To all those with apologist comments .you are suffering From,stockholm syndrome,.open your eyes.

2 ,anon, lurking and murky i see the smoke doesnt blind you....

The arrogance of the comments in this article make me sick. It seems that people in the UK are just as bigoted and vitriolic as Americans are, for all your boasting.

I sincerily hope that these older generations of racists and fear-mongers die out quickly. I don't want to kill them, mind you, I just wish they'd go away and stop polluting our society with their divisive, fear-garnering idiocy. I'm 25 years old today and utterly ashamed at the people who call themselves "wise elders." You people are paranoid, bitter and stupid. I don't know what the British equivalent of our "deep south" would be, but you dimwits would fit right in.

If you weren't so concerned with keeping up appearances, you'd BE one of the rioters, but you're content with spreading your hate in a more passive and non-violent way: behind a keyboard. Sniveling and cowardly, but then, what are racists if not tiny, scared little men and women who belong to a privileged majority that they feel must be defended?

We don't have a black problem. We have an opportunist problem, and that, my wrinkled, putrified old friends, is something that transcends racial boundaries. I want to know more about the reasoning behind these acts, not condemn everyone who so much as utters the word "unrest."

What a fine example of a civilized society of terrified xenophobes. Phooey.

Fiona Armstrong is a classic example of what white people do to coloured people when it matters most. News, job, loan, contract, legal, police or social interviews are always summarised by the white to show one race is superior than another - with consummate scorn and contempt. Some things will never change and hypocrisy will not mask it.

I can't believe Darcus's justifying what's happened by saying that people are fed up getting stopped and searched.

If the catalyst was the shooting by firearms officers of Mark Duggan who had in his possession a loaded, ready to use firearm (that's what the press is still reporting @ 1602 - IPCC states a firearm was recovered from the scene) then what's the world comming to.

What was the weapon to be used for? maybe they just saved someone elses life?

No, the feral youth going about their shopping with violence trips to town say more about the lack of moral fibre and upbringing than about how "politically" active they are.

If they have enough nouse to go burning down their nieghbourhood, surely they have enough gumption to get out of estates, find a job, find something that's productive, for heavens sake, find a life!

This is the year 2011, this is not 1980. The "Sus" laws have gone, the stop and accoutns / searches are recorded, we're all online we can make complaints.

If you're not happy living in an area. Get educated, get a job, get out, get a life.

If you want to stay in the area, build it up, don't burn it down.

Fiona was not interested in what Howe had to say in response to her questions. Fiona/BBC were interested in steering Howe into "the riots were good and ok" pot.

What I appreciate about Howe standing up for the integrity of the interview was that he clearly demonstrated to Fiona/BBC that they were simply posing as journalists. Real ones would actually allow the very question they posed to at least be answered.

I see from posts here that Howe sometimes shows up drunk for interviews. Clearly, he wasn't drunk here and he sees the riots of blacks, whites, young, old, poor and wealthy in London, and around the world,to be the beginnings of an insurrection by the people against the government and the wealthy, rather than just an opportunity to grab a free stuff.

I wonder if Darcus will apologise to US for appearing on a tv programme a few years ago, in a state of drunkenness and, if I'm not mistaken, swearing at one point! He was representing US then. Will he apologise now, as, as far as I know, he hasn't done so yet?

Nice jacket Darcus! Everything else about u is ****ed, as far as I'm concerned!

I don't think that is much of an apology from the BBC. All they are apologising for is the offence that was obviously caused to Darcus Howe, but they should be apologising for Fiona Armstrong's words and her disrespect - perhaps also her racist assumptions about Darcus Howe.

I am amazed that Fiona Armstrong is in gainful employment with the BBC if she is unable to tell the difference between a lawful demonstration to that of a riot !

Darcus Howe for all his emotion on the day showed incredible restraint and always comes under fire because he is pro-black and fights against injustices.

A wise man once spoke of rivers of blood.
I think Darcus is old enough to remember that and to realise that we are in the days of the prophecy.

I love that old song. Darcus outta jail,justice will prevail. This man is an icon. Got to send him love and he still got arrested these days too.

At least he wasn't drunk this time, and we'll conveniently forget about his youth. A great role-model, I DON'T think! LOL!

