Abstract
This chapter examines the relationship between social media, subculture identity and the 2011 riots in Bristol. The first part of the chapter situates the events in terms of their social, urban, economic and political context. The term ‘riot subculture’ is adopted to loosely ascribe those individuals and groups who express support, or sympathy, for these riots and/or riots more generally. The second part of the chapter draws on empirical research concerning the April 2011 riots that broke out in Stokes Croft, an inner-city part of Bristol UK. The findings show how individuals and groups produce knowledge about the riots that differ on alternative forms of media.
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Notes
- 1.
J. McCarthy, ‘An Eye-witness Account of the Bristol Stokes Croft/Tesco Riot’ [blog], 24 April 2011: http://louderthanwar.com/an-eye-witness-account-of-the-bristol-stokes-crofttescos-riot-from-kerry-mccarthy-mp/. For details of the social media comments not referenced in the text, please contact the author (McCarthy 2011).
- 2.
J. Taphouse, ‘BRISTOL RIOT: My Experience’, 22 April 2011:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathantaphouse/5653010825/ [accessed: 25 August 2011] (Taphouse 2011).
- 3.
Beleaga, ‘It all started on social media: #bristol’s #stokescroft riots’, 30 December, 2011: http://www.interhacktives.com/2011/12/30/it-all-started-on-social-media-bristols-stokescroft-riots/ [accessed: 2 May 2011] (Beleaga 2011).
- 4.
S. Hinton and L. Hjorth, Understanding Social Media (London, 2013) (Hinton and Hjorth 2013).
- 5.
D. Murthy, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age (London, 2013) (Murthy 2013).
- 6.
J. Halliday, ‘David Cameron considers banning suspected rioters from social media’, The Guardian, 11 August, 2011 (Halliday 2011).
- 7.
R. Procter, F. Vis and A. Voss, ‘Reading the riots on Twitter: Methodological innovation for the analysis of big data’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(3) (2013), 197–214 (Procter et al. 2013).
- 8.
P. N. Howard, A. Duffy, D. Freelon, M. W. Hussain, W. Mari and M. Mazaid, ‘Opening closed regimes: What was the role of social media during the Arab Spring?’ Social Science Research Network (2012): http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2595096 [accessed: 12 June 2015] (Howard et al. 2012).
- 9.
L. Rice, ‘Occupied space’, Architectural Design, 83, 6 (2013), 70–75 (Rice 2013).
- 10.
J. O. Hearns-Branaman, ‘The Egyptian revolution did not take place: On live television coverage by Al Jazeera English’, International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, 9, 1 (2012), 14 (Hearns-Branaman 2012).
- 11.
O. Bowcott and H. Clifton, ‘Facebook riot calls earn men four-year jail terms amid sentencing outcry’ (2011): http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/16/facebook-riot-calls-men-jailed [accessed: 1 September 2014] (Bowcott and Clifton 2011); T. Whitehead and N. Bunyan, ‘Facebook riot inciters among those to get toughest jail terms yet’ (2011), Daily Telegraph online http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8705212/Facebook-riot-inciters-among-those-to-get-toughest-jail-terms-yet.html [accessed: 1 September 2014] (Whitehead and Bunyan 2011).
- 12.
Blackberry is the generic trademark name of a mobile phone manufacturer.
- 13.
P. Lewis, T. Newburn, M. Taylor, C. Mcgillivray, A. Greenhill, H. Frayman and R. Procter, Reading the Riots: investigating England’s Summer of Disorder (London, 2011): http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf [accessed: 14 February 2015] (Lewis et al. 2011).
- 14.
G. Debord, Society of the Spectacle (Detroit, 1983) (Debord 1983).
- 15.
E. Schmidt and J. Cohen, The New Digital Age: Reshaping The Future of People, Nations and Business (Toronto, 2013) (Schmidt and Cohen 2013).
- 16.
H. Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture (New York, 2006) (Jenkins 2006).
- 17.
Schmidt and Cohen, The New Digital Age, p. 4.
