Riots spread like wildfire across the UK.

Hey guys and girls, 

I know this is becoming tedious but I’m sorry for the prolonged wait once again for my blog posts, I really do need to get my act together and focus more. 

As the vast majority of you already know the people of, London, the UK, have been putting themselves to shame, rioting, looting and setting alight anything that lies on their path. For the fourth night in a row chaos has taken over the capital city and police have been unable to prevent groups of yobs attacking local businesses and homes sometimes seeking a games console/pair of trainers and sometimes simply looking for something to set on fire. It’s all still quite hazy seeing as all the news on TV and online seems to be quite late/incomplete; most of what I’ve learnt has stemmed from social networking sites and the old fashioned, word of mouth. Police sirens and choppers have been circling the local area and police men and women can be found on practically every block at the moment simply watching their surroundings with a slightly weary expression. Groups of young people in hoods and hats are simply loitering, waiting for that opportune moment to strike. Yes, I’m actually describing the concrete jungle populated by human beings, NOT, an animal safari.  If you want to see pictures of people stealing clothes/food/anything they can find you can find an extensive list here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024120/London-riots-2011-suspects-Photos-released-know-looters.html. It’s the Daily Mail, not usually my first choice of newspapers but hey. They’re acting like they’ve never seen food/clothes before. WTF. 

 A map of the latest incidences can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-incident-map. Mind you, they conveniently forgot to include anything regarding the borough of Newham, hosting the Olympics in just under a year. Although we didn’t see the worst of the commotion let me update you, I quote: “East Ham MP Stephen Timms praised police for their efforts. He said: “Last evening there was serious damage in High Street North, East Ham, affecting Argos, Primark, Tesco and banks. The current paving work in the High Street has made matters more difficult. An electrical shop in Katherine Road was looted, and there have been reports of small groups of teenagers elsewhere committing burglary.”” Stratford Centre was also victim to attack, again, Argos took a beating along with other shops including JD Sports and Peacocks. Forest Gate police station yesterday trembled behind it’s shield of riot vans:

The Asian business owners of Green Street, Turkish community in Dalston and the Sikh Community in Southall all came out to defend themselves and their areas. Very, very admirable:

That said, parts of Green Street weren’t so lucky. Here’s a picture of Tesco and the library I took earlier:

What was the source of this malicious, disgusting, horrendous behaviour I hear you ask...? Well, a few days back a young man by the name of Mark Duggan, allegedly a drug lord, was shot by police officers. There’s some controversy regarding whether or not he shot the officer first, I’m not sure what happened, perhaps this was unfair, perhaps not, but the fact of the matter is that he had a gun in his possession, now, the last time I checked, that’s ILLEGAL. The police are employed to prevent illegal activities. Anyway, Duggan happened to have a fair few friends who initiated a non-violent demonstration. This in turn triggered riots in Tottenham and Enfield. Soon after, riots began throughout the capital, replicated in all the quadrants at varying scales before being mimicked across the major cities in the country.

On the other hand, it can be said that this incidence was simply an excuse or a catalyst for something that was bound to happen one day or another anyway. Listening to an interview on the BBC with a teenager I recall something along the lines of, “when they [the police] respect us, we’ll respect them.” Others, have complaints about the cuts made on EMA (educational maintenance allowance) and educational funding for universities and ultimately David Cameron. Some people even went as far as saying this was expected: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=aso.  

Right, I understand that yes, in many of these deprived areas, you struggle to gain opportunities to rise above the socio-economic bracket, I understand that it might be difficult to pay the bills at home and yeah you might have to share a bedroom with a sibling because you can’t afford a bigger home. I get that there aren’t jobs knocking at your door and your future may seem bleak, but please stop acting like you’re growing up in Africa or any other third world, actually I think the politically correct term is now developing, country. This is the UK, you have the chance to go to school, you have clothes on your back, food on your table and yeah okay it might not be caviar and Prada, but those things are luxuries, you need to work damn hard to earn those things. So go to school, study hard, attend university and GET A FUCKING JOB. It’s not impossible. Be grateful for what you do have, because there are so damn many people out there that would give anything to be in your position, they don’t have clean water for fuck’s sake, and you have the nerve to tell me your life sucks cos you don’t have the latest pair of kicks. Get real. About a week ago most of these kids didn’t even know what the term looting was. 

Now, can I state, RESPECT HAS TO BE EARNT, you can not go and loot your local pound shop/charity shop/Argos and think that this is sending a message to the police about your problems; NO, this just informs them that you are a thieving, primitive and morally corrupt individual who has no boundaries. HOW IS STEALING FROM YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY, YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS PEOPLE GOING TO ASSIST YOUR SITUATION?! WHAT DID INNOCENT FAMILIES WHO HAPPENED TO LIVE IN YOUR LOCAL AREA DO TO DESERVE BEING BURGLED/HAVE THEIR HOMES SET ABLAZE?!  

Now as much as I applaud the police force and respect their hard work in this difficult time, we pay so much freaking tax for national security measures, but where the hell are they when shit is going down?! Why are the police always running on Indian time?! (For those of you non Indians, it means late.) It’s almost as if they come late to avoid the trouble and simply assist in the post-disaster clean up/questioning. We need y’all to be there on time dudes and dudettes, same goes for the fire brigades and ambulances, did you see how long that furniture shop was on fire in Croydon last night before they showed up to extinguish it?! Also, what is up with these extra policing measures, they are still lacking, apparently, there were more police around at the royal wedding?! Also what’s up with this: Sgt Seamus Hansford said: “I have increased the number of officers in the town centre from four to eleven. We want to show the yobs that we are in charge.” Excuse me, but have you seen the sizes of these mobs, yeah you may have nearly tripled the size of your officers but comparatively you’ve done nothing. Fix up before it’s too late Ilford!

