Protest, don’t riot!

Part’s of London and across the UK are burning and the threat of rioting continuing has not let up. But there are two aspects to all of this and only one part is the rioting.

Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in circumstances that are still unknown, but it is now believed he did not fire a shot himself. What are now nationwide riots started as a protest outside the police station in Tottenham near to where Duggan had been killed. “Mark’s parents and family went to stand outside Tottenham Police Station,” Frank Crowe friend of Duggan says. “It seemed to be a major cover-up.” “It started off with just the peaceful protest,” he says. Frank says he can’t really explain how the peaceful protest turned into days of violence.

So what seemingly started out as a protest against a police shooting has denegrated into full scale rioting and criminal behaviour. And with it any chance of a non political examination of the shooting death of a man by police is gone and the socio-economic reasons that sparked it too are largely to be set aside in what will become an issue of law and order. Criminals are not revolutionaries, they don’t prove a point by their actions and Mandela in an Adidas Hoodie they are not! But as those who would seek to find the truth in amongst the chaos we must not simply see this as a riot, it isn’t! Riots don’t start for no reason at all, they require a level of anger amongst a large group of people. They require that said group of people feel so removed from society that they are literally willing to burn it to the ground and that they feel, rightly or wrongly, that where they direct their anger is the appropriate target.

Communities should not be on opposite sides!

There can be no doubt that certain minorities have faced undeserved scurtiny by the police in areas of London. This is not anything new and riots of previous decades in the same areas are testament to this. But what rioters fail to recognise, that protesters do, is that causing destruction and behaving criminally will win you zero supporters and set you back in any cause you might have. The aftermath of all this will not be as much about disadvantage and the underclass but about law and order. Never again will come the cry, zero tolerance, tough sentences and fight back will all be the buzz phrases as London cleans up. But if some of the roots causes are not addressed then another riot, as in the past, is only a matter of time.

By all means those who act in a criminal manner must face the full force of the law. In fact sometimes heavier sentences are warranted given the fear, anxiety and financial loss that the English community has suffered as a result of a few. But there are always lessons to be learned and they aren’t about how to crack down on criminals. They are about building a society and a community that is inclusive, that provides an opportunity for all and that addresses the underlining issues before they reach a point where a percentage of that society turns on itself.

There are those who say there isn’t racial profiling or a gap between the rich and the poor. But this footage that has gone around the world shows exactly that and it is deeply ingrained, even on the BBC.

4 ways to protest, all of them peaceful!

John and Yoko – Give Peace a Chance, The Bed in!

 

Vincent Lingiari – Wave Hill Walk-Off

 

Martin Luther King Jr. – We Shall Overcome

 

Gandhi on Non-Violence – from the film Gandhi

Macklin says Goverment is supportive of Aboriginal homelands

TONY EASTLEY: The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, says the Federal Government is making an effort to support remote Aboriginal homelands and outstations.

Her comments come as Amnesty International accuses the Territory and Federal governments of starving the communities of funds.

The head of the Northern Land Council says governments have underestimated both the importance and the value of the homelands.  

Timothy McDonald reports.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The CEO of the Northern Land Council, Kim Hill, says there are plenty of good reasons to support the homelands.

KIM HILL: You’ve seen a number of reports done by independent bodies, even governments, where they’ve identified our people living on homelands are the healthiest people in the region.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Amnesty International’s report says a Commonwealth and Territory backed plan to establish 21 communities as growth towns will starve the outstations of essential services and force families to abandon their traditional land.

Federal funding for homelands has been capped at $20 million a year for three years and will soon dry up.

Kim Hill says funding the homelands would help local communities become sustainable.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: He says the current policy will make things worse for the 35 per cent of the Territory’s Indigenous people who live on the homelands.

KIM HILL: People need to understand that the homelands is where people actually live and that’s their identification for their country. I mean, people don’t want to see or want to go into major towns.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: In her speech to the Sydney Institute last night the Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, didn’t make any direct reference to Amnesty’s report, and she didn’t take questions from journalists.

But when the audience asked about the homelands she insisted the Federal Government is trying to help.

JENNY MACKLIN: One of the areas where we provide a lot of support for people who are living on their country is of course the Working on Country program.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: She says the Government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions will help too.

JENNY MACKLIN: One of the other great opportunities that will come from carbon pricing is the carbon farming initiative that many Aboriginal people in remote parts of the country, not just in the Northern Territory, see as a real chance for them to look after their country and also earn money as a result of carbon trading.

So they’re just some practical examples of things that we are supporting, ways in which we are supporting those people who do want to stay on their country.