Voltaire once said, “When it is a question of money,
everybody is of the same religion.” I’m not so sure about that.
Shortly after the riots ended last year, Tottenham has
received a wave of investment into its local economy. However, money alone
cannot solve the area’s problems and unless they are dealt with head on we run
the risk of more civil unrest.
Sir William Castell’s business coalition set up a £1m High
Street Fund to support Tottenham’s local business community. The department for
Communities and Local Government (CLG) has awarded grants to 150 businesses
totalling £365,000 and more than £1m of rate relief has been awarded to date.
Tottenham Hotspur FC has made a decision to remain in the
area. The GLA has promised to turn a building damaged in an arson attack last
year into a £3m enterprise hub. Tottenham’s local business community have
received support by various government bodies.
All of this is needed and welcome. In fact, we need more!
And Haringey Council have put together a budget for youth provision this
summer. This is a temporary measure, but I hope it will be expanded. The
council have committed to fund a new employment and skills programme worth
£4.5m which is good. On top of that, their £1.5m One Borough One Fund is great.
But the 80% cut to youth services is still on the minds of
young people. Hundreds of businesses’ riots damages claims are yet to be
settled. Unemployment levels are still too high. It’s a tough battle.
The riots have spurred new investment into the local
community. But we have got to make sure that this isn’t a short-term fix to a
long problem. Tottenham has now got two riots bookending a generation and the
socio-economic harm caused by these events will not be healed quickly.
The fact that another riot has happened again 20 years after
the Broadwater Farm Riots must serve as a pertinent reminder of the problems
with short-term thinking.
Money can’t fix everything: it can’t pay people to forget
the fact that Mark Duggan’s death has not been properly investigated. It cannot
buy a change in law to allow the coroner to interview police officers about
what happened minutes before the shooting.
It can’t buy the justice that so many people seek. In the
immediate aftermath of the riots, David Lammy MP warned us of the similarities
with the Broadwater Farm Riot. The Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC) had to prove its worth. So far, it hasn’t proved to be totally
effective.
What money can do, though, is provide opportunities. We
could, for example, have big businesses in Tottenham guarantee jobs for local
people. Those who have got Olympic jobs could be helped in the post-Olympic
transition to long-term jobs. We could maintain the number of police officers
in the area, instead of having to cut them. We do need investment: in the right
places and for the right reasons.
While the investment is a step in the right direction we
must not forget what matters most. The Broadwater Farm Riots taught us that no
amount of investment could buy people. In the aftermath, the council invested
in the estate that improved the area.
But you can’t pay away anger and resentment. One year on
from the riots, let’s not make the mistake of forgetting. We’ve got no excuses.
Beneath all the pound signs lies a sometimes silent frustration that only needs
another spark.
Written by Alvin Carpio who was the Organiser of the Citizens’
Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots
This piece was first published at Liberal Conspiracy
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