UK
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The Meaning of the British Riots: Corruption At The Top Leads To Lawlessness By The People
More vigorous policing will drive the thugs off the streets and restore a tenuous calm. But keeping them off the streets, and integrating them — and the hundreds of thousands who have poured onto the streets in peaceful protests — into a socio-economic system that offers them a future and a stake in social stability… Continue reading
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Media demand mass arrests, reprisals against UK rioters By Robert Stevens
The barest pretence of due process is taking place, as kangaroo courts issue ‘summary justice’ to satisfy the media and the police. The Evening Standard described how at Westminster magistrates’ court, one of the four sitting for 24 hours in the city, ‘Court papers were skim-read in 15 minutes before hearings’, while ‘defendants appeared in… Continue reading
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UK: Tony McKenna, “Order within the Chaos”
A riot cannot be justified in the way a political march can. The reasons for a political march are adduced in advance and it is coordinated according to a pre-planned route. But a riot is chaotic and uncontrolled and feeds on itself, much like the fires it leaves burning in its wake. To see in… Continue reading
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UK Uprisings Newslinks Roundup 6-13 August 2011
A collection stories, mostly from independent journalists and media sources on the uprisings. Continue reading
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After London Police Killing, Media Focus on Problem of Police Restraint By Peter Hart
A former senior riot police officer with knowledge of current operations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the most recent riots were allowed to rage, in part, because police officers felt constrained. Continue reading
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Britain’s Riots: Thuggery, Looting, Lawlessness… By the Ruling Class By Finian Cunningham
The events have visibly shocked the political establishment of all parties, police chiefs and the mainstream media. But what should be more shocking is the myopic and incredibly banal commentary that is being offered to ‘explain’ the outburst of street disturbances and violence. Continue reading
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Video – UK: The Voice Of Reason
A working man from South London, tells it like it is! Continue reading
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UK: Bullets won’t solve anything
For all the sense that David Cameron spoke following the Cobra emergency committee meeting, he might as well have stayed in his luxury Tuscan villa. Continue reading
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UK: An Anatomy of a police shooting By Tony Mckenna
Consider the following hypothetical situation: a group of policeman unlawfully kill a suspected criminal. We do not know what has lead to the unlawful killing – only that it takes place and – having taken place, must now, somehow, be presented to the public as a ‘lawful kill’. Continue reading
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Black Britain Revolts: What If It Had Been New York? By Glen Ford
Britain’s Black rebellion shocked the nation, but has not produced the kind of carnage that routinely accompanies urban unrest in the United States. ‘Had London’s current disturbances occurred on a similar scale in New York City, with outbreaks across the various boroughs, the police would have unleashed a bloodbath.’ Which is not to say that… Continue reading
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Left groups respond to the UK riots
Statements by various left groups on the riots that have swept the UK over the past week. Continue reading
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Clegg Predicting Riots
In the run up to the 2010 General Election Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned of riots if the Tories were elected, stating that, ‘There is danger that having any government of any composition led by a party which doesn’t have a popular mandate across the country trying to push through really difficult decisions. I… Continue reading
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July Days Again in Britain — This Time in August By S. Artesian
The sun never sets on the poverty of British capitalism. In its wretchedness Britain represents the pinnacle of bourgeois society. In its decline Britain is a monument to the market, to private property, to progress. Continue reading
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Monday night in Peckham By Kate Belgrave
I thought if there was going to be trouble, it would start outside the bus, not in it – so I was watching the streets and footpaths as the 436 bus went along Camberwell New Road, across Camberwell junction and into Peckham Road last night. Continue reading
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Hackney Burned and Smashed Sean Gittins*
Thuggery this may be, but watching people hurtle rocks at windows and cops with scant regard for their future and the consequences lays bare a complete hatred of the system these rioters have come to know. Cameron’s warning to ‘these people’ that they are ‘potentially wrecking their own life too’ will have been as comical… Continue reading
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Major police clampdown as riots spread across London and other UK cities By Julie Hyland
As evidence mounts of a police provocation, a concerted campaign is underway by the media and the major political parties to blame the disturbances on ‘copy-cat criminals’ and ‘looters’ with the aim of justifying further state repression. Continue reading
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The battle of north London By John Millington
Getting to the truth of events like Saturday are a minefield. There is so much raw emotion, often exploited by corporate media outlets seeking to paint a certain picture either to undermine working-class communities or misdirect focus away from the root causes of events. Continue reading