Firstly I would like to mention unfortunately I did not see the programme have just caught up via the net.secondly would Fiona Armstrong appreciate the same level of questioning as our learned friend Darcus Howe weather or not there were "technical difficulities" putting it so politely, which sounds a feeble excuse or rather trying to "gauge" an answer in response to the riots, we should hardly think so.Done in the most distasteful manner may I just add.Every action has some reaction perhaps that is what BBC were rating on.Well done Mr Howe for not giving in to temptation.

Mr Howe and everybody else needs to accept that a disproportionate amount of crime is being committed by young black youths - particulary stabbings - and so maybe it's time to also accept a disproportionate amount of stop and search in comparison to other race's and age groups. It's not rocket science.

The police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. We already have a crime unit and resources DEDICATED to solving black on black murder - are there are not other areas that time, money and endeavor could come in handy?

Also, contrary to what Mr Howe screamed, Mark Duggan never had his 'head blown off', and was shot in the chest and arm, but lets not let facts get in the way of a good rant. Maybe he'll apologise to the late Mr Duggans family for that?

NEFARIOUS ACTS ARE LURKING AND IT IS A MURKY SLIP AND SLIDE. SO WHY HAS THE MET ALLOWED THESE FROUPS OF MEN TO DRIVE AROUND LONDON WITH CONCEALED WEAPONS DRESSED AS CICVILIANS ? WHY ?
ITS EVIDENT TODAY THAT THE BLACK COMMUNITY MUST KNOW WHENEVER THESE CRIMINAL MINDED PLAINCLOTHES OFFICERS WHO ARE HEAVILTY ARMED IN THE BLACK COMMUNITIE AND WHEN THEY ARE THEY NEED TO BE OBSERVED AND MONIOTORED. THERE CAN BE NO EXCUSE TO GUN DOWN BLACK PEOPLE ON THE STREETS OF LONDON AND JUSTIFY THIS AS SOME SORT OF ERROR ; ITS AN ERROR WHEN YOU STEAL MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT COIFFURES AND CLAIM EXTRA LIVING COMPENSATION WHILE PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY YOU CAN AOPOLOGISE TO YOURSELVES FOR THAT YOU ONLY TALKING TO YOURSELVES OR THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MASS RESIGNATION AS SO MANY WERE INVOLVED AND SORRY!!!!!!! MEANINGLESS WORF. SO NOW TODAY WE IDENTIFIED THAT AYOUNG BLACK MAN WAS MURDERED" THE UNDERLYING WORD IS MURDERED !!!!! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE INTHIS CAPITAL THERE AREJUST AS MUCH POLICE MURDER AGAINST BLACKS AS BLACKS KILL THEMSELVES.
WE OVERSTAND BLACK AN BLACK CRIME THEY HAVE POOR HOUSING LOW SELF ESTEEM THEY FIGHT AGAINST EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEY HATE THEIR LIVES SI MUCH THAT WHEN THEY TAKE ANOTHERONES LIFE WHO LOOKS LIKE THEM THEY ARE ESSENTIALY KILLING THEMSELVES" THIS HAS BEEN A PLOT BY THE ENSLAVERS TO KEEP DESCENT IN THE SLAVE QUARTERS BY SELLING OF FAMILIES DESTROYING THE FABRIC OF THE FAMILY UNIT RAPING AND EMASCILATING THE BLACK MAN . THE FUTURE IS BLEAK AS THERE IS ESSENTIALLY NO EDUCATION IF YOU SPEAK YOUR TRUE RIGHTS AND REBEL YOU ARE DISMISED FROM SCHOOL THEN THE POLICE IS WAITING WITH OPEN ARMS TO START TH CRIMNALISING PROCESS WHIC EVENTUALLY LEADS TOT EH COMPLETE DISENFRANCHISEMENT FROM THE WHOLE SOCIETY AT LARGE . WHATS LEFT IS BECOME A CRIMINAL AND GO TO RPISON FOR LOADS OF YEARS AS WE CAN THIS BY THE LARGE REPRESENTATION OF BLACKS WE SEE IN THEIR PENETENTARIES.
