From where will a dramatic recomposition of society come?

Riots in the UK are to my mind, in part, a symptom of global changes. Last Thursday's Guardian had an interesting article written prior to the rioting much of which I think has relevance to what has happened since:
"we are living through something epochal ... part of a more general social and economic crisis sparked by the financial crisis ...

Every semi-stable form of capitalism also needs some sort of settlement with the wider population, or at least a decisive section of it. While the postwar Keynesian settlement contained an explicit deal linking rising real wages to rising productivity, neoliberalism contained an implicit deal based on access to cheap credit. While real wages have stagnated since the late 1970s, the mechanisms of debt have maintained most people's living standards. An additional part of neoliberalism's tacit deal was the abandonment of any pretence to democratic, collective control over the conditions of life: politics has been reduced to technocratic rule. Instead, individuals accepted the promise that, through hard work, shrewd educational and other "life" choices, and a little luck, they – or their children – would reap the benefits of economic growth.

The financial crisis shattered the central component of this deal: access to cheap credit. Living standards can no longer be supported and, for the first time in a century, there is widespread fear that children will lead poorer lives than their parents. With the deal broken, parochial ruling arrangements in the UK have started to lose coherence."

This breakdown in parochial ruling arrangements has sown itself in a series of scandals; most recently Hackgate:

"Hackgate cannot be treated in isolation. Since the financial "meltdown" of 2007-08 we have witnessed similar scenes, and similar outrage, around MPs' expenses and bankers' bonuses. We have witnessed not one but two media feeding frenzies around the repression of protest. The first followed the police attack on the G20 protests in 2009 and the death of Ian Tomlinson, with the second erupting around the outing of undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, leading to the unprecedented unmasking of another five undercover police officers acting within the environmental and anti-capitalist movements. The refusal of the Metropolitan police to investigate the full extent of phone hacking is, then, the third scandal revealing the political character of contemporary policing."

These scandals are therefore part of a more general social and economic crisis sparked by the financial crisis. What we have then is a significant crisis of confidence in our 'authorities' combined with an awareness that the era of cheap credit which has meant that we could have what we wanted when we wanted. One response to this situation is what we are seeing on our streets; to take what we want while we can because the 'authorities' are compromised.

"The response from politicians, bankers and business leaders is more of the same – more of the same neoliberal policies that got us into this situation in the first place ...

Unless there is a dramatic recomposition of society, we face the prospect of decades of drift as the crises we face – economic, social, environmental – remain unresolved."

Some prophetic words from Sam Norton, written five years ago in a post on Prophecy and Peak Oil, are apposite at this point:

"We live within a Pharaonic system of oil based consumerism, and we are taught that it cannot be challenged, for to do so is to threaten the prosperity on which we all depend. It seems to me that the task of the Christian in this situation is to renew our prophetic imagination and to speak words of praise and hope which enable the development of a community which reflects the freedom of a loving God.

Specifically, I think we must:

i) identify the Royal Consciousness in all its aspects, not just Peak Oil, although that will inevitably be central;
ii) articulate the pain of the marginalised and oppressed who have no present voice or witness;
iii) challenge the claims to power made on behalf of the Royal Consciousness, with a view to demonstrating their emptiness;
iv) labour with confident expectation towards the dismantling of the present structures;
v) develop new communities which break away from obeisance to the Royal Consciousness, and which offer the opportunity of free life in the image of the free God;
vi) articulate a vision of hope, a promised land, on the other side of Peak Oil, which will sustain us through the transition period in the wilderness; and
vii) trust in God."

A prayer for peace in our communities: Gracious God, We pray for peace in our communities this day. We commit to you all who work for peace and an end to tensions, and those who work to uphold law and justice. We pray for an end to fear, for comfort and support to those who suffer. For calm in our streets and cities, that people may go about their lives in safety and peace. In your mercy, hear our prayers, now and always. Amen

In light of recent events FaithAction has connected with a number of partner organisations to provide support to members and to give a reaction to events. they have been working with the Race and Equality Foundation to provide a facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/Communities-against-violence/247922231904668) intended to give BME groups and faith groups a space to join together in response to current events in London and other UK Cities.

