vibra o som do sol queimando o silêncio ao redor
com o incinerador cimento reduzindo a cinzas o sujeito que alguma vez pensou-se livre, acha-se hoje cremado,
vermelho lúgubre derramando luz laranja como fonte de lava
esclarecendo-se passa, embora, o tempo e assombra-se
pelas mudanças por si mesmo causadas, maldito Cronos
e seu tempo fora do tempo, vida eterna porém tão mortífera
vida sem vida, passando, rendida, como escombros
de uma velha igreja gótica enchida de arlequines vermelhos
e virgens de verdes e amarelos dourados, velho luxo sem brilho
em duas dimensões não se distingue o verdadeiro nível da mentira
e foge como baixo-relevo dos limites da de ser pedra o dançarino
que se acha deus ou homem, que se acha livre e pensa que pode
por si mesmo seu destino decidir, morre, à mercê de todo além
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing.
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
From, The Waste Land
by TS Elliot
What can be said of anything when beauty is all that takes up space in my mind as I splurge my time in thinking? Writing and reading in a café where half the people work and the other half spend their time doing something that will somehow make them better. This constant bettering and the necessity to always constantly improve bewitched me from the moment I realize it runs our lives. Its best expression being the need to be content. The fear of being unhappy is but another part of it, which composes apparently a human right - and has turned into a human obligation. The pursuit of happiness is nothing but a way to take off the possibility and the respectability of being sad and miserable. Yet it is this sadness and misery the only thing that enables the ability to know what happiness and any semblance of joy. I offer you a smile besmirched by reality, the uncontainable impulse to implode, to believe in existence through existentialism. It is through the ugly that we can see and re-define the beautiful.
I dont know about you all but I felt this was going to happen and I dont think it all has come to an end. When I say I know this has not yet come to an end, it is because though the current riots in Lindon have ended, this is just the begining of an anti-capitalist awareness that the lower tiers of society are experiencing. I am not trying to say that capitalism is wrong, I am just saying it seems to be failing the people in the lower tiers of society, and though I am putting most of the fault on capitalism, this is actually a shared bruned that the government and firms (that are at times larger than governments) also must bear and acknowledge if they wish to remain profitable.
The same article that quotes Garry Shewan, in fact, brings up massively important points that show how these riots are different from previously seen riots, and I'll point these out quickly, you can google if you need more information:
#1 Mark Duggans shooting; #2 The fact that these are NOT racial riots; #3 Government's slashing of 80 million pounds from public spending.
Now,it would be ludicrous to say that these are not factors that influenced these rioters but there are further factors that must be taken into account.
"They are, however, a sign of illness, of something out of whack in the society that gives rise to so many people expressing so much anger so self-destructively at the same time. Just as a physician does not ask the disease what reforms it seeks from the body it is attacking or what bodily sectors it wants to overtake, the government and law-abiding citizens do not ask the mob just what it thinks its doing. The mob is the symptom. And the physician attends to the entire body to find the cause of the symptom. It is the physician’s job to effectively bring the entire organism back into harmonious relationship. Get it on its feet and working again."
She further explains what she means by quoting this article at Jezebel . Which can again be summed up in one of itsparagraphs:
"Noone expected this. The so-called leaders who have taken three solid days to return from their foreign holidays to a country in flames did not anticipate this. The people running Britain had absolutely no clue how desperate things had become. They thought that after thirty years of soaring inequality, in the middle of a recession, they could take away the last little things that gave people hope, the benefits, the jobs, the possibility of higher education, the support structures, and nothing would happen. They were wrong. And now my city is burning, and it will continue to burn until we stop the blanket condemnations and blind conjecture and try to understand just what has brought viral civil unrest to Britain. Let me give you a hint: it ain't Twitter."
Now the problem with this outlook is that even though it brings a balanced point of view it reaches no conclusions. I do not know if it does this in order to be as politically correct as possible or just because they really do not know what is really is the point of these other than expressing some sort of larger discontent. Pynchon does however, hint at a possible overarching explanation as she incited her readers to read this article at Good/Politics Now, this small article at Good/Politics is not really addressed the same way as Pynchon's Forbes article,
however attempts to say that these "youth" (as this seems to be the general term applied to the rioters) seem dis-connected and un-heard or un-valued. Which seems to be pretty accurate yet insufficient (as the author of this article points out). Which leads me to my next point.
