England is burning. Is this the demise of the European traditions and values?

By Alfred Kola

The entire England is now in flames. Last night riots erupted in almost all other major cities. The scale of riots in England is disturbing in terms of intensity, territory and  participants. The development of recent days have shown that the riots, which have produced a series of grave criminal acts like massive looting, burning and assaults, had nothing to do with the death of the 29-year-old Mark Duggan, shot by police. After Paris some years ago, it seems that these riots are addressed mostly against the European society and ways of living. Some analysts argue that economic hardships and unemployment are the real motives that triggered the violence. But if the economic protests in Greece and Spain are compare to the unrest in England, very profound differences come into view. The first were organized by labor unions and were staged mostly in front of government buildings and, if there was any violence, it erupted after long hours of peaceful protesting and occurred  mostly between police and anarchists. The riots in England are of a different kind. Like the ones in Paris they are organized mostly by emigrants and have no slogan or specific demands and are not addressed against any levels of government. They are very angry and violent and bring about a large scale of devastation and looting. Economic motives are not ruled out, but so is the fact that this phenomenon might be used by thugs as well as political segments that don’t have liberty much at heart. It looks like the anger is vented in ways that damage the pillars of the European society, the peaceful co-existence of all cultures, mentalities and people themselves. But, most of all, they cast a shadow over the European tradition of handling issues and solving problems in orderly and peaceful manner. Bearing in mind that England is no different from other european nations, a question naturally arises: Are the riots going to spread across Europe. If so, it will deal a heavy blow to the European traditions and social values and will shake them to their very foundations.