9 august 2011, civilisation slipping away ?

Another part of that same multitude of humanity I saw having fun on the brighton seafront at the weekend has been displaying a more vicious side over the last days, as riots have exploded across london's more deprived high streets, echoes have savaged birmingham city centre and violence has reared its head in liverpool, nottingham, bristol and elsewhere. In london, shops are shutting early and the knock-on economic effects are only just beginning to be felt. Although policing and its community relationship in a racially-charged area provided the spark, these don't feel like race riots. Nor do they have ideology at their heart like the student riots earlier in the year. Austerity and the cuts may be the talking point, but they are neither cause nor excuse. Rather, the feel is of venting youth, despondent at not being able to buy the glittering goods on display on every high street, and increasingly of any hope that they will ever be able to buy them. Hope and aspiration enable people to absorb a lot; these are youths who have little hope, and so little to lose. What protects shop windows from being shattered on any given day is not the police or security shutters, but the invisible glue of civilisation, an order that ensures that if one person has more than another, it can't be taken by force. Property is not theft, but for theft not to be proper both the sanctions of wrongdoing and the prospects for change for those without have to be real. Criminality must be punished therefore, every incident a camera can catch, but the causes conspiring to create hopelessness must also be addressed. Everyone needs a stake in society and a chance to progress through intelligence, hard work, resolve or originality. That balance has clearly broken down, and for civilisation to survive, both sides of the equation need bolstering, however difficult the times - or they will only get worse.