When does an act become political? It is quite possible that cars in the areas mentioned were luxury vehicles, although it has not been said, possibly in order not to incite similar acts. This sort of act is very common on the European mainland often in response to gentrification and rage towards the rich and ruling classes. To all those acting upon their anger, and not just preaching it...
Firefighters called to series of arson attacks
1:10pm Sunday 17th May 2009
Firefighters spent the weekend tackling a string of nighttime arson attacks on cars and vans across Sussex.
At least eight vehicles were set alight in locations stretching from Littlehampton to Hastings.
Crews from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said all were believed to be deliberately started.
They warned the attacks had put lives at risk both through the fires and because firefighters where being unnecessarily occupied.
A West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "It is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing for anyone to do."
The first incident took place in Broadwood Rise, in Crawley, at 7.49pm on Friday, where a car was torched in a residential street.
It was followed two hours later by a blaze in the West Hill car park in Salvington, Worthing, at around 10pm. Firefighters said a car was deliberately set alight in one of the most remote parking spaces.
The third attack was in a layby off the A22 in Golden Cross, near Hailsham, where a car was torched at 4.48am on Saturday.
Another happened minutes later in Oakcroft Gardens, Littlehampton at 4.57am, where a car was set alight and completely burnt out.
The attacks continued on Saturday night. Firefighters were called to deal with a parked car on fire outside the Brighton Motel in South Coast Road, Peacehaven, at 11.45pm.
Another crew was sent out to Magdalen Road, in St Leonard's, at 1.59am yesterday (Sunday, May 17), where a sixth vehicle had been torched.
Shortly afterwards, at 2.26am, a plumber's Vauxhall Vivaro van was ignited where it was parked in Boundary Road, Worthing.
The final blaze reported was in Fairfields, in Herstmonceux, near Hailsham, where two parked vans were discovered on fire at 2.58am.
Firefighters said one had been deliberately set alight and the flames had spread to the other.
The fire services said each of the fires had been put out within half an hour. No-one had been in or around the vehicles, which were all parked, and nobody was hurt in any of the incidents.
They have been working with Sussex Police to try to track any possible culprits.
1:10pm Sunday 17th May 2009
Firefighters spent the weekend tackling a string of nighttime arson attacks on cars and vans across Sussex.
At least eight vehicles were set alight in locations stretching from Littlehampton to Hastings.
Crews from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said all were believed to be deliberately started.
They warned the attacks had put lives at risk both through the fires and because firefighters where being unnecessarily occupied.
A West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "It is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing for anyone to do."
The first incident took place in Broadwood Rise, in Crawley, at 7.49pm on Friday, where a car was torched in a residential street.
It was followed two hours later by a blaze in the West Hill car park in Salvington, Worthing, at around 10pm. Firefighters said a car was deliberately set alight in one of the most remote parking spaces.
The third attack was in a layby off the A22 in Golden Cross, near Hailsham, where a car was torched at 4.48am on Saturday.
Another happened minutes later in Oakcroft Gardens, Littlehampton at 4.57am, where a car was set alight and completely burnt out.
The attacks continued on Saturday night. Firefighters were called to deal with a parked car on fire outside the Brighton Motel in South Coast Road, Peacehaven, at 11.45pm.
Another crew was sent out to Magdalen Road, in St Leonard's, at 1.59am yesterday (Sunday, May 17), where a sixth vehicle had been torched.
Shortly afterwards, at 2.26am, a plumber's Vauxhall Vivaro van was ignited where it was parked in Boundary Road, Worthing.
The final blaze reported was in Fairfields, in Herstmonceux, near Hailsham, where two parked vans were discovered on fire at 2.58am.
Firefighters said one had been deliberately set alight and the flames had spread to the other.
The fire services said each of the fires had been put out within half an hour. No-one had been in or around the vehicles, which were all parked, and nobody was hurt in any of the incidents.
They have been working with Sussex Police to try to track any possible culprits.
Comments
Hide the following 19 comments
is that so?
18.05.2009 12:41
miss context is all
Sorry - the theory's rubbish
18.05.2009 13:12
In most UK cities the firefighters would think it was a quiet weekend if there were only eight car fires.
There are about 40,000 of the things each year, and that's been the case for a decade or so.
