Root Causes For Me, Not For Thee, You Yobs
I don’t have a dog in this particular fight, but since (a) the UK often plays the Ghost of Christmas Future to the US, and (b) the UK ruling class-most notably the current PM, Keir Starmer-has felt free to pontificate on similar events in the US, it’s fair game for me to comment on the unrest (riots) that rocked the UK recently.
The proximate cause for the riots was the murder spree by the Welsh-born child of Rwandan immigrants, who knifed to death three young girls and badly wounded eight other individuals at a Taylor Swift-themed yoga party. In part due to the refusal of the UK police to identify the assailant, rumors soon spread (including on social media) that the murderer was a Muslim immigrant, leading in the first instance to violence against mosques, etc.
The ruling class immediately jumped on the mistaken beliefs about the perpetrator to condemn the rioters as ignorant racists, which in their minds fully justified a crushing response by the state.
This narrow interpretation of the cause of the riots that spread far beyond the site of the original crime (Sunderland) was unsurprisingly opportunistic and self-serving. It permitted the complete decontextualization of the riots in a way that denied a priori any legitimate justification and thereby rationalized the unleashing of a “standing army” (Starmer’s words) against these rioters–measures that were conspicuously absent in other violent civil disturbances–hence the bitter complaints about “two-tier policing.”
The brutal slayings in Sunderland were merely the last grain of sand dropped on a pile of grievances that has been accumulating for literally decades. The allegedly unreasoned and indiscriminate reaction to this single grain was just an example of the non-linearity inherent in such situations. In emergent orders–social orders particularly–a single event can set off a massive reaction that seems disproportionate and unrelated to it. This is often true in revolutions. A single event unleashes massive latent forces that have been building for extended periods. This is why authoritarian governments are so hell bent on suppressing any dissent no matter how seemingly minor. Small sparks can ignite social explosions.
The mountain of grievances clearly related to a single factor: mass immigration into the UK, and especially mass immigration from some of the most misgoverned and dysfunctional parts of the world with radically different cultures from the native inhabitants. In this environment, a mass murder by an individual only peripherally related to the underlying source of grievance could spark massive unrest. Further, given the recent history of the UK (consider, for example the bombing of the Ariane Grande concert in Manchester, or other mass stabbings that have occurred in the UK in recent years e.g., on a bridge in London in 2017) it is not at all surprising that many people would leap to the conclusion that a Muslim was the perpetrator in Sunderland.
The grievances have built inexorably precisely because any dissent from the ruling class view has been ruthlessly targeted and suppressed. When voice is denied, again and again, it will inevitably come to the point that the aggrieved will substitute violent deeds for words.
But it is exactly these things that the British ruling class cannot admit, and is in fact at great pains to deny precisely because of its direct culpability for mass immigration, its malign effects, and the identity of those who have borne the economic, cultural, and psychic damage. It therefore has to deny vehemently the underlying cause and place full blame on the evil of the rioters.
British classism is also on full, ugly display here. Indeed, it is worse than its historical antecedents (e.g., in the Victorian era) because there is not even the palliative of condescending paternalism: it is merely vicious hatred, disdain, and disgust.
The sick irony is that those who refuse to look honestly at “root causes” here (in no small part because they are the root cause) routinely invoke “root causes” to excuse, rationalize, and justify other social dysfunctions–including rioting far more destructive and violent than that that has occurred in the UK recently. Starmer represents a perfect example. He delivered sick-making remarks about the George Floyd rioting that explained them, and hence excused them, as the understandable consequence of systemic racism. The British ruling class has been similarly disposed to excuse and rationalize Muslim violence as the product of legitimate grievance.
Root causes for me, but not for thee, you yobs. Your root causes are totally illegitimate.
Like J6 in the US, alas, the riots are worse than a crime–they are a blunder. They have given the increasingly authoritarian British state the justification to engage in mass jailing of its political dissidents. Further, given the inevitable role of social media in disseminating information and opinion about the riots and the causes, the riots have provided a justification for the state to increase its power to control and censor it. Indeed, the head of London Metropolitan Police has even threatened those expressing their wrongthink outside of the UK with arrest and extradition.
Wouldn’t that be fun.
Thus, this backlash against egregious mis-government has redounded to the benefit of that dysfunctional government and the class that rules it.
