Politics

Mixedmatt is quite the Politician :-) …

Tottenham, Enfield… then England Riots!

by Matthew

Carpet Right in Tottenham above the iconic store were flats.

This is a somewhat rushed post and you already know from my other posts that I’m no grammar expert!

Well, Something unbelievable has been going on in the UK this week. Full blown riots. Some may have been predictable due to the amount of cuts, racial tensions and the bleak future people face but it’s still a shock for it to have actually happened.

Let me say what I saw on the streets was terrible. Looting, attacking and setting alight to things is never the answer to anything. However there is a much bigger issue that we as a country have to address and it starts at the top.

Firstly I don’t agree that you can pin what happened in various cities and towns in the UK down to a single issue. Many people just say criminality or school holidays. That’s a ridiculous statement. We have racial tensions (which do exist), police treatment/harassment/perception they can get away with anything. Not all police officers have a nasty side but those who do taint the met. The reason why I will talk about the Metropolitan police is because they police my city and I know the majority police well, however there is still harassment and many complaints when it comes to black people.

I know how controversial this is but this is the case. If you are mixed race or black have a job and a purpose (I.E not going to cause trouble 😛 ) and just happen to wear a Nike tracksuit or such it’s likely your going to be stop searched. I know this it’s happened to me before. I’ve been stop searched. I know how people say well if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. That’s all well.. but do you know how shameful it is being stopped and searched on the side of the road? You hardly ever see a white person stopped and searched in Tottenham. To add to this there are witnesses to police brutality, and yes I say brutality in Tottenham. A family member witnessed a boy being pushed to the ground and kicked by a police office whilst the other was watching. When my family member approached the officer got very aggressive towards her. As they started walking away the boy said “don’t leave me”. There are numerous unconfirmed but possibly very real claims of harassment by the police that still continues 25 years after the Broadwater farm riots. Moving on…

When we say over 50% people in some areas are looking for work and 80% of black people in other areas are looking for work we can see how some people feel they’ve become detached from the rest of the country.

Benefit cuts, False promises, Expenses scandals and short sentences, ridiculous justice system, raise in tuition fees (which were promised to be fixed), Education Maintenance Allowance gone, police cuts, unemployment (it’s near impossible to get a job now) and a general social breakdown. I mean we have mothers that are 15 and 16 now. Their children grow up in a home that feeds off benefits as their parents can’t often work and when they can they seem to become lazy. No doubt due to the fact they been living on the benefits since they got pregnant perhaps? What’s worse is these children may develop a whole new set of social problems. Meaning a whole other generation will be lost! 🙁

Rest in Peace Education (I've said it for over a year now!)

There will be a huge divide between those who have got and haven’t got stuff. When we talk about people leaving university with £53,000 worth of debt or more this will deter the less well off. People who have planned and saved for their children will be fine, but people on the council estate who had dreams will think of how they will ever pay that off. Having come from a background where they probably struggle anyway. Lets not even mention the standard of education at university. Which really needs to improve if you are going to charge such elitist prices!

In regards to the shooting of Mark Duggan. It’s strange how this has happened. First we were told he fired at officers then now we here he didn’t and he just had a converted pistol and didn’t fire at all. The bullet that hit the officers radio was said to have been a police bullet. I won’t say any more on this situation other then it looks like the police have some explaining to do on that…

The worst thing about the riots is the racial side that’s been brought up. The EDL (English Defence League) which were labelled as “local residents” acting as vigilantes and forcing rioters back. A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon of blaming black youth or flat out immigrants as the root of all the problems. If this persists this will just happen time and time again. It’s flat out ignorance. When the issue of race is brought up as it is continually (its like a broken record) people feel demoralised and left out 🙁

Unless we solve the real issues going wrong in our society it will happen again and again – Watch this.

Proof the trouble had racial elements too and wasn’t just blind thuggery – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL_8AjiwtyQ

Edit: A Chinese state newspaper applauds UK stance on blocking users of social networking sites here.

Politics and SATS

by Matthew

What a unusual few days in the politics world. Unfortunately I couldn’t vote because I was registered back home in London and had to work in Oxford on Thursday 🙁

I didn’t even have a clue to vote and still don’t. I’m not sure if I’m going libertarian, pirate party, labour or liberal democrats. The only party I would hate to see in power is the conservatives. Now when have a hung parliament. It was interesting seeing what confusion the word hung brought as people tweeting from far corners of the globe thought parliament had been hung! Looks like we will now have another general election or conservatives and liberal democrats joining to form a coalition.

