Many people, homes, businesses (small and large) and society-in-general have been damaged (the “damage” is the “effect”), from what are being called “riots” around the UK (the “riots” are the “cause”). (An example article of the riots and the damage is here). I am very sad about the “effect”, and I feel that the “cause” should be condemned and the perpetrators placed justly through our (UK+EU) law system.

I feel that we should separate cause and effect, and my intention in this blog post is to comment on the cause. Therefore please do not confuse what I may say about the cause with what I feel for the effected.

I believe as part of our condemnation we should ridicule what they do, now ridicule is probably the wrong word and maybe I don’t mean it quite as literally as it may sound. These criminals are ‘silly’ for being so violent, for stealing things from shops, from setting things on fire etc etc. At the same time I do feel that we should not “fight fire with fire”, but “fight fire with flower”. Yes, I am saying that the government should use “Flower Power” (I do mean “Flower” and not “Flour”) - it would be fantastic if our government used flower cannons instead of water cannons, it would be a fantastic turn around from the days when hippies used flower power to fight the weapons obsessed government. Imagine that, the government using flower-power to fight weapons-obsessed hooligans. It would be awesome! (also remember this photo)

To sum up, here is how I feel at the moment:

• Let’s actively condemn violence and crime, and put criminals through the law and justice system.
• Let’s work together (collectively, collaboratively and co-operatively) to improve society for all.
• Let’s work together as a community and as individuals for Freedom, Equality and Community.
• Let’s separate cause and effect. When effect is negative we should condemn the cause, and learn from it.
• We should feel for those who suffer.
• We should fight (as peacefully as possible, and with no violence and no criminal activity) those who cause suffering. By this I mean “peaceful retaliation,” in respect to “rioting”.
• The “riots” are being over-politicalised, they have nothing to do with politics. It is simply that some people do not trust the police and/or justice system, and some people take the opportunities to steal.

p.s. be careful what you buy from ebay and other markets, you may be buying stuff that has been stolen during the riots! (particularly electronics and sportswear)

As already said, I hope that you don’t misunderstand what I am trying to say, and I certainly don’t mean to offend those who have suffered from these “riots”.

Many thanks,
Daniel

Disclaimer: I am a pacifist, therefore when I say that we should “fight”, that does not mean that we should do so using violence, war, terrorism, or using any other criminal activity. I am also a great believer in universal Human Rights, so I feel that “fighting” and “justice” should always take into consideration our rights in society. I do not speak for any particular political party, nor do I speak for any group that I may be involved with, but I do speak from my own thoughts and feelings at the present time (and so these may change in the future). I am also not a trained politician, nor am I a trained journalist, nor a trained public servant. I am simply an observer, that reads and watches the news, and has an opinion.

I’ve been thinking about politics quite a lot recently, primarily due to the forthcoming referendum on the UK voting system (5th May 2011).

It seems to me that the Conservatives who have promoted the idea of “Big Society” since before the election in 2010, they implemented this when they came into office in a Coalition with the Liberal Democrats (who have promoted a similar concept of “Community Politics“). Both Big Society and Community Politics promote the idea of Local Community Politics, and transferring some power from Central Government to Local Government. [1]

Our General Election currently uses the First-Past-The-Post system, meaning that the candidate with the most votes wins - but this means that less they can win with less than 50% support from their local constituency (and therefore more than 50% of the voters have not supported that candidate). This doesn’t seem right. This is why the Liberal Democrats, when they entered into the coalition, requested the referendum on a new voting system - and the Alternative Vote (Instant Runoff) system was chosen… which allows voters to rank their choices in order of preference. This means that when a candidate has received less than 50% of the vote then the voters which have their first choice as the lowest winners get their second choices counted (and this works up until a candidate has received more than 50% support). I’ve blogged about this in the past (see: “Alternative Vote Referendum UK 2011“) (also see the About My Vote page on the Referendum for the official detail).

It seems to me that if we are to have a truly “Big Society” where local work is fully supported and heard, then both Councillors in Local Government and MPs in Central Government should be elected in a system where they always receive more than 50% of the support of their local wards/constituency. [2]

Footnote

1. As an aside it seems that both Big Society (of the Tories) and Community Politics (of the LibDems and Greens) seem to support “mutualism” and “cooperatives“. It makes you wonder why the Co-operative Party is so aligned with the Labour Party which don’t seem to like the ideas within Big Society or Community Politics.
2. David Cameron and his Conservatives conceived the Big Society idea, yet they support the old ways of First Past The Post - it just doesn’t make sense. The Liberal Democrats, Labour Party, Green Party and UKIP all officially support the change to the Alternative Vote system (via the Yes Campaign). The AV system might not be perfect, but it is a step in the right direction. The Conservatives officially support the First Past the Post system (via the No Campaign), with a minority of the Labour Party MPs also supporting a “No” vote.