SHOULD YOU SURVEY THESE BLACK KIDS IN PRISON 95% CAN NOT READ OR WRITE WHY? THEY GROW UP UNEDUCATED LEARNING NOTHING OF SELF AND FEELING THAT THERE INA PLACE WHERE THEY ARE NOT WANTED AND THE POLICE ARE THEE HAT IN HAND TO EMBRACE THAT CULTURE OF DEFEATISM THEY SEARCH AND STOP AND PROVOKE THE YOUTHS THEY TREAT HTM WITH DISDAIN THEY PATROL THE STREETS LIKE HITLERS BROWN SHIRTS AND THE GESTAPO ARE THE GUN MEN WHO DRIVE AROUND LOOKING TO TAKE LIVES. NO MAN CAN LOOK AT ME AND SAY HE DID NOT INTEND TO TAKE SOME ONES LIFE THAT NIGHT. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT WAR SCENARIO WHERE LONG GUNS ARE BEING USED AND YOU SHOOTING TO RETURN FIRS OR TO ENGAGE THIS WAS NOT THE SITUATION THIS WAS CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH HAND GUNS AND TOWO BULLETS WERER FATAL TO THE DEATH OF DUGGAN.2
THE SAME WEEK IN BIRMINGHAM A YOUTH WAS ALSO KILLED IN THE POLICE CELLS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS; THES THINGS ARE VERY FREQUENTLY HAPPENING TO AFRICAN CARRIBEAN YOUTHS WHY / THERE ARE NO LARGE NUMBER OF WHITE DAETHS IN BRITISH POLICE STATIONS NEITHER ARE THEY MULTIPLE KILLINGS OF OTHER TACES ON THE STREETS OF THE UK. "THIS MUST STOP" !!!!!!!!
"SORRY CAN NOT BRING BACK LIFE THERE ARE NOM EXCUSES FOR MURDER FOR THIS WAS NOM ACCIDENT IF IT WAS HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOTY IN THE FOOT OR HAND BUT HE AIMED TO TAKE LIFE ANDWHEN YOU CHOOSE TO DISCHARGE YOUR FIREARMS THAT IS YOUR INBDIVIDUAL CHOICE BUT WHEN YOU DISCHARGE TWO TIMES WE KNOW YOUR INTENT IS MURDER" DO NOT ALLOW THESE MASTER MANIPULATERS TO DENY AND NOT ACCEPT RESPOSIBILTY OR ACCOUNTABILITY. THEY WILL TRY TO USE THE RIOTS AS A WAY OF DEFELECTION BUT YOU KNOW A HUNGRY MAN IS ANGRY MAN SO NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY THIS WAS AN INDICTMENT ON THEIR GOVERNMENT AND IT SUCKS THE PEOPLE ARE DEFINITELY PISSED OFF.
WHEN THE DRUNKARDS WHO CAME OUT AS VIGILANTES WITH THEIR BEER TINS AND CIGARRETES BEHIND THEIR EARS WE KNOW THEY ONLY WANTED TO DEFEND THEIR PUBS" THEY WERE AFRAID THEY MIGHT BURN DOWN THEIR PUBS THESE LITTLE RACE HATERS RUNNING AOURND DRINKING ON THE STREET SOME LITTLE HOOLIGANS WANT TO STYLE THEM SELVES OF SOME GREAT PRESERVER OF WHITE DIGNITY. THEY WERE INSPIRED BY THE POLICE TO BEHAVE IN LIKE MIND AS I SAID EARLIER THEY ALL REPRESENT THE SAME IDEOLOGY. THE GOVERNMNET TELLS THM THAT THSE PEOPLE ARE TAKING THEIR JOBS SO THATS WHY THEY CUT MONEY WHCH IS A BIG LIE THE GOVERNMNET HAS IT GREEDY LITTLE FINGERS IN ALL THE POTS THIS IS WHY THEY HAVE RECONISED AND ILLEGAL BUNCH OF MISMATSH TERRORIST AND CIA INFORMERS AS ALEGAL GOVERNMNET SO THEY CAN RAID THE POT AND STOP THE BUILDING OF NECESSARY WORK ON THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA . WHY ARE THEY STILL DESTROYING SO MUCH INFRASTRUCTURE IN LIBYA IF THEY ALREADY ARE ARMED AND HAVE BOOTS ON THE GROUND WHY THE WHOLESALE MURDERS OF LIBYAN SURELY YOU MUST HAVE DESTROYED MOST OF THE INSTALLATIONS THAT WERE GOING TO BE USED FOR AIR STRIKES SURELY YOU CANT EXPECT US TO BELIVE THAT LIBYA IS STILL CAPABLE OFR MAKING AIR STRIKES BUT SAY THEY ARE NOT WHAT ARE YOU BOMBING LIBYA YOU ARE SAYING DIDNOT HAVE IN FRASTRUCTURE IT WAS ON BIG ARMY BASE EVERY STREET IN LIBYAN CITIES HAVE ARMY BASES THIS WE KNOW IS DEFINITELY AFALCY SO WHY ARE YOU STILL FINDING SO MUCH MONEY FOR THIS EXPENSIVE TYRANNY WHEN YOU ARE NOT LOOKING TO GAIN THE TOOPS OF THE GOVERNMENT ARE MUCH MORE AND MUCH MORE LOYAL TO THE COUNTRY AND ITS IDEALS THEY WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH A CORUPT WESTERN STTEM THATS COMPLETELY BROKE SO WHY WOULD THEY SWAP WHAT WAS STRONG AND FAIR FOR YOUR TAXATIONS ANEXPLOITATION . THERE IS NOTHING YOU HAVE THATS NOT IN LIBYA THE REASON FOR DESTROYING THE CITIES IS YOU ARE HOPING TO GET LUCKY AND WIN THEN YOU WOULD HAVE ALL THE CONCESSIONS TO REBUILD LIBYA HOW YOU WANT IT WITH MILITARY BASES AND ALL BUT ITS A PIPE DREAM AND THE PEOPLE ARE INFURIATE THERE SHOULD BE MORE MONIES ALLOTED TO THE PEOPLE AND MORE JOB CREATION NOT THE OPPOSIT . THE EURO IS FALLING AND STUBBORN PEOPLE WILL