12 June 2006
The enemy within
Perhaps I should stop moaning and take action?
The government seems to be back-tracking from its idea to encourage people to take action against 'anti-social behaviour'. But this is a detail in the general campaign against the faked enemy.
It all seems cynical: whip up hatred by the masses against one particular target group in order to solidify your hold on power. Now, who does that remind us of? The target group needs to be vulnerable, voiceless, easily identifiable. Jews/Youths/Jews/Youths. Yellow Stars/Probation Uniforms/Yellow Stars/Probabtion Uniforms. The Nazis also had a strong interest in 'a-socials' . (Interestingly they also invaded other countries illegally).
The link is about a woman who 'stood up' to a 'gang' of 'thugs' who were 'terrorising' a housing estate. A video clip on the BBC showed a few boys kicking a football around. Shockingly it looked a boy was kicking it against a building. Then, probably taken from the surveillance camera which the woman let police install in her house, was a boy doing a V-sign. No doubt he knew the camera was there and that is what he thought of it. So (if I am right) the best evidence the BBC/Police can come up with for 'anti-social behaviour' was in fact anger in response to being filmed. An entirely healthy response in fact.
And now we are also supposed to cheer that this teenager has got a 7 year ASBO i.e. had his life ruined (made miserable for 7 years and stunted his development at any rate). Indeed the woman was personally congratulated by Tony Blair at Downing Street.
The reality is that most 'gangs' of 'thugs' 'terrorising' housing estates are young people at a loose end. As this web site points out elsewhere even the government admits (on the 'Together' web site) that in fact the best way to stop this 'problem' (viewed soley from the point of view of adult comfort who don't want to engage with young people it is a problem) is the provision of youth clubs etc. However; this always appears to come as a surprise and only appears to be possible after a few 'ring-leaders' have been ASBOed (publically whipped at the back of a cart through the town). General humilation for youth all round.
The enemy is faked. (For example; The BBC Panorama programme on ASBOs also set out to shoot some footage of young people running amok. Despite all their resources they couldn't do much better than footage of some children playing on a roof and some teenagers a little the worse for wear.)
We are talking about young people who are bored; who are almost always socialising, often trying to create some activities for themselves. And they run across adults a bit. That's it. It's always been that way. Under New Labour this is dressed up into 'anti-social behaviour' which in the language of police/the BBC/even 'anti-social behaviour experts' (LOL) is some terrifiying social menace. Always the word 'crime' is introduced at some point. The BBC video report on the story below used the word 'crime'. Even though 'anti-social behaviour' is supposed to be in the civil domain the 'professionals' refer to it as crime anyway. So much for your rights there. Basically a small and intolerant section of the middle-class have succeeded in making it a crime for children (who seem to always be working-class, not their pretty little things) to well, be children.
The question is why fake this enemy? Is it a distraction? Something to keep people frightened about? To keep your grip on power? Anyway; using children in this way is really really cynical. It takes exploitation of children to whole new levels.
The enemy within
Perhaps I should stop moaning and take action?
The government seems to be back-tracking from its idea to encourage people to take action against 'anti-social behaviour'. But this is a detail in the general campaign against the faked enemy.
It all seems cynical: whip up hatred by the masses against one particular target group in order to solidify your hold on power. Now, who does that remind us of? The target group needs to be vulnerable, voiceless, easily identifiable. Jews/Youths/Jews/Youths. Yellow Stars/Probation Uniforms/Yellow Stars/Probabtion Uniforms. The Nazis also had a strong interest in 'a-socials' . (Interestingly they also invaded other countries illegally).
The link is about a woman who 'stood up' to a 'gang' of 'thugs' who were 'terrorising' a housing estate. A video clip on the BBC showed a few boys kicking a football around. Shockingly it looked a boy was kicking it against a building. Then, probably taken from the surveillance camera which the woman let police install in her house, was a boy doing a V-sign. No doubt he knew the camera was there and that is what he thought of it. So (if I am right) the best evidence the BBC/Police can come up with for 'anti-social behaviour' was in fact anger in response to being filmed. An entirely healthy response in fact.
And now we are also supposed to cheer that this teenager has got a 7 year ASBO i.e. had his life ruined (made miserable for 7 years and stunted his development at any rate). Indeed the woman was personally congratulated by Tony Blair at Downing Street.
The reality is that most 'gangs' of 'thugs' 'terrorising' housing estates are young people at a loose end. As this web site points out elsewhere even the government admits (on the 'Together' web site) that in fact the best way to stop this 'problem' (viewed soley from the point of view of adult comfort who don't want to engage with young people it is a problem) is the provision of youth clubs etc. However; this always appears to come as a surprise and only appears to be possible after a few 'ring-leaders' have been ASBOed (publically whipped at the back of a cart through the town). General humilation for youth all round.
The enemy is faked. (For example; The BBC Panorama programme on ASBOs also set out to shoot some footage of young people running amok. Despite all their resources they couldn't do much better than footage of some children playing on a roof and some teenagers a little the worse for wear.)
We are talking about young people who are bored; who are almost always socialising, often trying to create some activities for themselves. And they run across adults a bit. That's it. It's always been that way. Under New Labour this is dressed up into 'anti-social behaviour' which in the language of police/the BBC/even 'anti-social behaviour experts' (LOL) is some terrifiying social menace. Always the word 'crime' is introduced at some point. The BBC video report on the story below used the word 'crime'. Even though 'anti-social behaviour' is supposed to be in the civil domain the 'professionals' refer to it as crime anyway. So much for your rights there. Basically a small and intolerant section of the middle-class have succeeded in making it a crime for children (who seem to always be working-class, not their pretty little things) to well, be children.
The question is why fake this enemy? Is it a distraction? Something to keep people frightened about? To keep your grip on power? Anyway; using children in this way is really really cynical. It takes exploitation of children to whole new levels.