If the Stumpy Cat is meowing and pawing at my leg, I know there is something she wants me to address. And sure enough, our cyber-kitty friend has found several links of interest regarding the London riots…
First up, Cort G. sent this Marxist link which gives the best summation so far of the root causes of the riots. A sick society? A criminal element? Yes, and it all begins at the top. Austerity measures imposed by the greedy and corrupt demand brutal, fascistic enforcement…and a campaign of ridiculous propaganda to justify it all.
At Salon.com, Murtaza Hussain delves into how austerity measures play into the general malaise in Britain, fueling both protests and the “need” for violent police crackdowns on even the slightest peep of objection to the government’s hard-right turn. High unemployment in a time of obscene corporate profits? Education priced out of reach? Closures of government-funded youth clubs leading to disaffection, aimlessness, and eventually violence? The Stumpy Cat is feigning shocked surprise.
Meanwhile, right-wing politicians are stumbling over their own feet in their haste to explain it all away: The kids are just entitled and greedy! They have an uncivilized lust for violence! Their parents raised them wrong! One wonders who these wrongly-raised youngsters are. Nathaniel Tapley has an idea, and has written a funny, yet all too true open letter to the parents of the biggest one.