15.06.1995

Bradford youth protest

Bradford youth have pointed the finger at the cause of their alienation

THE TROUBLES in Bradford on Friday and Saturday are not the first sparked by police action. In 1976 the police protected a National Front demonstration from attack, and in 1981 the Asian youth of Bradford fought a long campaign in defence of the Bradford 12 against police intimidation.

Young Bradford Asians want to enter fully into British society. Racism, poverty and ghettoisation are preventing this happening. Bradford council’s response to their alienation has been to subsidise local mosques and to try to strengthen the control of the elders over the youth. This has encouraged reactionary calls for separate education for girls and death to Salmon Rushdie. But of these there was no mention by the demonstrators’ spokesperson on BBC radio. Indeed all the complaints were about poor services and the attitude of those agents of the state, the police. What separates the Manningham estate from many other poor areas in Britain is not the conditions themselves, but the sense of community to do something about them.

Once again the state is making a great fuss about the damage done and trying to use the religious establishment to re-impose its control. As yet it has offered absolutely nothing to meet the needs of the people.

Certain figures are arguing for a single body to represent Muslims wherever they are, claiming that this would strengthen liberal opinion against extremists. In fact the Muslim Parliament, the last attempt to set up such a body, proved to be a platform for the opinionated and deeply reactionary Kalim Saddiqui. Muslim workers do not need leadership from some cross-class alliance, but a common agenda with the rest of the working class.

Phil Kent