Which demonstrates the fundamental dilemma of the mis-governed. How can one resist malign authority without strengthening it, like sowing dragon’s teeth? I don’t have an answer, except to say that direct confrontation has exactly this effect.
The US faces very similar issues–hence the Ghost of Christmas Future metaphor. However, I doubt it will play out here similarly to the way it has in the UK. The reason is quite simple. The white working and under classes are still present in numbers in UK cities where they are tooth and jowl with the immigrants. That is not the case in the US: white flight occurred long ago. So a UK-style white riot is not in prospect here.
Urban white rioting is a staple of the Oi genre, which is uniquely British. There’s nothing like it in the US.
The underlying conditions that have sparked rioting in the UK are therefore not present in the US. But the severe discontent about mass immigration is, as is the ruling class’s determination to crush any opposition to it. So something will likely happen here, but it will be different. How exactly, I can’t say.
Southport not Sunderland.
Now then, here’s an examination question. Who said that ‘her constituency was like a “tinder box” and voters’ concerns about immigration and lack of control over their lives could “explode” on to the streets if they remain unaddressed’?
Obviously a fascist/Nazi/racist immigrant-hating Islamophobic nutter in the Opposition. Clearly it is now deemed illegal to express such thoughts. Lock ‘er up, I say.
Not quite: it was said by the new Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ms Rachel Reeves, in 2016. What’s changed since 2016? We’ve just had a general election where Labour lost lots of Moslem votes.
In other words, they knew. They’ve always known. But they are damned if they’ll put up with losing more votes so they’re even locking up mere passersby as long as they are white.
Comment by dearieme — August 15, 2024 @ 2:39 pm
This is an absolutely bizarre take – there has been absolutely no “crushing of opposition to immigration” in the UK.
Opposing/reducing immigration has been a central plank of the Tory policy who have just finished 12 years in power and was one of the biggest selling points for Brexit.
Pick up any of the popular tabloid newspapers and if there isn’t an anti-immigrant story on the front page, you’ll certainly find at least one story or opinion piece expressing anti-immigrant views inside.
And if official Tory opposition to immigration isn’t hardline enough for you, you’ve always had the BNP (outright racism) or whatever Farage’s latest party (hardline anti-immigration) to vote for.
The idea that these rioters can be excused in some way because their concerns are being “crushed” by the establishment is simply nonsense. The reason they are being condemned is far simpler – they are a racist violent anti-democratic mob and many of those who have been caught have previous convictions for violent crimes. I don’t believe the profile of the rioters is anything like that of the Jan 6 crowd.
Comment by derriz — August 15, 2024 @ 5:34 pm
No doubt blissfully unaware of the irony, the government’s response appears to show very similar overreactions as the rioters.
Julie Sweeny jailed 15 months for a soon-deleted facebook post. Her comment was objectively awful, and could have incited someone, but I haven’t seen any reporting that it reached any actual rioters. For a first offense, that seems harsh, esp when 000s of comments just like it will never be prosecuted. Talk about a heckler’s veto.
David Spring jailed 18 months. Was at the front of a severe clash with police, though from what I’ve seen he himself was not violent, just verbally aggressive. We want non-violent protestors to disassociate from the violent ones, so the charge has some merit, but again it seems very excessive in this case.
Both pleaded guilty, though it seems impossible to say how much that is due to strength of evidence presented at court (and no doubt poorly reported by the media), the quality of the legislation at play, or the time/cost of trying to mount a defense when the courts have been overburdened for years. (To the point of the new gov’t announcing 000s of early releases only a week or two ago.)
Comment by NieSR — August 16, 2024 @ 4:22 am
derriz
That really is a bizarre and fantastic take.
Yes, the far-right anti/immigrant Conservative Party that turbo-charged immigration to 1.4 million gross per year. That, according to you, is addressing voter’s concerns.
They may have run on a platform of lowering immigration, but they have done the complete opposite. Hence the anger.
Comment by Recusant — August 16, 2024 @ 4:40 am
@Recusant – I never claimed the Tories were competent – they failed to deliver on pretty much any of their promises economics, health, education or immigration. That doesn’t take away from the point that there is no “crushing” of discussion on immigration.
