The Xbox riots

Tuesday August 9, 2011

The summer rioters have no political or economic aims. The riots are aimless, says Suzy Dean, a product of a society with no sense of responsibility or purpose.

The London riots were not inspired by social media. Nor are the rioters the young black men of the 1980s responding to institutional racism. Few rioters beyond Tottenham would justify their actions in the name of Mark Duggan, the man shot by the police some days ago. Instead the London rioters of 2011 are bored, individualised young men, taking advantage of a climate in which adults are too scared to challenge them. A rather less inspiring proposition, but one that fits with the ‘jilted generation’ ethos and widespread erosion of adult authority.

The rioting that spread beyond Tottenham is in part as a consequence of unemployment, but not because young people are frustrated with their lack opportunities, as former Mayor Livingstone generously tried to explain it last night. Rather, unemployment has created space for boredom.

There is no evidence that the rioting expresses any kind of political sentiment. None of the rioters have anything to say about the economy or otherwise, preferring to consciously cover their mouths as they stalk around the capital trying to find a JD Sports to pillage. Rather, high unemployment in the under 25s has led to a situation in which the devil has made work for idle hands. With little to do, the rioters – who are mostly young men (of all races) – have aimlessly and sporadically taken advantage of a situation in which they can have some boisterous fun. The idea that these young men have legitimate grievances not only credits them with having thought about the world beyond their footwear, but it also implicitly entitles these ‘jilted generationers’ to continue causing havoc rather than seriously trying to change things.

Perhaps more worryingly, it is clear that the young people involved do not feel that they have a stake in, or responsibility for, society. The destruction of local homes and businesses throughout London has been widespread. Traditional demonstrations like those seen in the 1970s were marked by respect for other members of society. Police vans, cars and stations were legitimate targets, the local greengrocer was not. This tells us that the rioters are acting without even the most basic of principles – a sense of who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them’.

This is a clear indication that the rioting is not ‘for’ anything.
These events have brought to the fore the lack of adult authority in society which is clearly seen in the role that police and adults have adopted in relation to the rioters. The police in most scenarios stand back and let these kids torch buses. This tells us that institutionally there is a nervousness about enforcing law and order and controlling social unrest. Last night in Hackney there were no less than 200 police and no more than 60 youths, yet the police made no attempt to separate, arrest or manage the situation. Instead they moved back and forth in a line as the young men tried to smash shop windows with pieces of wood.

Related to this is a big question over where the adults were, or to put it another way, where these young men’s fathers were. The police have never managed to contain disorder alone and have always relied upon the community to maintain a level of peace. However, in this instance what was notable by its absence was the lack of adult interference in what these young men were doing.

There was no public move to protect homes and local shops. As it has been written elsewhere on The Free Society site, this is best seen as a consequence of long term government promotion of ‘stranger danger’, asbo youth and gang culture, all of which paint strangers as an unmanageable threat best avoided, rather than as other people more or less like us. The public cry of ‘where were the police?’ points towards an aversion of adult responsibility to control young people. This being the case, these young men have been able to run riot for days, and there is no reason why the rioting should stop unless these kids decide on their own to go back to destroying cities on their Xbox instead.

The rootless young rioters we have witnessed destroying the city since the weekend are products of contemporary society. With nothing to do and no sense of responsibility to change what they don’t like, these individualised young men have set about destroying their neighbourhoods with total disregard for others. With little or no adult control their destructive behaviour has spread to Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol.

We should take responsibility for controlling the rioting rather than seeing it as a police problem. We have a responsibility to each other and to these young men to make it clear what is and what is not acceptable. In equal measure, we should not treat these young men like feral children who have been hard done by but demand they articulate their dissatisfaction and challenge them to change it.

Suzy Dean is a writer and journalist

See also: Suzy Dean’s blog