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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

"Looting 'fuelled by social exclusion'", "Blackberry messenger used to co-ordinate trouble"

102 replies

schomberg · 09/08/2011 14:34

www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/08/looting-fuelled-by-social-exclusion?intcmp=239

www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/08/london-riots-third-night-live?intcmp=239

The concept of a riot fuelled by poverty and exclusion being organised on Blackberries is doing my head in. Is this unreasonable?

OP posts:
slug · 10/08/2011 13:50

Sorry, Ms T. It's simply an observation. After years living and working in the East End (I used to live on the "Murder Mile"), I'm well aware of the social and religious breakdown of the community. However, I'll reiterate, I have lived and worked in the area for a long time. It was a general observation by my colleagues and work contacts in the area that the general level of criminality goes down during Ramadam. The boys (and it is almost always boys) are elsewhile occupied during that time of the year. They are expected by their families to be in, doing family things and attending to their religious duties during that period. Ramadam was always a good time to make sure assignments got finished, you could guarantee they would be at home and sometimes a bit bored of talking to Aunty and Uncle so they would relieve the boredom by doing a bit of schoolwork.

I noticed that there was a little trouble around Bethnal Green, but in no way as much as you would expect. I was making the observation that, in order to gain the critical mass for a full scale riot to kick off, you would need the contribution of the lads who you would otherwise expect to be out skulking around the street corners wolf whilsting and shouting insults at me as I cycled home from work.

It's one of those rare occasions (very difficult for an athiest like me to admit to) when religion appears to have been a force for good.

MsAnnThroppy · 10/08/2011 17:01

Slug, I'm trying hard not to misinterpret what your post. However, it seems to me you are saying that, but for Ramadan, the Asian/Muslim youth of Tower Hamlets would have been rampaging on the City of London. I'm not sure whether you think this would be a politically based protest (I think I've made my view clear about why the City has not been targeted); or just a display of lawlessness, as you seem to believe that a great number of those young men are lawless. I don't know if you are right or wrong, but you seem to be making a sweeping generalisation about a whole community, based on your experience of a few, and I find that disturbing. Especially coming from a teacher.

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