#2 These "youth" are not only the cause of the "welfare state"
Now, from what I understand is that these so mentioned cuts to aid are necessary and according to some people the rioters are "youth" who were it not for these riots would be at home playing video games. Well, that is the picture that some articles try to paint, take for example this article at Spiked. However this is an obviously biased point of view, however true or false it may be. Just as Pynchon says "when violent riots break out in a society known for the quiet queue and adherence to still quite fixed economic and social class boundaries, something has gone awry." Which is true, if these kids were truly only interested in playing their PS3s, XBOXes, MP3s and iPads, nothing would have happened as long as they have them, which they do already. Brendan O'neil from Spiked seems to think, however, that:
"At a more fundamental level, these are youngsters who are uniquely alienated from the communities they grew up in. Nurtured in large part by the welfare state, financially, physically and educationally, socialised more by the agents of welfarism than by their own neighbours or community representatives, these youth have little moral or emotional attachment to the areas they grew up in."
This is true. The rioters do not exhibit any respect for their own local communities, check out what community unity can do as this Turkish community in Dalston’s Kingsland Road successfully scares away looters. But this is neither the true visible signs of the problem, nor the root of the problem; this is just collateral damage. The root of the problem cannot be simple boredom or just an alienation from a person's community - its the lack of percieved personal value. To understand this we must understand two more things: how is London unique, and how is London global or like everywhere else in the world. But before I move on, I'd like to point out that it is here that Pynchon's quoting of "Obama’s pretty neutral academic sizing up of the Rodney King riots becomes, from the perspective of Kurtz at the National Review Alinsky-speak for 'We’ve got to use the power of the angry underclass to put capitalism in check,'" makes the most sense. Could it be that these mobs are an example of a raising awareness that people are not simple pawns of capitalism in its ever increasing abuse of people in its buy-sell ever-winning ping-pong game? (Spoiler Alert: I think so)
#3 How is London unique
Though I am trying to unprove O'Neil's idea (that having given welfare to these "youth" and having babied them is the true root of the riots) it was thanks to O'Neil's quoting of Marx that I understood how the uniqueness of London's current state which makes it the unique place for these type of riots to happen. In the preface to the second edition of his Brumaire of Luis Bonaparte where he discredits Cesarism as a way of comparing what happened in Rome to what happened in France as their situations are completely different:
"In this superficial historical analogy the main point is forgotten, namely, that in ancient Rome the class struggle took place only within a privileged minority, between the free rich and the free poor, while the great productive mass of the population, the slaves, formed the purely passive pedestal for these combatants. People forget Sismondi’s significant saying: The Roman proletariat lived at the expense of society, while modern society lives at the expense of the proletariat. With so complete a difference between the material, economic conditions of the ancient and the modern class struggles, the political figures produced by them can likewise have no more in common with one another than the Archbishop of Canterbury has with the High Priest Samuel."
Eleven years into this twenty first century London is a very different place from sixteen or seventeenth century France to even consider possibly calling this a "revolution." Yet what are the things that make 21st century London, well 21st century London?
Again I'd like to quote Pynchon, "When violent riots break out in a society known for the quiet queue and adherence to still quite fixed economic and social class boundaries, something has gone awry [...] Because London’s present troubles do not appear to be identity (race or nationality or religious) based, they are more likely to have their origin in power and income inequity [...] People (civilized primates) are also constantly pushing up against one another, vying for physical space, for scarce resources and for the power to conduct their own affairs in their own fashion without undue interference from others." Wait, does this seem like something you've heard before? People in a society with fixed economic and social class boundries rioting to obtain power and income equity and the power to conduct their own affairs in their own fashion without interference from others...
I say, that definitely sounds like something I've heard before. Does Liberté, egalité, fraternité ring a bell? How about "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Thus, are these kids really just rioting for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Well who is taking away those unalienable rights? Well lets do to things before answering this. First, is it obvious enough that there is in fact a problem larger than just youth on welfare rioting to attempt to retain that welfare? I think yes. Second, lets agree that in a society where socio-economic class boundries dominate and where people feel powerless and at the will of others they are truly seeking freedom. (See Pynchon's article again.)And lastly, lets first finish our previous point, how is London like everywhere else in the world (this will help answer if these riots are truly in search of freedom, and freedom from whom?).
#4 How is London global (like everywhere else)
Well here I turn to commentators on these articles. True, usually this is where people blabber endlessly and stupidly, but these are some points of view that express what I mean to say about how these London riots represent other places in the world.
DRIPPINGBRUSH
I live in Spain but the social unrest and violence that recently shook the London streets is not so local as it may seem at first glance. In our globalised society, the underprivileged citizens the world over are being victims of extreme forms of violence that do not imply burning buses and buildings but evicting people from their homes, creating endless cues of unemployment, using our taxes to bail out the banks, raising the prices of food and fuel, and asking for more and more sacrifices so we can save the system. Since organised forms of popular opposition have long disappeared and what used to be called 'political conscience' hardly exists any more, it is not so surprising that certain groups begin to express their anger and frustration through physical violence. They may even not be entirely aware of why they act this way and their methods are not really effective in the long run but they should make us think harder about the 'values' we strive to preserve when we criticise them.
