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1. Hi Guys
   Very interesting conversation. Just to supplement what Jack says. I am now in Manila, but in the summer was finishing as Chaplain to a school in North London where the riots started. In fact I drove past the street where Mark Duggan was shot dead by police an hour after it happened. This is a copy of what I wrote in one of the local papers the week after.

   I had just arrived back to Tottenham from a four week trip to East Africa with a group of young men, students, from North London. I saw more violence in that first night, 500ms from our parish and community than I did in a month in Tanzania. After having worked with young men for the last four years from the boroughs affected by the riots the first thing to say is that the majority of them are generous, hardworking and decent lads. However there is a lot of fear in their lives – fear of a gang culture that is spiralling out of control.

   I coach a football team and there are some big units in that team, boys who can look after themselves. It has always surprised me, when I am driving them home after an evening match, they insist that I drop them off outside where they live. It is dangerous to walk in the wrong area for young men in London, it is called the postcode war. In this climate of fear it seems easier to join a gang, or carry a knife, particularly if your mum or dad, gran or auntie, as a lone ‘carer’ is working two or three part time jobs just to keep you in food. She is never there, so you get your esteem and sense of belonging from the gangs.

   It was many of these gangs who organised themselves to exploit the insecurity of the riots and coordinate the looting. This wasn’t a political protest it was criminal Others got sucked in. In our college in North London, the mobile phone of choice is the BBM, the Black Berry Messenger. Why? due to the ease of sending one-to-many messages, and the lack of traceability compared to other social media – teachers and parents can’t spry on you, and in this case neither can the police. This seems to have been a big factor in the riots.

   The third thing I would add is the problem of digital addiction and a violent video game culture. The popularity of games such as Grand Theft Auto where you are encouraged to steal, and use physical violence to progress in the game can have a powerful effect on the young mind. In a consumer culture where you get respect for the technology you use and the brands you wear the temptation to get stuff that normally would be out of reach is strong. Also because of the violence on the streets many harassed parents are happy for the computer to be a ‘digital babysitter’ and do not have the skills to monitor what is being played/watched/listen to.

   Finally, the riots involved a disproportionate number of black young men, and those of us working in education have been uneasy about a black rap-driven culture, imported from the US which glorifies violence and the gang lifestyle. As a friend commented – Black popular culture used to be based on spirituality and social justice…Now we have a music that glorifies violence, materialism and violent sex. We observe more and more of the ‘street culture’ coming into schools – with a language that is debased and spectacularly disables our young people, because nobody will give them a job if they talk like that. I think this sense of hopelessness, mixed with fear and greed was behind the riots. But to underline what I said at the start – this is true of a minority of the young people I work with in North London.

   Comment by (Fr) Tim SJ — Friday, January 6, 2012 @ 3:40 am

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