Every now and again I tune into a web based alternative news portal called LiveLeak.com. It is a viral collection of videos from around the world. usually captured on handheld cameras and mobile phones, they are typically the things that dont make it onto the mainstream news, or are an alternative viewpoint of the issues that do.
The thing about LiveLeak is that its raw and often unedited. Feeds are often placed on the site directly from personal cameras and are not subject to censure. You can be right in the action with British troops in Afghanistan or in the crowd at a Barack Obama pep rally.
I love the psychology of bandwagons and, this past few weeks has seen almost every former hippy, powerliberal, and bandwagoner get on the Gaza Strip boat. Please don't assume that I condone Israel and its actions, a lot of people have died and some of the scenes have been truly shocking. I am not talking about Israel and the Gaza Strip today. I am talking about ineffective protesters.
I tuned into LiveLeak.com this week and came across a video that was taken from within a pro-Arab protest in London. It essentially involved a gang of young British asian men leading a "protest". By protest I mean they were marching on the police with such force that they could not be contained, they were goading the Police to fight with them, shouting racist insults, throwing traffic cones, bricks, bottles, anything they could get their hands on. For the several minutes that the video lasted, I couldn't help but wonder what they were aiming to achieve. Normally you would expect that a protest would strive to get a message across, to get people on board, to win some exposure. Yet by being so aggressive, hurling bricks and generally acting yobbish, whilst at the same time yelling "Allahu Akbar", I can only assume that their cause wasn't inundated with new recruits.
I wear a Palestine scarf, I'm no political activist, Im just fashionable. I also wear some geek chic glasses and a flat cap, but it doesn't mean I'm a chimney sweep, even though I do talk a bit like the legend that was Fred Dibnah. My selection of scarf however, has made me the target of pro gaza campaigners. They think I'm all on board, one dreadlocked student even tried to recruit me to stand behind his desk on Market Street in Manchester. He was called "Snoops" and he couldn't tell me anything about the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict. His awkwardness and the "you're a numpty" look on my face was enough to cement my release.
Similarly on the protest front, the "highly criticised" third runway at Heathrow airport seems to be getting nothing but bad press. A whole village will be destroyed and Joe Bloggs was even on the radio complaining about having to move house after 30 years. He didnt mention how much compensation he will get though, and if h has been there 30 years he could probably do with a change. We are in a recession and we seem distraught by a new runway despite the fact that it will create 65,000 new jobs, not to mention the money spending visitors it will facilitate and aircraft carbon emmissions are a third less than they were ten years ago, and they are still going down.
The point I am trying to make is that there are plenty of ineffective protesters about these days. If you stand in the street shouting "Free Gaza" what are you actually going to achieve? I often wonder if protesters actually think that the powers that be will notice and say "oh look, we've annoyed those people outside the BBC in Manchester, do you think we should tame it down a bit and just let Hamas fire rockets at us and hope for the best?". In this age of modern technology, surely there is no need to stand out in the cold and wave banners. Surely things have moved on and well placed emails and letters to MP's, MEP's and Newspapers are going to have more effect. Some of the Heathrow Airport protesters were pretty clever this week and actually bought a piece of land that the new runway will cover, and they are outright refusing to sell it. Good for them, it wil truly throw a spanner in the works. That's how you do it.
In other news, in 16 hours America will inaugrate its first black President. A rather cool pilot became the first in history to ditch a fully loaded aircraft in water and have everyone survive. The Royal Bank of Scotland reported a 90% drop in profits and I couldnt help but think "it serves you right for charging me £38 for exceeding my overdraft, you fatcat muppets". There are 3 bright red Australian parrots vacationing on Whalley Range in Manchester. The other night (and armed with a very large pepper grinder) I chased a robber out of my back garden at 1:30am, and yesterday a 12 year old zip lined into my front garden with the use of some dodgy old rope and the tree across the street. I can't help but think that they are using our house as a training ground for some high profile Oceans Eleven style robbery.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Monday, 19 January 2009
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Justice at its best?
As a young man in Blackburn I used to knock around with a lad called Anthony Rigby. As teenagers we rode our bikes to Darwen Tower. We went swimming together at the Disco night in the baths in Blackburn. Anthony helped me get my first ever kiss from a girl who bore the radiant smell of cigarettes and Lemon Hooch at the West End Community Centre.
On the morning of January 7 2002, aged 18, Anthony was shot in the back of the head in his own apartment. Four days later he died in hospital. Mark Harrington was the man responsible for the crime. He too was someone I was familiar with. I had asked him to join the college rugby team because we needed the players. Little did I know he had a long standing history of paranoid schizophrenia and the tendancy to be violent. Soon after my encounter with him he was expelled from college for intimidating fellow students. He was sectioned, then released, then he wrote a "death list" which featured several of my friends. Anthony was at the top. Luckily the police caught up with him before he could do any more damage.
Harrington was found guilty of manslaughter through diminished responsibility and was taken into custody indefinately. 6 years on, an old school friend informs me that Harrington will soon be back on our streets and I am struggling to understand the logic behind the decision to let this man walk free.
A man serving time for murder once told me that prison is "a university where you can get a degree in crime. Rehabilitation is a figment of the politicians' imagination". It worries me that such a short period of time may not be enough for someone who never showed any remorse for his actions. When teaching in the prison system I met two former soldiers who had both served three tours of Afghanistan before coming home and stealing a cab drivers car keys and putting them down a drain because of a discrepancy with the fare. They were both sentenced to two years in jail and were dishonorably discharged from the armed forces. I remember that they were frustrated at the length of their sentence in comparison to a sex offender who was sentenced to six months for indecently assaulting a child, and I agreed with them.
I have recieved comments on my previous blogs about making prison a more severe place to be. Im not sure whether I agree with that, but one thing is for sure, and its that a real and practical review needs to be made of the sentencing and parole policies in our justice system. I will be in the audience of the politics show this weekend in Manchester, maybe its one of the issues I will throw at the politicians while I am there.
On the morning of January 7 2002, aged 18, Anthony was shot in the back of the head in his own apartment. Four days later he died in hospital. Mark Harrington was the man responsible for the crime. He too was someone I was familiar with. I had asked him to join the college rugby team because we needed the players. Little did I know he had a long standing history of paranoid schizophrenia and the tendancy to be violent. Soon after my encounter with him he was expelled from college for intimidating fellow students. He was sectioned, then released, then he wrote a "death list" which featured several of my friends. Anthony was at the top. Luckily the police caught up with him before he could do any more damage.
Harrington was found guilty of manslaughter through diminished responsibility and was taken into custody indefinately. 6 years on, an old school friend informs me that Harrington will soon be back on our streets and I am struggling to understand the logic behind the decision to let this man walk free.
A man serving time for murder once told me that prison is "a university where you can get a degree in crime. Rehabilitation is a figment of the politicians' imagination". It worries me that such a short period of time may not be enough for someone who never showed any remorse for his actions. When teaching in the prison system I met two former soldiers who had both served three tours of Afghanistan before coming home and stealing a cab drivers car keys and putting them down a drain because of a discrepancy with the fare. They were both sentenced to two years in jail and were dishonorably discharged from the armed forces. I remember that they were frustrated at the length of their sentence in comparison to a sex offender who was sentenced to six months for indecently assaulting a child, and I agreed with them.
I have recieved comments on my previous blogs about making prison a more severe place to be. Im not sure whether I agree with that, but one thing is for sure, and its that a real and practical review needs to be made of the sentencing and parole policies in our justice system. I will be in the audience of the politics show this weekend in Manchester, maybe its one of the issues I will throw at the politicians while I am there.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Dr. Campbells Dead: Infrastructure breakdown, not financial neglect!
Dr. Derrick Campbell has taken a real slating in the press this week. The holder of a Phd in Theology and ordained minister suggested that the young black men of London are "being left to die" as a result of neglect on behalf of the government, namely through a lack of funding. Many have been quick to criticise government advisor Campbell, citing a cultural trend as opposed to a financial black hole as the main reason for the huge increase in knife and gun crime in our capital.
Dr. Campbells comment, arguably sensationalised and appropriately angled specifically to grab the attention of the right people, might just have gone a bit awry. Many have accused Cambell of reverse racism, arguing that their white middle class daughter who attends non government funded cross stitching classes chooses not to go out and stab her peers to death. Others have said that as a career academic, Campbell has only his knowledge of ancient theology to label himself an expert, and ancient theology has nothing to do with knife crime and turf wars. Having worked both in an academic environment as an educator, and as a youth worker in a social enterprise, I can readily see how Campbells claims can be disjointed with reality. However, I am willing to place some faith in what Campbell has to say.
The critics are right when they say that the issue of knife and gun crime in London is a social problem. However, without the right kind of financial investment and infrastructure to support it nothing is going to change. A problem exists, it needs to be solved. That is what Dr. Campbell was trying to say, and we cannot deny that it is the young black men of London who are dying in gang related turf wars in London.
The outcry that Dr. Campbell has instigated originates in the collective opinion of our society that everyone should have access to a good level of provision for their young people, not just the trouble makers in London.