GET WHAT THE DONKEY GOT FLOGGED !!!!!THE GOVERNMENT IS STILL REELING FROM THE GREAT BIG POLICE SCANDAL YOU MUST NOT LET THEM FORGET IT YOU MUST HAVE THICK SKIN AND CONTINUE TO REMIND THEM OF WHAT THEY DO AS THEY CONTINUE TO REMINMD YOU OF WHO YOU ARE SO WE MUST GET PROUD WITH IT AND TAKE IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL ORGANISE THE YOUTHS THEM FOR MORE MASS RALLY AND WE MUST BE HEARD THIS WASNT ABOUT YOU THIS WAS ABOUT THE DEATHS OF AFRICAN CARRIBEAN YOUTHS BEING MUREDERD WITHOUT EXPLANATION THIS CONTINUES TO GO ON AS IF IT IS LEGAL AND YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE BLACK LIFE AND IF IT ISNT WHO GIVES ANY OF YOU THE RIGHT TO MURDER PEOPLE. THIS HAS BEEN SYSTEMATIC AN PROBLEMATIC SINCE THE WHITES ENGAGED AFRICA IN ITS PIRACY AND DESTRUCTION OF THE BLACK CIVILIZATIONS .THEY ARE UNDERTAKING A MASS MO0VEMENT OF SO CALLED SCHOLARS AN EXPERTS WHO ARE DESPERATELY ENGAGEING IN FRAUD FALSIFYING SCRIPTS DERAILING THE TRUTH OF THE ORIGINATORS OF CIVILIZATION TRYING TO REWRITE HISRORY AS IF BLACK AFRICANS IN AFRICA WHERE THEY ARE GAINIG THESE TONS OF INFORMATION WERNOT THEBUILDERS AND PREHISTORY OF ANY KNOWN OR HEARD OF WHITE CIVILIZATION. THEY HAVE EVEN GONE SO FAR BACK TO WHEN THE MIDDLE EAST AS IT IS KNOWN TODAY WAS COMPLETELY BLACK AND BUILT ALL THEHGREAT CIVILIZATIONS YET THEY HAVE REWRITTEN HISTORY AND HAVE GIVEN CREDIT TO THOSE WHO CONQUORED AND OCCUPIED THE LANDS. AS WE SE IN THE ENTIRE NORTH AMERICA WHERE THERE WEE ANCIENT AFRICANS ALONG SIDE THE AMERICAN INDIAN WHO HAS BEEN DEFACED FROMTHE HISTORY BOOKS THEY ARE NOT SIGNIFICANT IN NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY . THEE THINGS HAPPENED IN ALL AFRICA BUT THE BLACK MAN HAS LEFT HIS LEGACY THAT CAN NOT BE DENIED SO THEY PLGIARISE THERE WORKS THEY REPAINT THEIR WORKS THEY TRANSLATE WHAT THEY THINK SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAID. I SAY TO ALL BRITGHT PEOPLE IF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ORIGINAL INEGYPT TODAY WEE THE SAME THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE LOST THE HISTORY OF PYRAMID BUILDING. THE EGYPTIANS MADE BOATS SO BIG THEY WERE AS BIG AS AIR CRAFT CARRIERS BOATS ABLE TO TRANSPORT HUMANS CARGO AND EVERY ANIMAL ON THIS PLANET . SO DO NOT GET IT TWISTED. HISTORY BELONGS TO THE BLACK MAN AND TODAY MANY MUST KNOW THIS. MANY ARE COMMING FROMGREAT LINEAGES OF GREAT LEADERS ANDSCHOLLARS TO EBE WISE ONLY IN WHAT SOEM ONE WANTS YOU TO KNOW IS NOT WISE FOR THE EART IS LARGE AND BELONGS TO "ONE " WHO IS GREATER THAN ALL SIGNIFICANY LIFE FORMS. SO EPAND YOUR MINDS AND SEEK JUSTICE FOR THESE ARE THINGS WE AS SCHOLARS AND LEARNED PEOPLE INSPIRE TO DO TO CRAETE A FREE INDEPENDENT SOCIETY WHERE CORRUPTION IS NBOT SO RAMPANT WHERE YOU HAVE POLITICIANS WHO WERE NOT VOTED TO OFFICE GOING ON LONG AND EXPENSIVE HOLIDAYS WHILE THE PEOPLE STARVE. THEY HAVE NOT MORE RIGHT TO THIS MONEY THAN THE POOR MAN NEXR DOOR THEY ARE SELFISH MIRED IN CORRUPTION TO SAVE THEMSELVES THEY WILL AVOID ALL THE ISSUES BY DEPLOYING MORE RACE HATERS ON THE STREETS SO I SAY TO ALL WISE YOUTHS ITS TIME FOR SOMETHING MORE CRUSHING WITHOUT THE CRIMINALISNG FOR THEN ITS HIS JOB TO LOCK YOU UP AND CREATE FALSE FLAGES FOR THE PEOPLE TO RALLY ROUND. IF THIS GOVERNMENT DOES NOT ALLOWHIMSELF TO COME TO TERMS WITH WHAT IS GOING ON AND THE STUPID AND RIDICULUOUS CUTS TO JOBS AND THE SMALL LITTLE WLEFARE CHECKS THE YOUTHS WERE GETTING WHEN YOU THINK OF BANKERS TAKING HUNDRED MILLION BONUS HOW DID THEY GET THAT MONET FROM FRAUD AND THEFT. THERE CAN BE A SPOILER THE OLMPICS CAN ALSO BE THE FAILURE OF LONDON SO THEY NEED TO WAKE UP " BY THE WAY TO THE ORIGINAL FIRST PEOPLE ALL ACCOLADES BELONG TO THEO MASTERS AND TRENDSETTERS SO THEY ARE A LATE!!

