There is an understandable rush to speculation about the causes of the riots and many theories – sensible and ludicrous – are already in circulation. But speculation, as tempting as it is, is not what is needed now. What is needed now is for the disturbances to stop.
By Rob Berkeley, director of the Runnymede Trust, a race equality think tank
Events last night took an unprecedented turn. As streets across London went up in flames it has become clear that this is new territory. Saturday night in Tottenham was one thing, the events of the last two nights have mutated into a very different form of street disturbance.
This is an unprecedented situation that raises a million questions; who is involved in these disturbances, is this about race or class, is this gang-related, what drives people to such extreme behaviour, how did we get here, how bad can it get?
There is an understandable rush to speculation about the causes of the riots and many theories – sensible and ludicrous – are already in circulation. But speculation, as tempting as it is, is not what is needed now. What is needed now is for the disturbances to stop.
The damage to neighbourhoods across the country and to our sense of community is massive. On our current trajectory, the destruction of property, families made homeless, and people living in fear will culminate in loss of life.
No one can or should condone the actions of the looters, robbers and arsonists. The restoration of public order is in our collective interest.
Already, those looking to establish why these events have happened are being lampooned as apologists for criminality. Commentators like Ken Livingstone and Darcus Howe with legitimate concerns about the use of stop and search, the withdrawal of the EMA, or cuts to spending on youth services are in danger of being characterised as if they welcome the riots .
On the right, the hang’em, flog ‘em brigade are on the move, young people are being described as feral and mindless, Black people accused of not being British. Still the streets burn.
Runnymede warned of the impact of inequalities on our society. We highlighted the alienation and hopelessness among large swathes of young people facing discrimination, without prospects of employment, low levels of skills, and poor relations with the police.
But we never supposed that the despair was as widespread as it now appears to be or even that so many people simply do not care enough about the neighbourhoods and spaces where they live or the moral consequences of their actions to desist from destroying them.
We have to admit that this is a new phenomenon about which we know very little. Speculation is not helping.
The scale and impact of these disturbances will require a serious and far-reaching inquiry in due course. We will be among those who will be seeking to find out what has happened and assess what the solutions might be. But first, the looting and violence has to stop.
We can then move from speculation to real evidence. Speculation is beginning to solidify into camps along political lines that will close down the attempt to find solutions rather than aid it.
Speculation in a context of mistrust between the police and the communities they serve marked the response to Mark Duggan’s death that provided the spark in this tinderbox.
Additional speculation about the causes may only serve to fuel further disaster. We need the violence to stop before working out how to make sure we never have to live through a city in disarray like this again.
28 Responses to “Speculation can wait: The priority is to stop the rioting”
Piali Roy
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Ed's Talking Balls
‘is this about race or class?’
Neither. It’s about greed and wanton criminality. It’s about a tolerance and encouragement of endemic worklessness and a complete denial of personal responsibility. It’s about an entitlement culture and widespread acceptance of family breakdown as “the norm”.
‘On the right, the hang’em, flog ‘em brigade are on the move, young people are being described as feral and mindless, Black people accused of not being British.’
Not “all” young people are being described as feral and mindless. All “looting/rioting” young people are being described as feral and mindless, and there’s nothing objectionable about that, since they clearly are (N.B. that said, I would guard against describing them as mindless, since that in some way excuses the perpetrators: they know what they are doing and we shouldn’t forget that). Neither are “black” people being accused of not being British. Instead, “looting/rioting” black people are being accused of not being British, in precisely the same way that white people robbing shops and setting fire to houses are also, rightly, being accused of not being British.
There is nothing wrong with demonising wrongdoers. Quite the reverse. Society should and must condemn these scumbags in the strongest possible terms.
Ed's Talking Balls
‘This isn’t something new. This isn’t something unexpected. The causes are quite clear, in the way New Labour and now the Conservatives have both attacked those without jobs, even for short periods, not dealt with rising inequality and inflation in food and fuel and finally, for the Conservatives, instituted a plan which will drive many in the areas of out them. How do their kids, then, connect with a community they’re being ripped away from?’
There’s truth in some of what you say, but I have to disagree with much of it.
Political parties haven’t attacked people for not having jobs. They’ve collectively mollycoddled them for too long, tolerating idleness while simultaneously making it harder to those who want to work by relentlessly pursuing a policy of mass immigration.
Yes, Labour was too comfortable with rising inequality and the Conservatives show no appetite to reverse the trend. Yet ultimately, if a feral cretin refuses to work and shows no desire to better himself I’m happy for him to be bottom of the pile. He deserves to be there and should have no call on another’s wealth. This isn’t to say that I don’t recognise the wider problem you refer to: the average man works hard and has his wealth eroded by inflation while the CEO gets rewarded handsomely for repeated failure. There has to be something wrong in that.
Lastly, driving people out of an area isn’t wrong if those people can’t afford to be there. Why should someone else pay for them to live somewhere they couldn’t dream of themselves? Were it possible to do so, it’d be a good thing if we could drive these vicious criminals not simply out of Tottenham but out of the country altogether.
You make a fair point that people need to feel part of a community and to forge positive relationships. But do you honestly believe these people were doing so under Labour? Or, for that matter, under administrations from the distant part? A huge problem, as identified by Max Hastings, is that these people exist rather than live. If they don’t show a willingness to engage and apparently don’t know how to behave in a civilised manner, I genuinely don’t believe that chucking more money at them, be it via more youth centres, subsidised bus passes or educational bribes (a.k.a. EMA) is the answer.