Darcus Howe On The London Riots [Video]

Uploaded by mYcHeMiCaLrOmAnCeGaL

Transcribed by Guanaguanare

Fiona Armstrong: I am now joined by Darcus Howe who is a writer and broadcaster and we can speak to him now and Marcus Dowe[sic] is in Croydon. Marcus Dowe[sic], are you shocked by what you've seen here last night?

Darcus Howe: No, not at all. I have been living in London for fifty years. There are so different moods and moments but what I was certain about, listening to my grandson and my son, is that something very, very serious was going to take place in this country. Our political leaders had no idea, the police had no idea, but if you looked at young blacks and young whites with a discerning eye and a careful hearing, they have been telling us, and we would not listen, that what is happening in this country to them.

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, if I can just...

Darcus Howe: But what is morally wrong....

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, if I could just stop you for a moment... Mister Howe, for a moment. You say you are not shocked. Does this mean that you condoned what happened in your community last night?

Darcus Howe: I condone.... Of course not!! What I am going to condone it for? What I am concerned about more than anything else... there is a young man called Mark Duggan. He has parents, he has brothers, he had sisters and few yards away from where he lives a police officer blew his head off...

Fiona Armstrong: Well Mister Howe, we have to...

Darcus Howe: Blew his face off with a...

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, we have to...

Darcus Howe: Let me finish....

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, we have to wait for the official enquiry before we can say things like that. We don't know what happened to Mister Duggan. We have to wait for the police report on it.

Darcus Howe: I understand.... Mister Duggan is dead.

Fiona Armstrong: If I can take you on a little bit. You were talking about your grandson, you were talking about young people...

Darcus Howe: We don't have to wait for an enquiry...

Fiona Armstrong: You were talking about your grandson, you were talking about young...

Darcus Howe: They have been stopping and searching young blacks for no reason at all. I have a young grandson. He is an angel and he began to think he was coming of age when the police slapped him up against the wall and searched him and he thought he had now had a gold star. I asked him the other day apropos of a sense that something was going seriously wrong in this country, I say, "How many times have the police searched you?"
He said, "Papa, I can't count, there are so many times."

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, that may well have happened and if you say it did, I am not to gainsay you but that is not an excuse to go out rioting and cause the sort of damage that we have been seeing over the last few days.

Darcus Howe: Where were you in 1981 in Brixton?

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe...

Darcus Howe: I don't call it rioting. I call it an insurrection of the masses of the people. It is happening in Syria. It is happening in Clapham, It is happening in Liverpool. It's happening in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and that is the nature of the historical moment. It takes...

Fiona Armstrong: Mister Howe, Mister Howe, if I can just ask you. You are not a stranger to riots yourself, I understand, are you? You have taken part in them yourself?

Darcus Howe: I am not a.... I have never taken part in single riot. I have been on demonstrations that ended up in a conflict and have some respect for an old West Indian negro and stop accusing me of being a rioter because you want for me to get abusive. You just sound idiotic. Have some respect!

Darcus Howe: I have grandchildren...

Fiona Armstrong: Darcus Howe, thank you very much for joining us from Croydon. Darcus Howe there, writer and broadcaster.

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Darcus Howe, my hero, for standing your ground and speaking your mind despite the obvious agenda of the IDIOTIC mainstream puppet of power. Will Mizz Armstrong ever ask the masters of war in an interview if their killing of citizens in far away places and doing catastrophic damage to their countries suggests a penchant for "riots". Not at all. This is the cold, despicable, self-serving nature of the beast.

Kobo Town's song "Blood and Fire" is coming to mind more often recently:

BLOOD AND FIRE
Kobo Town

The year was 1999 A.D.
all the people were kicking up a scene
in the countryside and in the city
tired of tyranny
so they marching in the cold, in the rain, in the heat
in the plaza, in the hall, in the square, in the street
breaking down the walls, unafraid of defeat
unafraid of the powers that be
‘Cause the powers that be never cared
the powers that be never shared
when hunger marched, drought parched the land
wealth and power never lent a hand
so with nowhere to turn, people riot and burn
street clash, broke glass, order overturned
people wonder when it will stop
you could only push the people so far…

From Gaza to Jaffna, [blood and fire]
Soweto to Rio, [blood and fire]
La Paz to Chiapas, [blood and fire]
Karachi to Dili, blood, blood, blood and fire

What must fall to be free? Blood and fire.
What must fall to be free?
What must fall to be free? Blood and fire.

Independent a half century
but people still living in misery
ten thousand strong humanity
marches on the city
where they calling out for bread, out for gas, out for heat
out for water, shelter, opportunity
in front of reporters, riot police
they state their demands defiantly
soon the tear gas filling up the air
rubber bullets bouncing everywhere
the crowd is told to disperse or expect the worst
if they don't clear out and disappear
so ignored and abused, nothing left to lose
people run up and down, frightened and confused
people wonder when it will stop
you could only push the people so far…

From Gaza to Jaffna, [blood and fire]
Soweto to Rio, [blood and fire]
La Paz to Chiapas, [blood and fire]
Karachi to Dili, blood, blood, blood and fire

What must fall to be free? Blood and fire.
What must fall to be free?
What must fall to be free? Blood and fire.

Look where the newspapers put all the blame
what a shame, where the newspapers put all the blame
they call it an unruly mob, criminal element
no face, no story, no name
but desperation is the order of the day
the neighbourhood erupts in the fray
some stand and fight -------------
some run and some choose to stay.

Blood and fire in Sarajevo [blood and fire]
Blood and fire in Soweto [blood and fire]
Blood and fire in Freetown, Georgetown, [blood and fire]
Managua, Jakarta blood, blood, blood, blood and fire all around
in the country, in the town
Blood and fire will fall around
All around in the country, in the town
Blood and fire, it will fall all around.

What must fall to be free?
Blood and fire must fall to be free.
What must fall to be free? Blood and fire!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare