The UK Riots—Lessons for Business and Society

This article was originally published in August of 2011 in the Business and Financial Times, Ghana.

The power of music as an art cannot be overemphasized. Through music, we express our fears, joys, love, beliefs and what have you?

Like many others, I don’t listen to music simply for pleasure. I learn so much about life through expressions I listen to in music. Today, I want to share a bit of the lyrics of some of my all-time favourite musicians. One is Jimmy Cliff. What he says in this music, if taken seriously, can help avert many of the problems we encounter in society:

“Treat the youths right Instead of putting up a fight Treat the youths right Or you’ll be playin’ with dynamite….When you go and look for a job There is someone givin’ you a fight Light them on, get to go and rob Then we know that that’s not right”.

Those lyrics came to life in my mind as I watched scenes of the recent riots in the UK. By now, we all have heard so much about it, so I won’t bore you with details. But what caused the riots?

Social Causes of the Riots

There are varied opinions about this. However, I find the following especially poignant: High unemployment and cuts in public services, economic crisis and social exclusion, poverty, the growing gap between rich and poor.

If you asked me, I would never resort to violence. Neither would I encourage nor condone it simply because of the above reasons. All the same, we were all raised differently and have been molded by various philosophies and doctrines. As a result, is it not wise for society to dispassionately analyse situations such as we are discussing before drawing conclusions?

It is very easy to tag all those who were involved in the violent riots as criminals, deviants and the like. But could a deep reflection on this lead society to realize that it itself is the culprit, the criminal? As I usually do, I would like to analyse the issues from the perspective of the five (5) institutions that form society:

The Political Institution

According to the BBC, “Former London mayor and future mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone told the BBC that the anger was fuelled by disengagement. ‘There is a level of despair out there. We have got to have a government that speaks to the whole community, not just the layer at the top.”’

True leadership in government has become a very rare commodity in the world’s politics. This is because world leaders have lost their way; they’re just not getting it right. Inundated and overwhelmed by the mounting needs in society, the world’s governments have resorted to tactics that are simply not working. Thus, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

Even though many of these governments may have very good intentions, they are simply clueless as to the real causes of the problems and their solutions. Hence all the antidotes that have been prescribed to date have only been cosmetic—dealing with the symptoms instead of the real causes.

Such a state of leadership would only logically produce a volatile state-of-affairs with despair and hopelessness among the masses. With all the pressure built in, therefore, it takes just one small careless mistake to ignite an already excitable youth.

The Religious Institution

Imperfect man desires boundless freedom. Many people therefore spurn authority. It was therefore a welcomed idea when Charles Darwin published his “findings” in The Origin of the Species. With this evolutionary theory, Darwin sought to “kill” God in society. Many who didn’t want to feel responsible to God quickly pandered to that under-handed theory.

Today, many in the Western world no longer believe in God. Couple this with atrocities that have been perpetrated in the name of God and you would understand why religion is no longer popular among many youths. On the other hand, in especially our part of the world, popular religion has taught people that God blesses his worshippers with material wealth. Religious leaders thus encourage their followers to seek glory in riches through the doctrine of prosperity.

Apart from that, many are now questioning religion in view of the hypocrisy they observe among many religious teachers.

Hence, in the absence of true spiritual guidance, many no longer live by God’s high standards. So, when the youth are excited, many do just anything since there is no moral restraint.

The Marital Institution

The family, which is the basic unit of society, is under the threat of extinction. In the name of modernity, some have borne children out of wedlock. Others have found every conceivable reason to divorce their spouses.

The result is that many children that come from such family situations do not receive adequate parental guidance and discipline.

Furthermore, the harsh economic realities of the day and the quest to be counted among the Joneses have pushed both parents to work long hours for more money.

Left in the care of violent and immoral video/computer games, the TV, house-helps and schoolteachers, children get to pick all sorts of behaviors that parents even wonder how it happened. Should you blame such a child if it becomes disposed to rage and violence?

The educational System

Over the years, the world’s educational system has consistently failed to live up to expectations. Thus, it churns out school graduates who are either unemployable or are unable to hold down a job successfully.

Furthermore, the educational system has not been able to implant in students the right motives for seeking education—that of becoming an asset to society. Rather, students study simply so they can find a well-paying job. Thus when they come out into the real world to face reality, some become despondent.

Also, the educational system has sought to “kill” God. So, it thrives mainly on imperfect human philosophies. As a result, some otherwise spiritual children go to school only to come out differently, with their moral compass distorted. Yet, these philosophies are not able to deal with the real issues. But since it is an abomination to apply Scripture to social matters the solution will never be found. This is because “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them”–Albert Einstein (Italics not mine). We need higher principles.

The Economic Institution

This is where I want to dwell more on since that is where business belongs. The focus of business over the years has been to primarily make profits By making the “making-of-profits” objective paramount in business, companies have over the decades chased this interest by any means, both fair and foul, and have neglected the needs of the larger society.

