociology or economics offer any legitimate explanations for the rioting? Any thoughts?

With such a broad question? No, not really. Well - not anything I feel up to tackling the complexity of here. I'm sure volumes could be written, but I'd prefer to leave it to those who know more than I. Ignorant opinions don't really help anything, and I'm the first to recognise my own limitations.