Back to the spark that began it all - the death of Mark Duggan — shot by a police armed response unit in Tottenham on Thursday 4th August. This was initially reported in the mainstream media as an exchange of fire, in fact it was reported as a positive news story - with prominence given to the angle of a police officer being miraculously saved from a bullet that struck his radio. After four days of rioting the facts are slowly coming out.
As with Tomlinson, as with De Menezes first the police kill and then they start to lie. Those lies were repeated as fact by a compliant mass media. The situation turned violent — footage has emerged of a group of tooled up cops beating a young girl on the ground. Then the rioting went viral — not just because of the intoxicating power of Twitter or Blackberry but because the conditions for it exist all over the country.
Currently the Tory government is talking tough, with Boris Johnson talking of rioters as if they were foxes to be run to earth. A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues. The fiery unrest which ignited in Tottenham a few days ago, and which has rapidly spread through London and to other towns and cities across the country, has been largely and predictably condemned by politicians and the mainstream media as mindless violence, arson, theft and thuggery.
While there is no denying that a number of the attacks have badly affected local people in local communities, some of whom have lost their homes and possessions and in one case their lives, blanket condemnation of those involved in the unrest is inappropriate and conveniently draws attention away from the context in which these events are taking place.
Britain's cities, towns and rural areas alike now boast record numbers of young unemployed people, often denied benefits, with few prospects, with many of those living in urban areas facing constant harassment by the police, especially if they happen to be black, with public services being cut all around them, and quite possibly with a growing mass awareness - thanks to movements like UK UnCut - of government support for super-rich corporations at the expense of the already impoverished.
The fatal shooting of Mark Duggan and subsequent police lies might have been one trigger for the 'riots' in Haringey; another is almost certainly the decision of Haringey local authority to close the majority of the borough's youth clubs in a round of public spending cuts. In any event and whatever the triggers, the roots of the unrest are deeply embedded. No amount of repressive policing and overkill sentencing is going to solve this crisis, even if it succeeds in silencing dissent in the short term.
This feature draws together and links to eye-witness accounts and independent analysis, alternative voices offering a range of views and opinions. Read indymedia features from London, Nottingham and Bristol, opinion from SolFed, Fitwatch and individual commentators, and accounts from the streets as events have unfolded. There has been much speculation and comment in the corporate media about the extent to which social networking services have been used to plan and spread word about unrest and plenty of reports about how the authorities are using social networking to identify and round up those allegedly involved.
Christian Fuchs identifies social media as the latest 'moral panic' which simply diverts attention from what's really going on:. Independent eye-witness accounts give some insight beyond the predictable mainstream corporate media responses and those of warmongering politicians like Tottenham MP David Lammy , apparently unaware of the irony of calling for calm and condemning violence in Britain having strongly supported the war in Iraq and the ongoing 'War on Terror'.
Nick Griffin is in Liverpool telling lies about the riots 2 comments. Running through riotous London 1 comment. Britain's Burning Anarchists respond to the London riots - Solidarity Federation 8 comments. Riots spread to Nottingham Police Dog Savages Bystander 1 comment.
Darcus Howe names the riots an 'inssuerction' on the BBC 6 comments. Canning Circus police station firebombed Riots in Manchester 1 addition. Too far: A site to identify and incriminate rioters 14 comments. Calm down! Cameron has everything under control!
A riot of as a sign of desperation Oxford riots 'misinformation' update 1 addition 5 comments. Birmingham, West Brom, Salford 2 comments. Corporations and the London Riots 3 comments. Attack on Bristol police claimed by anarchists Life after riot? More London uprising Police tonight will be different - be warned Rioting spreads to New Basford?
Video of last night riots St Pauls and Stokes Croft Riots Tonypandy Riot 2 comments. Skip to content or view mobile version. UK Indymedia. August Riots Reports and analysis of the summer urban riots which erupted after the Police murder of Mark Duggan. Full article Birmingham Riots Full article 1 comment Summer of Unrest: an indymedia overview of the 'riots' We are working on a Twitter policy. Views Read Edit Fossil record.
Support Donate. Community Saloon bar To do list What is going on? Social media Twitter Facebook Discord Reddit. This page was last modified on 31 August , at
0コメント