This afternoon my partner went into Blackheath, our comfortable little village in Lewisham Borough in southeast London.
Shopkeepers were in quite a state because there were rumours that 300 youngsters were making their way through nearby Greenwich Park on their way here to smash their way through our few posh stores. They were closing up, boarding up, hunkering down. Normally you could dismiss that kind of rumour. But not now. Last night there was a chopper overhead when I went to the shop to get some last minute things for supper; you could smell the smoke from fires in Lewisham. We saw it on the television too. Some shops were hit in Blackheath last night.
After three nights of rioting in many poor parts of London, the midlands and the north of the UK, it's hard to dismiss any such talk. There has been looting, fires have been set, police have been attacked, property damaged, firefighters have been kept from doing what they do best - put out fires. A man was killed last night in Dartford. Ordinary folks are nervous, angry even; football matches have been cancelled; my writers' group probably won't meet tonight.
And our Tory Prime Minister has returned from his Tuscan villa to take command. The London mayor gets back to London later today. Bless.
The shooting of a young black man by police last week sparked the whole thing off, though it is clear this has now taken on a life of its own. Why? No one really knows. Tories and Lib Dems condemn the violence on the streets. Well done. Opposition Labour politicians have been careful not to draw a line between the massive cuts in the social safety net at a time when state-owned banks pay their people obscene sums. As one put it, "The cuts don't make you a criminal."
Okay, but what does? I am not convinced that all these youngsters have been criminals all along. Some, yes. I am more convinced that their current greed for looted goods and lust for fire and taste for blood is rooted in a hopelessness that says, "What the fuck, we don't matter." As one youngster put it: "Now you are paying attention to us." Added another: "We're going after the rich."
The latter comment is telling. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor in this country and the gap is widest among the young and the black.
They don't have jobs; they don't have apprenticeships; their school fees have been tripled; housing is only for the rich; centres helping them find jobs have closed; the police pull them over and harass them because of the colour of their skin or their age. The kind of life most of us aspire to is out of their reach. Tell me that doesn't have an effect.
On top of that, some of their political leaders have been found fixing their expenses; the police have beaten up legitimate protestors on other occasions and have themselves been accused of accepting gifts from the gutter press for sharing information. The right-wing media has been accused of hacking into people's phones. Corporate greed runs amuck as top firms and their CEOs squirm their way out of paying taxes that might help keep schools and hospitals afloat. Drug and food companies are advising the government on how to run the National Health Service and Tory donors wait breathlessly for their chance to take over the whole enterprise. Such an example, we set.
Why not riot? Why not, indeed.
Well, because it's not helping. And it ain't right.
I condemn the violence on our streets; I also condemn the violent systems we adhere to that keep so much wealth and power in so few hands; I condemn political violence, police violence, corporate violence. Sorry, but I do draw a line.
Not that it excuses the youngsters. You can resist without the destroying your communities and your own futures. Get a grip.
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"What would you do if you were in charge?" my partner put it to me as we pondered the possibility that our academic discussions on the riots might come knocking on our front door. Or worse. The truth is, I don't know.
There's talk today of more police on the streets, more liberal use of the baton, rubber bullets, the army, water cannons. Please, God, no.
I have to say there has been some attempt on the part of the media to show that there are many communities trying to make a difference just now - cleaning the streets, holding interfaith peace vigils, finding housing for those hit by fires and other property damage.
Maybe that's what we need - a love and peace riot. Starting in our own hearts and moving to our families, to our neighbours. Maybe then we can learn to share the grief, the wealth, the work, the responsibility.
If not, we are certainly on the eve of destruction.
