Kids running on the street, throwing stuff at the police, demolishing shops, stealing stuff like clothes and cell phones, putting houses on fire… And the politicians are helpless. After 3 days the prime-minister decided to come back from Italy to deal with the situation, and his speeches are incredible to me. Like what I could expect out of situations like this, no one is questioning the roots of this violence. Violence always have roots.
8 years ago I’ve spend a lot of my time in the UK, around Nottingham. I stayed in this really small village next to Sherwood Forest and I’ve learned from the people I knew there that this area was basically left aside since the big miner strikes around 84-85, leaving big areas without employment. Still 20 years later it’s an area with unemployed adults sitting at home and kids hanging around in the streets, feared by the community. One day, my friend took me to Nottingham city and I was sitting at a local square when a boy threw a plastic half full lemonade bottle in my direction. I turned around, picked up the bottle and went into a conversation with this guy, exactly the same thing what I would do in my own city. Before really noticing it, other guys would come into my direction and the friend I was with pulled my arm and told me to leave NOW. So I went away, as being told, and a few streets later I asked my friend what this was all about. He explained me that I should never ever try to point out behaviour like this to anyone because they would surround you gang style and beat you up, hence the fact everywhere there’s CCTV. They didn’t give a fuck about that.
That was 8 years ago, and I told myself I would never ever think of living there.
The area I live in is mainly habited by a large Moroccan community, and also some Polish families, African families and young Belgian families. We have a small history of riots and sometimes when it’s hot outside the Southern temperament comes up again. But maybe the difference is that the local council invested their money in youth services. I work in the social-cultural sector and am privileged to work with and view those youth centres. They attract local youth to go to the centre where activities are organized and where kids can have the chance to record a demo in a real studio, to follow free dance courses and to give them responsibilities towards the material and location they can use for free. When they are on the streets there’s a huge control by street youth workers ( most of them are known by the kids since a lot of these youth workers come from their own community) and also by the older adults of the community. While my area sometimes has a bad name for people who don’t live there (and the media which only reports the bad stuff happening) I love this area and the people living here.
My boyfriend, who’s French, told me about how the French government has been cutting spending on local social projects during the last decade with the result that for example around Paris (the banlieus) there are areas where you and me would be killed walking around. Unemployed youth, nothing to do, living in poverty, wanting only materialistic stuff (thx to MTV, the media and etc…..and those phony rappers talking about money and bitches) with no moral standards at all, because they have nothing to loose…. Can I blame them? Maybe not.
While I’m disgusted by the behaviour I see on my tv, I think the government should maybe analyse themselves. If they can put millions of euros to bail out banks, to organize the Olympics and in the meantime cut spending on education, youth centres, leaving whole communities to deal with themselves without giving one penny to them. Well…..what do you expect then? The future is in the hands of the young generation, it should be a motivation to take care of them.
In my job (working with kids the age of 15 to 22 yrs old) I hear the most incredible sad stories about their home situations. Some of them are teenagers who are dealing with everything themselves because the parents don’t give a shit, or there’s drug abuse around, or they live in total poverty….some of these parents are totally unfit to have kids, but that’s another story.
And when I read all the hatred things on Facebook like : the police should have used real bullets, they should stop all the benefits, these kids should have life in prison…..I’m thinking, oh yes, this will solve everything of course. As I see it now, honestly, the UK hasn’t changed a bit in 8 years, the country was crap and still is crap, and all the CCTV in the world, all the cutting of benefits and etc… is not gonna help a thing. Politicians should support local communities instead of talking about the economics only. But what’s not beneficial in a short term period doesn’t count for them. Well… I wish you luck politicians and Presidents, I gladly invite you in my area to show you that investing in youth gives a lot back to the community in long term.
