Our culture has degraded the ancient art of rhetoric to strap lines, sound bytes and spin. Or the noble art of rhetoric is diminished by the prior qualifier 'empty' or 'mere'. But every now and then there are examples of rhetoric at its best – humane, memorable, impassioned, reasoned, persuasive and above all ringing with truth. It happened yesterday.
Tariq Jahan, father of one of the young men killed by a hit and run driver while trying to defend their homes and businesses, spoke with immense courage and passion, out of deep wells of grief and bewilderment, but with a human dignity that was profoundly moving. And at one point, with a weight of seriousness perhaps only a bereaved parent could carry, he said, "Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, go home."
That is rhetoric – humane, memorable, impassioned, reasoned, persuasive and above all ringing with truth. And it is rhetoric that is neither empty nor mere – it was the instinctive skilled use of words that have been heated in the furnace of grief and tempered with the pain of loss. And at that moment, all that was in me was standing alongside Tariq Jahan, a noble and conciliatory presence in the midst of much that was ignoble, ugly, destructive and hate filled. Cultural pluralism, inter faith dialogue, ethnic diversity, racial equality, multiculturalism, communities of respected difference – use whatever phrases you like, a moment like that dissolves all our political posturings and sociological analyses and politically correct discourse and what we are left with is the cry of a human heart, a wail of anguish reduced to powerful words intended to stop such pain spreading to afflict others.
And as a follower of Jesus I stand alongside those neighbour friends in our country, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish and of no professed faith, and I hear that cry, and cry in fellowship at such tragic violence and inexplicable absurdity.
And today in Parliament the debate is about what caused the riots, how to control them, what to do in the aftermath. In time the reflection and learning will begin. Are the rioters angry or having fun? Is it the loss of civic and police control that has created opportunity for freeloading? Why are so many people angry, destructive and hell bent on vandalism and looting? What is the connection between economic recession and civil disorder? All seem to be agreed it is 'sheer criminality'? But that still doesn't answer the question why this upsurge in violent discontent, destructive looting, burning homes and businesses as the articulation of what – hatred, the resentment of the have-nots, the fun of knowing that looking through broken plate glass at a jewellers shop window filled with watches, those who have no money realise 'yes we can'? All of these, some of these, a mixture of these.
But what is beyond dispute is that three young men were killed in an act of callous violence while protecting property. And throughout the news coverage much has been made of the cost to the retail trade and the cost of repairing and replacing burned, stolen and wrecked goods, houses and cars. Not counting the cost of the police responses, estimated now into many millions not easily available in a service with huge cuts looming. There is something both sad and salutary when the cost of rioting is measured in the financial cost of burned houses when the real cost is communities searing with hostility against the system. Something unacceptable about cliches like 'feeling the full force of the law', when amongst the lawbreakers are those who reckon they have nothing to lose in a society that in their experience offers no hope, no open doors, no future chances to participate and have a stake in the local community and the wider society.
I'm excusing nothing. The riots and the looting, the violence and intimidation, the appetite for inflicting damage on people, the outpouring of hostility and rage – all are wrong, destructive and no part of a society in which mutual respect, consensual policing and political freedoms are key principles. But neither is there an excuse for political decisions and social consequences that are driven by an economic agenda that has ignored the actual costs to people who already see much of their lives constrained and controlled within a system that leaves little room for maneouvre and no effective voice for change.
It is against that chilling contrast of riot and politics, of criminal looting and inflexible economic policies, of community violence and communities under pressure, and the collision of despair and hopelessness on one hand, with the inequity of opportunity and life chances on the other, that the deaths of three young men are to be seen. because they died as a direct result of violence fomented on the streets. That violence needs not only explanation as to its originating motives; that violence also needs a response of moral vision and imagination to create a social environment where the dominant voice that is heard is not the roar of rage and the sound of violence. Blessed are the peacemakers – peacemaking is not populist politics, it is a social, moral and communal necessity. It is also the church's theological, ethical and missional imperative.
An update on this remarkable man can be read here