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Riot

Fist Fun

17:32 / 27.07.01

I took this from the NME. Does anyone feel this is a fair evaluation of the recent rioting? Are anti-capitlaist protest self indulgent compared to the recent race riots?

quote: A few months ago NME devoted an issue to riots, focusing on the May Day demonstrations and the anti-capitalist movement across the world. It was a fairly light-hearted read. It could afford to be because no matter how much you sympathise with the ideological beliefs of the anti-capitalists it's a nebulous cause riddled with contradictions and wobbly philosophy. Our take mirrored that of the protestors: hooray for the attitude, let's fill in the details later. At least, we figured, they mean well.
Such protest now seems pretty self-indulgent in light of the fear sweeping through Bradford, Oldham and Burnley. The race riots burning through these towns weren't started to shock Starbucks.

Blank Faced Avatar

08:44 / 28.07.01

NME of reason.

reidcourchie

08:44 / 28.07.01

During the rioting in Bradford I was in the area seeing friends. The overwhelming feeling amongst the people there was that whilst initially the first outbreak of rioting was as a result of racial tension the subsequent rioting was largely oppurtunist looting and property damage largely of the rioters own community.

This was mirrored in an advert taken out at some expense by Asian community leaders in the local newspaper the Telegraph and Argus where they apologised for the rioting to the people of Bradford and asked the police to firmly deal with the rioters as they were largely just troublemakers.

As for the NME even a tiny bit of research, in fact no, just pure common sense would suggest that there is a big difference between a riot and a demonstration, though they may have similar end results.

The Mad Hatter

11:15 / 28.07.01

I wasn't at the riots in Bradford or at the Anti-whatever we're calling it these days protests, but the similarity seems to be that both involved a degree of wanton trouble makers out just to smash things up. In my heart I know I'd like to smash up a MacDonalds just for the sake of it, because its anger at the way things are that inspires my involvement with this new movement. But in my head I know its counter productive because how things get portrayed in the media is important. The less ammo they have to demonise us, the better. This may be deserving of a thread of its own, but wouldn't a Ghandi style peaceful protest declaration before any future action goes ahead, be useful. If only so anyone who is out just to fuck some shit up would clearly be not one of the real protestors? This assumes that anyone in the media would care about facts, and print truth rather than sensationaist rubbish purely to shift copies.

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