Current riots or looting in UK (August 2011) have surprised many. Where this is a sad and unacceptable behaviour which is & should be condemned, I do not see these as unexpected, though their volume is shocking. It is more of looting & lawless behaviour than rioting. This is a result of bad parenting, over-all directionless society, giving away religion, and senseless laws that protect more of the criminals than good citizens. Let me explain.
The riots are generally initiated from the area where mostly black people live (especially in London) and in the poor areas of the city. These are called council (local government) areas because due to poverty or unemployment, council provides them with housing and income support.
All other cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, etc are in the middle of the country (called midlands). These used to be full of industry just like Faisalabad, but all the industry closed in 70s and 80s, bringing nearly 100% unemployment in these areas. As a result these areas became poverty stricken. Till now these have low education, high unemployment and low income rates. Job opportunities remain low.
The young people who engage in such unsocial behaviours come mostly from disturbed families. Parents mostly divorced, single-mothers or fathers, troubled due to drugs or alcoholism. Result is this lost youth. They don’t have a direction or vision/hope for future. As a result they drop out of school at early age, hardly completing compulsory education. No jobs to go to, they wander around in streets day & night living in fantasies. You can well imagine what they would be up to? By the way, UK is known for high rate of teenage pregnancies.
British were known for their good manners, politeness, good dress, and excellent societal behaviour. Gone these values now; in the name of freedom. Family & family values went first, link to religion also dropped. Concept of marriage deteriorated. People started living alone, especially youth. Result was that young did not have anyone to teach them, give them direction, tell them the meaning of life and prepare them as good citizens for future.
Guess who filled this gap? TV & Media! It became their teacher, leading them to a ‘fairlytale’ like delusional careless life. Weird dressing, odd irresponsible behaviour, senseless talk, drugs, alcohol, smoking, music with bad messages, Atheism (no God, no religion concept), strange relations like gay, lesbian, all becoming normal and accepted (or shown as acceptable by media) – all in the name of “I am free, I will do whatever I feel like”.
Then the law also favours the criminals. To start with, human rights concept is twisted. Rights come with responsibilities. If one doesn’t fulfil his responsibilities as a law abiding citizen, he loses his rights also.
According to the current law, one is responsible for a crime from the age of 18. This is not good enough as majority of rioting is done by youth age 12 onwards. As said by British Prime Minister David Cameron “if you are old enough to commit a crime, you are old enough to face the consequences”. I hope this is reflected in the law also.
And the issue is not confined to Britain alone; we can see it in almost all the youth in western world. As a result we see such behaviours common here. As said by British Prime Minister David Cameron, “parts of our society are broken and sick”. I hope, before trying to mend it, he goes a step further and looks at the root causes of this, and fixes the actual problem, not the symptoms.
Luckily, this issue has not affected Asians, especially Muslims. One, they are more money oriented so their youth either get a job or join the father in their family business. Two, there is a strong family tie that keeps youth on track. And lastly link to religion is stronger giving them morals to lead the life in a meaningful manner. I did not see any Asian youth involved in the riots, which is an encouraging. Perhaps other ethnic groups should learn from them. When I go to mosque and see many youth praying Ramadhan travih prayers, it makes me feel proud. Thanks to Almighty God!
As a matter of fact majority Muslim societies in Muslim countries are more stable. This was much more true when we had true Islamic state of Khilafat present. Look at its history if you want to learn how a prosperous peaceful society is formed and governed.
May God bring peace to affected areas & to people, here in UK and wherever else in the World. Aamin..
Good insight, thanks for sharing. It seems, just like so many other countries, UK govt is also not taking good care of its society. Human development in-line with human “fitrat” is key to develpment of societies. I hope few in UK government start thinking on these lines. Else, this may keep increasing.
Kashif I would suggest you to send this article to Pak newspapers. It would be nice if they print it.
I dont agree with the final point in the article entirely. You mention that the muslims societies in the UK are stable & so this is the reason why the youth did not go out on the streets. The prisons are disproportionatly filled with ethnic ‘pakistanis’ would not justify your point.
I doubt this very much, and to me the most likely reason our youth have not participated is due to Ramadhan, they are caught in the spirit of this month & will not deviate during this time in any major quantity.
This is all pretty much bullshit. They are not criminals. They are opressed people of the society. Once they have decided to take to the streets thay are called criminals. If same thing would have been happening in Lybia,Saudia,Pakistan or else where in Muslim world. Media and westren leaders would have been calling it Spring and Freedom fight.
good post.
jazak Allah
Strange is the behaviour of Police and that is because “the law favours the criminals”
Good analysis. Thanks for sharing.