Within the last ten years the rural county of Cumbria has seen over 90% of its government funded non-formal education budget dissappear. Only a very small number of struggling, independently funded projects exist, and they are not enough to cater for the needs of that community. As a result of this, the majority of young people strive to leave the county for employment and education when they turn sixteen. This in turn affects the productivity and success of local business. Cumbria was the first county in the UK to go into economic recession this century.
The kind of funding that is required to tackle the social problems that exist in London, Cumbria and in all of our towns and cities is increasingly hard to come by. Winning grant or bursary approved money either from the government or other public funds often requires the commerical approach that a company would take to win a new business contract. You have to compete. This means that the large charities and NGO's are utilising money that the smaller and highly valuable projects do not have the professional ability to compete for. Instead, they rely on freelance, profit making fundraising professionals who will often take up to 30% of the money they bring in, which for a local group in need of £10,000 for a summer recreation project is a hugely substantial amount. There is a similar issue with private sector investors who offer support to the third sector as part of their corporate responsibility initiatives. Very often they will only support highly recognised, highly exposed charities, again leaving the smaller organisations making their applications in vein. Some of our own research last year showed us that up to 80% of the finance that goes through a large charity is spent on administration and human resources, meaning that the cold hard cash the community based initiatives see is actually just a fraction of the beneficiary charity's turnover. There are new formats of NGO that can kerb this trend, the arrival of social enterprises and Community Interest Companies for example. However, the use of these business formats is not yet rife enough to make any real sociological difference.
Dr. Campbell has a point, the black men of London are being left to die. However, so are countless NGO's, and third sector projects around the UK. There is a vast amount of money available to these causes, yet we have still to find a way to administer that money in a fashion which is sustainable and progressive.
Dr. Campbells comment, arguably sensationalised and appropriately angled specifically to grab the attention of the right people, might just have gone a bit awry. Many have accused Cambell of reverse racism, arguing that their white middle class daughter who attends non government funded cross stitching classes chooses not to go out and stab her peers to death. Others have said that as a career academic, Campbell has only his knowledge of ancient theology to label himself an expert, and ancient theology has nothing to do with knife crime and turf wars. Having worked both in an academic environment as an educator, and as a youth worker in a social enterprise, I can readily see how Campbells claims can be disjointed with reality. However, I am willing to place some faith in what Campbell has to say.
The critics are right when they say that the issue of knife and gun crime in London is a social problem. However, without the right kind of financial investment and infrastructure to support it nothing is going to change. A problem exists, it needs to be solved. That is what Dr. Campbell was trying to say, and we cannot deny that it is the young black men of London who are dying in gang related turf wars in London.
The outcry that Dr. Campbell has instigated originates in the collective opinion of our society that everyone should have access to a good level of provision for their young people, not just the trouble makers in London.
Within the last ten years the rural county of Cumbria has seen over 90% of its government funded non-formal education budget dissappear. Only a very small number of struggling, independently funded projects exist, and they are not enough to cater for the needs of that community. As a result of this, the majority of young people strive to leave the county for employment and education when they turn sixteen. This in turn affects the productivity and success of local business. Cumbria was the first county in the UK to go into economic recession this century.
The kind of funding that is required to tackle the social problems that exist in London, Cumbria and in all of our towns and cities is increasingly hard to come by. Winning grant or bursary approved money either from the government or other public funds often requires the commerical approach that a company would take to win a new business contract. You have to compete. This means that the large charities and NGO's are utilising money that the smaller and highly valuable projects do not have the professional ability to compete for. Instead, they rely on freelance, profit making fundraising professionals who will often take up to 30% of the money they bring in, which for a local group in need of £10,000 for a summer recreation project is a hugely substantial amount. There is a similar issue with private sector investors who offer support to the third sector as part of their corporate responsibility initiatives. Very often they will only support highly recognised, highly exposed charities, again leaving the smaller organisations making their applications in vein. Some of our own research last year showed us that up to 80% of the finance that goes through a large charity is spent on administration and human resources, meaning that the cold hard cash the community based initiatives see is actually just a fraction of the beneficiary charity's turnover. There are new formats of NGO that can kerb this trend, the arrival of social enterprises and Community Interest Companies for example. However, the use of these business formats is not yet rife enough to make any real sociological difference.
Dr. Campbell has a point, the black men of London are being left to die. However, so are countless NGO's, and third sector projects around the UK. There is a vast amount of money available to these causes, yet we have still to find a way to administer that money in a fashion which is sustainable and progressive.
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