A terrible beauty is born

Look back a few months and see how smug the British media were about the eruption of anti-Government protests in the Middle East and North Africa. And of course the Irish media with them. We were all guilty to a degree...

The unrest on the streets of Cairo, the anti-Government protests in Tunis, the uprising against Gadaffi in Libya – all of these events were hailed as by-products of the new technology. Facebook revolutions were all the rage. Social media was a wonderful thing. Wasn’t it just?
Things move swiftly in the modern world. And, increasingly, the truth is that no one knows quite what to make of what is happening on the streets. What is thought to be sauce for the goose is not always accepted as being sauce for the gander. And so it goes. As ever, hypocricy reigns.
Over the past week we have seen at least some of the results of the Arab uprising come to fruition, with the trial of the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. You might have imagined that this would feel like a vindication. But no. Instead, the shots of Mubarak and his family, caged like animals, facing trial, were chastening in the extreme. It was impossible not to feel compromised. The thought crossed my mind: be careful what you wish for.

Those who hailed a fresh Arab dawn, a brave new world in which freedom and democracy might prevail, must have been given more than mere pause for thought. This is not the way it was meant to be. The Arab Spring seemed just a little bit less full of promise, looking at those damning pictures, suggesting nothing more than a new form of authoritarianism.
Coming to terms with the implicit dehumanisation of those images was proving difficult. But there was another shock of a different but related kind in store – only this time just down the road.
With little or no immediate warning, violence erupted on the streets of London. It followed the shooting dead by police of 28 year-old Mark Duggan. The circumstances of the killing remain shrouded in uncertainty. Initial reports alleged that the police had fired only after they were fired upon. Later reports, however, suggested that the only bullets found in the car in which the shooting took place were police issue.

While nothing has yet been clearly established about the fatal incident, it is beginning to have all the hallmarks of a botched police operation. Already the metropolitan police have apologised to the family of Mark Duggan for the lack of sensitivity in the way in which the information about Duggan’s death was passed on to the family. That may well be the first apology of many...
What happened next, however, could never have been predicted. Like a tsunami, violence spread across the streets of the English capital, with buildings, buses and cars being set on fire. The trouble started in Tottenham and spread through London like wildfire. Brixton, Hackney, Enfield, Walthamstow and Peckham all became battle grounds between police and rioters. The outbreak spread to Oxford Street. Shops were looted. And there were copycat protests in Birmingham.
You could plausibly see it all as a reaction to the policies being pursued by the David Cameron-led coalition government, with State services being drastically cut – just as Government spending is being cut throughout Europe. Unemployment is rising. There is a new generation of disaffected youth, collectively waiting for its moment to slouch towards Bethlehem. Trouble has been brewing: the only question was when it would erupt into street protests and violence. Now the hour had come. The killing of Mark Duggan was the immediate trigger. But what followed would have happened anyway.

But there was another take on it. What made the riots and the anti-social violence and the looting different was the apparent organisation and mobility of those involved. It was as if they had learned from the Arab spring. Mobile phones played a part. So did Twitter. And so did BlackBerry Messenger, a private network which offers users a sense of security not provided by Twitter.
The Guardian newspaper demonstrated that some at least of the street protests and related violence were being organised using BBM, which is a PIN-protected instant message system that is only accessible if you use a BlackBerry. One message specifically encouraged looting in Enfield. Another encouraged people to congregate in Oxford Street, in anticipation of violence. “Both related to events that went on to occur on Sunday night, and give you an insight into how those involved in the disturbances are communicating,” a Guardian report stated.
The terms of engagement may be different but the means of organising are the same. It is far easier now to mobilise a posse. It is easier too to warn those who are rumbling with you about where the cops are, places to avoid, how to present a moving target, when it is safe – or relatively safe – to go trophy hunting. When it was happening in Tunisia, it was a good thing. In Britain, the reaction was one of horror.

While there are vast differences between life in the Arab nations and life in Ireland or the UK, the differences are not as great now as they might have appeared five years ago. In the middle-east and North Africa there is a huge population of restless, unemployed young men, who have time on their hands and the means to communicate among themselves. With unemployment soaring, the same is true now in Britain and Ireland. Frustration, disillusionment and a desire to change things is common too.
In the Arab world, that takes on the appearance of a shift away from authoritarianism and towards democracy. In this part of the world the veneer is different: the protestors are dismissed as criminals, engaging in irresponsible and totally unjustifiable anti-social behaviour. But when you pare it back, the similarities are as striking as the differences. Because, everywhere now, in the actions of the authorities is reflected a contempt for young people, for their prospects and for their future lives which is a disgrace to the ruling classes.

The escalating intolerance of difference in western society. The enforced austerity which leaves those at the top effectively exempt. The crushing of any sense of hope. The aggressive dragooning of people into work programmes. The insistence that those who do not comply will have their benefits stolen from them. The theft of people’s pensions, the loss of their jobs, the jailing of people for the inability to pay their debts. All of these things play into a deep feeling of alienation and betrayal which is spreading like a virus across the continent of Europe.
It has taken hold in England. And it is there bubbling just below the surface in Ireland too.
The British riots are a salutary warning. Policy makers need to start getting things right and rapidly. You never know what lies around the corner. Right now, however, it would be foolhardy to predict that it would be green and sunny...