- 18.
N. Chomsky, On Anarchism (New York, 2013) (Chomsky 2013).
- 19.
T. Jordan, Cyberpower: The Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet (London, 1999) (Jordan 1999).
- 20.
W.C. Hale, ‘Extremism on the World Wide Web: A research review’, Criminal Justice Studies, 25, 4 (2012), 343–56 (Hale 2012).
- 21.
D. Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London, 1988) (Hebdige 1988).
- 22.
S. Thornton, ‘General Introduction’, in K. Gelder and S. Thornton (eds.) The Subcultures Reader (London, 1997), pp. 1–10 (Thornton 1997).
- 23.
Hebdige, Subculture.
- 24.
- 25.
S. van Gelder, This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement (San Francisco, 2011) (van Gelder 2011).
- 26.
- 27.
P. Bourdieu and T. Eagleton, ‘Doxa and common life’, New Left Review, 191, (1992), p. 21 (Bourdieu and Eagleton 1992); M. Castells, The Rise of the Network Society. Volume 1 (Oxford, 1997) (Castells 1997); E. Michelson, ‘Carnival, paranoia and experiential learning’, Studies in the Education of Adults, 31(2) (1999), 140–54 (Michelson 1999); M. Foucault, The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, Volume 1 (London, 1998) (Foucault 1998).
- 28.
J. Klausen, ‘Tweeting the Jihad: Social media networks of Western foreign fighters’, Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38(1) (2015), 1–22 (Klausen 2015).
- 29.
- 30.
A. Tallon, Urban Regeneration In The UK (London, 2010) (Tallon 2010); P. J. Larkham and H. Barrett, ‘Conservation of the built environment under the Conservatives’, in P. Allmendinger and H. Thomas (eds.), Urban Planning and the British New Right (London, 1998), pp. 53–86 (Larkham and Barrett 1998).
- 31.
M. Clement, ‘Rage against the market: Bristol’s Tesco Riot’, Race & Class, 53(3) (2012), 81–90 (Clement 2012).
- 32.
Clement, ‘Rage against the market’, 81–90; K. Dutta, ‘Police raid over “petrol bomb plot” sparks Tesco riots’ (2011): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-raid-over-petrol-bomb-plot-sparks-tesco-riots-2273727.html [accessed: 12 October 2013] (Dutta 2011); P. Kemp, 11) ‘Tesco riot drives call for supermarket planning review’, BBC Online, 19 May 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13431552 [accessed: 21 May 2014] (Kemp 2011).
- 33.
D. Winterman, ‘Tesco: How one supermarket came to dominate’, BBC Online, 13 September 2013: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13431552 [accessed: 21 Oct 2014] (Winterman 2013).
- 34.
Local Boy, ‘Observing the Stokes Croft Riot’ (2011):
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/local-boy/observing-stokes-croft-riot [accessed: 2 June 2011] (Local Boy 2011).
- 35.
Local Boy, ‘Observing the Stokes Croft Riot’; G. Miller, ‘The Stokes Croft Riots – Three years later…’ [blog] 18 April 2014: https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/the-stokes-croft-riots-three-years-later/ [accessed: 21 July 2015] (Local Boy 2014).
- 36.
L. Penny, ‘On Tesco and the Battle of Stokes Croft’, News Statesman (2011): http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2011/04/stokes-croft-police-tesco [accessed: 14 May 2011] (Penny 2011).
- 37.
Beleaga, ‘It all started on social media …’
- 38.
McCarthy, ‘An Eye-witness account …’
- 39.
Penny, ‘On Tesco and the Battle of Stokes Croft’.
- 40.
Penny, ‘On Tesco and the Battle of Stokes Croft’.
- 41.
Taphouse, ‘BRISTOL RIOT’.
- 42.
R. Hansen (cited in) BBC, ‘Police hurt in violent anti-Tesco clashes in Bristol’, 22 April 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-13167041 [accessed: 7 July 2015] (Hansen 2011).
- 43.
