Live discussion: building strong communities | Local government network | Guardian Professional. Earlier this week the Guardian published the results of its Reading the Riots research, carried out in partnership with the London School of Economics. The results pointed towards many contributing factors, including poverty, policy brutality and the indifference of elites, as identified by Gary Younge, here. Local government's response to the disturbances was mixed, with some vowing to evict tenants and their families found to be involved in looting and violence. Others flocked online to share stories of the clean up operations they had helped to organise.
Community cohesion can mean many things. Take a look at the video below and let us know if you think it does a good job of describing what it is. To create strong communities councils need to work with local charities, residents' associations and others so that everyone can have their say – so what's the best way to do it? Join our panel online from 12pm on Wednesday to discuss community cohesion in our live debate.
Panel. Has the European Multiculturalism Experiment Failed. Norway has been vigorously defending its multicultural model, after the twin attacks last month. The confessed attacker, Anders Behring Breivik, said he killed to stop what he called “the Muslimization” of Europe. The concept of multiculturalism means different things in different places. And it has been under scrutiny in many of them, especially around Europe. For countries like the UK, Germany and the Netherlands multiculturalism has meant allowing different cultures to co-exist and flourish within the national framework. But the French have never promoted that idea. Since Norway’s July 24th attacks by a right-wing anti-Muslim extremist, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has sought to assure the world that Norway will not sacrifice its liberal attitude, even toward immigrants.
He said Norway has conflicts and extreme people, and the country has seen violence before, but never on the scale of what Breivik perpetrated. What is the French approach? “Because we just feel naturally French. UK riots: 'Those who seek to racialise this problem are taking us backwards' | UK news. In Dalston, north-east London, on Monday night, hundreds of business owners in Kingsland Road, the majority of them Turkish and Kurdish, gathered on the street to "protect" their properties from looters, "because the police, they can do nothing".
In Southall, to the west, the following night, scores of Sikh men gathered outside their temple – but also, reportedly, a mosque and a Hindu temple – for the same reason. While elderly community leaders were among them, a number of others stood at temple doors holding baseball bats. Several miles to the south, in Eltham, hundreds of local people, almost exclusively white, took to the streets, amid rumours that the English Defence League was mobilising in the area in an attempt to exploit community tensions. At the same time, in Dudley Road, Birmingham, residents of Winson Green had gathered on the streets for the same reason when a car was driven at speed by a 32-year-old African- Caribbean man, killing three young Asian men. Russian senator blames failure of multiculturalism for UK riots. The death of multicultural society and the economic crisis are to blame for the riots that have convulsed London and other British cities this week, head of the Russian upper house's international affairs committee Mikhail Margelov said on Wednesday.
"I think the events occurring in the English cities have at least two reasons. One is fundamental: it's the death of multiculturalism, a eulogy which the heads of Germany, France and Great Britain have recently delivered. The value of tolerance, or in other words the value of difference, has been accepted neither by 'indigenous' Europeans nor by immigrants," Margelov said. "The two sides merely tolerate each other. And patience is the kind of thing that runs out from time to time. " Over 1,000 people have been arrested, and at least four killed, in the violence which began in the British capital's northern district of Tottenham on Saturday, following the fatal shooting of a young man by police.
Young people and the 2011 'riots in England. Experiences, explanations and implications for youth work. Contents: introduction · protesting, rioting, looting, doing damage and spectating · who was involved? · the role of gangs · some explanations · inappropriate policing · inequality and materialism · moral collapse · social breakdown · policy · implications for youth work and youth workers · references and footnotes · how to cite this piece Street disturbances such as those which broke out in a number of cities in August are a part of English history – as is the panic that followed.
In a well-known book Hooligan: A history of respectable fears, Geoffrey Pearson charts how, over 400 years, there have been repeated panics about criminal behaviour and ‘feral’ or troublesome children and young people[2]. While the scale of events may have taken policymakers and the popular press by surprise, the fact they occurred should not shock us – and certainly didn’t surprise many youth workers on the ground.
Initial responses to the disturbances were also predictable. First, there was protest. Give Our Kids a Future! A North London Unity Demonstration. INVITATION: Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots (launches this Saturday, 11:00 – 12:30) | Citizens UK. Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots Saturday, October 15th 2011 Tottenham Town Hall (Map) The Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots is a community-led response to the riots. The inquiry is an organised long-term response to the riots led by community leaders who will shape the way civil society rebuilds Tottenham and Haringey in the years to come.
It is led by a board of commissioners all of whom are community leaders representing civil society in the area. This Saturday, we will launch the Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots. If you would like to attend, please register before 12:00 Fri Oct 14th. Send an email to alvin.carpio@londoncitizens.org.uk with your name and contact number. Commissioners: · Hannah Adu, Youth Worker, Bruce Grove Youth Centre · Edward Badu, Student, St Ignatius College · Symeon Brown, Co-Founder, Haringey Young People Empowered (HYPE) · Patrick Cozier, Headteacher, Highgate Wood School · Pastor Segun Johnson, Liberty Church. The community response to the riots deserves to be celebrated - Volunteering England. Riots report: Public lacked faith in police response.
28 November 2011Last updated at 17:56 Disorder spread from London to other English cities, including Birmingham and Manchester A lack of confidence in the police response to the initial riots in London in August led to further disturbances across England, a report has concluded. The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel found it had "encouraged people to test reactions in other areas". The panel found there was no single cause of the riots, but said it was shocked at the "collective pessimism" among the young people it spoke to.
The Metropolitan Police said it was doing all it could to learn lessons. In a statement, the force said it was possible the trouble would not have spread had there been "more officers available, more quickly". Riots broke out in Tottenham, north London, on 6 August, two days after the fatal shooting by police of 29-year-old Mark Duggan. The panel warned that such riots would happen again unless action was taken. Continue reading the main story Analysis 'Sense of despair'