Operation Cup of Tea

We all know the power of social media, and will be aware of the massive impact Twitter and Facebook have had as devastating scenes have played out across Britain. It was truly heart wrenching to see the city I've grown up in destroyed, shops and businesses, areas of the city you visit on a daily basis ripped to shreds, never in my lifetime have I experienced anything on such a scale that was so devastating to so many people in my own town. I was completely hooked to my Twitter stream and the array of rolling news which unfolded as the saga continued. Twitter was awash with breaking news, and un-confirmed reports of rioting, looting and fires breaking out across the city.

Although social media is getting caught up in the blame for a lot of the debauchery scenes we've seen, with reports of rioting groups masterminding their meet ups via the social sphere, sending out messages to their peer group encouraging young and unruly children to join in; the social scene has also made way for community groups to stand up and be counted, with many joining the Twitter campaign to 'Clean up Britain'. Many spin off groups for different cities have emerged designed to unite the good Samaritans of the community and organise clean up groups that met across the country to put back what had been destroyed.

Along with the individual groups which emerged my favourite anti riot group had to be 'Operation Cup of Tea' a campaign masterminded by Sam Pepper of 'Big Brother fame'. The campaigns message was simply to harness the power of the British cup of tea, the campaign urged followers to stay home and have a brew until all the chaos had subsided. The campaign asked people to take a photo of themselves with their 'anti riot brew' and post their image to Facebook as a sign of solidarity against the rioting. At the time of posting this blog there were 328,791 people attending 'Anti Riot Operation Cup of Tea', and despite the subdued scenes of the last few days as the perpetrators of these events get their comeuppance, thousands are still joining the event, to show their support. On Twitter #OperationCupofTea has been trending across the country for days. The official website hosts its own Anti Riot Tea shop, where you can order emergency rations of tea, supplied by ethical tea specialist Luke Northy Baker and a 'Stay in and Drink Tea' t-shirt with all proceeds going towards the self titled charity, which aims to help businesses get back on their feet.



Sam Pepper, face behind the campaign, said:

As with many things in life, this all began with a simple cup of tea. During the rioting, we have been urging the Great British public to harness the power of tea by staying at home and having a brew, every night until it stops. Furthermore, we want everyone to take a photo of themselves in the act and post it to Facebook as a show of solidarity. If you don’t like tea, don’t worry – you can still join in, any hot drink will do – coffee, hot chocolate or Bovril will do. We’re not fussy.
Thankfully we received such an overwhelming level of support we decided to do a bit more: we have set up our own charity to help the people affected by the riots.
All you have to do to support us is buy your tea through this website; all profits will then be donated to the charity and be used to give people the help they need.