THE beginning of PM Cameron’s speech to the recalled House of Commons was an attempt to divorce the youth uprising that is taking place from the objective situation that workers endure in this country.
In this way the issue was reduced to ‘greed’, ‘theft’, ‘sheer criminality’ and other qualities for which the government could not be held responsible, except by their example.
The family of Mark Duggan say that the five hours delay when they were protesting at the police station in Tottenham, when no senior officer would see them and talk to them, was the cause of the initial violence.
Cameron said of this delay that ‘understandably and appropriately the police were cautious about how they dealt with this’, approving of the police boycott of the family.
He added: ‘However, this was then used as an excuse by opportunist thugs in gangs, first in Tottenham itself, then across London and then in other cities…It is simply preposterous for anyone to suggest that people looting in Tottenham at the weekend, still less three days later Salford, were in any way doing so because of the death of Mark Duggan.’
In fact, the police refusal to deal properly with the Duggan family was the spark that ignited the explosive combustible material that had accumulated.
This included the MP’s expenses scandal which showed MPs looting the system. then there was the News International scandal which showed police chiefs wining and dining with the Murdoch press, and a Prime Minister and a cabinet run as an extension of News International. These scandals cost the established political order any remaining respect of the people!
They were on top of wage freezes, price rises, mass sackings, and for the youth the abolition of the EMA Sixth Formers Allowance, the raising of tuition fees to £9,000 a year, and the building up of up to one million unemployed young people – as well as all of the assorted benefit cuts!
All this while the bankers and bosses were living like emperors, again off state subsidy.
Cameron cannot face this reality. This is why the bankers’ friend has to reduce the issue to ‘sheer criminality’, with his solution being force, more force and yet more force to crush the anger of youth, and in preparation for the massive strikebreaking efforts that are to begin this autumn.
Outlining his state of siege, he said: ‘Nothing is off the table. Every contingency is being looked at.
The police are already authorised to use baton rounds…we do have in place contingency plans for water cannon to be available at 24 hours notice.’
He added: ‘it is my responsibility to make sure that every contingency is looked at – including whether there are tasks that the army could undertake that would free up more police for the front line.’
Again: ‘We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.’
Plus: ‘I can announce today that we are going to give the police the discretion to remove face coverings under any circumstances where there is reasonable suspicion that they are related to criminal activity.
‘And on dealing with crowds, we are also looking at the use of existing dispersal powers and whether any wider power of curfew is necessary…including introducing gang injunctions across the whole country for children and for adults.’
He added that cutting people off benefit, and evictions, were additional weapons of the ruling class.
These are weapons of dictatorship for class war. They will be used against workers and youth and against trade unions.
This would-be Tory military-police state must be smashed with an indefinite general strike to bring down the coalition and bring in a workers government. The working class must join the youth uprising.
