To a watching world, the sight of Britain on fire last week has surely been shocking. The looting and torching has revealed an inner-city London, Birmingham and Manchester seldom glimpsed in the England usually offered for export via soft-focus period dramas, Hugh Grant movies or stories on Will and Kate.
If the revelation has puzzled outsiders, it has confused Britons no less. The mood is a mixture of rage, fear and bafflement. Not that we're not used to riots: England caught fire during that other royal-wedding year, 1981. But 30 years ago, the battle lines were relatively clear. Race was central, especially in the predominantly black south London neighborhood of Brixton. The target then was a police force charged with racial bias. The recent explosions have not had that clarity.
Even though the troubles ignited the week before last after the police killed a black Briton in the north London area of Tottenham, the copycat outbursts since have lacked that racial dimension. Among the looters, all races were represented, while their targets had not been overtly political. They didn't hurl stones at police stations, city halls or the Houses of Parliament. Instead, these rapidly mobilized crowds concentrated their fire on stores, especially those selling cellphones, sneakers and large-screen TVs. One looter was seen trying on different pairs of shoes, making sure she stole the right size.