So, no, it's not a Parisian situation yet.
Norvello
The working class is eating itself...
18.05.2009 13:49
Random acts of idiotic violence achieve nothing other than tell our friends and neighbours that anarchism means, well, random acts of idiotic violence. I have no issue with violence or property damage when there is some kind of actual purpose to it. This, as best I can tell, has none, and essentially just fucks people over for absolutely no benefit.
Radical politics involves conflict. This does not make all conflict radical, no matter how much riot porn and fire it may produce.
anonymous
Could be ALF based?
18.05.2009 14:38
Then again as the article pointed out, it could be luxury cars against the rich, which is fair enough. I agree with the above post to a degree, not all conflict is radical, but then again there's no point in judging based on mainstream media reports...they're always full of shit.
Just a thought
The Scum
18.05.2009 14:44
... Some complain about the alleged lack of direction or revolutionary class awareness, and so they take a distance because they cannot see any political perspectives or results; then they talk about barbaric phenomena without any project, which would be the result of a ‘passive putrefaction of the oldest strata of the old society’.
Some also propose themselves as conscious organizers of revolts (those to come, of course). But instead of giving lessons on how to behave and act there is a lot to be learned from the French riots. There is a tactical and practical awareness in the rebellion of the ‘scum’ that is notoriously unknown among the most refined revolutionary consciences, often too conscious to be practical. If the French rioters did not make a step towards revolution (yes, but who is a revolutionary today?), at least in their own way they put their active possibilities to the test. Without waiting for a guide to teach what to do, on the contrary they effectively realized their way of how to do; they made their anger explode in an impressive series of fires without delegating it to anyone. The explosion of a vital force that has been repressed for too long is an angry deflagration that ignores any form of delegation and cannot ever repent.
... Once upon a time someone said: ‘Nihilists…make just one more effort to be revolutionaries’: it’s a short step from wanting nothing to wanting everything. But we also say: ‘Revolutionaries…make just one more effort to be nihilists’ – it takes a bit of courage to be up to one’s rage. But where will all this take us? Did not you realise? It will take us nowhere… And anyway, where do you think you are going, all of you?
‘S’ io fossi foco arderei lo mondo’
(March, France 2006)
Black Flag
Err... no.
18.05.2009 16:12
Ooooh - maybe the plumbers' vans are all going to Huntingdon? Maybe it's arms trucks going to EDO? Maybe they're all limousines and it's a sign of the true start of the class struggle?
For crying out loud.
I repeat - in a typical year there are 43,000 car fires in England. That's 117 every DAY, though there'd be more at weekends. Four a day across Sussex is not a big news story unless you're writing for a local paper, you're really low on inspiration and there are no church fetes to cover.
As for the theory it's a fight-back against the bourgeois... many of the cars set ablaze are stolen cars (at least one in 30 nicked cars gets set alight). Do a bit of research about which areas have the highest levels of car theft and which are most likely to find cars on fire outside their homes. Clue: it's not in the bourgeois areas.
Norvello
Mixed feelings
18.05.2009 20:30
I borrow cars if and when I need them, and if they were attacked I couldn't afford to repair them. In the distant past I've also attacked cars but I was a child and I found better targets.
I used to own a car, a really cheap car, and I admit to being amused when it was the only car in a line of really posh cars that wasn't 'keyed'.
If you really need to damage a rich persons car beyond the protection of insurance, here is the best method. Smash the window and put something really, really smelly into it. Insurance will fix it, but they will never ever really clear the stink. I recommend Durian fruit or Liquid Ass or old fish.
Danny
Norvello
18.05.2009 22:01
Not only are does the second search (unfortunately) link firstly to the BNP, but it seems completely unlikely and unrealistic that the same number of cars were torched in the UK!
Just think for a moment: what are the odds that the same number were torched?
Furthermore, even if this were the truth (which it is not!) you are missing the point. The hundreds (if it is that, not thousands) of cars that are torched are each by individuals, as you say ones that are stolen etc. Do you really think people steal a series of cars in one night and torch them over a weekend, in such precision? Of course not, anyone can realise this.
The militancy involved in this action only further provides evidence that this act was political.
That and your quite pathetic attempt to make it sound like England is as radical as France!
