London Riots - one year on
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-riots--one-year-on-owen-jones-continues-a-series-of-special-reports-7966291.html
Young people who had everything to lose
joined the rioting in Hackney. In the second
of a four-part series, Owen Jones discovers
that their feelings of disenfranchisement and
disillusion haven't gone away
Those who dismissed last year's rioters as the
"feral underclass" will find Jahmal
troubling. Recently released after serving
part of an 18-month sentence for violent
disorder in last year's Hackney riots, it is
difficult to describe this baby-faced, softly-
spoken 22-year-old as being simply
motivated by "mindless criminality, pure
and simple", as David Cameron described
the riots.
Jahmal was born into the ranks of Britain's
burgeoning working poor: his mother is a
personal assistant who is studying part-time
for a psychology degree. Before the riots, he
was a man with little hope. "Things were
tough. I didn't see much of a future. All I've
got going for me is music." DJing is his
passion but – like the majority of young
black people in austerity Britain – he was out
of work. "I've been trying to get a job for
over two years now," he says. He applied for
apprenticeships in construction and the
London Underground, but was rejected.
So what made this young man throw two
bottles at the police on 8 August 2011, as the
turmoil that erupted in Tottenham spread to
nearby Hackney? Fury at perceived police
harassment – a worryingly familiar tale
among young black men I've spoken to –
certainly played a part. "I see the police as a
'legit' gang," Jahmal says. "They bully people,
they harass people. My mum's been raided
three times for no reason at all. Each time
they raided they found nothing." He claims
that his cousin was slammed against a wall
and injured after a police officer objected to
an unwanted stare.
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