Althought the main news headlines are focused on the destruction. Many communities have come together in 'Riot clean-up' groups. Many Faith Groups were already active with constructive responses yesterday and this has continued today. Some community leaders have been encouraging parents to keep young people close to hand to avoid them being drawn into negative activities and instead families to work together on the clean up.

While a small initiative, it provides an opportunity to keep others posted on how organisations/communities are responding to this situation and could potentially help in developing new communities which break away from obeisance to the Royal Consciousness, and which offer the opportunity of free life in the image of the free God.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Clash - London's Burning.

The News of the World as soap opera (2)

In my post 'The News of the World as soap opera' I argued that the popular press' focus on feeding our baser selves with a daily diet of reality, action, sex, violence and the trivial has led, in time, to the creation of an ongoing reality celebrity soap opera which forms the substance of the redtops, celebrity mags, reality TV, and online chats/tweets encompassing as it does the 'who has been seen where', 'who is with who', 'who has broken up with who', 'who has attacked who', and 'who has cracked up and/or rehabilitated' of the real (and, sometimes, manufactured for money) lives of celebrities, entertainers, politicians, sportstars and victims of serious crime. For this reason I suggested that Hackgate, rather than diminishing in any way this celebrity reality soap opera, will only feed it as its participants become part of the story.

In today's Guardian, John Kampfner also argues that Hackgate won't drain the trivia out of everyday life:

"As the old saying goes, you get the journalists, the MPs and the coppers you deserve. How many people were complaining about greed when bankers, BBC executives and many others in private and public life were lining their pockets? How many people were indulging in celebrity pap, enjoying the gossip being fed to them at the expense of serious news? Far more than a healthy society would admit.

Why did newspapers plunge towards the lowest common denominator? Because their product sold in a difficult market, and still does. How would the tabloids fare if they put the latest massacre in Syria on their front pages? The redtops are not exclusively to blame. Rarely does a so-called serious paper miss the opportunity to follow up on a celebrity story, sprinkling their reports with irony to help their more knowing readers digest more comfortably. I read them as assiduously as the next person ...

Over the past two decades some people did complain about iniquities in society; some journalists investigated wrongdoing. But far from finding out too much, unearthing corruption and assorted wrongdoing, our media is far too pliant. And the readers, it seems, were not that fussed either, at least while the going was good, while consumerism anaesthetised the brain ...

... the financial crisis, MPs' expenses or phone-hacking and the Murdochs? Each of these scandals attests to the corrosion of the public realm. None of these scandals can satisfactorily be addressed by themselves. They grew out of the same root.

Seriousness needs to be pursued and protected. It cannot be magicked into life by august committees, as each crisis unfolds in our public life. It ultimately comes down to our own individual choices and priorities."

If we feed ourselves a diet that is shallow, superficial and self-centred, we should not be surprised when society becomes ...

Hello! We are the shallow people,
reflections of our fitness ratings,
shining the surface of our existence,
selling our lives to seek significance.

OK! we are on heat, on fire,
hyper cool, yet full of desire.
Bad and wicked are terms of approval.
Bums and tums are there for removal.

Ultra-slim celebs shed baby weight,
the best bikini bodies we celebrate;
airbrushing or anorexic,
eating disorders are so photographic.

Narcissus is our role model;
made in Chelsea , such a fit young man,
lightly tanned and with a wicked four pack,
we know that he is Essex!

We are pissed off, falling over,
stumbling in the dark.
Drunk on celebrity chardonnay,
technology sated, intoxicated.

We think we are such foxy ladies
sexy, sultry sods.
We are hung over, hearing voices,
kissing the porcelain god.

We are off our heads,
out of our skulls,
out of our minds,
we decline.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kinks - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion.