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London, August 2011


The scenes coming out of London, and now spread across the UK, are ugly to say the least. The pundits have all weighed in seeking to pronounce on the reasons for the unlawfulness and wild scenes.

CommonDreams puts forward a view too:

"A lucid look at the causes behind multi-ethnic riots in the U.K. - a country where black people are 26 times more likely to be stopped by police than whites, the rich have 273 times more than the poor, unemployment is at record levels and youth services have been cut 75%.

"While bankers have publicly looted the country's wealth, it's not hard to see why those who are locked out of the gravy train might think they were entitled to help themselves to a mobile phone. (Said one,) 'The politicians say that we loot and rob. They are the original gangsters'... What we're now seeing is the reflection of a society run on greed – and a poisonous failure of politics and social solidarity."

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