It seems that all my life, I’ve been in Europe when news of tumultuous events over here hits back home, causing people to worry about me — or even to consider cancelling their own planned trips. Of course, the riots in London are tragic. But I’ve been in London the last week…and only read about the violence in the newspapers. I’m sure that if you’re out in the working-class suburbs, you can feel the anger in the streets. But filming our new TV show all over London as the rioting was going on, there was not a hint of tension downtown. Personally, I would not hesitate to do the typical tourist activities in downtown London.
As it generally does, the media is making the problem seem more general and widespread than it actually is. And to bail out of a travel dream and add to the difficulties in London by cancelling a planned trip here would be an unfortunate move for all involved.
On a political note, England is enduring “austerity” programs and deep cuts in government services as it struggles with a budget crisis similar to the USA’s. Recently many programs for young people, minorities, and the disadvantaged have been cut for “lack of funds.” And that turns blue-collar suburbs into tinderboxes, with young people feeling hopeless and screwed by the system. To vent their frustration and anger, they loot, pillage, and burn…not the upper-class districts, but their own neighborhoods. As if violently scratching a wound, it only makes things worse.
To restore order, England is sending in thousands of police and locking up lots of looters. But my hunch is that the decisions in the last year to cut corners in programs for the working class are now actually costing that society far more money than they ever saved. I believe the USA would be wise to take note.
-Rick Steves (enjoying my travels in England)
TripAdvisor is full of locals stating that the London sites are fine and that people should not cancel their trips. I am sure that it would be terrifiying to get caught up in this. I wondered what it would feel like if this happened in NYC. Then I remembered that we’ve had similar riots here in the past–LA, Chicago, Detroit. I think that the distressing part is the fact that they seem to be enjoying the violence. It feels rather Clockwork Orange.
Travelers are not the 101st Airborne. We are not going to expose our families to mayhem or serious injury in Athens, London, Cairo, Madrid, Paris, NYC or anywhere there is serious unrest. So governments had better be responsive not only to the immediate tumult but to the underlying causes or they will face boycott by travelers.
I just got back yesterday from London and all is well. Rick is right about people buying into the media hype. The media makes money by keeping you watching their programs and therefore are playing you for the fools you are. One of the most dangerous places on Earth is America. Countless thousands gunned down every year. If you love your family bring them to London.
It is a good thing that we all have different views of the same event! Two people can have equally correct but differing interpretations from a different vantage point. If only we could learn to appreciate each others perspective to help us to form sound public policy.
The tale of the class struggle goes way back in time. As one lifts their vision to cover a broader context of time the perspective changes. Rick, being a student of history and cultures, happens to be filming from downtown London during the riots and has a unique perspective of the present as well as the future.
I believe that Rick’s warning should be well heeded.
It is obvious that many have not seen the interviews with the rioters who have claimed it was their chance to show the rich they could take their wealth.
I think Rick wrote this before everything totally unfolded and interviews were taken and arrests made today. It appears it was a bunch of thugs with nothing better to do than start trouble. I don;t think it was a white or color issue but more a bunch of thugs who wanted to loot because they had nothing better to do. Looting is looting. Just like we had here in New Orleans during Katrina people who are bad do bad things.
It also appears that the British courts and judges have been acting responding rapidly. PBS (or it might have been BBC) spoke about young teenagers with no previous criminal record getting sentence to jail time with weeping parents in the background. It makes you wonder, didn’t the parents wonder where there kids were? It sounds like they are tracking them down one by one. London is the land of closed circuit TV and can feel very Orwellian. The pregood news is that it looks like they’ve caught at least one of the people who mugged the student while pretending to be a “good Samaritan”
I heard a radio interview with a man who runs a community center in the Tottenham area. It’s his assessment, based on what he’s witnessed for several years, that the police in the neighborhood went out of their way to belittle and demean any black or brown youths that happened to be making their way down the street. Of course, this causes deep-seeded resentment in ways I assume most of the previous posters couldn’t possibly fathom. Let’s not forget, this had originally began as a peaceful protest march in response to the police gunning down a man of color, someone suspected of dealing drugs shot at close range after being pinned down, according to least one witness . Let’s also not forget, no amount of hooliganism dismisses the folly of inviting foreigners to live in your country preaching multiculuralism while in reality doing very little in ensuring inroads of opportunity beyond cleaning hotel rooms and picking up rubbish. Also, let’s have some perspective. Young people are disproportionately unemployed all over the UK (as well as France and Spain), yet Britain sees fit to commit so much energy and resources to maintaining a feckless, outmoded figurehead of a monarchy, spending 40 million quid on Prince William’s wedding alone. Surely investment in education and training is money better spent.
Speaking of underlying causes and root issues, Alfran summed it up pretty well.
News updates on this just keep proving wrong the so-called “poverty” reason as the underlying cause. Looks like most of these thugs were very middle class, some from very wealthy families. The cause is not poverty but a cultural malaise that does not see the diffference between right and wrong, but lives only with an attitude of “judge not and be not judged”.
