ABSTRACT
We live in an interconnected and complex world in which violence and its various forms of social realization are subject to a cacophony of interpretations. After each new act of ‘breaking news’ violence, editorial writers, media pundits, newscasters and experts desperately try and make sense of what happened. At times, a specific classification of the violence ‘clings’ and becomes hegemonic. But quite often, a dizzying diversity of readings prevails, which are so contradictory that they confuse the larger public into a state of indifference. In the summer of 2011, the UK went through a series of intense urban riots. Four consecutive nights of looting and arson left five people dead and more than 3,000 suspects arrested. What distinguished these violent acts from other forms of ‘street violence’ taking place simultaneously, in Syria and Yemen, was, among other things, the lack of any kind of programme. Those engaged in the violence demanded nothing. The ‘wordlessness’ of the riots gave ample room for speculation. Conservative politicians were quick to label the violence as ‘pure criminality’. They stuck to the mantra that there is no justification for such vandalism and all necessary means should be used to restore order, punish those who participated and step up police surveillance. The reaction from leftist liberals was no less predictable: they framed the violent outbursts as a way for people to express their grievances and dissatisfaction. The deprivation and marginalization of second- and third-generation immigrants and their complete lack of economic prospects and constant police harassment, the liberals claimed, is what caused the riots. Others pointed at the key role of social media, gang rivalry or the ‘morphology of violence’, that is, how a local violent incident can mutate into other forms of violence. Social theorists referred to the riots as acts of ‘defective consumers’, as a manifestation of a consumerist desire violently enacted when unable to realize itself the proper way, by shopping (Bauman 2011), or highlighted how the UK has become a securitocracy (Gilroy 2011).
