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The UK riots, young people and Ireland
Opinion: Could further cuts be our catalyst?
It has been a week since we first watched in horror at the unfolding violence in the UK on our television and computer screens. Riots in London initially started as protests against the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by the police. However, these protests did not remain peaceful. It appeared that the rioters were more interested in looting and criminal damage than voicing outrage over a young man’s death. We saw frightening images of people’s homes and businesses in flames. We heard of rioters as young as 11 taking part in the mayhem. Soon more riots were sparked off across the country including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and the Midlands.
Can we imagine the youth of Ireland taking to the streets in such an anarchic manner? First we must consider what drives young people to tear their own communities apart. In an article concerning the riots, Russell Brand, wrote that we should concentrate on understanding why young people rioted instead of demonising them. He succinctly puts forward the idea that the major cause is a state of deprivation or “no education, a weakened family unit, no money and no way of getting it.” This quote could be applied to the problems facing many Irish young people today. Young people have taken on a lot of the burden in the Irish economic downturn. We have the second highest rate of youth unemployment in Western Europe. This September students in Third Level education will have an increase in registration fee from €1500 to €2000 and Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has not ruled out the idea of bringing in college fees. Schools across the country are full of overcrowded classrooms and it is hard to see how further cuts to education are going to benefit us. The number of young people emigrating to Australia, Canada, the UK and elsewhere is on the rise.
There is an atmosphere in the country that it is almost expected of us to leave the country. It is not hard to understand how young people can become disillusioned with the government. But could they ever be provoked into expressing their frustrations through rioting?
On a smaller scale in recent years we have seen Irish youth involved in anti-social group behaviour. Consider ‘rag week’ for example, a comparatively harmless week of partying and letting off of steam before exams. However every year ‘rag week’ results in a number of arrests of students. The offences normally range from public urination to the setting fire to wheelie bins. In 2009 NUI Galway withdrew all official support for ‘rag week’ as a fundraising event after 41 students were arrested. Students were seen projectile vomiting in the streets in the middle of the afternoon and jumping off the Quincentennial Bridge. Nothing in comparison to the recent riots you might say but it shows how easily group mentality can lower people’s moral inhibitions.
Young Irish people have also been taking to the streets for more worthy causes. Last year the proposed increase in fees and cut of the grant provoked student protests all over the country. Over 40,000 people marched in Dublin on November 3rd and articulated their growing anger towards the government. Some protestors clashed with the Gardai as they attempted to occupy the Department of Finance.
These two very different examples, student protests and ‘rag week’, show us that Irish young people do have the capability to participate in group civil disobedience. The government should consider the UK riots when making spending cuts and ask whether sacrificing the future of this demographic is worth it.
By: Jessica O’Brien
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