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All materials published and promoted by L Smith, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU
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Nobody gains from this kind of moral panic |
Ever since the pro-war Bishop of Rochester announced there were "no go" areas in cities across Britain, some sections of the media have been doing their bit to whip up a moral panic. Now Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has joined in, announcing there are places in London she would not dare to walk as a single woman.
No one can doubt that there are very serious problems of crime, particularly in our inner cities. But in order to address these and other problems rationally and therefore successfully, we need to put matters into context.
The first context is that of history. There certainly used to be areas of Tower Hamlets where it was risky to go if you were black or Asian because of the threat of racist attack. British National Party deputy leader Richard Edmonds was jailed only 15 years ago for glassing a black man in the face outside the old Blade Bone pub in the Bethnal Green Road. That black man’s crime – to have a white girl friend.
Twenty and thirty years ago football gangs used to rampage around the place – they had knives, cut throat razors, knuckle dusters, machetes and the rest.
There was no golden age when crime and violence were not a fact of life in London in general and East London in particular.
The attack by three Asian men on a white man on the Clichy Estate was terrible and is rightly condemned by everybody. Nonetheless, a lot of people live on the Clichy Estate and, believe me, they are not all cowering behind their curtains fearing to go out. The fact is that most people in Tower Hamlets, most of the time, are not victims of crime and violence, or live in fear of them.
There is a whiff of racism around this issue of “no go” areas. The areas that have been identified are often places racists don’t like because of their prevailing ethnic composition.
Moreover, there has been real progress here in Tower Hamlets. When I was young there was a school I knew where the white kids used to go out of the front gate and the Asian kids out the back, because the threat of violence was so great. Now it is a model school - mixed, integrated, multi-cultural and with good exam results.
The second context that is vitally important to understand is social. Here in Tower Hamlets, there are some 12,000 families who live in overcrowded conditions.
I meet parents, white, black and Asian, at my surgeries and in my ward every day who are ambitious for their children, but who despair that there is no place for them to study at home. Some of their children have to take it in turns to sleep because there is not enough space for them all to sleep at the same time. This is positively Victorian.
Unemployment amongst young people in this borough is up to almost one in five, and the jobs young people get are often low in pay and in esteem. And all of this is happening next to obscene wealth in the City and Canary Wharf. If we don’t address this social deprivation, we will only ever be papering over the cracks.
Even so, much can be done to reduce crime and violence. Properly designed and well-lit walkways, CCTV, Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) patrols are, for example, an important part of trying to make our estates and our streets safer.
We need to see the SNTs at times when people feel at their most vulnerable, in the evening, and we need to establish a network of estate wardens.
A lot of work is being done by social and community workers. “Community” is a vogue word with the government. But too often the ideas for strengthening communities come from men and women in suits who do not understand the first thing about the communities which they are addressing.
These are communities which are suffering multiple deprivation and, for many young people, loss of hope.
But there are many good people out there doing their best to restore hope and genuinely strengthen communities from the bottom up. Moral panics about no go areas do nothing to help their invaluable work, but instead reinforce stereotypes and the forces which have undermined these communities in the first place.
Abjol Miah
Respect Councillor
Respect candidate for Bethnal Green & Bow |
News and articles of interest
Here are some articles and news reports we think are worth looking at
Poll of polls shows Labour at its most unpopular since 1935 by Nigel Morris
Gordon Brown is leading Labour to its worst electoral defeat since the 1930s, according to a new "poll of polls" for The Independent. On current levels of support, Labour would lose almost half its MPs at the next election and David Cameron would become Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority. The backlash against Labour has left the party with the support of just 27 per cent of voters, the weighted average of last month's polls for The Independent shows.
Unmanned spy planes to police Britain by Kim Sengupta
The Government is drawing up plans to use unmanned "drone" aircraft currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to counter terrorism and aid police operations in Britain. The MoD is carrying out research and development to enable the spy planes, which are equipped with highly sophisticated monitoring equipment that allows them to secretly track and photograph suspects without their knowledge, to be deployed within three years.
The Camp for Climate Action, at Kingsnorth, Kent, 3rd to 11th August - full details
Wednesday 10 am update. Local MP Bob Marshall-Andrews condems police action at climate camp (see BBC article), saying "I find the use of police in riot gear incomprehensible and I think it was a mistake." He also described the actions of the police as "provocation."
Diego Garcia: the UK's shame by Andy Worthington
The ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus wrote: "In war, truth is the first casualty." These words are particularly apt in relation to the British Overseas Territory of Diego Garcia, leased to the United States in 1971, where the truth – that a secret "War on Terror" prison existed from 2002 until as recently as 2006 – has been persistently denied by both the British and American governments.
The Horror Of Israeli Occupation - documentary developed by Chaim Yavin
West Bank Checkpoints
A video clip that dramatically portrays the meeting of Israeli solders and Palestinians at controversial West Bank security checkpoints. This clip is the second of a series taken from "Land of the Settlers", the acclaimed documentary developed by Chaim Yavin, Israel's premier news anchor.
Anger at police raid on green camp ahead of coal protest by Matthew Taylor
Environmental campaigners and politicians criticised the police last night after around 200 officers raided a climate camp, seizing hundreds of items that they claimed could be used to break the law. Activists at the camp, which starts today with a series of workshops on sustainable energy and social justice, said the raid aimed to disrupt legitimate protest.
Morning Star Back on Track After Office Fire by Tomasz Pierscionek
In the early hours of Monday morning (last week), an electrical fire broke out at William Rust House, the East London office of the socialist newspaper the Morning Star. The fire, believed to have been caused by a malfunctioning air-conditioner, broke out at approximately 3am and caused considerable structural damage to both the interior of the Morning Star's newsroom and the equipment within, knocking out both electrical power and phone lines.
Venezuela Bridges Diplomatic Fissures and Polishes Alliances in European Tour by James Suggett
Rounding off a diplomatic tour of Europe that began with Tuesday's controversial visit in Russia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez mended relations with the Spanish government, set up a bi-national commerce commission with Portugal, and eliminated visa requirements to facilitate bilateral accords with Belarus this week.
Why David Cameron Blames the Poor by Peter Taylor-Gooby
David Cameron's 'blaming the poor' speech in Glasgow may be more than just an attempt to placate the unreconstructed right of the Conservative party. It is not often recognised how far British public opinion has shifted towards a liberal individualist stance on social issues in recent years. In some ways we are more Thatcherite under New Labour than we ever were under the Conservatives.
Star names set to top the bill at Carnegie Festival - Dunfermline Press
TWO of the best-known faces on television will be making personal appearances in Dunfermline next month as part of the inaugural Carnegie Festival, from 21st August to 7th September.
Evan Davis will be in dialogue with fiesty MP George Galloway in a conversation on Saturday, 23rd August, at 7.30pm in the Carnegie Hall. Tickets, priced £5, are available from the Carnegie Hall box office.
For more stories, click here
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