Hell with the BBC a faceless nameless corporation. Fiona should have apologies not only in person but on air.

There seem to be a comparison between alleged police injustice here in the UK and the US.

In the US, outraged youths and young adults react in the very same way, rioting and looting to police injustice. When rioting and looting occurs, there are ABSOLUTELY no winners. The community is left to recover as best it can. In this recovery process, the heart of the matter of police injustice may never truly be addressed. It can be addressed only when police officer's are held accountable for their unprofessional conduct and lack of discretion. Based on what I been reading in the UK newspaper and this and other UK riots, I surmise both the UK and the US police officers could greatly benefit from re-training emphasizing professional conduct.

Police Officers should always be held to the highest standard of professional and personal conduct, at all times and for good reason. As children we were told to obey and respect the "nice" police officer, they are your "friends" and will help protect you from "the bad guys".

While I am appalled by the recent rioting and looting, which does not accomplish it's objective, I am most appalled by police misuse of their authority and racial profiling. Why is this allowed to happen both here and in the US? If police continue to unjusticely target youths based on their ganglike attire, sometimes called "hip hop" or "thug" clothing, with hoodies worn by youths of almost all races, how is progress to address the problem to be made? When arresting or questioning ALL PERSON especially youths, police should always ask themselves questions along these lines;

1) Am I questioning/detaining/arresting this person based on his/her race, clothing or because he/she looks suspicious?
2) Can I conduct myself in a professional manner while interviewing this person without prejudice, irregardless of race?
3) Am I executing a LAWFUL search of said person, their property and their vehicle?
4) Am I arresting this person based on LEGALLY obtained evidence?
5) Will I exercise my lawful duties as a professional to protect this person from intentional and malicious harm from myself, others or themselves?

