Learning a few home truths from the riots

Here's the First Person column from today's Leicester Mercury:

Learning a few home truths from the riots 

Riaz Ravat considers the repercussions of the violent events of England's 'Angry August' 

While the country reflects on the actions of indignant and unrepentant gangs who have destroyed livelihoods and in some cases more sickeningly, taken innocent lives, the post mortem into "Angry August" has already begun. However, the riots must be seen within a much wider context of what defines the nation. 

A day after the disturbances, St Philip's Centre organised for a group of faith workers to come together to show solidarity with traders and police in the city centre. Over decades, many residents of our city have worked tirelessly to create and uphold our reputation as not only a diverse city but also a resilient one. We were supposed to be different. The faith communities' public show of unity sent a message to the violent perpetrators: You can hurl rocks but you can't harm our resolve. 

The police who deserve our wholehearted support have been hamstrung by a culture of fear. We owe them gratitude for their bravery and commitment to maintaining order. Some politicians, however, need to stop the political "ping pong" and give the police and our justice system the apparatus required to arrest and convict those who have defamed our city and country. The courts need to re-inject public confidence through appropriate sentencing. 

Those who have looted, damaged properties, destroyed essential charity services, killed innocent citizens and terrorised others have benefited from a deregulated society which has struggled to define what it stands for and what its vision is. This vacuum has created a "concierge culture" where responsibility lies elsewhere rather than beginning at home. 

A particular contrast is with the people of North Africa and Arabia. Many of whom are losing their lives daily. While they fight for freedom, the rioters here console themselves with flatscreens and Rolex watches. They have rejected dictatorships while we have embraced designer labels. They have demanded the tools of democracy while we have blunted ours. This contrast is vivid but brings home several home truths about the materialistic, egotistic society we've created. 

While some rioters may have escaped the law, they have been apprehended by the law of unintended consequences. A song dear to my heart reads "At the end of the storm there's a golden sky". The efforts of the community clean-ups in Clapham and the Sikh community protecting Mosques in Southall have highlighted that we may well have accidentally fallen upon the Prime Minister's vision of the Big Society, the irony being that this has been achieved without a penny of Government investment. The usually cumbersome and inconspicuous British have rediscovered their confidence and commitment to each other in the face of aggression. 

Riaz Ravat is based at St Philip's Centre in Leicester.