The first steps to recovery
Sir Stuart Etherington, NCVO's Chief Executive, believes that grassroots organisations have a crucial role to play in helping us understand the complexity of what happened during the recent unrest and rebuild our communities.
The recent unrest in cities across the country united many of us in feeling a heady mix of emotions: fear for our security and that of our loved ones, anger at the scenes of mindless violence, disbelief at what was happening so close to home, and sadness for those whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed. But they also united many of us in wanting to make sense of what has happened and rally round to rebuild our communities.
We might never erase the shocking scenes from memory, but equally we will not forget the inspiring vignettes and images that followed in the aftermath – the brooms raised aloft in Clapham Junction, a couple serving tea on a riot shield to police in Camden, the dignified tribute 20,000 paid to the three men who lost their lives in Birmingham. All served as a poignant and uplifting reminder of how communities can pull together in troubled times.
Broken society? Far from it. The public response has proved without doubt that looking out for those in need and giving something back to your community is alive and well. As Manchester Community Central’s CEO put it in a post-riots briefing: ‘It’s in these dark times that voluntary and community activity really shines.’
Two weeks on, communities and policy makers alike understandably want answers. Why did this happen? Who is to blame? What can we do to prevent it happening again? However, we need to avoid assuming that everyone who took part in the riots was acting on the same motivation, just as we need to avoid assuming that everyone was young or hailed from the same section of society. A myriad of different people had varying levels of involvement in the events, and for a wide range of reasons. Ignoring the complexity of root causes is at best shortsighted and at worst seriously counterintuitive.
One thing we can be sure of is the pivotal role that charities and community groups have to play in supporting those who have been affected by the riots, mobilising others to help and starting to reflect on how we got to this point, as well as how we recover from it.
At the peak of the violence, Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS) in affected boroughs such as Hackney held emergency meetings to bring together community leaders, faith leaders, concerned citizens, youth workers and frontline staff to reflect on what went wrong and what actions the community could take. Community groups have often been at the forefront of coordinating clean-ups and fundraising events to support victims and affected businesses.
And in recent weeks, many have provided insightful commentary from the front line and helped to ensure that others can air their views – witness the ‘Not in our name’ event held recently in Westminster to illustrate that the vast majority of young people play an active and positive role in their communities and want to help make sense of what happened. The event, which was organised by a range of youth organisations, is a shining example of organisations working together to ensure that Government and the media resist lazy assumptions about the hows and the whys of these tragic events.
Many charities were carrying out this vital community cohesion work whilst themselves being affected by the disturbances. In the days that followed, we heard from organisations whose offices and shops had been ransacked and looted, and one CVS that had seen all its surrounding buildings go up in flames. The knock-on effects for some charities have been felt just as keenly: for example, the postponement of the England versus Holland friendly meant the charity Street League lost out on considerable exposure as a Football Association charity partner, and others had to scale down their services as the unrest spiralled.
As well as supporting victims, many groups are also carrying out vital work to engage with individuals who were involved in the riots, to try and identify and address the complex causes for their behaviour, give them direction and show them that there are far better alternatives. I know from my own training as a social worker that the same issues have existed for young people for decades, and how vital it is to help them to explore their dreams and aspirations.
Above all, these grassroots organisations, with their vast experience of working at the heart of communities and giving a voice to disadvantaged groups, have a crucial role to play in helping us to understand what has happened and to look towards some solutions. We need to ensure that communities can design and own these solutions, but it also needs coordination and a strong collective voice. For this reason, NCVO is bringing together charities, frontline staff and local infrastructure organisations in east London on 14 September, to hear people’s views and experiences and discuss how the sector can help to shape new policies and solutions. We will also make sure that this is fed back to the highest levels of government.
There are no quick fix or one size fits all approaches to understanding, healing and moving forward from what has happened: reflecting and rebuilding will be a complicated, multi-faceted and often frustrating process for everyone involved. But we will get there.
Share your experiences
Working with partners in the sector, NCVO have set up a new online space, http://reviewrenew.posterous.com, where you can share your stories and discuss the sector’s role in helping affected communities.