In the education world its good to finally see some schools abandoning the SATS papers. I always thought they were pointless for many years. The whole UK education system needs a reform and it should start by ditching SATS and replacing A-levels with the International Baccalaureate.

Will someone vote me in as PM please? 🙂

The USA – A confused Nation?

by Matthew

Okay, I am gonna sound like I have a rocket up where the sun don’t shine again and here’s why.

The United States constantly babbles on about tolerance and in some cases how advanced they are to the rest of the world. I am not going to say Britain is perfect but we are at least a good 10 years (maybe more) in thinking terms ahead of the United States.

Today in Britain being mixed race is actually recognized. Back in the US it appears that is not the case. It seems the norm for people to not recognize the other side of ones race or at worst dilute it and put you in the category of “Black” or “African American”. Mixed race people need to fight for recognition. They are a race themselves and should not be placed into a category when they are clearly mixed with another race.

What would be nice is Barack himself changing this from within. He has the power and being mixed race himself out to seek to make life better for mixed race people. You might think what the heck are you raving on about Matt (It is 1:37am! 🙂 ) but I am talking about the right to ones race. The right for ones race to be recognized.

To quote from Wiki:

In their attempt to impose segregation and restore white supremacy in the late 19th century, some southern states created laws defining a person as black if the person had any known African ancestry. This was a stricter interpretation than what had prevailed earlier. It became known as the one-drop rule, meaning that a single drop of “black blood” makes a person “black”.

It seems like things haven’t really changed much. America is deluding its citizens by labelling a race incorrectly and is robbing the mixed race people of their own history.

Another nitbit from Wiki:

In recent decades, the multicultural climate of the United States has continued to expand with waves of new immigration. Although the terms mixed-race, biracial, and multiracial are increasingly used, it remains common for those who possess visible traits of black heritage to identify or be identified as blacks or African Americans. People of mixed ancestry possessing any recent black heritage may self-identify demographically as African American while acknowledging their African-American and other cultural heritages socially.

For example, 55% of European Americans classify President Barack Obama as biracial when they are told that he has a white mother, while 66% of African Americans consider him black. Obama describes himself as black and African American, using both terms interchangeably,and is generally considered to be African American.

Why does Obama only recognize one side of his heritage?

In my opinion the US has a long way to go on racial issues but hey we knew that. Having a Black, African American, Mixed race president is big strides for a nation full of so much prejudice. If a person of mixed heritage can take power there it will almost certainly happen here in the near future 😛

America you have made a great step forward but you still have a very, very long way to go 🙂

My whine is over. It’s really late and I need my sleep now. I would like to wish President Obama all the best in Office and the U.S all the best in sorting out the current mess it’s in.

As for the UK… we need our saviour to rise and save us from our own mess! Gordon!!

Peace to the world.

US has a new president

by Matthew

barack_obama

I didn’t see the inorgoration ceremony and frankly I wasn’t very interested in watching something as small as the swearing in of the new president. However after logging on so many people have been raving about the whole thing I feel like I need to say my piece 🙂

First the issues on race. The media constantly rabbles on about him being black (so do some citizens). As far as I know Obama is mixed race and has one black and one white parent. Therefore he is mixed race. I know the media and certain people don’t class mixed race people as a “race” or even worse try to dissolve mixed race people of their race. Often saying if the mum is black that makes said person black and vice versa. The world clearly won’t be changed by one president of one nation nor will it make one kicked aside race become equal as other races.

Seeing reaction from around the world just makes me wonder what the fuss is about? He obviously has a lot of power but at the end of the day it won’t be impacting my nation much what happens there. Unless we decide to follow them into a needless war again. I think too much may be expected of this one person by everyone. I understand this is a big thing for a nation with such a racist past and present.

Unfortunately for the new president Ayman al-Zawahiri has been babbling. Promising of more spilt American blood and airing his racist views.

Apart from those few niggles and a few more I forgot (probably due to my lack of sleep) 🙄

I wish the president best of luck he’s gotta lot to do 😛