Democracy or Hypocrisy: Some Thoughts on London Riots

by geniehq

I am really behind all the reports on London riots this time mostly because I didn’t expect it to have escalated to such an alarming level in a country that boasts its origin of democracy. And the first thing I could think of when reading these reports was the Tian An’men Square Movement that took place in China in 1989, the most talked yet tabooed “Incident” ever in contemporary Chinese history, the year after I was born.

Now you have two options: Weak police force and carnage OR strong police force and massacre plus criticism from all over the world.

The original picture retrieved from The Bundpic, Issue 451

When being asked by a pissed civilian in northeast London, Hackney when they would put an end to this mayhem, a man in the mask calmly gave his answer: when there is war. One could hardly expect a peaceful march merely two weeks ago that would lead to something that the entire country is now shamed of. Twenty-one years ago in Beijing, the capital of China, students’ mass mourning for the passed party leader and appeal to political and economic reform led to demonstrations all over the country including major cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.  Two months later, peaceful protests had been transformed into total chaos that martial law had to be implemented. On the 4th of June 1989, troops and tanks transformed the Square to a bloody battlefield and the state’s notorious massacre against the protesters (I’m not saying all of them are students as the compositions of the protesters had greatly changed over time) has since left a dirty mark on China’s path to democracy.

I have long since expressed sympathy towards the innocent civilians victimised in the massacre and my condolence also goes to those suffered from London riots. However, major criticism pointed at London Police’s poor performance is very intriguing to me comparing to the case in China two decades ago.  China has since the incident received fierce attacks on disregarding human lives and human rights, albeit the fact that its situation had fallen out of control and the security overall had been at stake towards the end of the movement.

This year, similar request echoed in Britain after a series of stringent policies landed on public spending. People are pissed, no doubt, but my first impression was that people wanted to rebel and shake up society, at least some of them. A war was at call yet people didn’t realise that they were already at war where consciousness and sanity were at loss and the darkest facet of humanity was exposed to the light. A mother had to turn her daughter in when she saw her ill behaviours on TV. “An inherent sense of right and wrong” was then dragged into the limelight.

The initial fatal killing of a 29-year-old by the police stirred up the situation into uncontrollable. Hooligans, rioters had taken advantage of public resentment and wrecked havoc on the entire city, largely due to the “soft” diplomacy deployed by London’s Metropolitan Police. One opinion poll even showed that a third of respondents suggested that rubber bullets be replaced by real ones. A friend of mine thinks that if the martial law were to apply earlier, less damage would have been caused, and maybe Jamie Oliver’s restaurant wouldn’t have been damaged.

The original picture retrieved from Hellomagazine.com

I kept thinking if there would have been a better way, and I’m sure there will be when tackling such situations, either be Tian’An Men Massacre or London Riots. We are all striking our way towards democracy yet it has seemed to fail us in different forms. I wouldn’t say the criticism on the Massacre were hypocritical even after the London Riots where the other extreme took place. The question is whether we are how we do rather than what we do.

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