The scene that unfolded in London during the last few days was unusual, with armed and mobilized security men roaming the streets to uphold order, a clear and unusual “police action” and obvious concerns prevailing over the statements of David Cameron's government. Moreover, cars were set on fire, shops were publically pillaged, buildings and stores were burned to the ground, young thugs and masked individuals spread out and acts of violence and pursuits were seen in some of London's neighborhoods. And for the first time ever, the British police was allowed to use water hoses and rubber bullets against the rioters, at a time when hundreds of London's inhabitants formed defense committees, while others responded to the calls to clean the streets. For its part, the government was “concerned” and thinking about deploying the army on the ground to back up the police during the riots, even following the deployment of 16,000 policemen in London's streets and the summoning of the civilian recruits to serve in the police ranks. The scene in three British cities was confusing and the images first gave the impression that these events were occurring in a “troubled” Third World state, not in an advanced one that is influential within the international community. David Cameron's government was forced to annul all the policemen's vacations and summon reinforcements from all around the country. And in order to affirm his strength, Cameron stated that Britain “will not allow a culture of fear to take over the streets… The fight back has well and truly begun.” The Arab Spring has come “strutting” into Britain. And despite the discrepancy regarding the number of protesters, their demands and the shape of the demonstrations, the Arab protesters confirmed their poise and the peacefulness of their culture in comparison with what happened in Britain in terms of pillaging, rioting and violence. Indeed, the proud Arabs continued to “peacefully” demand the toppling of dictatorial regimes that governed the people for decades, unlike what happened in Britain in terms of fires and sabotage. The killing of Mark Duggan at the hands of a cop was one of the reasons behind the escalation of the anger, while despite the clear differences between the British political, social and security situation and the one prevailing over the Arab countries, which have witnessed and are still witnessing popular uprisings and revolutions against the tyrannical governments, poverty and unemployment are peaking their “hideous” heads as the two common denominators instigating the people to take to the streets and demand a decent living. The British government knows that the eruption of the violence did not come from vacuum and is the logical result of the rise of unemployment rates and poverty in some areas, in addition to the policy of austerity and marginalization and the reduction of the social aid adopted by Cameron's government. This fueled the disgruntlement of the marginalized and made the country head toward the end of the middle class and the emergence of the gaps between the privileged and the destitute. Around a thousand people were arrested, including very young children, while the majority of the interpretations pointed to the fact that the riots in Britain were caused by the crisis of trust between the population and the British police, which failed to handle the killing of Mark Duggan with its men's bullets the right way. This is especially true taking into account a previous crisis with the police following the killing of Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005 and the issuance at the time of unreliable reports by the police, and the killing by a police officer of a newspaper vendor in 2009. Moreover, the police poorly handled the students' protests which erupted after the increase of the school fees, and was recently involved in a phone tapping case. The British government tried to blame the families, the upbringing and social education and totally disregarded the population's frustration toward the practices of the police, the rise of the poverty rates in some areas and the increase of the unemployment levels. In this regard, Nina Power wrote in The Guardian that Tottenham (the area where the protests started) had the fourth highest level of child poverty in London and an unemployment rate of 8.8%, i.e. double the national average. She thus urged those condemning the events of the past couple of nights to take a step back and consider the bigger picture: a country in which the richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest. What is certain is that the year 2011 triggered protests in the East and the West, while the social networking websites drew up the roadmap for the protesters and the dates of the protests. It is as though the Arab Spring kept moving from one capital to the other until it reached the capital of fog which the British thought was immunized by freedoms, while forgetting the existence of poverty and neediness. What is happening in European countries such as Spain, Greece and recently in Britain – and before that the revolution of the “frustrated” in France – conveyed popular discontent and social disgruntlement toward policies serving the governments, undermining social balance and exercising racism. The Arab populations woke up after a long period of hibernation to resist the strikes of the tyrannical governments and demand reform and freedom to topple the leaders of the “security grip.” The “counter” is still ticking and the next few days will carry other surprises for those who have not yet learned the lesson. Certainly, comparing between what happened in Britain and what is happening in Arab countries would be unfair. Britain enjoys a longstanding democracy that ensures freedoms, provides aid and does not muzzle the liberty of speech or prevent the voicing of opinions, regardless of how harsh they may be. And even if it features poverty and unemployment, it still has a free press and an independent judiciary. As for the Arab countries, it would be enough to know the number of opinion detainees in their prisons, the high levels of poverty and unemployment rates and the status of the judiciary and the press in them to learn about their actual situation. For its part, Britain does not care about names and does not fear the fall of a ruling party and the emergence of another, unlike the Arabs who frantically hold on to their seats!