BBC, ‘Police hurt in violent anti-Tesco clashes in Bristol’.
- 44.
Neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’ (2011): http://neurobonkers.com/2011/04/22/the-battle-of-stokes-croft/ (Neurobonkers 2011).
- 45.
The Posie Parker, comment posted in Taphouse, ‘BRISTOL RIOT’:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathantaphouse/5653010825/ [accessed: 25 August 2011]; Ben, comment posted in Neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’ http://neurobonkers.com/2011/04/22/the-battle-of-stokes-croft/ [blog] 18 April 2011 [accessed: 21 July 2011].
- 46.
Clement, ‘Rage against the market’, 81–90.
- 47.
McCarthy, ‘An eye-witness account …’
- 48.
Local Boy, ‘Observing the Stokes Croft Riot’.
- 49.
Penny, ‘On Tesco and the Battle of Stokes Croft’.
- 50.
McCarthy, ‘An eye-witness account …’
- 51.
Taphouse, ‘BRISTOL RIOT’; Clement, ‘Rage against the market’, 81–90
- 52.
R. Legg, ‘The Battle of Stokes Croft: an account of the riot. A first-hand account of last night’s dramatic riots and police aggression in Stokes Croft, Bristol’ 22 April 2011: http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/163-resisting-austerity/12066-the-battle-of-stokes-croft-an-account-of-the-riot [accessed: 21 April 2011] (Legg 2011).
- 53.
Flora [comment posted in] neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’: http://neurobonkers.com/2011/04/22/the-battle-of-stokes-croft/ [blog] 18 April 2011 [accessed: 21 July 2011] (Flora 2011).
- 54.
Laz [comment posted in] neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’: http://neurobonkers.com/2011/04/22/the-battle-of-stokes-croft/ [blog] 18 April 2011 [accessed: 21 July 2011] (Laz 2011).
- 55.
Scott [comment posted in] McCarthy, ‘An eye witness account …’.
- 56.
Flora [comment posted in] neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’.
- 57.
S. Allen, ‘Bristol City council must support the community and reject Tesco’, The Guardian. 22 April 2011: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/apr/22/bristol-riot-tesco [accessed: 14 May 2011] (Allen 2011).
- 58.
N. H. Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review (Cambridge, 2007) (Stern 2007).
- 59.
UK Public Order Act 1986, (Section 1: Riot) Crown Prosecution Service:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/public_order_offences/#General_Principle [accessed: 1 October 2014].
- 60.
UK Public Order Act 1986, (Section 1: Riot) Crown Prosecution Service:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/public_order_offences/#General_Principle [accessed: 1 October 2014].
- 61.
L. Rice, J. Davies and M. Cains, Bristol Riots (Bristol, 2011) (Rice et al. 2011).
- 62.
Martin [comment posted in] R. Gallagher, ‘Reporting a riot in Britain: How the police spun the Battle of Stokes Croft’ (2011): https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ryan-gallagher/reporting-riot-in-britain-how-police-spun-battle-of-stokes-croft [accessed: 12 June 2011] (Martin 2011).
- 63.
N. Davies, Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media (London, 2011) (Davies 2011).
- 64.
Penny, ‘On Tesco and the Battle of Stokes Croft’.
- 65.
Office of Communications (Ofcom) Broadcast Code, 2015; National Union of Journalists ethical code, 2011; BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2015.
- 66.
R. Gallagher, ‘Reporting a riot in Britain’.
- 67.
BBC, ‘England riots: Government mulls social media controls’, BBC 11 August 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14493497 [accessed: 29 November 2014] (BBC 2011).
- 68.
Gallagher, ‘Reporting a riot in Britain’; Laz [comment posted in] neurobonkers, ‘The Battle of #StokesCroft’; Martin [comment posted in] ‘Reporting a Riot in Britain’.
- 69.
Beleaga, ‘It all started on social media’.
- 70.
M. McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Massachusetts, 1994) (McLuhan 1994).
- 71.
