Sorry - just to break off from the Illustration world for a bit, but this writing from my friend Nazia Mirza is extraordinary and needs to be out there as much as possible. Nazia has spent many years working within social cohesion projects in London councils - she knows her stuff.
What the hell is happening? That seems to be the questions on most people’s lips, status updates and tweets as they look out of windows onto their neighbourhoods or watch the carnage broadcast live 24 hours on the news. How can people do this? Why? What are the Police doing? What’s happened to our country? Undoubtedly community cohesion (the lack of it that is) will be two words bandied about in the next few days, weeks and months as politicians, commentators and experts try and understand the factors that led to this explosion of violence on the streets of London and elsewhere. Arguments back and forth about how ‘its just thuggery, hang the bastards’ or ‘it’s the cuts that caused it’ to stern ‘how dare you try and make political gain out of it’ will ring through our ears before anyone makes sense of anything. Plus probably some comedy asking why rioters set fire to and looted their own neighbourhoods whilst leaving Bond Street & Harrods alone. Having grown up in Bradford and lived through the riots in 2001 (didn’t participate just watched it on the box as my mum stood by with her rolling pin preventing any of us from leaving the house). I never thought that 10 years later I’d not only be seeing the same images on TV just minutes away from my new home but would have also spent over 4 years trying to deliver cohesion in two London boroughs as part of my career. What is it? How do you get it? How does it breakdown? Who is responsible? Great questions all and no amount of reading through the piles of worthy reports (and I’ve read them all) will give you the answers, but it’s a good place to start. We know that deprivation is a causal factor, as is the lack of trust in institutions, perceptions and experience of discrimination amongst numerous other interacting factors. We also know that disorder is usually preceded by a trigger event (in Bradford there had been a rumour in the playgrounds that the Police had assaulted an old Pakistani women). We know because it has happened before, its been studied, examined and looked at from every angle. We are even supposed to have tension monitoring systems that the police and local statutory and voluntary providers use to keep a lid on things but clearly they didn’t work as well as they should have (cuts perhaps?). For those who say its just thuggery get a clue. Some of these ‘thugs’ are as young as 8 years old! Clearly there is a massive problem and no amount of denial makes it disappear. Ever increasing inequality paired with massive cuts in young people’s provision, voluntary sector funding and policing are going to have an impact. We have sat by as silent witnesses to the creation of a whole sub culture of young impoverished men who feel like complete outsiders with no stake in society and therefore no reason to follow the social norms the rest of us live by. They seem to have no remorse over their actions and feel completely disconnected from the rest of us as they burn down their own streets to get a sense of power and self worth (and it seems some Adidas trainers). There will be some right wing loons (Melanie Phillips & Toby Young will be among them) who will undoubtedly bleat on about how trying to look at root causes (poverty, inequality, discrimination and yes the cuts!) is justifying the violence. Can I just say…. Shhhhh! No one is justifying anything. It’s appalling, disgusting, and horrifying. The full force of the law should be used to punish the offenders. Let’s all just agree on that! It’s not about excuses. There aren’t any. Not one! And yes the number one short term priority has to be about getting our streets safe, arresting and punishing those who participated but only a fool doesn’t ask why it happened in the first place? Why are there so many young men disconnected from mainstream society? Why are they so unafraid of any consequences to their actions? So willing to rob, burn, assault and not give a damn what happens to themselves as a result? Yes I am angry at the idiots who have assaulted our communities but I am even more determined to stop it from happening again which means trying to understand how so many young (and some not so young) people can think doing this is ok. And if you think that it is not connected to poverty, inequality, cuts in services and a society where the rich elites, be they MPs, bankers or tax evaders, regularly rip off the country and get away with it, well then you are crazy! That said what we witnessed in the past few days was not in my view a cathartic expression of pent up frustration but was instead more like an opportunistic gang led looting spree! Why pay when you can steal? Possibly with your mum helping out with a Sainsbury’s trolley if some of the footage is to be believed. However if we are serious about trying to stop it and not have a sleeping giant that arises every ten years or so we need to be serious about finding out why these young men acted in the way they have. Pretending the cuts are not having an impact is just silly; especially when we remember that it was our very own Deputy Prime Minister that quite accurately predicted that if we voted in the Tories their policies would lead to Greek style like disorder on our streets. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YItK1izQIwo&feature=player_embedded) It wasn’t just Nick ‘I predict a riot’ Clegg that figured out slashing youth service provision might mean the kids have nowhere to go and decide to engage in some social unrest, it seems that Sir Paul Ennals, the Head of National Children’s Bureau also figured this out (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11607329) back in October 2010. Another interesting fact is that is this Government thought that that Councils with most children in need should be disproportionately affected by the cuts. Doesn’t really make sense does it? The poorer you are the more money we are going to cut? Here’s a list of some the most needy areas (you already know what’s coming don’t you): Hackney, Lambeth, Haringey, Liverpool, Nottingham and Manchester. (http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1048479/councils-children-need-face-greatest-cuts/) Hmm is it me or is there a picture building here? But bad decision-making by Government does not excuse the actions of those participating in this criminality. The are literally burning down peoples homes, running out to loot because they think its fun and there are plenty of people living in poverty and on the margins of society who don’t participate in criminal acts of violence. So yes, now is not the time for empathy or understanding grievances, our first priority has to be getting our streets safe and helping those who have lost their homes and businesses. But we need to make sure that when the dust has settled we don’t shy away from asking why? Oh and I clearly need to be careful where I move to next. It seems riots like to follow me.
copyright Nazia Mirza 2011
(Source: facebook.com)
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