In the wake of the economic crisis and the de facto bankruptcy of several banks (as well as the continuing appalling running of banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland), and against a background of hidden but festering resentments, arising from class and race, the actual meltdown of the UK begins with uncontrollable violence and looting. Economically, morally and socially it is finished and a pair of wets such as Cameron and Clegg are not, after all, made of the stuff to make a difference.
'Ye Olde Blighty' is probably about to join "The Glory that was Greece; the Grandeur that was Rome."
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I think the racial-demographic angle is the key one here, which, being in Brazil, you might appreciate more than most.
ReplyDeleteBrazil, from its first colonization, has been a land of mixed race and not just races pushed together. There was interbreeding between many different races from the beginning. Most Brazilians that I have met have little regard for specific racial origin or colour. Modern Britain, on the other hand, is a land of different races which have been pushed together, and they, sometimes, co-exist uneasily. Occasionally, the pressure builds and all the resentments spill out. At the moment, there seem to be various tensions: beginning with those between the black West Indian community and the police as a result of the recent shooting of a civilian by the police. The rioting seems to be attributed to black youths of West Indian origin. The tensions there are highlighted by the fact that their grandfathers were shipped into Britian after WWII to do the dirty jobs that no one else wanted to do. The resentments fester on. Not many people actually ever address this issue, perhaps because the 'right-on' brigade just will not look the truth in the face.
ReplyDeleteWhen this group riots, the more prosperous Asian commumnities, amongst whom they largely live and whose property is attacked in the rioting, come out onto the streets and defend themselves and their property in default of effective police action. Now the white 'English Defence League' (so-called) are out on the streets too and it is not too difficult now, perhaps, to understand what the late Enoch Powell MP was predicting in his 'Rivers of Blood' speeech. I don't think that Powell was personally racially discriminatory, he just realized that, if you treat racial groups as the British treated the West Indians after the War, and just suddenly lump different cultures together, you would be storing up trouble for the future. Now the trouble is here. Well, now it is there - and I am jolly glad to be here, instead of there. The government need to take immediate, firm and effective action to stop the escalation of violence by all groups now coming into the fray. If it takes the army, what better reason to bring them back from Afghanistan and Iraq? Defence of the home Islands should be the army's real purpose anyway. If the government abdicates this responsibility, there is going to be something close to civil war.
Yes. A self-serving, interconnected elite of politicians and their patrons and a powerful media have no real beliefs or convictions other than personal gain.
ReplyDeleteRiots can be suppressed in the short term but long term issues got us to this stage and there are no quick fixes for this malaise. Decline is inevitable anyway.
Decline is inevitable now and those in charge just don't have the clout to sort it out.
ReplyDeleteNJS