NATIONAL DAILY

July 24, 2008

London: Living on the edge of a knife

By KELECHI DECA

LONDON is a beautiful city. Undoubtedly, the most metropolitan of all mega cities in the world. It is the most visitor friendly city in the world judging from how fast new comers integrate into the system. It takes between four to five weeks for a stranger, language differences notwithstanding to fit into London's life-style. However, all is not well with London. Perhaps there should be a travel warning from Chief Ojo Maduekwe if he is serious with his citizen's diplomacy, because whatever affects London affects Nigeria deeply. London is making the wrong kind of news; it is fast acquiring the identity of a city of the short knives. In 2008 alone, close to 20 teenagers have been senselessly stabbed to death in what the British authorities, have described as a sweeping sub-culture. This does not include adults whose lives have been knifed out by a blood thirsty generation bent on painting the city red with the blood of their victims to match with the colour of the roofs and bricks London is famous for. A friend told me that before I finish writing this article, another youth will be stabbed, and he was right. Before I was through with the article, 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend was reportedly stabbed to death by three male assailants armed with a baseball bat. Police found him with a number of stab wounds in the entrance to a block of flats after receiving a call from a member of the public.

Another 16-year-old, Ben Kinsella, was stabbed to death in Islington, north London, and last Sunday after a fight in a night-club. But none shocked the entire world more than the murders of two French students who were found stabbed to death in a charred London flat. They were bound and stabbed severally before being set ablaze by their attackers. The bound and battered bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found in the ground-floor flat in New Cross, southeast London, on Sunday when emergency services were called to the fire.

Bonomo had been stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez suffered around 50 wounds in a prolonged ordeal. They were said to be dead before the fire took hold. The two students -- both biochemists from a university in Clermont-Ferrand, central France -- were on a short exchange programme at London's prestigious Imperial College. One of the latest was 15 year old teen, Arsema Dawit, violently stabbed with a knife. Her body was found in a lift near Waterloo station in south London. Kids are calling it the latest fashion. The London communities are calling it shocking, heartbreaking and looking for a way to curb this latest crime spree. Knife murders of teens. Like a plague, murder by knife has become the order of the day in London. There are speculations that being able to kill someone by stabbing him as many times as one could raises one's status within the gang .Gang members say killing someone is like a status symbol. It's in fashion, and truly so because the authorities are at a loss as to how to go about it. They don't have an answer. Last Saturday an anti violence rally was held. Mark Prince who spoke to those that attended spoke of forgiveness for the person who stabbed his son Kiyan, 15, to death. Anti gun campaigner Pat Regan who was supposed to address the rally could not make it. She was found murdered on the floor of her flat on June 2, stabbed by her grandson. Little wonder London's officials are desperate to find solutions. Last Tuesday around 400 protesters marched along Upper Street in Islington to the scene of the killing to demand an end to knife crime.

With so many kids under the age of 18 committing these knife murders, British officials are said to be looking at dropping the age for penalties to 16. They are also considering outlawing blades over 3 inches long. Many think this is going about the problem wrong. They think that more boxing and activity halls would be the answer. Keeping kids busy and involved would take the place of acting out such violent acts on society. No one has a definitive reason as to why the knife murders have exploded in London. And see no easy way to curb it. According to one MP, when people wanted to outlaw guns, others said that they would just be replaced with a knife. That was laughed over. But from this new "fashion" and what is happening, the chicken has come home to roost. But if a knife is no longer available, what will they use? Commentators have noted that it is not the object that is used to commit these violent acts that is the matter; it is the heart and mind of the person using them. Most of these teenagers are always under the influences of substances that cheapen life thus nothing that is barred, banned or illegal is likely to work.

The British authorities are playing Ostrich in the face of this knife menace .As long as the British government continue to usurp the role of parents, majority of who have been kept perpetually busy by the system to even know what is going on in their children's mind. Teenage pregnancies, substance abuse, knifing and vicious street gangs will continue. Something is definitely wrong with the British educational system that many of our so-called elite private schools are aping. Unfortunately some of the victims are of African descent, children of our brothers who were taken there to escape the “rot” in Nigeria. A teacher friend at Enfield, Borough of London told me that the first telephone number kids are taught at school is 999.And they are advised to call the number whenever anybody beats or shouts at them in a manner they don't like. Teachers are warned to prevent any physical contact with the pupils and if any child misbehaves, the teacher should call the Police. What a system.

According to Ronald Reagan, volatile minds are not supposed to be in possession of dangerous weapon. And no mind is as dangerous as that of a child left to decipher what is right and wrong. Anyone who has ever raised a child knows that doing so without the cane will surely lead to a casualty. That is what London is paying for now. The Police said 1,214 people have been arrested in London during a six-week crackdown on knife crime and officers have found 528 knives after conducting nearly 27,000 searches during Operation Blunt 2, launched after Boris Johnson was elected London Mayor in May pledging to tackle knife crime in the capital.

A 75-strong anti-knife squad to target "known gang members and their associates have been formed by Scotland Yard, this has proved to be cosmetic because within the last 72 hours more teens have been attacked and killed than before, any discerning observer of the deterioration family values in Britain knows that this is the result of an ultra liberal educational policy that empowers three year olds to rule their world.`d