The London Riots of 2011 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
- Facebook Fans set London Rioters Free
The riots that ran from the 6 – 10 August this year, in London and the Midlands caused death and destruction and has left authorities bemused as to why and how? Why did these riots start and How did they gather such momentum so quickly?
The first of these questions (the Why?) has academics pointing the finger of blame, squarely at the authorities and the current socio-economic climate. The second question (of How?) seems less topical and less important BUT that is laughable if it wasn’t so frightening.
- the Why? – The fatal shooting of Mark Duggan on the 4th August 2011 led to rioting in Tottenham, North London. – Plausible? Yes.
- the How? – In the following days rioting, rampant looting and arson attacks of unprecedented levels spread to other London boroughs and eventually reaching beyond London to the Midlands. – Inexplicable? No.
Cue stage left – Facebook and moments later, Twitter!
EVERYBODY overlooked then and potentially is still overlooking now, the two Social Media platforms of Facebook and Twitter.
Just imagine, you’re a board youth with little respect for authority and even less respect for society and then suddenly you receive a tweet… “smash and grab, free plasma TV’s around the corner. Come and take them!” It’s not going to take you more than 30 seconds to decide to go and take a look and to get involved in the free for all. Thanks to Twitter, within minutes 1000’s of youths have descended on an electrical store and stolen everything.
And for the more entrepreneurial criminal, he goes and sets up a Facebook page that promotes the rioting AND gathers like minded followers… who then team up around the country looting under the guise of rioting with a bit of arson thrown in to keep the authorities at bay…
So here’s the worst bit, both Facebook and Twitter unwittingly or not as the case may be, have shown the way for future mass actions – both mass actions for good AND mass actions for bad with the sole purpose of creating an environment of liberation and freedom laced with anarchy and criminal activities.
The flip side to that is, the very same social networking sites rallied tens of thousands of volunteers to gather and help clean up the streets after the rioting. So where does that leave us now?
It leaves us the lucky ones, with a new found sense of freedom thanks to the Social Network sites but for others, nothing of the sort.
Five people died and at least 16 others were injured as a direct result of related violent acts. An estimated £200 million worth of property damage was incurred, and local economic activity was significantly compromised. – source Wikipedia
The underworld has moved with the times and has gone cyber, lets just hope the authorities have too.