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bemused_leftisthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-egyptians-swap-views
Mosa'ab Elshamy, tweeted in frustration at those likening the British riots to the Arab Spring. "Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for [police brutality victim] Khaled Said and [Tunisian street vendor Mohamed] Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players."
[....]
For Simon Hanna, a London-born Egyptian journalist who reported on, and participated in the anti-Mubarak protests, the clashes in London were fundamentally different from those of 25 January, the day Egypt's grassroots revolt began.
But he thought some of the root causes could be similar. "I think it's insulting to compare the Egyptian uprising, which was entirely political with clear goals, to a bunch of angry poor youths in London stealing trainers. But there's no escaping the fact that on some level they are both fuelled by inequality. I joined the Tahrir [Square] protests but I would never dream of joining the London riots.
"Yet if a protest movement that targeted inequality arose out of this unrest then I would be on board … these rioters are mindless opportunists but through their actions they might actually get British society thinking."
[....]
[Another] agreed, adding that the actions of looters in London compared unfavourably to the way Egyptians behaved when police were beaten off the streets. "On 28 January [when Mubarak's security forces had to withdraw from the streets] there were no police anywhere and yet there was still less looting than we've seen now in Britain.
Mosa'ab Elshamy, tweeted in frustration at those likening the British riots to the Arab Spring. "Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for [police brutality victim] Khaled Said and [Tunisian street vendor Mohamed] Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players."
[....]
For Simon Hanna, a London-born Egyptian journalist who reported on, and participated in the anti-Mubarak protests, the clashes in London were fundamentally different from those of 25 January, the day Egypt's grassroots revolt began.
But he thought some of the root causes could be similar. "I think it's insulting to compare the Egyptian uprising, which was entirely political with clear goals, to a bunch of angry poor youths in London stealing trainers. But there's no escaping the fact that on some level they are both fuelled by inequality. I joined the Tahrir [Square] protests but I would never dream of joining the London riots.
"Yet if a protest movement that targeted inequality arose out of this unrest then I would be on board … these rioters are mindless opportunists but through their actions they might actually get British society thinking."
[....]
[Another] agreed, adding that the actions of looters in London compared unfavourably to the way Egyptians behaved when police were beaten off the streets. "On 28 January [when Mubarak's security forces had to withdraw from the streets] there were no police anywhere and yet there was still less looting than we've seen now in Britain.
