Panel discussion held Wednesday October 26th, 2011
at Quaker Meeting House, St James Street, S1 2EW
Against a backdrop of austerity, the August riots in London and other parts of England have sparked a debate about unity and the wealth gap. This discussion brings together voices from local communities in an opportunity to examine causes, and consequences, and to look at what we can learn for the future.
The debate was chaired by Paulette Edwards of BBC Radio Sheffield with a panel comprising Prof David Waddington of Sheffield Hallam University, Rashida Islam of Sheffield University Black Students Campaign and Jeremy Clifford, Editor of The Star.
Prof Waddington began by placing riots in an international context, saying no two riots are the same, and all differ in terms of motives, which people are involved and how they’re conducted. He quoted from the American Sociologist Gary Marx who makes a distinction between ‘issue oriented riots’ that are prompted by an identifiable grievance, and ‘issueless riots’ that might follow victories such as sporting triumphs, etc.
Issue-led riots such as those in the UK in August may be sparked by a single incident that pulls people together, turning into a symbolic flashpoint that attracts a particular type of attention, notably in terms of policing. The emotion generated may be focused on particular places and people. The activity may then spread outwards – not in ‘copycat’ disturbances, but by emotional, sympathetic involvement.
Communication – whether by rumour or accurate reporting – plays a part in determining the progress and nature of the action.
Prof Waddington mentioned some suggested causes of the riots, quoting Zygmunt Bauman who said it was “consumerism coming home to roost” – that people were offended and humiliated by a display of riches to which they were denied access.
The behaviour of people in power – cutting back funding on public services while bailing out the banks – had led to a contempt for authority. There was an element of society getting what it deserved.
In the face of all this, Prof Waddington said Sheffield had shown itself to be quite a ‘passive’ city.
Rashida Islam suggested the riots were a symptom of a divided society and were for many young people, as Diane Abbot said “a rejection of the future that was laid out for them”. While it was good that Sheffield had escaped this time, the city would not be immune from riots in a society where people don’t feel listened to…where the hopes and aspirations of many young people are going to be crushed.
Riots should not be seen in isolation. The only way to stop riots is by creating a just society….not one that finds new ways to punish the poor but one that abolishes poverty.
Jeremy Clifford reminded those present of the statistics that showed Sheffield shared many of the social conditions prevalent in the riot-hit cities, but was the largest city in England to have escaped major disturbances. He had spoken to David Blunkett, Nick Clegg and Ch Supt Simon Torr about why this was and concluded that we were lucky, but we make our own luck and part of the answer was that there was a lot of work going on in Sheffield communities to stop potentially inciting incidents actually leading to riots.
These were the first riots where the papers and radio & TV took a secondary role to that of social networking. It gave people an opportunity to organise and congregate but that wasn’t solely to blame. In Sheffield he said, the police used Twitter as a device to dilute possible threats of rioting, tweeting to reassure people and tell them what was actually happening. In the space of 24 hours the police following on Twitter went up from 3,000 to 10,000.
The Star had taken a deliberate editorial decision to celebrate the fact that Sheffield wasn’t rioting and to reinforce the message to people not to inflame the situation and not to trash our city. It was impossible to know if it had a causal effect but “we do know it resonated with the mood of Sheffield”.
The role of the community, and police working with young people in the community was also a factor. Nick Clegg had reported that Sheffield people in Darnall told him the police were not their enemies and the police in London were amazed that our police officers actually talked to people in the street.
Two other factors Jeremy said were that there was a strategy in place to tackle gang culture in the city, and that Sheffielders had a pride in their city and did not want to trash it.
Comments from the floor:
“On meeting a group of lads who might have been about to start a riot I invited them for a cuppa. One accepted and we’re now best of friends.” (retired teacher)
“There is a divide in Sheffield. It is two cities. If the Council’s masterplan for Boots and other chain shops in Burngreave had come about things may have been different. Instead the area has many individual small shops that local people use and value.
re. gangs, there are too many differences that couldn’t unite to make a spark to set off riots.” (Burngreave resident)
“Are we scratching the surface here, patting ourselves on the back for celebrating ‘steel city, not steal city’? In the race to establish swift closure on the riots, blaming them on ‘errant groups’, not pushing for a commission of inquiry – let’s not forget the actual reasons that led people to riot, speaking not just to Clegg, Blunkett etc, but the people in that demographic who feel undervalued etc.” (Local community activist)
A Broomhall resident told how lack of communication can lead to misunderstanding – as when following a recent stabbing, local residents were complaining about lack of engagement/interest by the police, unaware that the police were at that moment at the home of the bereaved family and had arrested a suspect. It took the resident to mediate between the local gathering and a group of police officers standing at a distance.
“Social cohesion work, such as police PCSOs are doing in Corby (similar demographics as rioting areas) has an impact. Young people don’t all hate the police.
Parochialism in Sheffield generates pride in place.” (Jeremy Clifford)
“Don’t over state the role of the police. Community workers and leaders play an important role, for example Football Unites, Racism Divides working with young people to channel energies positively.”
“Some of this discussion is missing the point – as Prof Waddington outlined, rioting comes from underlying tension followed by a flashpoint. Here, the tension was economic in nature and we expect it to stay. Diane Abbot’s words are true – many young people have no hope. The disturbance at Conservative HQ during the student fees protests is an example of this. Although the riots weren’t racially motivated, there is the issue of tension due to racism, and use of “stop and search” against Black men and deaths in police custody has contributed to this.’ ”
“Rioting is never romantic, but does it work? We should consider the uncomfortable question that the riots had an impact. Two positive aspects: the racial component of the riots reflected the ‘multiracial’ nature of each locality, and statistics show crime is decreasing.”
“Riots are bound to happen in a society that is more and more unequal” – paraphrase of Spirit Level thesis. (Richard Wilkinson book)
