Instead of seeking to heal the social divisions behind this rebellion of the working lesson,policymakers ignore spiralling inequality. What a wasted opportunityIn 1967 Martin Luther King gave a speech called The Other America in which he set out the reason for riots. King argued that riots finish not develop out of thin air but are caused by certain “intolerable social conditions”. In the final analysis, he said, and disorder is a consequence not only of irresponsibility,but inequality.
In some ways that explains the 2011 riots in England too. At the time I called them an rebellion of the working lesson” and I stick to that assessment nowadays. The riots were brought about not only by irresponsibility, but also inequality: by a sense of revulsion at denied opportunity, or poverty and injustice. England is one of the richest countries on earth,but it is also one of the most polarised.
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Source: theguardian.com