the UK is burning!

Seriously edit window?

Go fuck yaself.

 

The usual one year out celebration that accompanies an Olympics has now turned into some sort of Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK from the seventies and the world watches in horror.
Stealing the future from the very people that will have the opportunity to make this city a beacon for hope are a group of unknowns that must be very well organised left wing protaginists that are attempting to destroy discipline,structure and the very fabric of Britains way of life.

The world had to watch as Germany held an Olympic games.

One can only hope that the world wants to watch Londons.

 

perhaps this is a good moment to return to charlatan's mention of weimar.
one of the more alarming aspects of this at the level of what is being said about the turmoil is the extent to which that language is fascist---unnamed, vaporous "leftist elements" are somehow engaged in an action directed at "the whole social fabric."---in the weimar period, this exact trope was the first in a series of such imaginary enemies used by the extreme right to simultaneously mobilize people around the good-ole-conservative favorite of paranoia. same language of a "disease" from within and without. same recoding of the consequences of extreme class polarization in medical terms. then repression can legitimate itself as a "cure."

a few weeks ago, did the uk police not issue some bizarre-o "report all anarchists" call using the same "logic" as was put into place during the opening rounds of neo-fascist legitimation, the "war on terror"? this on the heels of the quite draconian neo-liberal austerity measures that would, effectively, shred the old social contract in the name of some outmoded monetarist notion of "fiscal responsibility"---which obviously supercedes those other priorities like creating a stable society (not to mention a more humane one than captialism, left to itself, has ever approached)

so what appeared to be happening is a proactive (sort of) reframing of political conflict that situates all responses to the idiotic austerity measures as the results of some imaginary "left" or "left elements" or "anarchists" which are posited as being somehow outside "society" and which are freighted up with the tacky disease metaphors of your choice. all this in the context of a significant economic crisis that's revealed a quite profound institutional crisis, on top of which you have the imploding star of neo-liberal ideology in a context that offers very few alternatives, particularly not at the mainstream level...and what do you have?

a rushing toward fascism.

way to fucking go.

if i were you, i would be every bit alarmed at the way the official discourse is taking shape as i would about what's happening in the streets, and keep a careful eye on what that legitimates.

one would hope that this provides something of a warning to people in the states as well, a demonstration of why opportunistic conservative co-optation of neo-fascist discourse is a very very dangerous game.

remember the political situation of the german extreme right in 1928? they were laughed at.
by 1933 no-one was laughing.

 

^^^^
"Like" the discussions arising here ... Weimar. Yes.

Strange famous .... I'm quoting to 'ping' you ....

How's things with you ... any more messups in your ... flats (apartments) since your last post?

Here ... West London .. high, and publicised police presence, so riot organisers know to go elswhere ... eg to your flats
Why oh why could thay have not just put a News Blackout on 'Where specifically', and simply indicate that there WILL be police presence.

 

Walsall hasnt had anything like the trouble of West Brom, Wolverhampton or BHM

A few windows put in, but nothing more... just "normal" mindless vandalism no dount encouraged by what all these scallywages are seeing on the TV and the fact that as you say its all over the news that all the police are in city centres.

What dismays me really is the attitude of people I am friends with. Once FB friend posted this:

​

Thats the worst Ive seen, but tons of people going on about water canons and rubber bullets and sending in the troops. Terms like "scum" and calls for parental violence and police brutality...​

I understand that people are angry. I was pissed off last night when I had to wait outside my flats for 2 hours for the fire alarms to stop barking... But this kind of response is to me another sympton of the disconnected society in which these things happen.​

Apparently the latest thing is a e-petition to take away the benefit of anyone found guilty of any crime connected to this.​

Because what a great idea ensuring that someone who has previously been guilty of a hopeless and violent crime will live in absolute poverty unless he continues to commit crime...​

 

Glad you're OK

Yup - this is another facet of the 'Squeeze' I refered to in an earlier post. Misdirection of resources which keeps people in a 'must/can't' situation regarding survival needs. Then their punishment for flailing becomes further reduction of their survival potential.

Maaaan, I can also feel the pain and 'vengeance feelings' of people in the position of "Those people over there burnt down my corner shop and lootedmy mother's house"

Bloody hell.



But mainly ... Glad you're OK.

 

this might be steering the thread in a different direction completely, but do you think the looting and rioting would be at all diminished if people were allowed to own guns?

