OR IS THERE NO EXCUSE FOR VIOLENCE?
The violence and looting seen in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and Salford this week has been condemned by as “sick” by David Cameron, “sheer criminality” by home secretary Theresa May – and a senior police officer claimed the looters simply “cannot not control their own greed.”
But Hackney MP Dianne Abbott and former London mayor Ken Livingstone both stressed that the young people involved clearly feel they have “no stake in society,” suggesting that youth unemployment and a lack of opportunities for young people in deprived areas could be the root cause of these shocking scenes.
Just two weeks ago, Graduate Fog reported that four in ten young unemployed people feel they are “not part of society.” One in four admit they are relying on state benefits as their main source of income. One in five believe they are unlikely to ever get a job or career in the future – and seven in 10 say their potential is being thrown away.
What do you think? Are the riots a crude form of protest, an explosion of anger and frustration among bored, impoverished teens and twentysometings who lack focus, ambition – and a job? Or is is there simply no excuse for violence, theft and anarchy on this scale?
This comment came from Rebecca H. (She posted it in the wrong place so I have moved it):
Initially, I liked to think that the underlying cause for the riots was youth unemployment. Evidently, it was pure anarchy. But the whole episode has left me feeling sympathy for some rioters. I cannot condone what they have done in general terms, but I would understand such action being taken by persons who have genuinely made an effort (hundreds, maybe thousands of job applications) to find work but encounter rejection at every turn.
Everything David Cameron says rings so hollow. What’s worse, it isn’t just the Conservatives because they inherited a dire situation. I don’t think older generations have any concept of how difficult it is to find work, so the media portrayal of youth unemployment is too partial. Serious issues like unpaid “internships” are treated casually by institutions as well-established as the BBC.
I don’t find it surprising that SOME people who feel that they have been failed by society decided to loot. As long as society is both governed by people who do not understand the serious issues facing youth unemployment AND current affairs are communicated by people who ALSO do not understand these issues, then the negative stigma attaching to unemployment will persist. In these times, this stigma seems misconceived. For those rioters with just cause, I do not doubt that their actions stemmed from frustration.
I’m someone who graduated 2 years ago and I still cant get a full time job. I’m so tired, so frustrated and disappointed: with myself, with employers, with society. I feel hopeless, and I bought the myth that getting a degree and working hard at school will get you somewhere. Its just not working for me.
I don’t think it’s part of the whole story about the riots that the social situation and ‘downwards’ social mobility is the explanation, there are indeed other factors and these go across cultural, ethnic as well as social dividing lines. I’m in a crappy situation, yes, but I didn’t riot. However I do feel so frustrated that I feel something needs to happen in society that needs to change. Protests which might get riotous are understandable to me, but what happened this week is far more complicated than appealing to that kind of situation.
I do think, even with that nuance, that the government had it coming, this is a kick up the backside that the cuts are not working and the employment and economic situation is hitting everyone. What gets my goat is that the ConDem coalition are basically ignoring the riots and going ahead with the austerity measures with the police. Public sector cuts affect not just the people who have those jobs, but the amount of spending money they have to make purchases, which will affect other kinds of people who need work, it’s all related.
@Michael – I hear you, as I am in a similar situation. Two years of internships / volunteering / running my own projects has been tiring. I still can’t get work. How many interviews now? It’s got to be 25+.
I’m going to settle for anything now (I didn’t settle before as I have always been work-driven and made choices in my life which I thought would earn me a good job – e.g. uni, working abroad, internships, project management). Friends around me have got on their feet now and I feel left behind.
I was away when the rioting happened and watched the situation unfold from Sky News and the Daily Mail (not my favoured news sources!). These ‘news’ sources palpably fear and malign young people.
The biggest sadness of it is that consumerism seems to be the measure of life for young people who have nothing and no prospects. They are shut out from getting on; but acquiring stuff seems the opiate that (briefly) makes it all better. All this stuff has no real value compared with intangible qualities such as a respectful place in society and hope for the future.
Like these young people, I’m shut out of society. Yes there are jobs out there: crap ones with short-term, zero-hour contracts, at minimum wage. Can you blame young people for signing on instead? Who can take this kind of instability of situation. Also if you take these kind of crap jobs or sign on consumer goods just aren’t affordable.
A few days ago Greater Manchester police started tweeting the names, ages and home locations of the Salford/Manchester rioters & looters who had been dealt with in the magistrates court. Someone plotted the names & locations on Google maps (since been taken down).
If all the talk about poverty and deprivaton was to be believed, or of ghetto gang culture, then the “markers” should have been clustered in the poorest areas of the twin cities. However, the markers were spread fairly evenly across the whole area – including some of the more affluent suburbs. Something quite different was happening (in this part of the country at least).
Many youths headed into the town centre on their own (not even with friends) just to take part in “the event”. In some ways seemed more like a piece of perfomance art than a “traditional” riot. Witnesses even tweeted about the bizarre “carnival atmosphere”.
Whatever anyone’s pet theory as to why it all happened – they are probably all wrong. I suspect it was just a mass venting of lots of different frustrations. For some, the perceived lack of a happy future might have been the main driver (and one that crosses the boundaries of parental afluence, or lack of).
What struck me was how a lot of these people made no effort to cover their faces. I imagine a lot of it was a case of people feeling like they had nothing to lose by rioting. They face long term unemployment, they cant save for the future or even think about milestones such as buying a home or creating a stable environment for a family.
I don’t condone the violent behavior but the lack of prospects for young people is a serious problem and I’m not surprised that this has happened.
To be completely honest as a young person who is looking for graduate work I’m pretty ashamed that any young people would like to claim youth unemployment as a cause of the riots. I would much rather distance my self from them as far as possible, these weren’t protests or people airing frustrations it was just people stealing and vandalising because they thought they could get away with it. Any attempt to justify it is just an excuse. The young people who were rioting werent trying to put across a point about the challenges of getting work they were just looking to get there hands on a new tv or smash a few windows.
Youth unemployment is a factor, one of many factors causing the riots. I think British society has big problems. In other countries with lower youth unemployment rates, such as Switzerland and Sweden have a much less chance of riots. In the USA and France, there is a likelihood of riots. In other Western world countries,there may be a smaller likelihood of riots.
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