The people who claim that poverty, lack of jobs, lack of education, lack of opportunity (while viewing the excesses of oligarchy and plutocrats) is not part and parcel of this violence are at best privileged to live and travel in upper middle class or affluent places – or they are ostrich’s. Having lived and worked in places like Harlem, Watts, Bronx, Leeds, Manchester, Dorchester etc. I can assure you, as I can RS, that just because you don’t experience it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Soon it might be coming to your own neighborhood.
Speaking of riots…do you ever read the comments people post in response to Rick’s blog entries?
Enough.
I live in Flint, Michigan. Murder capital of the U.S. A city that has voted Liberal Democratic forever. Run by people who may have a good heart, but are totally clueless about what is really needed to uplift people from abject poverty, crime, hopeless, and rot. Having worked in the Court system for years, I know “what is out there”. What I am tired of is people making excuses for people who do wrong, whatever that may be. You are not helping the plight of these people by pointing fingers “Wealthy” people, or “corporate” America is not the root causes of our societal problems. We, as a part of the human race, be it someone living in England, Greece, Spain, or the U.S. need to address the causes of our cultural deterioration before we can excoriate others about the injustices and poverty of the world.
It’s the culture, people.
Obviously Rick Steves’ recent comments that he saw no problems in London and that he was traveling happily in England stirred up a hornet’s nest including a few zingers from those who live in London or who have lived and traveled in other riotous cities. Some felt he was turning a blind eye to problems to help feather his own nest. Others extrapolated from his observations to make their own about social injustice. Rick himself seems to pillory the media because he feels it hypes bad news. But those of us who like to travel didn’t just fall off a turnip truck. It doesn’t matter in the short term what causes rioting. Mob rule and mayhem is a severe deterrent to travel and causes intelligent customers to cancel or at least postpone travel no matter what the travel industry or its fellow travelers tell us.
Bravo, Jan! Right and wrong starts at home. Parents have to start taking responsibility for their children. There is no excuse to use violence to express frustration. Rosa Parks was able to change a nation with one act of non-violence. If you think that economic problems are the underlying issue, then why aren’t you speaking out against violent video games, movies, and music that promotes this type of behavior and desensitizes youth of today. How often do we see people attack religion? The true issue lies with “organized religion” not the teaching of God or other deities. Take the teachings of the Bible, Koran, Buddha, etc their teaching focus on peace, love, charity. How is that a bad foundation from which to live our lives?
At least foreign travelers feel safe and are still coming to visit the US. Which begs the question why aren’t Americans rioting? After all 15,000,000 are out of work, good paying jobs are still being shipped overseas, lenders have bankrupted many people, Medicare and Medicaid are threatened, K-12 education is strapped, corporations are flush with cash, Wall Street bonuses are flourishing, politicians are in the hands of, well, anybody who has real money. Many Americans have cut back on spending which is a form of protest and self-protection in itself, but when will the little old ladies from Pasadena and others hit the Washington Mall to pummel politicians with their canes and crutches? Probably as soon as they get organized. The closest thing the US has right now is a tea party financed by corporate interests.
IO, the Rosa Parks example is a broad oversimplification of events that that took place during the Civil Rights Movement; in fact she wasn’t even the first lady to refuse to leave her seat in the “Whites Only” section. Her moment was an event in a long struggle for equality that really hasn’t ended. Many lives were lost before that event and many afterwards, and change has never come easy in this nation of freedom. But I digress…
Povetry obviously comes in different forms, poverty of finance, poverty of the mind, poverty of the soul. At least as many middle-class kids have been arrested for the rioting as the poor (though claims are coming that the Met are just rounding kids up for sheer numbers). While parents should be responsible, let’s not forget that not every situation is the same. A single mother working two jobs to keep a roof over her family’s head isn’t going to be able to keep watch over her kids the way she needs to. Social programs help fill that gap. Again, just a thought….
I used Rosa Parks as an example of how to express yourself without the need to use violence. So not sure where all the civil rights history is coming from. How many single mothers are a result of not using birth control or fathers who abandon their children(irresponsible parents). So social programs for birth control and tougher laws holding absentee parents financially responsible would be great. China uses incentives to keep family size to a minimum. instituting these programs as well as yours would greatly reduce the need for the current programs which place a large financial burden on the tax payer. And I agree social programs worldwide aren’t perfect but there is no one answer, its multifaceted. But I don’t think you, I, or anyone else has the definitive answer. But I do believe we each have a part of the answer. As soon as we can get together and stop our bickering we could come up with some historical solutions. Unfortunately we’ve all drawn lines in the sand which we’ve refused to erase. Just my thought…I’ll stop my rambling. Just tired of all the fighting…. Best wishes.
