Riots...

[fajrdrako]

" ... Just last night, all over London places are aflame and some guy - some photographer - got a lovely picture of a rioter and he's standing there full of indignation with a stolen tape deck in either hand and he's irate. He says, 'I'm doing this because they call us criminals.' And so when people come out with that in real life, I hardly ever

Comments

[neeems]

While I agree with the loss of legitimacy of the government in the eyes of most people, I think there's always some other ways of showing your disagreement, at least in democracy. I'm French, and there's not a year here without massives srikes against new laws or something else. You can always show your disagreement by strikes or demos that don't necessarily have to be violent or turn into riots. However, I've never seen a long strike without violence, but then, the rioters just destroy shops or cars because they're bored or they find it 'funny', in a way, and most of the time, they don't belong to the groups of people actually fighting against a law or for an ideal.

Last automn, we've had strikes that lasted several months against a law about the new retirement system. Most of the strikers were factory workers, but there also was a lot of middle-school and high-school kids who just wanted to have fun by damaging the cities. That's why I don't think most of the rioters are really claiming somethin or protesting against the whole system. Of course I can't judge for every riot, but from what I've seen, it's often violence for the love of violence, or just a way to show you're bored, at least here. Which makes the whole thing sadder.

(Err, I don't know if any of this makes sense, it's kinda late here, and I should be going to bed ;))

[fajrdrako]

We've had long strikes lately, too. The transit system last year, the post office this year. Without very satisfactory outcomes in either case.

I am not sure why people riot, but I find it interesting that discontent seems to be taking a more chaotic shape than usual.