Archive Of Attitude - Janette Beckman

In Chapter 43: Bug Out! we spoke to a whole range of colorful characters, including Janette Beckman, a photographer who came up at the same time, photographing the punk scene in the '70s and the early hiphop scene in the '80s. Now Janette has started a blog called "Archive Of Attitude," where she's begun slowly publishing some of the photographs that made her, as Ricky said, "a legend." Each one comes with a blurb that gives some insight to the image below, making it a bit of a jewel in terms of original content on the Internet. See it at JanetteBeckman.com.

In 1981 I was living in Streatham when the Brixton riots took place. The next day I walked down Railton Road and Electric Avenue, the streets were deserted, boarded up shops, smashed windows, burned out pubs and building. Similar circumstances in the riots all over the UK today : economic crisis, no jobs, racism, disenfranchised youth, public service cuts and same hatred for the police, same Molotov cocktails and missiles. Rioters these days wear hoodies and balaclavas to hide their faces from CCTV cameras and seem intent on looting the stores for mobile phones, video games and Carhartt clothing – seems like they have lost their political agenda. But as the Guardian online said today”A riot is neither a solution nor an unforeseen calamity but a problem brought to the surface: a manifestation of social angst and official failure.”