The tension was fragile. It was only going to take a spark. The shooting of Mark Duggan provided it.

A week or so later and then Prime Minister, David Cameron held a press conference in Downing Street and declared “war on gangs” – Two things I took exception too at the time. The first was that the civil disturbances were far from being just about young people and the second one was the notion that it was gang related.

I am not going to get into the debate any further on this area of contention in this blog post suffice to say that the investment promised by the Government just like the investment promised in the 80’s by Thatchers Government after similar civil unrest never materialised just like it had never materialised then. The difference if anything this time is that things were made worse as the austerity cuts continued apace with poorest communities suffering badly as is always the case and cuts to youth services were decimated. Cuts to all front line services hurt the poorest communities far more than they hurt the more affluent but in the case of vulnerable young people at risk of crime and violence the impact was devastating

What also happened quite notably after Cameron’s declaration of “war on gangs” was the narrative within statutory authority departments changed markedly almost overnight. The “industrialisation” of violence impacting young people moved up a few gears as youth services already facing huge cuts were marginalised and funding for gang related interventions took precedence with the funding bodies. The “youth violence” label became as synonymous with funding bids as the swoosh was with hi top trainers!

Suddenly the youth sector was awash with organisations preaching intervention speak while traditional youth work was becoming marginalised. It also became even more ultra competitive than it had ever been. Academics have noted that the competitiveness of the charity sector makes the advertising and banking sectors look pretty tame in comparism!

So here we are in 2021. The EU referendum fractured and divided the UK like nothing in modern history. Race related hate crime reported to the police went through the roof and even returned to modernised football stadiums. Social media became a hot bed of far right anarchy meanwhile! Covid has ravaged the country more so than Brexit and highlighted health disparities between rich and poor communities on an apocalyptic level. Now with the media full of stories of corruption and malpractice within the Government and sleaze becoming more the norm than not with politicians we are treated to another wave of anti youth narrative and a promised increase in stop and search tactics by the police.

Will there be fresh riots? The question is surely why not?

Maybe its time we talked about unfairness and strategic establishment suppression!

#ChangeTheConversation

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