Hi, I think the point Rick is making is not to condone, or blame these idiots, whatever the reasons behind their actions, but more to not panic and cancel your dream/plans for a great holiday to a great city. This hopefully. is temporary and no worse than anything that could happen in any US city to a tourist, or Vancouver Stanley Cup Riots, or Toronto G8/20, or riots in L.A. or Chicago riots in the past. All these are tragic and have many underlying causes, but they shouldn’t deter you from seeing these city’s. Nobody’s saying go out and get involved in a riot, but be sure it’s not media hype more than reality before missing out on a great city. If I stopped going to New York City after all it’s been through in the last 20 years, what a shame it would be to have missed out on the great experiences I’ve had in the half-dozen trips I’ve made there. Take a breath, check it out, use common sense and go!
The riots took place in these areas: Tottenham, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Enfield, Clapton, Croydon, Brixton, Canning Town, East Ham, Peckham, Stratford, N. Woolwich, Waltham Cross, Oxford Circus,Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Leicester, and more unnamed here. Also, in the tourist areas, an attack happened in Notting Hill where the windows were smashed, patrons robbed of valuables, and the kitchen staff had to come out waving knives and frying pans to scare off the rioters. From the BBC page here, “England Riots, Maps and Timeline”:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14436499
Anyone who says “The media is making it look more widespread than it is.” is either not reading BBC online, (they are giving exact factual accounts) or sticking their head in the sand, refusing to see that this indeed WAS widespread. The millions of dollars worth of property and lives lost in this fiasco is not just “child’s play”. Some seem to take the attitude that these “youths” were just mischievous children who got mad and had a “temper tantrum”. That’s just too liberal, living in LaLa land. This behavior is the opposite of civilization. What contribution will these people ever make to the society in which they live? They bear some responsibility to act as decent citizens, regardless of how angry they are, or how little money they have.
I wouldn’t assume that downtown London is safe. ” I chanced to be in Piccadilly for the springtime riots when the police failed to stop the mob from smashing the windows of the Ritz and other upscale emporia, so it goes without saying that they wouldn’t lift a finger to protect less-prestigious private property from thugs. Some of whom are as young as 9 years old. And girls.” (http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-08-12/news/29885198_1_london-big-government-human-rights/3) In a way Rick Steves is right about the system screwing people. The Daily Mail: “A ‘man of 21 with learning disabilities has been granted taxpayers’ money to fly to Amsterdam and have sex with a prostitute.” (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303273/councils-pay-disabled-visit-prostitutes-lap-dancing-clubs.html) The “cuts” are just reductions in the rate of increase; if it can procure women, the British government still has money to burn. The statement that America, with 10s of trillions in unfunded social security and medicare obligations, lacks funds is irresponsible. So is the statement that we should give in to subtle extortion (“I believe the USA would be wise to take note.)” Fortunately, America’s largest protest movement is peaceful, orderly, and wants nothing more from the government than to be left alone.
One sentence above should read “The statement that America … doesn’t lack funds.”
Everybody’s comments are valid. Austerity programs have played a role in these uprisings as
have racism, thuggery, criminal opportunism, lack of educational opportunity, technology, jealousy, lack of parental guidance, politics, incompetent policing and unemployment. But the issue is just as much about how buyers of travel react and that is a no-brainer except for the reckless.
I think Rick is taking exactly the right approach. A few years ago, a young woman I know arrived in Amsterdam for her dream European trip, for which she had saved for years. That day there was an anti-American demonstration, near riot, in the center of Amsterdam. She returned home immediately, forfeiting all of her hotel reservations, rail tickets and, of course, had to buy a new air ticket at an outrageous price. I think Rick’s lesson is: be prudent and watchful, but don’t panic.
“The only reason there haven’t been riots in the US since then is there’s nothing left to burn down.” There is everything to burn down!
Most everyone is familiar with the eating the fish and teaching how to fish saying. I would like you to tell us where, exactly, that appears in the Bible, please. Thank you.
I am an American living in London, and I want to just clarify a few things that Rick has said. First, the riots were not over-hyped by the media at all. They were every bit as bad as reported, and then some. Rick is also wrong that the riots only broke out in working class or lower class neighborhoods. I live in a very nice (read: very expensive) neighborhood, and there was looting right down the street. Patrons were robbed at their seats by looters in an expensive restaurant in a nice neighborhood in the city. This was not confined to so-called “bad” neighborhoods. However, by the same token, the riots happened at night, and away from typical tourist areas. During the day, the city was fine, including all tourist areas. I certainly wouldn’t dissuade anyone from visiting London because of these riots. Indeed, I feel very safe here–much safer than I’ve ever felt in any American city. There is MUCH, MUCH less violent crime here than in any city in American. Not only are guns illegal, but pocket knives are illegal–you cannot carry any type of knife at all. We have become used to such a high level of violence in America that we don’t even realize that the rest of the world isn’t like us.
All of that said, we’ve also had massive demonstrations in the last year with violent looting incidents (including the one where Prince Charles and Camilla were attacked in their vehicle as they drove down a London street). Those incidents very much happened in tourist areas. The bottom line is that you can never predict what will break out where, in any country including America. That shouldn’t stop you from traveling. You just need to keep your wits about you, and head in the opposite direction whenever you see crowds gathering.