Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia

On Friday in London the dust had settled after the riots. There was calm ‘after ‘ the storm. The govt claims the rioting was for theft. But it is much deeper than that.

The 4 days of rioting in London cost 100’s of millions of dollars and the city was in absolute mayhem. It all started with the alleged shooting of Mark Duggan whom the Police expected to be armed. According to reports, it is not clear whether the victim opened fire or even drew a weapon, when the Police stopped him.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ His defacto wife had said that in the past, he had never been charged and would run rather than confront the Police. He has 3 children all below 10 years. When the media interviewed her, she had said that she did not want or support the violence that followed.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some social scientists claim that it is due to social unrest among the youth. And attribute this to the chronic unemployment, spending cuts etc. So the poor had become poorer while the rich had become richer. So the young envy the rich living in luxury while they live in poverty.

The rampage which sparked had led to 1000’s of shops looted. TV images showed smashed shopping malls, buses, vehicles, patrol cars torched, and so on. So far, four deaths had been reported. While this was on, the Prime Minister and Ministers were on holiday.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A few weeks ago, Oslo was devastated by a terrorist attack. Norway was a key partner in bogus peace talks with Sri Lanka and siding the LTTE. So they had a taste of terrorism. Then, there was an uproar in the UK due to a media phone hacking scandal. Now the London city is on ‘fire’ while rioting young gangs are having a field day. This had created a question mark about security for the 2012 Olympics.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At the other end, the US, apart from terror attacks in the past, has an enormous debt of $14.3 trillion. Once President Obama was regarded as the most powerful and popular person in the world. Last week, he lost his arguments on raising taxes, ceiling on debt, govt. expenditure on wars etc., and was humiliated by the Republicans who control the Lower House. As it is Obama will be limping until the elections next year and the forecast is not rosy.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Prime Minister Cameron in assessing the current events had said, “… We will not allow a culture of fear to exist in our society…” In Sri Lanka we had ‘fear due to terrorist culture’ enforced by the LTTE for 30 years. So Sri Lanka fought against this background while some western countries and groups tried to put spokes to it. Now they are at the receiving end.

Further, UK., USA, Norway etc., are partners in declaring war on countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya killing thousands of innocent civilians. So in the UK , its own citizens are paying back in the same coin.

And the people of Sri Lanka since the end of the war two years ago had been living in peace. So countries like the US, UK, Norway etc., who claim to be the international community, should rather look after their own backyard, without mollycoddling the LTTE rump which is accusing Sri Lanka of alleged war crimes.