Recent news reports have revealed an incident of unrest in Nottingham in which people built barricades and fought police - prefiguring the mass revolt which could become more frequent in the face of widespread repression.
Interesting to know that we've had our very own little urban insurrection in Nottingham - albeit for rather dubious reasons.
Unfortunately this BBC report is awash with reactionary nonsense; the judge and police treat revolt as simply unthinkable in principle, yet are not able to advance the slightest argument against it.
It's not clear from the news reports exactly what motivated the unrest, except that it had to do with excessive sentencing in a previous case. But it's great to see that as opposed to the judge's irrationalist comments, this kind of thing DOES happen in Britain. It is bound to get more frequent as protest is repressed and social freedoms curtailed, and as the police state becomes increasingly pervasive. The kinds of societies where this kind of thing happens more often than in Britain - societies like France and Greece for example - generally have far more liberties and less neoliberalism than here. Hence, to create a world worth living in, the state must be forced to "tolerate" this kind of thing more and more often.
Let us hope this kind of unrest from each and every aggrieved group becomes more frequent; the state can only lose, and our rights and welfare can only gain as a result.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6116162.stm
Six jailed over murder case riot
The damage caused by the rioters was estimated at £10,000
Six people who took part in a riot on a housing estate triggered by the outcome of a murder trial have been jailed after admitting violent disorder.
Cars were set on fire and up to 30 people went on the rampage on 1 July in Nottingham after three men began prison sentences for plotting two murders.
John Stirland, 51, and his wife Joan, 55, were executed at their bungalow in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 2004.
Two teenage girls, aged 15 and 17, were also given two-year supervision orders.
The ringleader Matthew New, 23, from Bestwood, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to violent disorder.
'Quite disgraceful'
New's co-conspirator, a 34-year-old woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a 15-month sentence.
Accomplices Michael Vickery, 19, of Arnold Road, Bestwood, and Luke Rockley, 19, of Arnold Road, Bestwood, were jailed for 10 and eight months respectively.
Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, were each given detention and training orders of eight months.
Michael Collins, 26, of Raymede Drive, Bestwood, has denied the charges and will face trial on a date to be fixed.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael Stokes QC described the riot as "a quite disgraceful and prolonged episode of violent disorder".
'No hiding place'
"This behaviour simply cannot be tolerated. We do not have riots in this country where cars are set on fire and barricades are built, whatever point it was supposed to make," he added.
Prosecutor Stuart Rafferty told the court the rioting group were caught on camera ripping up fences, knocking down walls and building barricades across Raymede Drive, causing damage estimated at £10,000.
"It is perfectly plain that the overriding motive of those who took part was to make public their displeasure at the recent conviction of the men for conspiracy to murder and the very lengthy imprisonment they were ordered to serve," Mr Rafferty said.
After the sentencing, Ch Insp Mick Windmill-Jones, from Nottinghamshire Police, said inquiries were continuing to identify other rioters captured on film.
"There is no hiding place," he said.
Unfortunately this BBC report is awash with reactionary nonsense; the judge and police treat revolt as simply unthinkable in principle, yet are not able to advance the slightest argument against it.
It's not clear from the news reports exactly what motivated the unrest, except that it had to do with excessive sentencing in a previous case. But it's great to see that as opposed to the judge's irrationalist comments, this kind of thing DOES happen in Britain. It is bound to get more frequent as protest is repressed and social freedoms curtailed, and as the police state becomes increasingly pervasive. The kinds of societies where this kind of thing happens more often than in Britain - societies like France and Greece for example - generally have far more liberties and less neoliberalism than here. Hence, to create a world worth living in, the state must be forced to "tolerate" this kind of thing more and more often.
Let us hope this kind of unrest from each and every aggrieved group becomes more frequent; the state can only lose, and our rights and welfare can only gain as a result.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6116162.stm Six jailed over murder case riot
The damage caused by the rioters was estimated at £10,000
Six people who took part in a riot on a housing estate triggered by the outcome of a murder trial have been jailed after admitting violent disorder.
Cars were set on fire and up to 30 people went on the rampage on 1 July in Nottingham after three men began prison sentences for plotting two murders.
John Stirland, 51, and his wife Joan, 55, were executed at their bungalow in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 2004.
Two teenage girls, aged 15 and 17, were also given two-year supervision orders.
The ringleader Matthew New, 23, from Bestwood, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to violent disorder.
'Quite disgraceful'
New's co-conspirator, a 34-year-old woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a 15-month sentence.
Accomplices Michael Vickery, 19, of Arnold Road, Bestwood, and Luke Rockley, 19, of Arnold Road, Bestwood, were jailed for 10 and eight months respectively.
Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, were each given detention and training orders of eight months.
Michael Collins, 26, of Raymede Drive, Bestwood, has denied the charges and will face trial on a date to be fixed.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael Stokes QC described the riot as "a quite disgraceful and prolonged episode of violent disorder".