In reality these riots had nothing to do with immigration – it was an excuse. The unfortunates who were dragged from their vehicles in Hull were not asked for their passports or where they were from before being kicked unconscious by mob. They were selected because of the color of their skin and nothing else. And petrol bombing mosques? The majority of muslims in the UK are not immigrants. Screaming “Heil Hitler” at jews?
Let me quote the judge’s comments at the end of one of the first cases: “let’s see what you’ve cost the country: you’ve got 10 aliases, four fictitious birth dates, you’re 51 years of age, you’ve been convicted of 170 offences, you been convicted of theft, arson, taking cars, handling stolen goods, obtaining by deception, burglary, dangerous driving and possessing bladed articles. In all over the years that you’ve been visiting the criminal justice system you’ve received sentences totalling 357 months in prison, many of them concurrent.” – his co-defendant had previously “29 convictions for 39 offences, including theft, criminal damage, possession of drugs, supply of class A drugs, threatening behaviour, breach of a Domestic Violence Protection Order and robbery”
So clutch your pearls and wonder “if only we listened to these dears – it’s the “establishement/elites/etc” fault for not listening…
As for the law being applied disproportionately because these rioters happened to be white, you need to go back to the last outbreak of mass lawlessness in the UK, the 2011 riots, mostly perpetrated by black youths and check the sentencing..
Comment by derriz — August 16, 2024 @ 8:57 am
So there is no two tier justice? Who you gonna believe, Derriz or your own lyin’ eyes.
Starmer took the knee at the BLM riots. And speechified about the need to understand root causes, blah blah.
This time he just rounded up the suspects and turned the courts into a conveyor belt to our overcrowded prisons. No attempt to understand root causes this time round.
Labour won 3/4 of the MPs on 1/5 of the electorate. The only reason was that the Tories were useless (and should crawl away and die). The party has been captured by a metropolitan elite that is fast alienating their core supporters – the working class in those northern towns that rioted.
Riots will happen again. Labour may go from 3/4 of MPs in 2024 to 1/4 in 2029 if they turn out to be as wet as the last lot.
BTW, Derriz, no one in the 2011 or 2021 riots was charged under the Riot Act. (Ten years imprisonment.) A fifteen year old boy has been so charged, and the DPP is considering more, even hauling back those convicted of disorder for double jeopardy. But no two tier justice here, oh no sir, perish the thought.
Comment by philip — August 16, 2024 @ 2:46 pm
Southport, not Sunderland, but otherwise a pretty sound analysis.
You are right, up to a point with your nor just wrong but a mistake take, but there is another aspect to this which is that the more ordinary decent people with legitimate concerns about an issue of existential importance get dismissed bt 2 tier kier and his apparatchiks as far right theless traction that idiotic adjective will have, and the protesters, those that aren’t in jail for 10 years for a careless Facebook post that is will acquire legitimacy. And there will come a time when things will change because they have to.
Britain as a reasonably decent place didn’t emerge fully formed, fruit of some politician’s idea. It was arrived at, through a series of arm wrestles just like this one.
We will win this.
Comment by Jack the dog — August 17, 2024 @ 6:33 am
There were over 3000 arrested for the 2011 riots and over 1,800 charged. So far for this one, it’s over 100 arrested and 500 charged although this is likely to rise.
Both riots involved shallow excuses, one was “police brutality”, the other was “immigration”. In reality, both involved a considerable degree of looting which makes it easy for me to dismiss these excuses.
And both had a bunch of disingenuous pearl-clutchers trying to drum up some sympathy – arguing that the rioters were misunderstood, disenfranchised, etc. and that we should simply ignore the random acts of violence against police, businesses and very unfortunate “wrong place, wrong time” individuals. Keir Starmer was heavily criticized back then by the far-left for taking a law-and-order approach and his harsh sentencing, denial of bail and the like. Like the guy with no previous getting 8 months for picking up a bottle of water outside a looted shop. And now he’s being criticized for doing the same thing by the far-right.
Comment by derriz — August 17, 2024 @ 7:49 am
I was wondering how long it would take & who would be the first to mention
Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Right
& the winner is the cloth eared commenter Derriz
Comment by djm — August 17, 2024 @ 8:21 am
The mountain of grievances clearly related to a single factor: mass immigration into the UK, and especially mass immigration from some of the most misgoverned and dysfunctional parts of the world with radically different cultures from the native inhabitants
Err no, it’s the other way around. Immigration is the lazy excuse to cover the mountain of grievances. Economic disparities, lack of investment in public services, lack of opportunity etc etc, have all been attributed to this single cause, courtesy of a relentless campaign by Farage at al, aided and abetted by the right wing press.
