Following on from the comments made before about the London Riots [1], this article looks at how they compare to the looting of Benin in 1897 by British forces.
From:
Modern Ghana [2]
Of Youths, London Riots, Benin Empire et al
By Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
Feature Article | Sat, 20 Aug 2011Example is better than precept so we should tell my Kid Brother, David Cameron, Prime Minister of United Kingdom in response to his utterances following the London riots characterised by looting and Arson following the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by the London Metropolitan Police.
Those Youths and Arsonists are now being tried in Courts of Law for stealing things like Ice cream, Chewing Gum and Table Water. Some of the Youths are being charged for taking more tangible things like Ipods, Ipads,Lap Tops and Flat screen Televisions sets
But then what do we say about the Benin expedition of 1897 by a United Kingdom force of 1,200 under Admiral Harry Rawson in response to what the Wikipedia describes as a “Massacre of a previous British led expedition force” The troops of Admiral Rawson burned andlooted Benin city, bring to an end a west African Kingdom but David Cameron might not be ready to return the looted treasures from the Benin empire if one is to go by his comments on his last visit to India.
Cameron has received a request for the return of the 105 carat Diamond seized by the East India company after the capture of Punjab in 1849 b and presented as a gift to queen Victoria but Cameron replied that returning the 105 carat Diamond would set a dangerous precedent for other priceless cultural items kept in the British Museum We also have Nigeria money stolen by Nigerian Politicians in High street banks in Britain , Cameron would not want to return these monies because of the negative effect the UK economy?
I think the youths ought to be granted Amnesty in the Nigerian Spirit they are not exactly responsible for the crimes they have committed I would play it more on what the noted Nigerian Physicist Professor Muyiwa Awe, in describing Wole Soyinkas craving for Mars Chocolate Bar as a teenager, as the influence of advertising on the susceptible mind.
toddlers, pre teens, teenagers and young adults are being manipulated by the Advertising Gurus They do as much as make use of experts in psychology and psychiatry just to find out how they can get these children and youths to buy things that they do not need things that would not necessarily add to happiness..
Our psychiatrists and Psychologists instead should be at the fore front of mitigating suffering of the youth and the populace in general.The youths need to be protected from manipulation and exploitation by the advertising Gurus.
The Youth Market is a very lucrative market especially for Fast food, Soft Drinks, Sports, Technology,Fashion, video gaming etc , Those Psychiatrists and Psychologists making money out of the youth are not necessarily investing in mitigating the suffering of the youth Lastly , I am not into name calling but David Cameron described the Labour Party as irresponsible in the way they managed Britain under Gordon Brown, Well I do not exactly agree with Mr. Cameron in his Spending cuts being extended to youth services, Arts and Culture and Libraries these are the kind of programmes that get the youth engaged especially those described as NEETs, Not in employment , Education or training.
Its also does not seem to be wise move on the part of David Cameron to extend spending cuts to the Police force in a time of high employment..
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,London, England