Riots: symptoms we ignore at our peril
Former National Diversity Adviser to the Liberal Democrats believes recent rioting is a symptom of deeper chronic conditions in society - poor accountability, greed and inequality.
If you listen to the voices behind the masks being interviewed in front of burning cars and looted shops, giving their reasons for joining in the mayhem and urban terrorism that English cities have just experienced, you could easily be excused for agreeing with many a commentator's view - that we are witnessing a new generation of disturbed, unstable and wickedly aggressive youth who are burning and robbing their own communities, and heading for a chaotic existence which will perpetuate their criminality and blight the very communities within which they live.
The word "underclass" previously introduced through the language of New Labour, has suddenly appeared again giving rise to stereotypes of useless, unworthy, impoverished and criminal elements living in urban ghettoes.
Politicians have been desperately falling over themselves to come across as strong and uncompromising in their leadership of an unexpected crisis which has caught them completely off guard and engulfed this country in the worst civil unrest for 30 years.
Politicians have essentially argued that the recent riots have no cause beyond feral wickedness and pure, simple criminality. Michael Gove in his many interviews argued that this was a basic "conflict between right and wrong". Boris Johnson said people should stop hearing "economic and sociological justifications".
Attempts at holding a sensible discussion as to why rioters have behaved as they have has been hysterically drowned out by chest beating and table thumping politicians desperate to be seen as strong leaders in control, arguing instead for plastic bullets, water cannons and troops on the streets.
Nick Clegg has been the only politician to both argue for just and proper punishment of offenders whilst at the same time raising the matter of a disconnect of young people with their local communities and of course the potential link this may have to a lack of conscience when trashing those very same communities. His liberal instincts raised the need for a more thoughtful and proper socio-economic analysis of the causes in the weeks and months ahead.
Cameron however, would argue that if there are no social or political causes, then
this coalition government, and by simple logic, the previous new labour regime or for that matter any other authority cannot be held responsible. He can then flex his muscles, act tough and try to regain much lost credibility as the defender of social order after the Metropolitan Police bodged up the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan and triggered an eruption of mayhem, violence and criminal behaviour which they subsequently failed to control.
However, just as the authorities must follow through on their compact with the people by ensuring punishment of all criminal behaviour, society must also seek to understand the context within which those crimes and social unrest have taken place.
Failure to do so will ensure that the pattern of civil unrest will surely continue with potentially devastating consequences next time round. Good race and community relations could be the next victim - the deaths of 3 Asian men inBirminghamprotecting their properties is a simmering example of where ethnic tensions are fragile and become tested to the full. The far right including BNP and EDL would have a field day.
If you insult people for years don't be surprised when they suddenly hit back. The fatal shooting of Mark Duggan and the appalling manner in which his family were treated afterwards is another tragic event in a longer history of the Metropolitan police's treatment of ordinary Londoners, especially those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and the singling out of specific areas and individuals for monitoring, stop and search and daily harassment.
Many in the black and minority ethnic communities lack confidence in the Metropolitan Police and the IPCC - when you look at the figures for deaths in police custody (at least 333 since 1998 and not a single conviction of any police officer for any of them), then you can understand why. The IPCC and the courts are seen by many in those communities to be in collusion and protecting the police rather than their communities.
When we combine understandable suspicion of and deep resentment towards the police based on their experiences with poor housing conditions, high levels of deprivation, single parent families, poverty and higher than average unemployment, then the reasons why people are taking to the streets to express their anger and frustration become clearer. Whilst criminals have clearly taken advantage of the situation, it cannot mask the fact that Haringey for example, the borough that includes Tottenham, has the fourth highest level of child poverty inLondon and an unemployment rate of 8.8%, double the national average.
Also, 'me first' and 'greed' is good - at least that is what all governments have nurtured for the past 30 years. More recently, we've seen MPs' expenses, banks being too big to fail, stratospheric banker bonuses, phone hacking and alleged corruption in the police. Such an environment surely must have some impact on those individuals from communities already struggling to hold themselves together - after a while these values become the norm and are acceptable.
The Labour Party had 13 yrs to make positive inroads into changing the prevailing culture. When John Major made way for Labour under Blair, nobody noticed the difference - fat cat salaries soared, the gap between rich and poor increased and the banks remained deregulated…it was business as usual. Milliband was in the cabinet for many of those years…that's why his recent comments attacking the "me first" culture are so hypocritical.
Politicians across the board also need to wake up to the damage that inequality inflicts on society - There are fewer things more dangerous to a society than a populace with nothing left to lose.
Higher levels of crime, ill-health, imprisonment rates and mental illness are just a small number of indicators which are far more common in unequal societies than ones with better economic distribution and with a smaller gap between the richest and the poorest. In addition, years of "me first", individual competition and state-encouraged selfishness - have made us into one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
Britain is now a country in which the richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest, where rampant consumerism based on personal debt has been promoted as the salvation for an unbalanced economy, and where, according to the OECD, social mobility and equality are worse than any other developed country.
The looting, mugging and riotous behaviour seen recently on the streets ofEnglandare a sure sign that the social contract is beginning to unravel. How far, we don't know yet. What we do know though, is that when people lose that sense of being valued, no longer feel part of a caring society, no longer feel like they have any stake in their locality or neighbourhood, the psychological ties that bind those communities together begin to be broken. We cannot marginalise communities from the opportunities and wealth of this society and then moan when they act like they have no stake in that society.
These breathtaking events are a reminder of why, however challenging, no country can afford to ignore any section of its society. We can no longer have whole communities inBritainabandoned and cut of from the rest of society whilst experiencing crushing poverty. If the symptoms leading to civil unrest are not recognised and dealt with through political and socio-economic solutions, then we will see more riots in the future - but next time they will be more deadly and organised. At the moment what we have seen is merely a spontaneous overflow of raw anger and emotion coupled with opportunistic criminal behaviour.
Lord Scarman in his report into the Brixton riots in 1981, inserted a paragraph which said "the social conditions do not provide an excuse for disorder - all of those who in the course of the disorders in Brixton and elsewhere engaged in violence against the police were guilty of grave criminal offences".
However, he also accepted that social circumstances had created a "predisposition towards violent protest".
What has changed since then?
Issan Ghazni
East Midlands Regional Diversity Champion
Chair - Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats
Former National Diversity Adviser - Liberal Democrat Party
issanghazni@email.com