I’m not sure how this was reported in the US but given the travel advisories we heard about, I’m guessing the US MSM collectively shat their pants over this. The truth of the matter was that the trouble was short-lived and impressively dealt with some decisive policing and sentencing. I was particularly taken with the way our media was corralled, in some cases extending news broadcasts to cover in detail the prison sentences doled out.
Personally I blame the brief spell of good weather we had at the time, after what has been a pretty dismal summer to date.
NB It was grimly amusing to witness the riots in northern Ireland (how many illegal immigrants are housed in the Province? Hardly any I’d wager). Any old excuse eh? It is riot season, after all. The last story I read about northern Ireland was that some illegal migrants were reportedly heading there in order to make their way into the Republic to avoid being deported to Rwanda. Of course, we’d be honour-bound to prevent them from leaving, lest we be accused of double-standards given our protestations to France…
Comment by David Mercer — August 17, 2024 @ 4:03 pm
Aristocracy – (literally) rule by the best
Kakistocracy – rule by the worst
Mediocritiesocracy – a bit of a mouthful but refers to rule by a bunch of mediocrities. In the U.K., they get to call themselves Lord this, Baroness that, Sir wotever and Dame Hackette and parade around in costume, puffing themselves up and preening (cosplay but not at Comic-con and not in San Diego) but there is no mistaking their mediocrity.
Unfortunately, as the country’s greatest poet (Milton) observed, the English, while undoubtedly valiant in battle, tend to be servile (deferential if you insist) and politically inept (a nice way of saying awfully gullible). Milton would know since, having served as Secretary to Cromwell’s Council of State, he lived aghast (and with understandable anxiety) through the return of Charles II (not the current fellow!) and the whole rotten edifice of royalty, ‘nobility’ and all the attendant excesses of humbug, cant and corruption.
Still, people say democracy is the best and, while nobody cares what I think, there are definitely occasional elections so 2-tier Kier gets to play Guv at least for the time being. And the servile English will continue to swallow whatever worms and other rotting detritus Kier and the rest choose to stuff down their throats. Just saying …
Comment by Simple Simon — August 18, 2024 @ 10:50 am
@derriz,
Might be worth having a look at the definition of ‘cherry picking’.
Worse for you: your selected quotation is grist to the mill of those claiming that the UK system of justice is utterly dysfunctional; the only time anyone is put away and made do serious time is when they threaten one of the regime’s sacred cows.
But this is nothing new. A nation that can watch its pre-pubescent daughters being gang-raped, horribly abused and murdered by the men of another tribe with even-pulsed sang froid and complete indifference is not long for this world. You either wake up quick smart to the peril you are in, or you disappear unmourned, a lesson to to the world of the consequences of folly.
Vae victis!
Comment by Ex-Global Super-Regulator on Lunch Break — August 19, 2024 @ 6:05 am
Simon Cottee, one of those rare academic criminologists who isn’t a raving leftie, had some interesting analysis on the issue, including the role of identity politics and the extent to which different segments of the rioters were ideologically motivated.
“And of course, in today’s atomised world, identity has never commanded such political and existential power. Had the suspect of Monday’s stabbing spree indeed been white, and targeted a Beyoncé-themed event where the victims were predominantly black children, it seems likely that many on social media would condemn Britain’s racist superstructure. Which is to say that politicising massacres isn’t just a vice of the online Right, but is fully alive among online progressives too.”
https://unherd.com/2024/08/why-the-southport-suspects-identity-matters/
https://unherd.com/2024/08/meet-the-three-types-of-rioter/
Comment by Anon — August 19, 2024 @ 11:11 am
A nation that can watch its pre-pubescent daughters being gang-raped, horribly abused and murdered by the men of another tribe with even-pulsed sang froid and complete indifference is not long for this world
I assume your news has been heavily filtered and tuned to your tastes before it reaches Oz? Perchance did you see the recent reports on the rise of sexual violence against women on our rail network, or the sharp rise in harassment of women (and worse) at our various music festivals? Not many muslamics at the latter – not really their scene. Herein lies the nub of the issue i.e. blowhards deliberately focussing on the politically advantageous minutiae whilst totally disregarding the big picture.