Videos such as this one have surfaced and sicken me to my core: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsRwwQJdKjE&feature=player_embedded. Speechless. 

The two things that I would blame are lack of gratitude and bad parenting. Let me 

elaborate, in the case of the former, young people and even older people, seem to lack the ability of being thankful, they are never happy with what they have and always want more. Yeah, we live in a consumerist society but that does not excuse such behaviour. Many people take, take and take some more, but have never learnt how to say thank you let alone give. It’s incredible how they think they are justified in their actions because they don’t have money. Taking something that is not yours is wrong. Isn’t that something taught in schools to four and five year olds?! If young people think this is okay, I weep for the next generation. DO YOU NOT HAVE A MORAL FIBRE IN YOUR BEING?! How do you sleep at night? As for the latter, what kind of parent would open the door for their child in the early hours of the morning, allowed them in with a hoard of new tracksuits/technology, without so much as questioning it?! They need BACKHANDING. What kinda parent raises their children like that?! I understand that some parents have received text messages telling them to call their children home and ensure their safety. This is not enough. When they’ve grown up its too late, you must instil these values at a young age.

Not all is doom and gloom, there is a riot worker volunteer group who are out and about helping to clean up their city. Very admirable:

 

Any one interested in helping check out this site: www.riotcleanup.co.uk/

 

Other positivity takes the form of the locals writing the things they love about Peckham, simply beautiful. 

 

Before I finish I just want to bring your attention to this lady, people like this are few and far apart, unfortunately. We need more people standing up for what is right: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haX6gQh5b3w&feature=related

Anyway that’s all for now people, stay safe.

-K

Blog post number two!

I’ve just noticed that my last blog post also was posted on a Monday, perhaps I shall aim for a weekly post. Not too ambitious but also won’t mean I’ll prolong posts too, I’ll try and make it a routine. At one stage this week I even thought, ‘why do you have a blog, you don’t have enough to say,’ however, I had a very mentally stimulating conversation tonight with a special person who reminded me of why I set this blog up in the first place... [You know who you are. This one’s for you!]

During a superb dinner with the greatest company a very interesting dialogue commenced regarding people and social habits within communities. (All the more relevant in diverse environments such as London.) So, question of the day. Mosaic vs. Melting pot? What on Earth is this plonker talking about this time with I hear you question!? Well let me elaborate my loyal literary lovers. (See what I just did there?! Alliteration. Okay, I’ll try and be less of a loser now).

Let me define the two terms I just utilised:

*Mosaic – A picture created with clusters of small colourful cubic pieces of tiles/glass etc. 

*Melting pot – Somewhere that colours are able to mix with each other, bubbling and boiling with no boundaries.

Now, apply these two concepts to people, cultural diversity being represented through colours, thus bringing life to the aforementioned metaphor. In the case of the former, a mosaic, people within a community would be living alongside one another, however choosing to remain within their social/cultural boundaries (i.e. colours) and contrast it with the theory of a melting pot where people freely mix without considering the heritage of individuals, living with one another, conducting interracial relationships and truly accepting one another. 

As with everything, each of the above comes with both advantages and drawbacks. Let’s discuss. On the one hand, under a preliminary examination the latter, the melting pot theory, may seem to be perfect, perhaps some may even refer to it as a utopian society. Surely, we should all be for a place where no one judges another person by the colour of their skin and their beliefs…? Should we not all be attempting to integrate with one another, after all, we have so much to learn from one another, particularly from others with backgrounds different from our own…? Just because someone is different, it doesn’t mean that person is bad/wrong/harmful…? It definitely would solve some of the big issues we have right, no more ‘politically correct,’ terminology, no more racism and looking down at others with an air of superiority, plus genetically, mixed-race offspring are better off and less susceptible to disease etc right…?

But hold on, what about culture, what about heritage, what about roots? If we’re all pro-mixing, (especially with the internationalisation of the world) won’t we all be the same after a few generations…? Won’t we lose our ancestry and all those customs and traditions that take a multitude of centuries to embed within people…? All the beautiful aspects of each country, religion and even social class, lost and never to be resurrected, simply left behind as a fading memory? I think you’ll agree, a painful thought. In order not to lose our beautiful differences, surely, we should reside within our own assigned borders (not physically! – more of a mental approach, making a conscious decision to learn your own language, visit your country every so often, participating in festivals, following religions etc.) Obviously, being separated from those similar to yourselves makes it a fair deal harder not to lose touch with your background, especially if you are brought up in a diverse environment, ultimately, with others you seek common ground. 

I do think that we have much to learn from one another. Other perceptions and outlooks can broaden our minds and improve many things. But I do appreciate our differences too. I love that I went to a school where we were so diverse, that we only had one White kid in the class, and even he wasn’t British. I love that despite that, we were able to mingle and make all sorts of racial, stereotypical jokes and insult one another, and not with a malicious, bitter or vicious intent, but for the sheer humour! However, as I’ve grown up, I’ve noticed that people either consciously or subconsciously (not sure which is worse to be honest!) tend to opt for their own ‘type.’ I've realised that I can no longer make such comments without others perceiving me as disrespectful. In college, there were visually obvious delegated hanging out places, differentiating the Asians, the Blacks and the albeit few, Whites. At Uni, the international kids also tend to make a pact. Why is there this sudden need for lack of a better word, belonging, it sure wasn’t around when we were younger?!

Think about it. I sure will be. I can’t help but think there will be a follow up post to this...

On a lighter note, please do post your comments, suggestions and feedback my way. I would really appreciate it. I need to know if you fell asleep half way, want more jokes, thought it was too long/too short or if you simply adored it and can’t wait for the next one.

Night night.

-K