Tweet
I'm not sure I should be responding on the matter of "riots" as it's going wat off rA thread purpose but a few thoughts.
1) in my view there is no sense in destroying things, making people's lives more difficult and so on for any "cause". Such gives that cause a bad name (eg also just stop oil protests);
2) most of the time the rioting has little to do with the cause - just an excuse for those so minded to fight/destroy property or loot BUT included in the corps of rioters are peaceful protesters who have a cause that needs to be heard out;
3) separation of causes from methodology is crucial. At the heart of all protests are genuine grievances which are being ill served by the methods of protest. But sometimes it may be the only way to make people listen. If governments, authorities etc actually listened to the voice of the people and either acted on them or explained the no action we'd be closer to democracy. Unfortunately politicians generally seem to try to tell people what's right for them, sometimes despite it not being so;
4) some causes transcend my three thoughts above - eg to combat widespread political or social oppression;
65) we need to stop blaming every riot on the far right. Sure they are prominent now but they didn't invent the genre. Look at Blackburn and other hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism evolving. Just as bad, let's not delude ourselves;
6) Sith - your description of BLM protests doesn't accord with my very limited experience of the tail end of one I got caught up in in London. Very charged anti white atmosphere and far from peacable
- but no doubt this will be cast aside as anecdotal;
7) I experienced the riots in Croydon (and across England) in summer 2011. Certainly not right wing orchestrated A boiling over of anger turned into wanton destruction and theft of and from the very communities that many lived in. For years after I would revisit those areas and see the absence of businesses serving that community and hear the very residents who caused it moaning about it.
Rioting is not the domain of one extremist group, let's remember that whilst criticising the current **** stirrers. It's a self defeating method of protest and disenfranchises those with grievances by taking the focus away from that grievance and onto the destruction/looting.
As some bloke once said "let him who is without sin cast the first stone". Is it any more or less acceptable to protest the murder of 3 children by attacking the temporary home of immigrant groups and possibly killing innocent children therein (although thankfully not).
The cause of rational debate on multiculturalism and immigration is irreparably damaged by these actions, which just polarises opinion and buries an issue that a seemingly fast growing number of people (not just the far right) want airing
1) in my view there is no sense in destroying things, making people's lives more difficult and so on for any "cause". Such gives that cause a bad name (eg also just stop oil protests);
2) most of the time the rioting has little to do with the cause - just an excuse for those so minded to fight/destroy property or loot BUT included in the corps of rioters are peaceful protesters who have a cause that needs to be heard out;
3) separation of causes from methodology is crucial. At the heart of all protests are genuine grievances which are being ill served by the methods of protest. But sometimes it may be the only way to make people listen. If governments, authorities etc actually listened to the voice of the people and either acted on them or explained the no action we'd be closer to democracy. Unfortunately politicians generally seem to try to tell people what's right for them, sometimes despite it not being so;
4) some causes transcend my three thoughts above - eg to combat widespread political or social oppression;
65) we need to stop blaming every riot on the far right. Sure they are prominent now but they didn't invent the genre. Look at Blackburn and other hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism evolving. Just as bad, let's not delude ourselves;
6) Sith - your description of BLM protests doesn't accord with my very limited experience of the tail end of one I got caught up in in London. Very charged anti white atmosphere and far from peacable
- but no doubt this will be cast aside as anecdotal;
7) I experienced the riots in Croydon (and across England) in summer 2011. Certainly not right wing orchestrated A boiling over of anger turned into wanton destruction and theft of and from the very communities that many lived in. For years after I would revisit those areas and see the absence of businesses serving that community and hear the very residents who caused it moaning about it.
Rioting is not the domain of one extremist group, let's remember that whilst criticising the current **** stirrers. It's a self defeating method of protest and disenfranchises those with grievances by taking the focus away from that grievance and onto the destruction/looting.
As some bloke once said "let him who is without sin cast the first stone". Is it any more or less acceptable to protest the murder of 3 children by attacking the temporary home of immigrant groups and possibly killing innocent children therein (although thankfully not).
The cause of rational debate on multiculturalism and immigration is irreparably damaged by these actions, which just polarises opinion and buries an issue that a seemingly fast growing number of people (not just the far right) want airing
Comment