Saturday, January 26, 2008
Another bus set afire after an accident
It seems to happen all the time in Bangalore: A bus accidentally kills or injures a passer-by, and an angry mob materializes and sets the bus on fire.
Contrast this with recent incidents in San Francisco:
17 Jan 08: Streetcar kills man
30 Dec 07: Streetcar kills man
27 Dec 07: Bus kills student
In none of these cases did an angry mob materialize nor were transit vehicles attacked. When I was in Bangalore last year I asked a couple of people about this phenomenon, and of the riots that take place from time to time. He replied that there were simply a lot of dissatisfied poor people who are easily stirred up by troublemakers and provocateurs. I don't have much trouble understanding about the angry poor people, and I can even see the troublemakers -- thugs associated, perhaps, with a local politician, institution or crime-lord, people for whom literal rabble-rousing is part of their job description. Even in the US we have politicians and community figures in every city who can get a gang of people to a public hearing or demonstration without much trouble. But one thing they don't do is attack transit vehicles.
Contrast this with recent incidents in San Francisco:
In none of these cases did an angry mob materialize nor were transit vehicles attacked. When I was in Bangalore last year I asked a couple of people about this phenomenon, and of the riots that take place from time to time. He replied that there were simply a lot of dissatisfied poor people who are easily stirred up by troublemakers and provocateurs. I don't have much trouble understanding about the angry poor people, and I can even see the troublemakers -- thugs associated, perhaps, with a local politician, institution or crime-lord, people for whom literal rabble-rousing is part of their job description. Even in the US we have politicians and community figures in every city who can get a gang of people to a public hearing or demonstration without much trouble. But one thing they don't do is attack transit vehicles.
