Austerity and the mass disciplining of the poor

Naomi Klein writes in The Nation about last week's riots - 'the Tories are right when they say the rioting is not about the cuts. But it has a great deal to do with what those cuts represent: being cut off. Locked away in a ballooning underclass with the few escape routes previously offered - a union job, a good affordable education - being rapidly sealed off. The cuts are a message. They are saying to whole sectors of society: you are stuck where you are, much like the migrants and refugees we turn away at our increasingly fortressed borders': http://www.thenation.com/article/162809/daylight-robbery-meet-nighttime-robbery

How ready they are to march down the road to Totalitarianism: UNISONActive debate

'Contrast the reaction of David Cameron to rioting and looting with that of the Norwegian Prime Minister in the immediate aftermath of their recent bombing and massacre'. writes Andy Stankard: "I am currently reading ‘The Tories’ by Alan Clark, the former, (and deceased), Tory cabinet Minister under Thatcher and historian. The book covers the history of the Tories from the turn of the last century up until 1997 when Labour swept them from office.

‘Hang them – Hug Them’ – The continuum of responses to the Riots: UNISONActive debate

John Stevenson is to be congratulated for his critical and detailed appraisal of the riots that have blighted the streets of some parts of England in the past few days. The response from ‘the left’ has either been ignored or, more likely, been too close to the blame culture of individuals adopted by the neoliberals and right wing politicians and commentators to offer any real alternative.

Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009

A timely paper by academics Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth (published on line by the Social Science Research Network) which examines the question - 'Does fiscal consolidation lead to social unrest?'
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1899287

Street Cleansing Crews not Cameron's 'Broom Army' were the real clean up heroes

In the Commons emergency debate on the riots the Prime Minister was quick to talk up the so called 'Broom Army', in his mind no doubt reminiscent of Churchill's army of middle class volunteers mobilised to break the 1926 General Strike. Paul O'Brien of APSE gives credit to the real unsung heroes in the aftermath of the riots - 'the street cleansing crews who returned city centres to some semblance of normality with maximum efficiency and the minimum of fuss':  http://bit.ly/pidyic

UNISONActive debate: Dealing with the symptoms and causes of unrest

In the face of public fear, anger and retribution, the left faces an uphill struggle to articulate the way forward from the unrest in our cities.

Media vilification – the modern day stocks

An orgy of abuse and character assassination has been unleashed by the media in the wake of recent civil disorder:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/aug/12/london-riots-national-newspapers

'Failure of politics and social solidarity'

For those for whom the David Cameron trite and self serving assertion in the Commons that there is no social cause for the recent disturbances in British cities, there is an antidote:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/10/riots-reflect-society-run-greed-looting

See all posts in this debate here http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/search/label/Unrest%20Debate

Turning the tide of reaction

Red Pepper co-Editor James O'Nions, provides a necessary antidote to media and Tory hysteria designed to whip up an authoritarian right wing response to recent civil disorder in English cities: http://www.redpepper.org.uk/riots-the-left-must-respond/

Broken Society

‘We should not be surprised at riots in inner-city areas like Lewisham. A whole workless generation has been abandoned by society’ writes Heather Wakefield, UNISON national Secretary for local government – identifying youth unemployment, poverty and cuts in services as key factors in recent civil disorder:
http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2011/08/why-there-were-riots-in-lewisham/

See all posts in this debate here http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/search/label/Unrest%20Debate