 

Disenfranchisement leads to criminality, not the other way around. Looting and rioting might be diminished by giving everyone guns, at no expense to manslaughter's rates. What's happening in the seat of the empire on which the sun never sets horrifies me as not much lately has, including 9-11. There will no longer be a house of lords if the bastards aren't careful.

 

the largest big brother security nation in the world can't stop riots, and you have a nation of unarmed citizens. this is what happens why your rely on the government to watch over you. they can't/won't stop the problem and you can't defend yourself, how unfortunate. no wonder baseball bats are flying off the shelves.

of course this wouldn't happen in a place that allows firearms to be carried by law abiding citizens. can you imagine this happening in a place like texas? not a chance

actually, i'm kinda surprised this hasn't been blamed on the tea party yet.

what's sad is that this will probably lead to the loss of even more freedoms for the uk.

 

I think if people were lawfully allowed to carry guns, this would still be happening, but the death toll would be higher.

 

Only if it's legislated improperly. The tea party will enjoy that. The Mad Hatter didn't know how to refine aluminium.

 

My problem with this line of thinking is that the US has a huge reason to do *something* about their current fiscal irresponsibility. While I agree that this shouldn't be at the expense of social services, the cuts have to come from somewhere. You don't get a few trillion dollars in debt without having to eventually pay. If I ran my household this way, the lender would come and take everything I own - why should countries be any different? You can't spend money you don't have!
--- merged: Aug 10, 2011 11:58 PM ---
I also think it is easy to sit in my comfortable house, with my income stream and be critical of others, but I'm not in the socio-economic position of the people likely to be rioting.

 

You don't get several trillion dollars in debt without putting your nose where it doesn't belong.

 

you know it wouldn't happen in a place like texas, or utah, or indiana or new hampshire or alaska or any other pro gun rights state.

if someone tries to burn down your house or place of business in texas they are going to get shot. love it or hate it that's just the way it is.

notice how these rioters wont go after government buildings? THEY WOULD GET SHOT ON SITE. it's common sense.

 

Australia went through this maybe 20 years ago. We went from essentially 'free' university to having a kind of loan to pay for it. Our government approached it by saying the burden of repaying the debt could be paid up front at a discount OR could be paid off once the participant starting earning X dollars. This meant there was still no initial cost, so meant anyone could go the uni, but the government wasn't left footing the bill in the long term.

Our education prior to university hasn't changed - it is mandatory to send under 16 to school, and the local government school *has to* take the student if they live in the local area. The government schools (by and large) do a decent job and the fees to attend are minimal (about $200 a year for my eldest), and if you can't even afford this, you can get government assistance. My understanding in the UK is that access to the initial schooling is difficult (not enough places for all the possible students) - that is troubling and the government really needs to step up.

I guess there are no easy solutions, but education isn't an area where there should be barriers to entry.
--- merged: Aug 11, 2011 12:08 AM ---

You obviously missed the burning police cars, buses and police stations. If the 'lawful' citizens have guns, won't the rioters have their own?

 

maybe, but i'm willing to bet that more than half the people who own guns aren't the type to bring them to a riot. what firearm owners have you heard of that own weapons to pursue and eliminate injustice instead of just for home protection?

 

Would you then also blame "them" instead of "us"? I belabor some points such as IJUHP. Call me a lazy idiot, & I won't shoot you for it. When the threat of violence is what you need to get cooperation, you should examine the quality of your demands. I want free education & health-care as well, but that might fuck with other people's pipe dreams, which I haven't earned the right to do.

 

good points, but from what i understand most of the police in the uk are without a firearm, and they were told to stand down at the beginning of the rioting. i mean they just decided that they could use water cannons for people starting fires? arson is attempted murder these people should of been shot if police officers witnessed this.

of course the thugs would have guns as well, but the reason they can do this in the uk is because there's no risk of being shot, and barely a risk of being apprehended.

 

Thanks roachboy for articulating what was just a bee buzzing in my head. I was thinking about the familiar patterns of Weimar Germany and was getting closer to being able to write coherently about it but you've managed it with ease.

And Baraka... I have a personal interest in the kinds of things happening in Toronto. Mammoliti's latest stunt was both comic and disturbing. It would be funnier if he wasn't playing the straight heavy in that scenario.