Recent Book: Uprising! The Police, the People and the Riots in Britain's Cities
| Published date | 01 July 1983 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8305600320 |
| Date | 01 July 1983 |
| Author | Michael Freeman |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
MARTIN
KETTLE
AND
LUCY
HODGES:
Uprising! The Police, The People and the Riots in Britain's Cities
London: Pan Books. £2.25
The title is sensational and romantic. police and black youth. Kettle and
"Uprising" is the name given to the Hodges suggest that each is a mirror-
disorders in Bristol in 1980 and in image of the other.
Brixton, Liverpool, Manchester and At the heart of any serious
elsewhere in 1981,by those who wish and explanation of the British riots of
believe that they were political revolts by
1981
must be the catastrophically bad
oppressed
people
against
their
relationships between the police and
oppressors. Although these events were young black people. Theirs is an
indeed a form of political protest, they
antagonistic
relationship.
They
fell a long way short ofuprisings, and the expect, on the basis of long mutual
usual term "riots" is more accurate and in experience in particular areas, that
no way pre-judges the issues which they each is up to no good. Each regards
have raised. the other as suspicious, likely to be
These issues are the following: Why violent and likely to lie about
did the riots occur? Why did they occur whatever they are doing. Young
where they did and not in other places? blacks and the police are in a
Why did they occur when they did and somewhat similar position. Both
not at other times? Who were the rioters generally consider - for quite
and why did these people riot and not different reasons - that they are
other people? Who or what was to misrepresented and unappreciated by
blame? How should we respond? Who large sections of the public. Both
has the main responsibility for the groups have a powerful and self-
response? reliant culture which is highly
Blame is easy to lay and it has been protective of its members and within
generously handed around: blacks, which news travels fast. That of
youth, black youth, hooligans, criminal young blacks has been created bythe
elements, parents, outside agitators, left-
com
m0n
dis
a d
van
tag
e
and
wing extremists, right-wing extremists, discrimination to which they have
the mass media, the police, the been subjected asa racial group.
That
government,
unemployment,
bad
of the police has been created by the
housing, racial discrimination, and the job that they do, by the way they are
decline of moral standards. trained into it and the way that, over
Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges tell the the past 15 years in particular, they
story of the riots, examine various actually do it.
possible causes, and propose some Butthis quotation - and much ofthis
reforms. They have little time for book - shows that an adequate
"explanations" which treat the riots understanding of the riots must go
simply as criminal behaviour and which beyond the riots themselves and the
refuse to recognize that they were also relations between black youth and the
social protest. They also have little time police. Neither riots nor police-black
for explanations in terms of social youth relations occur out of nowhere:
deprivation. Their main reason for they have a social context. The most
rejecting such explanations is that some important context is the attitudes of the
of the most deprived cities in Britain British people and their governments
(e.g., Glasgow) had no riots. On this towards dark-skinned Commonwealth
point their logic is faulty. The fact that citizens since the era of immigration
some deprived areas had no riots shows limitation began in the early I
96Os.
only
that
deprivation by itselfdoes not Immigration limitation is not based
cause riots.
It
does not show that primarily on a rational plan of
deprivation plays no part in the population control but on fear and
causation of riots. dislike of people with different skin
To understand the riots, Kettle and colour - ina word, onracism. The white
Hodges believe, we must look to the British and their governments have never
rioters themselves and to what they been prepared to recognize how
thought they.were doing. This draws our
immigration
limitation
sends
the
attention to the relations between the message to black and brown people in
294 July 1983
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