The riots: Respect and responsibility
Three months on, David Beale offers a personal view of why the riots happened and considers what we might learn from them
Many people have tried to explain why the riots occurred. All agree that the shooting and peaceful protest in Tottenham were simply the spark. What followed had nothing to do with that. A range of views have blamed government cuts, poor parenting, lack of respect and gang culture. All are right to some extent, even David Cameron’s ‘criminality, pure and simple’, although I am struggling to find anything ‘pure’ or ‘simple’ about criminality! But if we are to learn from the riots we need to focus not on the immediate causes, still less single out just one, but look at the ethos of the society that grew them. We can apply a sticking plaster and allow society to continue on the same course, or we can use the events to help us discern the deeper reasons and seek to change them. For me – and this is a purely personal view – there are five main areas to consider.
Respect and responsbility
The rioters displayed a total absence of responsibility and lack of respect for persons or property and have been punished for this through the criminal courts. But was their behaviour any less responsible than that of bankers, who, by reckless gambling with other people’s money, ruined the institutions they worked for and almost ruined the country too? The same bankers who also walked away with pensions and bonuses of a size the rest of us cannot even dream of. Did the executives of News International, courted by governments at the highest levels, demonstrate respect and responsibility in their practices? Some MPs, also, showed a complete lack of either in their abuse of expense claims. With examples like these, what right have we to expect better from others in our society? Institutions like the church, which might command respect and encourage a sense of responsibility, seem to have an ever decreasing influence. This is particularly sad as the Church of England is led by one of the most profoundly intellectual and socially aware theologians of recent times; yet, to the public, it appears wrapped in bewildering internecine strife.
An individualistic society
Those young people who ran amok were raised in a society whose values were almost entirely individualistic. They are the children of parents brought up during the Thatcher era, when anything provided by or owned by the state, be it public transport, schools or the NHS, was generally considered to be second rate and only for losers. The world was for winners, and winners were those who looked after themselves; success was measured in terms of financial and material prosperity.
Public education, which should be the most important priority of a civilised society, has only relatively recently managed to regain some ground after years of being undervalued and underresourced. Now it finds itself under attack: one of the institutions that does have the potential to help grow a society based on respect and responsibility is being undermined.
Unsustainable economy
Our economic system is based on continual growth. This is good for neither the planet nor for society. Continual growth requires that the individual be constantly pressured to buy, often what they don’t need or can’t afford. Advertising is used to present a seductive view of the apparent lifestyle of winners, and this is reinforced by the appearance and lives of icons of popular culture. Put this against a societal background of ‘take what you can’ and the riots are less surprising.
Inequality
Since the 1960s the gap between the income of the rich and poor has grown by thirty-two percent, but still, it came as a shock to hear a French journalist opine that London is well known as Europe’s capital of inequality. This should be a cause for profound shame. Top salaries no longer bear any relation to the work done. Nobody earns that amount of money! This certainly fed directly through into the riots, with young people saying that the owners of big stores were so rich it simply did not matter if they smashed them up and stole the products, even though they could have afforded to buy them. At the other end of the scale, the minimum wage is so low that it is hard to see how anyone can bring up a family decently on it. We need to move to being a society that lives within a much smaller range of incomes.
Trust in the police
Finally, there is the breakdown in trust between people and police. This is most obvious in the behaviour of, and response to, some sections of the riot police and their handling of demonstrations. But it runs much deeper. Why, for example, did the police not respond to the request for information from the Tottenham demonstration that seems to have been planned to be peaceful and non-confrontational? Why is it that, on occasion, mis-information seems to be used in an attempt to cover up mistakes? The News International affair has cast a shadow across the integrity of the police. How have we moved from a police force that almost everyone trusted to help and support them, to one which quite a significant section of the population is reluctant to approach? We need to get back to the position where the police are an institution trusted and supported by the vast majority of the population. How we do it I do not know, but it certainly will not be via water cannons and plastic bullets.
What can Friends do?
What should Quakers be doing about all this? There are issues here that relate directly to our testimonies to simplicity, equality and truth. As a priority, we need to challenge the gap between rich and poor. We need to promote economic models that do not depend on continually escalating consumption. We need to support government and individuals in resisting the manipulative activities of those attempting to influence policy to their own advantage and in containing the power of those who can potentially ruin the country by foolhardy speculation. We need to campaign for far greater openness, honesty and integrity in public life and decision-making. We need to press for proper resourcing of public education, and oppose its privatisation. But perhaps most of all we need to show that respect is not a right derived from status or wealth, but that is earned. It is earned by a life of integrity, lived holding firm to certain principles and values of responsible behaviour, respect for others, care for the weaker in society, fairness and an adherence to truth, regardless of the cost.
You may not agree with all or any of this, but what is important is that we start discussing these issues now. If we are to have any influence on the future we need to seize those times when people are ready to listen to new ideas. The riots provided such an opportunity, but that moment has passed. Quakers are not quick to reach a corporate position, so we need to consider these issues now. Then, when the next opportunity comes, as it surely will, and people are again listening, we can make our voice heard, loud and clear.
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