Some may claim to be socially responsible because they have built a few classroom blocks and paid their taxes. But if that is the extent to which social responsibility is taken, is it not both mediocre and deceptive? Which business organisation, for instance, has a comprehensive youth policy? Which of them has a far-reaching family policy? Yet, while each of these social institutions affect the other, since we live in a material world, the economic institution has had a greater impact, in my view, on the other institutions, either for the better or for the worse. It has thus affected the very existence of man profoundly. Now, here are some of the ways big business, especially, has contributed to the nature of the world’s social conditions which,  if steps are not taken immediately to start addressing these issues, we can only expect more upheavals, maybe even worse ones, around the globe.

The Real Issues

Big business has always sought ways to lobby government, the political institution, to its advantage. This includes the tax code and laws that pertain to business practice and employment issues, among others. In doing so, business has always neglected the bigger picture which which is society. Inward-looking, big business’s interest has always been myopic. Hence, the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

Yet, in order to enjoy their wealth, they haven’t stopped short of making sure that the political system clamps down on criminals, forgetting that they are actually more culpable! As Peter Tosh puts it succinctly, “Everyone is talking about crime. But tell me, Who are the criminals?” When society is able to find the REAL criminals and decisively deal with them, then there will be, as Tosh put it, “Equal Rights and Justice”. Then criminal activity will be curtailed. It is true that the political institution bears a great responsibility. Yet as players in the economic institution, we can’t extricate ourselves from sharing that responsibility.

Historical records abound with the relationship between big commercial interests and religion. For instance, merchants rode on the back of religionists to economically and politically colonise Africa and other lands. And to date, things haven’t changed. The influence of big business on the morality and otherwise of churchgoers, for instance, can be seen during religious harvests. in church. At that time, some business tycoons with a questionable character who even hardly go to church are made chairpersons or given other “honourable” roles so they can make generous donations. And they revel in such recognition. Furthermore, several businesses, especially, in Africa have used religious slogans for the success of their businesses, giving the impression that it’s from God.

What the youths have learned from all this is that money is the most important thing. And it is God who grants it.  Further, it doesn’t matter how you make it. After all, even if you commit the most heinous sin and take a huge sum of cash to the pastor to pray for you, God will forgive you. With that kind of example, can we expect the youth to take pride in virtue?

The educational system or institution (and here emphasis is on formal education) has been deemed to be the sole responsibility of government. Yet, apart from big business benefiting from the patronage of their goods and services by students, they expect them to form their human resource base. Yet how much does big business contribute to improving education itself and educational facilities? However, they are quick to point out how the polytechnics and universities are unable to train students to meet changing work needs. So, when the youth come out and they have no jobs, can big business claim innocence? Hardly! Hence when the youth get frustrated and vent their dejection in unpalatable ways, would their arrest and processing for court and possible jail terms solve the problem? They may even come out of prison more dangerous than before they went there. Besides, while there, the taxpayer’s money that could have helped support some urgent social needs would be going to maintain prison facilities and personnel!

Apart from that, because big business does not look at the larger picture, they have not changed their old ways of doing things. Meanwhile, as Albert Einstein put it, it is “Insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This means that productivity is left at mediocre levels and so jobs cannot be created to absorb the teeming youths. Well, as you know, the Devil finds work for the idle hand!

One institution that business has had a very intense impact on is the Marital Institution. Big business hardly gives consideration to how it has impacted this very important institution in society. Spouses are transferred even when their partners cannot possibly move with them. Married people are made to work long hours and sometimes deep into the night. Even if this does not necessarily lead to immorality, it breeds mutual suspicion between marriage mates. And this has led to the dissolution of some marriages. And where they decide not to, they are trapped in an unhappy relationship.

On the other hand, as noted earlier, since parents are hardly available to bring up their children, they are left to secondary socialization agents who may be feeding them with wrong ideas. Should business not take responsibility if these children later become problem-children or if they are emotionally unstable and so indulge in socially unacceptable behaviour?

Are we taking these lessons seriously? It is time for all-and-sundry to begin looking at the bigger picture in order to figure out the best possible solution. The world is sitting on a time-bomb. And I’m inclined to believe that world leaders are aware of that. The role that social media played in the UK riots and in the Arab Springs should alert us that anything is possible in these highly unpredictable times. And big business has a big role to play. We must eschew the selfish ways we’ve done things in the past. For then, everyone will have a measure of satisfaction.

Please check out the lyrics in this song by Bob Marley titled “So Much Trouble in the World” released in 1979, and try to figure out who the cornerstone might be:

“Bless my eyes this morning JAH sun is on the rise once again The way earthly things are going Anything can happen You see men sailing on their ego trips Blast off on their spaceships Million miles from reality No care for you, no care for me…. All you’ve got to do is give a little give a little, give a little….So you think you have found the solution But it’s just another illusion So before you check out your tide Don’t leave another cornerstone standing there behind We have got to face the day, come what may We the street people talking, we the people struggling Now they are sitting on a time bomb Now I know the time has come What goes up must come down Goes around comes around There is so much trouble in the world”.

The author is CEO/Managing Partner at Soleil Consults (US), LLC, a Strategy, Management and ICT firm.

www.soleilvision.com