Police officers should NEVER allow themselves to get so caught up in the moment and with emotions of prejudice and hate that they inflict injury on any person. They should police the community and themselves and MUST be held accountable for misconduct and that will take the community's efforts to see it through. Police Officers should never think themselves to be above the law.

It is disheartening to see such youthful disregard for the police officers here. Rioting and looting has occurred for decades as a result of what is deemed police injustice both here and the US. And when these community upsets occur, rubber bullets or live bullets will not correct the underlying problem. I don't profess to know the answer to this problem, and mishaps will happen in day to day policing, but the police agencies need to address individual, family or community inquiry and not disregard them as insignifant. If a police officer conduct lawful or unlawful shooting of a person they need to hold a press conference to inform the general public of the unfortunate incident whether the investigation is underway or complete. If the police agency is found negligent they need to admit it, apologize to the victim's family and the community and compensate for the family's loss. It's the professional thing to do. People make mistakes and agencies make mistakes. Admitting the err of our ways or misconduct is the first step in the healing process.

Monica P. Gomez
DUAL UK AND US CITIZEN

I wonder how much of my miserable BBC licence fee money ends up in the grasping mitts of the miserably mistaken Fiona Armstrong? BBC gets far too much money to allow disgraceful conduct/ mistakes like this!! It is inexusable and the BBC explanation NEGATES THE APOLOGY. It is an insult to black peoples intelligence.

BABA Darcus has been very generous and gracious. He is, as usual..keeping our eyes on the prize. Thank you good Sir for not being drawn in by drama and entrapping enticements of a vicious race baiting wicked witch who has no business presenting or interviewing people. I AM NOT FOR SUING I WANT THE SACK FIONA ARMSTRONG!!

I watch the interview and was totally shocked at the interviewer. I am totally against what some of the rioter have done and the amount of damage that has been done in various parts of the country.
But what I really find frustrating is yet again none of the Politicians or the Police Comissions will answer the question 'WHY are so many people are dying in police custody'. Due to this up rising over the weekend, yet again it is being pushed under the carpet, and we now see the Politicians and the Police Comissions coming out has a united front.
This was a situation was like a volcanio ready to irrupt and I have been saying for awhile that something was going to happen because, families are getting no answers and are peacefully demonstrating and blantly being ignored. It is a pity it has reached to this.
Politicians and the Police Comissions need to stop sitting on thier hands and be accountable.

Sifting through the tweets tagged with #riotcleanup there is swift equivocation: at once the physical act of clearing rubble from the streets merges with the act of cleansing the street of black youths. The cleaning of streets amounts to the wiping away of traces of social unrest. Cracks in society are smoothed over and at once an oppressed underclass is rendered invisible again.

Commentator after commentator has described the rioters as “animals” and “feral rats”. The videos of these statements are repeated perpetually on news channels. The message: these rioters are not humans. The demand: that they not be treated as human. The ideology of hate is drummed into our skulls, and unsurprisingly the chatter of the social media responds by saying that those involved should be locked up, and the key thrown away. Or, perhaps more concerningly, that they should be subject to the street justice of vigilante action.

The reward offered for such action is “true community”, or “community spirit.” In the face of such rampant dehumanization, these new communities, the battalions of #riotcleanup, reassert their supposed true humanity. And such a new humanity is a badge to be worn with pride. It is forgotten by many that it is premised on exclusion, on the sweeping away of neighbours. Raise your broom to the sky and create the world anew, a world without unrest in the face of poverty and oppression. A world in which black youths, and the real antagonisms of society, are consigned to oblivion.

Last night the first of the major vigilante actions to come took place in Enfield. According to reports, a group of middle-aged white men ran up the streets proclaiming, “We are English, we are English.” Their aim was to terrorise those who had been involved in unrest the night before, and in the process the notion of an exclusive new community was transformed into the abuse of those not born in England. In other tweets under the #riotcleanup tag similar politics have been presented, mainly focusing on poor black communities. The English Defence League are also reported to be interested in playing a leading role in these “community” actions.

