London is burning

First there was Tunisia, Egypt,  Syria, and more. Now there is London. While Western governments and media outlets applaud and support the protests of North Africa and the Middle East against their dire, oppressive conditions, they blame the riots in London and other UK cities on bad parenting and deplore it as mindless. As others have pointed out, the media and government officials do not lay the blame on austerity cuts that have eliminated the last benefits the disadvantaged and disempowered had available to them. They do not blame overly aggressive policing and unprovoked searches. They do not see that this violence, like that of the riots in LA and other cities in the late 1960s, is born out of desperation and frustration.

Here is a fine example of how the media suppresses this deeper understanding of the crisis (Youtube, 9:54). This BBC video with Darcus Howe, a broadcaster and columnist for the BBC, demonstrates that the BBC is not attempting to examine a variety of explanations of the crisis but rather is trying to impose an official interpretation.