'No hiding place'
"This behaviour simply cannot be tolerated. We do not have riots in this country where cars are set on fire and barricades are built, whatever point it was supposed to make," he added.
Prosecutor Stuart Rafferty told the court the rioting group were caught on camera ripping up fences, knocking down walls and building barricades across Raymede Drive, causing damage estimated at £10,000.
"It is perfectly plain that the overriding motive of those who took part was to make public their displeasure at the recent conviction of the men for conspiracy to murder and the very lengthy imprisonment they were ordered to serve," Mr Rafferty said.
After the sentencing, Ch Insp Mick Windmill-Jones, from Nottinghamshire Police, said inquiries were continuing to identify other rioters captured on film.
"There is no hiding place," he said.
Repression?
05.11.2006 10:08
What repression are you reffering to?
These kids might well be anything but innocent.
Not sure
politically silenced?
06.11.2006 09:08
My guess from what it says on BBC is, it seems to have to do with excessive sentencing (someone getting a life sentence for attempted murder which I suspect is unusually harsh). And it might be gang related, since socially excluded people often adopt gang identities in lieu of other kinds of social solidarity. In countries such as Jamaica, gang revolts quite often overlap with community unrest so it isn't so simple as that one can dismiss something as just about gangs. Reading between the lines, it's probably more complicated than the coverage allows - this particular group probably feel singled out, perhaps they were on the receiving end of a moral panic, or perhaps the proof of guilt is dodgy or mitigating circumstances were not recognised. Maybe on some level they see through the justifications for the state itself, and simply view a violence by the state against their own as an attack by an external agent. All this is just speculation however - the voices of the insurgents have been elided from the coverage.
More broadly though, I think insurrections will become more common because people are increasingly prevented from protesting and taking direct action by other means, and large swathes of people are denied a voice in society - so they seize the only voice they can. (This is what I'm referring to as repression). These people are obviously very aggrieved about something, and yet this isn't even being explained really in the media, as to why they're revolting. And the rhetoric the judge came out with is simply disgusting.
And also, societies where people take to the streets are usually better overall than ones where they don't. Even if it's for the wrong reasons, it's a tendency which should be encouraged.
FTP
Judge's comments 'disgusting'
06.11.2006 12:55
Yes, indeed, quite disgusting. To think that dishonest lawbreaking folk should not burn cars is appalling!
sceptic
Yes, disgusting!
08.11.2006 16:25
1) the judge provides no rational argument as to why people should not engage in these acts. He's just stamping his foot, jumping up and down and going "we can't be having this! because i say so!" It's absurdly authoritarian.
2) his comment that a certain type of action is simply intolerable regardless of circumstances is a suppression of the voice of others - he fails to see that his own acts and judgements might be viewed as similarly intolerable by others. Why for instance is it worse to burn cars or fight police, than to send people to prison? He is simply using is arbitrary authority to privilege his own preferences.
3) the claim is factually inaccurate. It is just not the case that this "doesn't happen in Britain" - the home of the Chartists, Luddites, Poll Tax rebels, etc. That someone should claim to single out an action as exceptionally wrong, when in fact it is perfectly normal in the history of a society, shows an utter inability to engage in the kind of assessment which is attempted.
4) the implicit ethical assumption that a society where such things don't happen is better than one where they do, is frankly indefensible as my comments about neoliberalism make clear.
The problem here is that closed-minded people assume their own ethical preferences to be obvious, and use these pseudo-obvious preferences as a basis for violence against others (such as prison sentences). It is this very closed-minded exclusion of the voice of the other which makes social insurrection inevitable - these bigots are causing the very problems which they then jump up and down in rage about.
If you aren't shocked by the utter irrationality and closed-mindedness of this judge's comments - with his utter incapacity to even conceive of what an ethical relation to the ther might involve - then chances are you're similarly trapped in your own conception and similarly complicit in reproducing the necessity of social violence.
FTP
No Revolution Today, Folks.
29.01.2008 23:22
'Judge says something stupid shocker!' isn't a new story. But an expose on the Judge could be good one.
For my money, I can just imagine the poor folks not involved in this "revolutionary act by the
down-trodden working class" sitting huddled in their homes, scared to death, trying to just 'keep
themselves to themselves', 'minding their P's and Q's' and trying to 'keep their noses clean'.
The people who aren't regularly involved with drugs, guns, violence and even murder.
To make informed decisions you shouldn't ask the mob (i.e large crowds of angry people or Italian gangsters)
for advice or you'll end up building a gallows in the Market Square.
This is just a story about people who are used to doing whatever they want, doing whatever they want!
And a Judge. Being a Judge. How many reasonable Judges do you know?
And it's not a good story to promote unrest amongst the working class or whatever the homogeneous mass
of people we wish to ovethrow the state with is called nowadays.
They are not the Chartists, Luddites or Poll Tax rebels.
Well, that's me tuppence.
Ned Bestwood