Cailin Rua
My favorite city too; I absolutely love London. I don't love how Britain and the US have been treating their working classes. People, especially people of color, have been dispossessed and then blamed and harassed for their poverty, when the poverty can clearly be linked to the ruling class failing to care or act in the best interest of the people.
I'm torn about the rioting too. Clearly what's happening now is lawless chaos, benefitting the bullies of the community and hurting everyone else. That's what happens though; there are bullies on the top and bullies on the bottom, and they hurt all of us. The bullies on the top are just more effective.
Hopefully this will be a spur to actual change, and in the meantime my thoughts are with the innocent people caught up in this situation, who stand to lose everything for reasons that they did not create and cannot control.
desertbloom
[...] what I meant was that the looters may subconsciously be responding to social injustice. I don't see how the majority of looters haven't at some point been the victim of social injustice, because people who are a welcome part of a community don't suddenly take the streets and riot.
Diziet_Sma
I think Penny Red's analysis is spot on - it's all too easy to put the blame on 'mindless thugs'; I mean, what is the subtext to that conclusion? That a whole generation of kids were just spontaneously 'born bad'? I think it's dangerous to start thinking this way because it precludes any deeper analysis.
As she so eloquently says (no need for me to restate here) the real reason is the widening gap between rich and poor over the past 30 years and the disenfranchisement and loss of hope that has engendered, along with the rampant celebration of capitalist "success", as embodied by the rise of celebrity culture. Is it any wonder these kids want what everybody else seems to have and take the opportunity to grab it? From their pov, this is the only chance they'll ever get to own these things. There is no encouragement or financial support for further education in the UK since the Tories abolished university grants 20 years ago, for example.
So, done with the comments.
We have seen these revolutions in Syria, Egypt, and Spain. Planned strikes, and rioting in order to achieve a specific purpose, mainly something having to do with government. What makes London like everywhere else in the world? It is exactly what Cailin Rua says "people, especially people of color, have been dispossessed and then blamed and harassed for their poverty, when the poverty can clearly be linked to the ruling class failing to care or act in the best interest of the people." She gets even deeper when she analyzes that there are "bullies on top of bullies" that at the end only hurt us who are in the bottom. Or like Dziet_Sma says: "the real reason is the widening gap between rich and poor over the past 30 years and the disenfranchisement and loss of hope that has engendered, along with the rampant celebration of capitalist 'success', as embodied by the rise of celebrity culture."
So, are these riots simply a misdirected desire for social justice? Its like DRIPPINGBRUSH says: "Since organised forms of popular opposition have long disappeared and what used to be called 'political conscience' hardly exists any more, it is not so surprising that certain groups begin to express their anger and frustration through physical violence." Violence in order to be heard, certainly sounds like what Martin Fletcher found as he interviewed a rioter in this interview.
However if these kids are actually seeking a voice without knowing what they really want we have the case that Brendan O'Neil made on Spiked - children running amok because they are looking for entertainment. Unless, it is like DRIPPINGBRUH says: "They may even not be entirely aware of why they act this way and their methods are not really effective in the long run but they should make us think harder about the 'values' we strive to preserve when we criticise them."
And if we take the "Bully of a bully" thought process that Cailin Rua brought up we have to ask ourselves, who is behind this increasing poverty in the lower classes, this lack of social justice? Could it be the same people who are pushing Government to cut spending instead of increasing revenue like it should? or at least like the folks at Patriotic Millionaires or the Agenda Project (45 millionaires that ask to be taxed) promote it should? And who would this be that doesn't want their income cut but is instead willing to cut benefits for poorer people? Well, (in America) the folks at Fiscal Strength have a few ideas.
Ok but if these are the bullies who is behind these bullies? Could it be the corporations that give thousands of dollars to politicians in order get their interests heard louder that those of Americans? Who has to push for this Social Justice and for this re-balancing of the economy? US? Well, i saw this and thought it was, if anything, inspirational.
#5 So was London under riots or under a revolution?
"Marx traces how the conflict of different social interests manifest themselves in the complex web of political struggles, and in particular the contradictory relationships between the outer form of a struggle and its real social content. The proletariat of Paris was at this time too inexperienced to win power, but the experiences of 1848-51 would prove invaluable for the successful workers' revolution of 1871."
Was this just training? Is this the global-generation that will create a revolution against over-capitalized large corporations that bully our governments into bullying us?
