Since the start of the recession things in the U.K. has not looked bright. Even the weather looks more glum then usual. I was going to use this video for another piece, but watching it for the third time I feel that it is an almost perfect analogy for what has happened to us as a nation over the last year.
Protester's become caged like animals by the police during peaceful protest marches, forcing protesters to become violent in retaliation to the violence inflicted upon them. Students become victimised. This in turn gives the government the excuse for a massive crack down on social rebellion and the civil rights of its citizens to vocalise and act upon their protest to government influence. The political attacks against communists and anarchists begins afresh. The country becomes on edge as public spending is cut, peoples livelihoods stripped from under them and police presence increases in poor areas, victimising the poor as criminals. Then the tipping point was reached - Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police.
Sadly, the wave of fury and rebellion was undermined by the fear of the middle classes and the aimless violence of the under classes. Without a unified direction to ventilate their anger some turned on the people they could have found allies with by destroying small local business. Instantly the public's attention was torn from the fault of the government and onto the fault of the rioters and we, the people, chewed our selves apart in debate over whom was to blame. Ironically the answer is, and always has been simple in who is to blame and with such a simple answer, clear as day, it was inevitable that we should make the argument so complex and futile that we could never agree: Us.
No one wants to admit that we fucked up by allowing inequality to continue but we did. We are complacent by the system, we vote in those whom wish to see the system maintained and not changed, we gave them our power with a cross on a sheet of paper.
The last domino, to my mind, is our fear of letting go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUkgNvvF7Vk
Well it’s hard to change a system as you said yourself a few posts back… I’m of the mind that we should scrap the entire system every century and rewrite it, laws and all. That won’t happen though, it would be considered expensive.
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