Why the riots?

The neoliberal capitalism of Thatcher, Murdoch, Blair, Bush, Obama, China, the banks, Jonathan Ross, Richard Branson, has…..

Taught us that what is important is material possessions

Made whole sections of the population superfluous

Funded the gaining of possessions through high levels of personal and household debt

Destroyed traditional communities based on workplace, destroying the sources of self worth and responsibility

Ridiculed collective values, privatised and marginalised social provision

Commercialised childhood

Forced many working people into unemployment, underemployment or insecure, casual low wage work, stressing and undermining family life

Fetishised the trivial, the celebrity, cheapening culture and celebrating selfishness and boorishness

Encouraged rocketing inequality

Shown that exotic levels of violence against people and their towns and cities is just fine

Encouraged the import of cheap labour and thereby sown distrust and division among working people

Crashed, increasing poverty, inequality, precariousness, resentment and further weakened collective, social, cultural resources.

So why the surprise?

The riots are not a protest

The riots are not caused by public spending cuts

The riots are not a result of criminality

The riots are not riots

The riots are not class action

The riots are not a result of bad parenting

The riots are not the politics of envy

The riots are all these things and none of them

The riots are a result of a coming together of forces and processes.  There is no simple explanation and no explanation in the behaviour of the individual looter.

To understand the riots requires an understanding of how economy, politics, ideology, belief, motivation, morality, socialisation and the dynamics of belonging and alienation work together as system and systems.

Don’t tell me that is an excuse, and don’t tell me how tough you are going to be.  Tell me you see that this is complicated and it requires a completely different way of living our society.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.  The harvest of neoliberal capitalism is well and truly home.

--