Sheffield – Matters Arising from the Summer Protests

This summer we saw protests turn into physical violence in a number of towns and cities across the country. Alongside the police reestablishing the immediate peace (it is fair to say using different approaches), we saw a political class and wider state infrastructure reacting with some speed and force to characterise the root cause as ‘far right’ agitation and be quick to punish those involved. This, in turn, leading to allegations of disproportionate and different responses.

Outbreaks of physical violence are not unusual in protest, look at the protests prompted by the BLM movement, some of the Gaza related marches or the attacks on gender critical people (e.g. Posie Parker quite recently in Sheffield).

Whereas preventing injury and damage to property is not unreasonable, the lack of curiosity from most political leaders and their media fanboys as to what might be motivating these events is unusual. A recent article in Spiked contrasted the response of Thatcher’s Government to the Toxteth Riots in 1981 to the current Government’s response to the events of late July and early August. The Thatcher government was, yes, quick to stop the violence, but also saw there were serious underlying causes which needed addressing.

Is the narrative ‘riots prompted by the Southport attack’ sufficient? Are there common links between events in Leeds, West Midlands, Southport and say, Manvers (which seemed atypically violent). Was a new, inexperienced Government caught by surprise or is their response considered and deliberate? Is it some sort of street level populism from people who feel left behind or ignored? Are those who committed violence separate from other protesters or is it a continuum stretching from stay-at-homes on social media types through ‘peaceful’ protesters? What is the role of the citizen journalist in all of this?

Hopefully we will explore these and other questions as we discuss ‘Matters Arising from the Summer Protests’

Come and join the discussion

You are warmly invited to join us at The Red Lion, 109 Charles St, Sheffield, S1 2ND, for our next meeting on Thursday 3rd October 2024 at 19:00, (in the snug behind the bar).

See here for location.

We are growing!

We are expanding our activities via regional Politics in Pubs groups and have created a map where you can search for a group near you. If you live near Ilkley we have members starting a new group, so please let us know if this of interest.

Don’t worry if you can’t find anything nearby as you can start your own group. If you would like to be put in touch with other people interested in talking about politics, please reply to this email letting us know your location and we’ll help to get the conversation started.

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