Meanwhile, in Clapham, people gathered together on streets, brooms raised. Boris arrived, giving a rousing speech and the crowd (mainly white, middle-class, and middle-aged) applaudedthemselves, not as individuals who had decided to clean the streets, but as an exclusive collective of true citizens.

In 1921, Freud wrote one of the most penetrating and insightful texts of the early twentieth-century: On Mass Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Freud offers analysis of the church and the army as forms of groups that centre themselves around not only a type of exclusivity but on a relation to an ideal version of an object. It was but a short step from here, in Italy and in Germany that this idealized object was the future in which the exclusionary nature of the group was made manifest and total, in the form of fascism. For this reason, Wilhelm Reich’s 1933 book, The Mass-Psychology of Fascism, borrowed heavily from Freud.

It is this structure of “community”, and “clean up” as the activity of this group, that an old form of popular fascism appears to be revitalized. The new communities of #riotcleanup again make their exclusionary nature clear: these people work not for all, and certainly not for the wellbeing of those who caused the unrest – to work against the poverty and racism – instead, they work for themselves, as a group, and their new society. They call this “The Big Society”, but the truth is that the Big Society can never be big enough. As the cause of #riotcleanup becomes the first mass-venture in the Big Society, it shows itself to be nothing more than an organized mode of social exclusion that reaffirms existing economic exclusion. Its first victims are the black, the poor, the young, and the unemployed.

Frequently modern fascism is modeled as a post-human technocracy: Marx’s description of the human as a mere appendage to a machine elevated to a rule. Today we need to reassess these thoughts, as under the label of #riotcleanup an older ideology-based fascism is being restored. Unlike dystopic fantasies of a borg-like matrix, it is now necessary to start questioning the fascistic nature of “community” as it is manifest in the response to the riots. This should be a matter of grave concern for all who wish to have an inclusive society, free from prejudice.

taken from: http://thethirdestate.net/
Categories

Whilst I accept that the BBC were wide of the mark in wrongly accusing Mr Howe for being a rioter, I think for him then to compare the Duggan incident and subsequent rioting/looting with what has been going on in Syria is, at a minimum, a little silly, and worse, an insult to those 100's or 1000's who have lost friends or relatives to the brutal regime in Damascus.

ST

I never knew of Mr Howe before. I saw on youtube the video of his BBC interview and was 'shocked' by comments made by BBC presenter. Even though I never knew Mr Howe to me it seemed he was presenting some very good points during that interview. I felt that the BBC presenter did not make any effort whatsoever to let Mr Howe speak 'freely', I thought in this country we have 'freedom of speech', I know on the news we have a 'time limit' but she would very quickly stop him in his tracks and 'put her words in his mouth', for example...Mr Howes was merely stating he could see 'why' these events might have come to exist/happen and she quickly said 'Mr Howes are you saying you are CONDONING the riots?', nobody actually understood it/took it that way, she was 'twisting' Mr Howe's words almost deliberately. I also think it was quite extraordinary how she then went onto saying he took part in riots, I know the BBC apologised but this is TOO LATE, a presenter/reporter HAS TO HAVE THE FACTS right, in fact I am sure she knew and she did it on purpose as it would hit MILLIONS OF PEOPLE and a proper apology would be to do it PUBLICLY ON THE NEWS, not on the voice newspaper that only a minority read compared to the national news!! (in fact I never read it I only found it as I 'googled' Mr Howes' name to find out more about this EXTRAORDINARY WEST INDIAN MAN as I am just an 'ordinary' English woman :))

Howe, a man of magnificent stature.

Darcus used to talk sense...about 40 years ago...but he is totally out of touch now...he should NEVER encourage these SPOILED kids to feel sorry for themselves.........as for mark duggan.....he WAS carrying an ILLEGAL gun.......anyone with an illegal gun MUST be shot by the police at the FIRST opportunity......BEFORE the criminal uses it...........last year in Manila, a man had a gun.....the police had the chance to shoot him...but declined.....a few hours later he shot dead 8 people.....................maybe HIS wife also said that he would NEVER do such a thing

We need to have clarification on what actually happened to Mark Duggan, its been several days now, its time for the Prime Minister to order whoever is in charge of the police to issue a statement. It would also be interesting to know who actually kicked off the riots, as the massive scale of it has totally overshawdowed the fact that Mark Duggan has been killed. A good smoke screen, or coincidence?