LONDON'S GROWING KNIFE CULTURE !!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: Ohmynews
January 8, 2008 Author: Charles Michel Duke
The problem of teenage stabbings on the streets of London.

The Clapham Park Estate in South London -- a symbol of deprivation and a scene of violence.

2008 is barely a week old but already two teenage boys in London are dead as a result of two separate stabbings. Last year 27 teenagers were killed due to the growing culture of knife crime on the streets. The tragedy is that there was nothing in any of these deaths that could have been justified by the perpetrators. Knife crime devastates lives across all sections of the community whether the victims are black or white. Not only are the lives of the victim's families destroyed but also the families of the perpetrators who now lead their lives in pain and surrounded by stigma.

Whenever a knife killing is reported in the British press, a fairly standard response occurs. Letters of indignation are written and politicians wag their fingers and try to convince the voters that everything will get better. Meanwhile, the victims' names are lost in the whirlpool of news stories that continue to be churned out. There is rarely any follow up, partly as the police fail in so many of their investigations. The death of "just another kid" is tedious to investigate and often the police will face a wall of silence from the people they are trying to protect.

However, the blame should not lie with the police; after all, they are picking up the pieces of a senseless act of violence. What should be asked is why does this violence happen in the first place? What makes one teenager stab another? What makes a teenager carry a knife, in a country that has not known an armed conflict on its shores for over 60 years? And what has caused this recent spike in teenage killings?

The victims are from all sections of London's population so it cannot be argued that the problem of knives is due to one of race. Many of the victims are portrayed as having been involved in drug wars or gangs. As many of these cases fail to make it to court, these details are rarely confirmed. But rumors persist, and in the end, the public believe that these killings are happening to "someone else."

The facts are that the bulk of these killings occur in the more-deprived areas of London -- districts such as Tooting, Streatham and, most recently, Bexley. These are areas with high unemployment, high levels of deprivation and low levels of education. Many families are suffering from high levels of debt.

The poor in London were the first to feel the current credit squeeze in terms of ever-increasing prices and stagnant wages that have been prevalent at the lower end of the British economy since the turn of the century. The lack of government support for these areas (they are not normally swing seats and will often vote for the Labor party) means that attention will not be lavished on them by the current government as they are considered their safe havens.

Although not scientific, there does seem to be a pattern with the relentless financial pressure that is now a fact of life for the city's denizens and with the increasing rates of violence that occur within London. Knives are on the sharp end of a range of violent crimes that include assaults on key workers (ambulance drivers, nurses in hospitals, workers on public transport), violence due to drunken behavior (Britain's famous yob culture) and an increase in reported domestic violence (the unreported figure being at least three times higher).

Within London, people from all walks of life are experiencing extreme hardship, mainly due to the cost of basic living, such as land, food and transport, being so high. This sense of hopelessness is magnified by the materialistic culture of Britain. The relentless advertising and the access to credit has meant that now, debt servicing takes a significant chunk of capital out of personal incomes. All of this has lead to a boiling point and now we see the eruption of violence from the people most affected by this -- the poor.

The growth of knifings is a slow cancer that will manifest itself in many ways. It is also a warning to those in charge and to society as a whole. The current system that we live in is under pressure. While on the outside Britain is a shining light of economic prosperity the reality is that this prosperity has not touched all sections of society. There is something very wrong when children stab each other for reasons that they themselves cannot comprehend. As a whole we have to start acting on some of the root causes of violence -- ignorance through lack of education, improvement of the urban environment and policies that are geared to actually providing a real escape from poverty. Only then can we hope to see a reduction and hopefully an end to such tragic losses of life. However, if current moods are anything to go by, than government apathy looks set to prevail. The lives of some of London's most vulnerable people are now held in the balance.

[zulaika]

i see jack the ripper is still doing his thang. lool.