U. Flick, An Introduction To Qualitative Research (London, 2009) (Flick 2009).
- 72.
G. Rose, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Interpreting Visual Objects (London, 2007), p. xiv (Rose 2007).
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Twitter References
@20thCFlicks (2011) #Stokescroft Friend hit across face with riot shield and struck with baton 1 metre from home. Ear stitched. Bad po. [Twitter]. 22 April. https://twitter.com/20thCFlicks/status/61357009844449281 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@AaronBastani (2011) #twitter claims #stokescroft riots, police say “it is unfortunate a minority gathered and attacked officers” Police bullshit. Standard. [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/61217187163148288 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@b9AcE (2011) BBC, the UK state and police PR agency. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-13167041 #stokescroft [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/b9AcE/status/61273390949994496 [Accessed: 12 June 2015].
@benpark (2011) This #Stokescroft riot is really kicking off. Twitter tells me there may have been one arrest, and possibly no injuries. [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/BenPark/status/61217946629976064?lang=en-gb [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@Bristol247 (2011) Huge spike in traffic overloaded poor server - back up now. Seems people rather interested in #stokescroft riot http://ow.ly/4EW62 [Twitter]. 22 April. [Available from:] https://twitter.com/bristol247/status/61369292842741760 [Accessed: 14 June 2011].
@BristolFloozie (2011) Hugely aggressive policing on #stokescroft - protester fleeing with head wounds [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/BristolFloozie/status/61216130513125376 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@BrumProtestor (2011) Twitter has been great tonight, thanks to all #stokescroft people tweeting, fuck you mainstream media, we don’t need you anymore [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/brumprotestor/status/61229511764750336 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@CasparBrown (2011a) #stokescroft police brutality is mental, saw a 16 year old boy beaten by batons whilst unarmed and on the floor. whats wrong with the world [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/CasparBrown/status/61257545024671744 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@CasparBrown (2011b) #stokescroft @BBCBreaking manage to cover wedding suits but not an important riot against capitalist oppression. ITS A JOKE [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/CasparBrown/status/61263453683331072 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@CasparBrown (2011c) how are no news channels picking up this riot #stokescroft [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/CasparBrown/status/61258181468356608 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@Cutl00se (2011) #stokescroftriot Police car attacked by revellers http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=0cdScUCPIzI … [Twitter]. 22 April. https://twitter.com/Cutl00se/status/61548187214807040 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@DSG_DSG (2011) ENJOY SAX / DESTROY CAPITALISM #stokescroft. [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/DSG_DSG/status/61223564606578688 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@efergan (2011) stone and fireworks being thrown at the [police] vans, bins being set on fire [tumbler] 22 April. Available from: http://efergan.tumblr.com/post/4833274687/stokescroftriot [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@GuyAitchison (2011a) Fuck all about #stokescroft riot in the mainstream media. Thank god for Twitter. [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/GuyAitchison/status/61210593411072000 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@GuyAitchison (2011b) BBC coverage of #stokescroft riots is a recycled police press release http://bbc.in/fn9t0p http://bit.ly/hAwLZw via @TenPercent [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/GuyAitchison/status/61237105996730368 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@HeinzJunkins (2011) missed all the madness at #StokesCroft tonight. watching it all now > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O46-k00I_nU [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/HeinzJunkins/status/61300893227823104 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@ignite_magazine (2011) Wow, with everything going on in the world it’s awesome that the main story on my feed tonight was #stokescroft thanks to all #solidarity [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/ignite_magazine/status/61269925049798656 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@immorali (2011) “While there was a proper riot in Bristol, folks from mainstream media were hooked on crack cocaine on the couch. #stokescroft” [Twitter]. 21 April. https://twitter.com/immorali/status/61262487647031297 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@jennieloveday (2011) Wow, amazing that Twitter is actually a better news source than the BBC. It’s all so selective and biased! #stokescroft [Twitter]. 