Post by Hickman on Nov 1, 2005 1:54:51 GMT -5
[shadow=red,left,300]Call for 'early warning' of unrest [/shadow]
Hélène Mulholland and agencies
Monday October 31, 2005
Councils should establish "early warning systems" to quell community tensions before they spiral out of control, a local government thinktank said today.
The Local Government Information Unit published a community cohesion blueprint for local authorities following tensions that erupted in Birmingham last week, leaving two people dead.
The pamphlet coincides with a broadside against Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, made today by his predecessor, Lord Herman Ouseley, over his failure to speak out about last week's riots in Birmingham.
The former chairman said the commission should have offered high-profile support to organisations seeking to calm tensions in the Lozells area of Birmingham.
"I think what would have been helpful would have been to know what the CRE was doing with local leaders and police and other agencies in the Lozells area to enable us to have an appreciation that there was support for local people who were taking action to calm fears," Lord Ouseley told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"We heard nothing from an independent law enforcement agency with the responsibility to promote good race relations in this country.
"My worry is that it is pursuing all the soft cultural options. It is not focusing on the hard-edged deprivation, discrimination, disadvantage issues which are fundamental in areas where there are deep divisions and resentments between different communities."
But Mr Phillips described how the commission had been able to predict disturbances of the kind seen in Lozells because of is close contact with people on the ground in Birmingham.
"I spoke at some length to our people on the ground in some areas of Birmingham last Monday, I will be returning there today," he told Today.
He rebuffed Lord Ouseley's criticisms, insisting that the CRE was doing a lot of less high-profile work on exactly the issues his predecessor had highlighted.
"The fact that I don't have to tell the whole word about that, perhaps, is an indication that I am serious about doing something rather than talking about it," Mr Phillips said.
In the new LGIU pamphlet, councils are urged to play their part by dispelling "as early as possible" perceptions of unfairness between communities that fuel resentments within a local area.
The circulation of negative and potentially disruptive messages on race and immigration, spread with the aim of causing community conflict, may disrupt community relations in an area, it warned.
Councillors had a "key leadership role" to play in maintaining social cohesion in the face of such "misleading negative myths and rumours" through a two-way information sharing with local communities.
This process should include stronger links with the local media and schools, and running campaigns tied in to community activities. "These will all come into play in a strategy to counter myths and misinformation", the pamphlet said.
The LGIU chief executive, Dennis Reed, said: "Local government has a key leadership role to play if breakdown is to be prevented. What the LGIU is saying to councils is be proactive."
· Figures published today by the CRE show that members of ethnic minority communities feel more British than white people in the UK.
Today's research, based on focus group interviews with 96 people, showed that white Britons were more likely to describe themselves as English, Scottish or Welsh than British.
By contrast, members of ethnic minorities were more likely to describe themselves as British, though many qualified this with terms such as Asian British or black British.
Few members of ethnic minorities living in England called themselves English, as they saw this as a term referring only to whites.
society.guardian.co.uk/communities/news/0,16293,1605360,00.html
Hélène Mulholland and agencies
Monday October 31, 2005
Councils should establish "early warning systems" to quell community tensions before they spiral out of control, a local government thinktank said today.
The Local Government Information Unit published a community cohesion blueprint for local authorities following tensions that erupted in Birmingham last week, leaving two people dead.
The pamphlet coincides with a broadside against Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, made today by his predecessor, Lord Herman Ouseley, over his failure to speak out about last week's riots in Birmingham.
The former chairman said the commission should have offered high-profile support to organisations seeking to calm tensions in the Lozells area of Birmingham.
"I think what would have been helpful would have been to know what the CRE was doing with local leaders and police and other agencies in the Lozells area to enable us to have an appreciation that there was support for local people who were taking action to calm fears," Lord Ouseley told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"We heard nothing from an independent law enforcement agency with the responsibility to promote good race relations in this country.
"My worry is that it is pursuing all the soft cultural options. It is not focusing on the hard-edged deprivation, discrimination, disadvantage issues which are fundamental in areas where there are deep divisions and resentments between different communities."
But Mr Phillips described how the commission had been able to predict disturbances of the kind seen in Lozells because of is close contact with people on the ground in Birmingham.
"I spoke at some length to our people on the ground in some areas of Birmingham last Monday, I will be returning there today," he told Today.
He rebuffed Lord Ouseley's criticisms, insisting that the CRE was doing a lot of less high-profile work on exactly the issues his predecessor had highlighted.
"The fact that I don't have to tell the whole word about that, perhaps, is an indication that I am serious about doing something rather than talking about it," Mr Phillips said.
In the new LGIU pamphlet, councils are urged to play their part by dispelling "as early as possible" perceptions of unfairness between communities that fuel resentments within a local area.
The circulation of negative and potentially disruptive messages on race and immigration, spread with the aim of causing community conflict, may disrupt community relations in an area, it warned.
Councillors had a "key leadership role" to play in maintaining social cohesion in the face of such "misleading negative myths and rumours" through a two-way information sharing with local communities.
This process should include stronger links with the local media and schools, and running campaigns tied in to community activities. "These will all come into play in a strategy to counter myths and misinformation", the pamphlet said.
The LGIU chief executive, Dennis Reed, said: "Local government has a key leadership role to play if breakdown is to be prevented. What the LGIU is saying to councils is be proactive."
· Figures published today by the CRE show that members of ethnic minority communities feel more British than white people in the UK.
Today's research, based on focus group interviews with 96 people, showed that white Britons were more likely to describe themselves as English, Scottish or Welsh than British.
By contrast, members of ethnic minorities were more likely to describe themselves as British, though many qualified this with terms such as Asian British or black British.
Few members of ethnic minorities living in England called themselves English, as they saw this as a term referring only to whites.
society.guardian.co.uk/communities/news/0,16293,1605360,00.html