Contents

• Evan Calder Williams; An Open Letter to Those Who Condemn Looting (Part I); Tuesday, 9 August 2011.

  Author of Combined and Uneven Apocalypse and 'charming man' Evan Calder Williams on the London riots: 'It is brutal that people are so cut off from access to bare necessities that they have to sell drugs and are consequently jailed for life for doing so. It is brutal that a family watches their home burn because of a riot. It is brutal that police shot first. It is brutal that people need to defend their stores with baseball bats, in fear of losing them. It is brutal that people have to spend their lives working in those stores, in fear of losing them.'

• Russell Brand; Big Brother isn't watching you; Thursday, 11 August 2011.

  The comedian's rather excellent piece on the London riots written from his home in LA.

• Owen Hatherley; Something has snapped, and it has been a long time coming; Friday, 12 August 2011.

  Author of Militant Modernism and A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain on the London riots: 'Over the last few years, the ruling class has kept trying to commit suicide—financial crisis, expenses scandal, News International, the Met, financial crisis mark two—and most of us won't let them. We'd rather Keep Calm and Carry On. These kids, venal and stupid as some of their actions obviously are, don't want to carry on. They want to see the whole bloody thing burn.'

• David Harvey; Feral Capitalism Hits the Streets; Friday, 12 August 2011.

• John Hutnyk; 22 notes on ‘the disturbances™ in London’; Weds, 10 August 2011.

• Alex Callinicos; A Few Thoughts About the Riots; Wednesday, 10 August 2011.
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• anthropologie du présent; Emeutes à Londres (Battersea, Lewisham, Cabden, Kilburn, Croydon), Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol – 8 aout 2011 – les vidéos; August 2011.

  A thorough collection of videos from the riots.

• Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth; Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009; August 2011.

  Reflections on the historical connection between budget cuts and social instability. Incredibly timely.

• principiadialectica.co.uk; some notes on ‘the Flaneur amok’; 15 March.

  A concept developed by Robert Kurz in a different context but worth thinking in relation to the riots.

• Chris Harman; The Summer of 1981: a post-riot analysis; Autumn 1981.

  Reflections on the 1981 riots.

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• Nina Power; There is a context to London’s riots that can’t be ignored; Monday, 8 August, 2011.
• Tom Vague; King Mob and the Gordon Riots; August 2011.

  Tom Vague’s classic historical sweep from the Gordon Riots in 1780 to punk and Reclaim the Streets.

• Jean Baudrillard; Pyres of Autumn; January/February 2006.

  Baudrillard here calls the French riots of 2005 ‘successive phases of a revolt whose end is not in sight.’

• Situationist International; The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle-Commodity Economy; December 1965.

  The Situationists' classic analysis of the Watts riots.

• Mary Riddell; London riots: the underclass lashes out; Monday, 8 August, 2011.
• Stafford Scott; If the rioting was a surprise, people weren't looking; Monday, 8 August, 2011.
• Sarah Carr; Love me I’m a looter; Tuesday, 9 August, 2011.

  Thoughtful reflections on living in Croydon and the riots.