‘Poverty is not being without money, but being without hope’
Those are the words that came to mind when thinking about the so-called riots in London and beyond earlier this week. I first saw the satetment written on a wall in Varanassi, India – a country estimated to have a third of the World’s poor. The poignancy of it, amid such abject and visible poverty, has always stuck with me. But I never thought I’d use it in comparison to England.
Violent Consumerism is what we saw in our society recently.All we’ve heard in recent months is cuts, cuts, cuts. Funding for education, healthcare, housing, benefits – the list goes on – are all being cut. Jobs are being cut. …. Hope is wearing thin.
When you’ve done the work and put in the time and effort but still there are no jobs and benefits and housing is being cut more and more, what do you do? When so-called “success” – created and measured by wealth; by a well paid career and by designer goods – is unobtainable; what do you do? When you’re treated as a second-class citizen; constantly stopped and searched by police for no reason, what do you do?
You rise up, violently, frustrated and worn to the point of no return. You come together to stand up for yourselves; to take back the power and take what you want – or what you’ve been taught to want/consume through the media.
‘Beyond hope’ is a good expression to use when understanding the motives behind these kids (most of them definitely looked under 18). This was their time to stand up for themselves. It was not about the trainers or the plasma TVs though. This was an insurrection of young disadvantaged youths who have lost all hope. A violent uprising against a so-called democracy that is failing them.
The rioting was sad and scary and frustrating. But they made people take notice. They made David Cameron return from his holiday. They made the press start analysing why, how and what next. There is no way such raw, violent and depraved behaviour can be ignored. It is so sad to watch young people desperately smashing up their own communities in sheer frustration.
These youths have watched as the Middle Eastern countries have risen up against their dictators; they have seen people coming together to make change. In our own already supposedly democracised country we’ve marched against wars; against cuts; against rising costs, but nothing has been done. We have not been listened to. Now these youths are making sure they’re heard in a different way. As one young man from Tottenham said to an NBC reporter about the riots:
“You wouldn’t be talking to me now if we didn’t riot, would you? Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you.”
The death of Mark Duggan, shot by police during his pre-planned arrest last Thursday, was the final spark needed to fire to the anger that has been bubbling for some time. London has been like a pressure cooker just waiting to explode and, like the Middle Eastern uprising, the action has spurred confidence in similar groups around the country.
These riots were a cry for help; for change; for hope.
VIDEO: Riots are a cry for help, says Londoner.
One of five Yogic Sutras for The Aquarian Age says:
‘Understand through compassion or you will misunderstand the times’
We are in a time of critical change. Parts of England were like Armageddon this week. Around the World we are seeing the Apocalypse unfold – not the end of the World, as commonly misconceived, but the end of the World as we know it.
This shift in time – marked as 2012 by many traditions and soothayers – was written and profecised about thousands of years ago. Our society over the last 2000 years (The Piscean Age) has been ruled by hierarchy and greed; success has been about ‘me’ and ‘my’. The Aquarian Age is said to shift us into a heart centred world where success goes from me to we and is measured through service to others.
The inequalities of our country are what led to the riots that hit London and beyond. Those kids were crying for help. What are we doing about it? What are you doing?
Kundalini Yoga has been designed specifically to help us through these difficult times. To help us heal ourselves and others.
Try this free online Kundalini Yoga set to transform and balance the navel (third chakra) – an area associated with the element of fire, or anger. Transform your anger into action. Be bold.
“Be the change you want to see in the World” (Ghandi)