2 April. https://twitter.com/jennieloveday/status/61354209634816000?lang=en-gb [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@marc_in_london (2011) Stokescroft riots - the timeline. [Storify]. 22 April. https://storify.com/marc_in_london/stokescroft-riots-the-timeline [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@meowist_gorilla (2011) The absence of proper media coverage is like living in fucking China or North Korea. [Twitter]. 21 April. [Original tweet deleted - copy cited in:] https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ryan-gallagher/reporting-riot-in-britain-how-police-spun-battle-of-stokes-croft [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@mtdavies23 (2011) @Hdfisise It’s really eye-opening to see the BBC just copy-paste the police PR. #stokescroft. [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/mtdavies23/status/61246713704353793 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@paddy_wagon (2011) All I can find on the BBC, practically written by the police. We get news from Misrata but not #stokescroft http://tinyurl.com/3kgdks6 [Twitter]. 22 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/search?q=%20%40paddy_wagon%20%20misrata&src=typd [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@pearcafe (2011a) 10+ riot vans, police in full riot gear with shields. Mad atmosphere. #stokescroft http://twitpic.com/4nqd7o [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/pearcafe/status/61177857279401984 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@pearcafe (2011b) Squat on #stokescroft is being evicted. ‘Copter above us for half an hour. 10+ riot vans.Road closed http://twitpic.com/4nqawe [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/pearcafe/status/61175373869752321 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@robjmills (2011) seems the only good source of information for what’s going down in Bristol right now is the #stokescroft hashtag. [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/robjmills/status/61218013722066944 [Accessed: 25 August 2011].
@rossoh (2011a) They’re breaking into tesco again. police have driven off. #stokescroft. [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from https://twitter.com/rossoh/status/61252377608585216 [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@rossoh (2011b) looks like I’m not gonna get to sleep any time soon. Though at least the saxaphone players on the bus stop are soothing - #stokescroft [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/rossoh/status/61236658103787520 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@sam_binga (2011) BEST PRE PARTY EVER!!! #stokescroftriot [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/sam_binga/status/61198311847239682 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@SDMumford (2011) Looks to me like the media has been ordered not to run the #StokesCroft riot story. Sounds to me completely botched by the police. [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/SDMumford/status/61339114112421888 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@SirioCD (2011) all bbc can say is 4 police officers hurt? No mention of Tesco’s or police brutality? bbc.in/gLt7V5 #stokescroft. [Twitter]. 22 April. [Original tweet deleted - copy available at:] https://storify.com/marc_in_london/stokescroft-riots-the-timeline?awesm=sfy.co_5On&utm_campaign=marc_in_london&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=direct-sfy.co [Accessed: 30 August 2011].
@smasherkins (2011) We’ve been chanting ‘you’re sexy, you’re cute, take off your riot suit!’ but no avail. The police have no sense of humour. #stokescroft [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/smasherkins/status/63754077133225984 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@soundmigration (2011) BBC copy and paste Churnalism from Police PRO’s around #Stokescroft. Same process as in Ireland http://twitpic.com/4nsu5u [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/soundmigration/status/61240697390501888 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@spooklouder (2011) Thank fuck for twitter #stokescroft [Twitter]. 21 April. Available from: https://twitter.com/spooklouder/status/61228544554057728 [Accessed: 12 June 2011].
@StokesCroftNews (2011a) Also, how nice to see #stokescroft up there on the TT’s next to Bieber and Finding Nemo! [Twitter]. 22 April. [Available from:] https://twitter.com/StokesCroftNews/status/61267319166472192 [Accessed: 14 June 2011].
@StokesCroftNews (2011b) Is all the focus on Tesco #stokescroft distracting from what the real debate should be - did police heavy-handedness contribute to the riot? [Twitter]. 27 April. [Available from:] https://twitter.com/StokesCroftNews/status/63203946881236992 [Accessed: 14 June 2011].
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Rice, L. (2017). The Language of the Unheard: Social Media and Riot Subculture/s. In: Gildart, K., et al. Youth Culture and Social Change. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52911-4_3
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