Nice try, but after a small amount of investigation and it's clear you are talking shit...big time.
you are lying
@you are lying
19.05.2009 08:52
I am confused. how does "being organised" equate to "political"?
However unreliable the figures quoted by above commentors may be, the underlying point is valid - namely, that cars get torched all the time, and that a few happening in succession in the same area does not give it any particular significance.
Out of interest, for those who see some value in this - is *every* act of vandalism a radical act? Or is there something special about cars?
anonymous
How dare you.
19.05.2009 09:15
I said 40,000 - 43,000 because that was the figure I was aware of from the last time I had to check. It is a correct figure for past per annum malicious car fires.
In the Arson Prevention Bureau's 10-year reports that's the figure they've bandied around in the past. It was 42,000 in 1997 and 44,000 in 1996.
It's actually got worse since those figures (peaking at about 80,000 in 2002, then dropping a bit in 2003). This only makes my argument (that there were at least 100 car fires a day across the UK before, and that to get excited about 8 fires in Sussex is stupid) even stronger.
You can find full figures here at:
How dare you make the malicious allegation that the figure was fabricated and that it was somehow linked to the BNP. That's out of order.
Norvello
Update
19.05.2009 09:24
I said "around 40,000" in my original posting, and then 43,000 in my example.
The very latest figures, recently published for 2008? 47,000 car fires of which 40,000 were malicious.
(showing a massive drop since 2002)
Apologise "You are lying", apologise.
Norvello
The working class isn't anonymous
19.05.2009 09:30
"In the 12 months to December 2005 deliberate vehicle fires fell by 14 per cent to 40,100"
"1,402 cars are damaged or destroyed by arson each week in the UK"
I love it when posh twats
a) talk about lumpens
b) think they're speaking on behalf of the working class
Damaged By Intolerance
Fred Goodwins car
19.05.2009 10:13
"
Four uniformed officers carried out an initial search of streets when they arrived minutes after the alarm sounded at 4.35am, spending four hours looking for suspects. A police dog and his handler also arrived to conduct an hour-long search while two uniformed constables were posted outside Sir Fred's home for 16 hours. A sergeant spent an hour supervising the scene while a pair of "SOCOs" arrived to examine the address for forensic evidence over two hours. Two constables carried out a total of 12 hours of door-to-door inquiries, co-ordinated by a sergeant for two hours. The vandal attack was assigned to a pair of detective constables who spent a total of 16 hours on their inquiries. The overall inquiry was managed by a detective inspector from CID for six hours.
"
Danny
Homepage:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Police-dedicate-18-officers-to.5276196.jp
in response
19.05.2009 10:17
You do not know me, so please do not make assumptions about me. It is juvenile to say the least.
I am not claiming to speak on behalf of anyone but myself - a working class person who would be considerably fucked off to find someone had torched my car.
anonymous
how they tick
19.05.2009 11:30
Pure jealously - and it is pathetic. And that is why the working class will always end up being downtrodden because they are reliant on hand outs rather than concentrating on growing a business or career for themselves.
max
@max
19.05.2009 12:43
haha
and then what happens
19.05.2009 12:44
Personally I draw a distinction between damage to people and property
crimdam
The working class is still not anonymous
19.05.2009 12:47
2) Working class person/people set fire to several cars in one night.
Who do you think gives a fuck?
The kind of moral guardians of what-the-working-class-would-think-of-us who, despite their privileged upbringing, university education and years spent glued to the internet, still believe they can speak on behalf of the working class.
The only person mentioned anarchisty is posh twat.
WOT MUGS WE ARE!
Intolerant of Damage
@haha, yes you are being a joke
21.05.2009 11:35
You may say "grow your own business" is bad. I'm not talking of making an empire. I'm talking about not being a sucker and getting off on "self pity"
Self pity >>> "its not fair, why should over people have stuff and not me?"
I think it is pure FOOLISHNESS not to help yourself. You are complete mug and deserve all you get. Why put yourself in that situation where someone is taking a big cut out of your hard work..... and then, unbelievable, complaining about it having just watched it happen!!!
Complaining does f-all as your know. So try doing something instead.
People who complain but then just refuse to help themselves deserve all they get. They seem to shine in self-pity and would rather wait for someone else to sort it out for them. You are an adult now, your should be able to sort out your own life.
max