A summer of fighting, fascism, rioting, looting. Teenagers are going to jail after stealing sausage rolls from Greggs. It’s hard to worry about small things like tickets when cities are on fire. Riots tend to be a summer thing, like Paris in 1968.
We have a new labour government, but it doesn’t feel like a utopian future is awakening, more like an end of the outgoing turgid torpor, and a political vacuum whilst we wait to see what may emerge next. In the meantime the fascists are filling the empty space. In reality it is a small handful of inadequate figureheads using the social media platforms to incite their sheep-like followers into violent alcohol and cocaine fuelled “action”. Many of the disciples seem to just be joining in for fun unsure what the supposed cause is, and/or seeing easy opportunity to rob shops. All attention seeking.
It is getting slightly unsettling though. There is allegedly a list of 39 locations in England where riots are planned for later today. I remember similar happening in 2011, but I was many miles away in an insular northern town at the time, and most of the world seemed remote to me then. I stayed in a tower block most days, watching from afar. I can do that now if I want to, but I force myself to go out. I’m not going to seek out any of those 39 areas, I haven’t seen the list. It could be a basis for a little Youtube series though, visiting post-riot towns. Someone else would be better at that than me though. If I happened to be in a riot zone at the wrong (or right?) moment I’m sure I would survive. Actually it would be fun to make films of myself flaneuring through riotous streets in a carefree dandyish manner dressing in colourful flowing robes, with Jon Otway’s cover of I Will Survive as a gentle soundscape accompaniment.
The charity I volunteer with has asked all black and brown people to consider their safety and stay at home. I don’t want to endorse this message. I don’t have to, but I do somehow feel a duty of care for other people – it’s a problem for me. This advice should not be necessary. Clearly it is being taken seriously though. The media is reporting areas where businesses are opting to close early and board up their premises. Croydon and Walthamstow are both areas I’ve lived and know well, and have seen unrest over the last few days. Areas close to me now, Woolwich and Lewisham, could be targets too. There is a feeling of something unknown in the air. This reminds me of the beginning of the plague, when we didn’t know what might happen next. I went out to nightspots sensing they soon would not be functioning. Soon enough nothing would be functioning really, and we didn’t know how long that state would last. Now isn’t like that. We won’t be plunged into two years of surreal forced confinement, with an expectation to suspend our disbelief and misunderstanding. I think now there is no one in power who cares about influencing our opinion. We’re just left to be feral. There is an intangible sense of change in the air. I’ve often said we could do with a revolution to shake things up. I think the far right faction will all get jailed, bored, or beaten into submission soon enough though. They are the minority in thought. The best and most likely outcome will be for the boarded up shops to get some harmless graffiti, then open up in the morning. We can hide at The Winchester, like during the undead zombie invasion in Shaun Of The Dead. These things always blow over.
Andrew Stevenson 