London Citizens' Inquiry Report into the Tottenham Riots

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 25, 2012 at 19:31

Dave, I'm not sure how helpful it is to talk about who is and isn't inside or outside the community in an area like Tottenham which can be usefully thought of as a Zone of Transition.

We also need to think carefully about how different people use the word "community". The word is suffused with positive meanings implying shared values, interests and and cooperation. And that's partly true. There are well intentioned altruistic community-minded people.

But there are also predators. People and organisations are circling around the smell of public money. Because as we know there's an awful lot of money to be made from exploiting poorer people. By slumlords for example. Or, as we've seen in the media this week, by dubious job placement agencies.

And there are the various gimme-groups. Which currently range from the so-called free schools, to academy chains, to small non-profit bodies, eyeing up public land, buildings and money.

Permalink Reply by 2kvbuy3etav09 on February 10, 2012 at 14:59

Ha yes! I thought that page at the end summed up the best and worst of what's to come. The fact that kids as young as 10 and 11 don't want it to happen again is great, but the solutions may not be so easy. Not sure a zoo or a theme park will help either.

I agree that the report was harsh on the police, but by their own admission they were part of the problem. What I found so different to the 80s riots was the almost universal agreement that poverty had such a big part to play. When even a leading Daily Telegraph columnist wrote after the riots that 'feral bankers' were to blame I realised things were different. (once I'd picked myself up from the floor)

 

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Permalink Reply by 2kvbuy3etav09 on February 10, 2012 at 16:08

Absolutely spot on. And as a resident of N8 I'm aware that I got lucky postcode wise. I live nearer to Tottenham than I do to the West End, but Tottenham is almost a different planet to us. One of the reasons I'm so keen to get involved is because where I live it's like nothing happened. But I'm aware that I live in the same borough, and that it has the widest discrepancy between rich and poor of any borough in the UK, and that we on the wealthy side of the tracks should take some responsibility and do our bit for the communities on the other side.

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Permalink Reply by 2kvbuy3etav09 on February 25, 2012 at 20:35

These replies seem to be appearing in random places now!

I think there are all sorts of issues and problems, global as well as local. I'm sure you're right about the people smelling government money, and it's true there seems to be plenty available for the likes of A4E. That was one of the things that impressed me about North London Citizens, that they exist independently of government funding. Next time I reply to you, hopefully I will have actually done something rather than sit here pontificating!

 

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