Politics: Vandals At The Gates Of America

(Drivebycuriosity) - Everyday I read reports about riots in the US. There is nationwide a wave of vandalizing, looting & pillaging driven by the black-lives-matter and antifa movements. These riots are part of a global trend. A certain kind of people, often very young, engages in violent attacks on the society, using politics, inequality, race, climate & environment as excuse for looting & pillaging.

This is going on for years. During the G20 meetings in August 2017 in Hamburg, Germany, activists - often masked - vandalized the streets, they looted and set fires on buildings and one super-market burned out (cnn). In March 2019 in Paris activists - called Yellow Vests- looted shops and set them on fire (scmp ). In October 2019 in Chile started a series of violent protests against the government (wikipedia ). Recently a routine drug arrest in Stuttgart, Germany, erupted into violent riots and widespread looting ( cnn). Rioters, moving through the city in small groups also targeted city property by damaging billboards and spraying graffiti. At least 30 stores were damaged and non reported looting. 12 police cars were “massively damaged”.

The riots seem to have different causes, but they are all against government, against corporations, against the “establishment” and often driven by the lust of destructing things.

The ongoing anti-government protests in Hong Kong fit into this pattern. Activists attacked the airport, vandalized subway stations and blocked the streets ( scmp). The threw stones & Molotov cocktails ( cbsnews). These actions didn’t harm the far away government in Beijing, they harmed the citizens of Hong Long & their visitors. Harmless tourists, who have nothing to do with China & her politics, got stranded and endanger. Hong Kong’s economy is suffering, reducing incomes & jobs from normal citizens.

President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other US politicians are abusing the Hong Kong riots as excuse for harassing China. They seem to fraternize with the Hong Kong rioters. Apparently Trump, Pompeo & Co. ignore that the Hong Kong riots are the same kind as the riots in Portland, New York City, Hamburg & Paris.

The wave of protests in the US is already harming the US economy and destroying American incomes and jobs. In Manhattan´s once classy Soho district are many shops still closed behind boards covered with graffiti. It seems that a spreading lawless system is discouraging doing business in the US.