British Riots Show Divided Society

 

Over 250,000 protesters marched in London on March 26 in Britain’s biggest protest since the Iraq war, with violent elements causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. Both the peaceful and violent protesters shared the same target: the rich.

The have nots being jealous of the haves is not new, but the rage against the rich is surging in Britain.

Violent protesters targeted the Ritz—a symbol of opulent living—and the shops around it, smashing windows and throwing paint.

Some protesters took to the awning of Fortnum & Mason, a high-class store, where you can reportedly spend £25,000 on a picnic hamper.

The protest, titled “March for the Alternative,” was aimed at promoting “an alternative in which rich individuals and big companies have to pay all their tax, that the banks pay a Robin Hood tax.” The focus was on making the rich pay.

The protesters’ targets demonstrated their agenda. For example, UK Uncut, one of the main actors in the protest, claims it targeted companies and individuals it believed were breaking UK tax law and robbing the state of tax revenue.

Associated British Foods (abf), it claims, has avoided £40 million in tax. To protest this, did it target the discount clothing store abf owns, or the longstanding brand of tea it sells, or any other of the myriad brands, popular across the UK? No. Instead it targeted Fortnum & Mason, linked to abf because it is owned by a family that owns 54 percent of abf.

That’s not a reasoned attack on tax avoiders—that’s an attack on the rich. And, as the Institute of Economic Affairs points out, none of UK Uncut’s other targets were worthy of their attention. The accusation of tax dodging is simply an excuse to target rich and successful companies and individuals.

But perhaps nothing shows the hatred of privilege more than the attacks on the royal family. Last December, tuition fee protesters attacked Prince Charles and his wife as they drove by in a Rolls Royce. After this most recent demonstration, a senior policeman announced that the police believe anarchist militants will target the royal wedding on April 29.

The protesters were encouraged and supported by the Labor Party, with its new party leader, Ed Miliband, addressing the march. As London Mayor Boris Johnson eloquently points out, the Labor Party chose to join in the rich-bashing, despite the fact it has said it would have enacted many of the same cuts that the current government has.

In fact, Miliband contributed to the division, comparing the protesters to the suffragettes and Nelson Mandela.

The British tax and welfare system have created a situation where a lot of people get a lot of money from the government. They feel entitled to it. Now, as the coalition moves slightly in the direction of austerity, they have come out on the streets, angry, demanding the rich pay for the benefits or jobs they think they’re entitled to.

But, as Trumpet columnist Robert Morley pointed out, and as these graphs show, Britain isn’t cutting its debts. The debts are getting bigger, albeit at a slightly slower rate.

That means these problems are not over. The cuts will continue, and so will the protests and division.