Comment by David Mercer — August 19, 2024 @ 12:37 pm
Had the suspect of Monday’s stabbing spree indeed been white, and targeted a Beyoncé-themed event where the victims were predominantly black children, it seems likely that many on social media would condemn Britain’s racist superstructure. Which is to say that politicising massacres isn’t just a vice of the online Right, but is fully alive among online progressives too
That’s a bit of a leap, isn’t it – from “it seems likely” to “is fully alive”? And all on the basis of a supposition. I’m guessing he’s not Russell Group?
(Just Googled him – Kent…)
Comment by David Mercer — August 19, 2024 @ 12:42 pm
A 67 year old man has been jailed for 20 months for shouting “You’re not English any more” at some policemen.
A couple of Jewish chaplains at the University of Leeds were subjected to abuse on line and by telephone at the rate of 400 times per day, because the male chaplain had done his compulsory military service.
They have had to leave their home and seek shelter under a cloak of anonymity.
29 people among those identified as their abusers have been interviewed but not charged.
There remains the case of the teacher at Batley who has been forced to lose his job and hide.
Again, no charges brought.
Tell me about hypocritical policing.
Comment by philip — August 20, 2024 @ 4:12 pm
@David Mercer
Nitpicking sloppy English aside, “it seems likely” was clearly intended as an understatement. Do you honestly think that a massacre of black youths by a white knifeman would have produced no outcry about Britain’s racism problem? As suppositions go, it was a very safe one.
Funnily enough I think you’d have found much to agree with in those pieces. They’re rather more nuanced and analytical takes than the ones you’re criticising in the comments section, and when you talk about economic issues and people getting involved for the sheer heck of it (like you say, summer nights do funny things to crowds) that’s in there too. “He’s not at the standard of university that I went to, so I can safely ignore him” is a funny idea – even if universities are as rigidly tiered as this implies, so that every department at a reputable university is good and every department at a mediocre university is mediocre (which is at any rate false since universities often have specialisms where they do better, and even good places have weak departments), it’s a further stretch to imagine their recruitment is so impeccably filtered that every individual academic at a good university is good and every academic at a mediocre university is mediocre. I wouldn’t be putting that much faith in their recruitment processes.
Comment by Anon — August 22, 2024 @ 10:54 am
Pathetic example of whataboutism?
Now some facts – I remember BLM events in London were quite lame so I checked wiki and it mentions protests outside London embassy , there is no mention of violence
The closest BLM type riots for reference is 2011 summer riots. Starmer was the chief prosecutor then and exactly the same approach was followed
UK has its issues but its politics is not as dysfunctional as the US.
Professor – this is a sad look where your bias shows up and it’s not pretty
Comment by Dhruv — August 24, 2024 @ 11:46 pm
I was struck by three successive links offered at the Daily Sceptic:
“Teenager who waved England flag near North Yorkshire Islamic centre jailed” – A teenager has been jailed for two years and two months after saying “Let’s be proud of our flag” in front of an Islamic centre in North Yorkshire, says York Mix.
“Masked dad waved St George’s flag while confronting cops at Sunderland riot” – Jack Fowler has been sentenced to two years in prison at Newcastle Crown Court after he waved a St George’s flag in front of policeman in Sunderland, reports the Newcastle Chronicle.
“Luxury watch thief spared prison due to overcrowding” – Walid Raoul, 30, is told by a judge he is “extremely fortunate” not to be serving time behind bars for trying to rip a £50,000 watch from a man’s wrist, according to the Times.
Comment by dearieme — August 25, 2024 @ 6:21 am
@dearie: Welcome to anarcho-tyranny. Or ‘tyranno-anarchy’, if you don’t like the term’s origins.
As I wrote above: ‘the UK system of justice is utterly dysfunctional; the only time anyone is put away and made do serious time is when they threaten one of the regime’s sacred cows.’
Comment by Ex-Global Super-Regulator on Lunch Break — August 25, 2024 @ 5:44 pm
A lotta back and forth by what seems to be our U.K. brethren. Personally, professor, I think you just like using the word “yobs”. I hope it’s not a trigger word for some 🙂
Comment by Donald Wolfe — August 26, 2024 @ 9:44 am