What problems lead to rioting? Catch all (new title)
Moderator's Note
This thread was entitled 'Documentary shows current problems echo those in 1967 that led to Newark riots' until today and has been renamed, to include the wider subject of urban rioting or civil disorder. Scattered around SWC are a few threads on rioting, notably in France and protest in Europe and the USA. The new title is 'What problems lead to rioting? Catch all' (ends).
Quote:
NEWARK — The lens of history opens Newark, 1967, to two interpretations.
Riot? Or rebellion?
A screening and discussion of a documentary film about the riot/rebellion for Newark police brass and officers this week was also open to interpretation. Was it a history lesson? Or cautionary tale?
"Revolution ‘67" came out in 2007, and had a national run on PBS. It’s the back-story of Newark’s riots: loss of factory jobs to the South and overseas; federal housing and transportation policies favoring suburban development; government corruption or incompetence impacting city services. Two of three still exist.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/...tml#incart_mce
"off-ramp for insurgency"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Steve the Planner
Bob:
Something about losing hope.
Even in a bad circumstance, if people believe they have a chance for a fair shake, you have (legitimacy?) to society/government.
It's only when they lose hope....
Things can get pretty bad, but if the people have faith in the system, even when they have lost faith in their current leaders, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is not likely to be insurgency.
Sometimes fixing the problems of governance are a long, time consuming process. But if one focuses their COIN efforts on creating perceptions of legitimacy of governance and on creating and implementing new (or better yet, refurbishing old) processes and tools of legally shaping governance, they can put insurgency onto an off-ramp.
We tried to do that in Afghanistan with the elections and the constitution, but we really just went through the motions on each and totally missed the mark. I say go back and re-engage on those two strategic targets until we get it right, and everything else will fall into place.
(Meanwhile, the mission is still AQ, and the Taliban are still the key to our stated mission with AQ. We need to wrap our brains around that little fact as well).