Contents
When I was approached to contribute to a book entitled "The reassertion
of a radical agenda", I had to first ask the question if there ever was a
radical agenda in the fight against racism within Scotland from which to
reassert? Indeed what might a radical agenda look like?
Up until the mid 1980s, what tended to predominate in Scottish political
discourse was a sense that Scotland had "good race relations" and that
there was "no problem" here (see Miles and Dunlop 1986; Dunlop 1993).
Consequently, racism did not become an issue within Scottish political or
policy debates. Since the mid-1980s Scottish thinking has in general
shifted from a stance of total complacency to one that accepts, be it
grudgingly, that racism is not a problem confined to areas of high black
populations eg: Birmingham, Tower Hamlets. (see Arshad and McCrum, 1989 ) Professionals both Black1 and white began
campaigning for policies and practices that would effect changes in
life-chances for Black people in Scotland. These initiatives and efforts
were undertaken within a discourse of 'anti-discriminatory practice',
'multicultural and anti-racist education', 'race equality action', 'equal
opportunities' and positive action.
However characteristics which distinguish radical anti-racist community
work remain ambiguous. This chapter attempts to define such a model with
the reminder that models are not blue-prints but are abstractions. As
Martin (1987) states "such 'ideal-types' are exploratory rather than
definitive, analytical rather descriptive". Before attempting to construct
such a model, it is necessary to identify some of the issues surrounding
the debate around 'race' equality work with which community workers
have had to explore and grapple with.
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The debate on multicultural versus anti-racist approaches originated in the
early 1980s. (see Sivanandan, 1985; Hatcher, 1987; Brown and Lawton,
1991; Klein, 1993) Multicultural approaches were criticised for
focussing exclusively on cultures and being preoccupied with with exotic
aspects of cultural difference thereby ignoring the effects of racism.
Moreover, opponents of multicultural approaches (see Mullard 1982; Sarup,
1991) argued that multicultural approaches assumed people started from an
equal base when that was clearly not so. Racial discrimination and
injustice were pervasive in British society and communities. Much has been
documented about how this has affected the livelihoods and life chances of
Black people in key areas like education and employment (see Troyna, 1987; Haynes, 1983).
Anti-racism and anti-racist approaches were seen as alternatives to
multiculturalism in that they embraced an analysis of the issues of power
and justice. These approaches argued for basic changes in the power
structure of society. Sociologists like Sarup (1991) advocated that
anti-racism 'includes multicultural education, and goes beyond it.'
The debate of multicultural versus anti-racist approaches is still on
going. Klein (1993) states that debate is perhaps not as polarised as
presented. Many educationalists (and presumably community workers) who
take into account issues of power, equality and justice are also keen
pursuers of cultural exchanges and cultural programmes such as
multicultural drama festivals, multicultural story telling sessions,
multicultural book fairs and so on. To suggest that multiculturalists were
not anti-racists in these instances would neither be accurate nor fair and
to suggest that anti-racists were not supportive of cultural events and
exchanges would be equally mis-representative.
The issue for community workers intent on a radical agenda might be not so
much which approach is adopted but rather to develop an understanding of
the causes and processes of racism. Whilst it is important to be able to
quote statistics of racist incidents and to point to the effects of racism
as evidenced by the extent of racial disadvantage, it is equally important
life of the communities we work within today. This understanding can come
about by working with and talking to Black people and by conceptualising
an analysis of racism that does not deny the structural aspects of racism
in Scottish society within Scottish institutions. By extension, in practice
radical community work would therefore assist people (both Black and
white) to organise and respond to institutionalised racism ( see Wester
Hailes Against Racism Project later in this chapter). It would support
activities which affect the lives of people being oppressed by racist
structures, it would get involved in issues of immigration, illegal
deportations and campaigns against racial harassment. It would encompass
but move beyond the realms of personal prejudices. Failure to engage with
understanding the processes and dynamics of racism from its roots in the
17th century to its manifestations as we approach the millennium will lead
to continued confused practice on the type of strategies that might be
adopted to ensure radical social change.
Let us explore a situation where structural power was utilised in a subtle
manner to generate confused policies and practice resulting in a
perpetuation of institutionalised racism. This was done within race
equality terminology and the old assimilationist paradigm was subtly
adapted and added to instead of being redefined.
In the wake of discontent in Brixton, Southall, Liverpool, Manchester and
throughout at least 27 other towns in England in 1981, Central Government
commissioned the Scarman Report quoted in Sivanandan (1983). In Scarman,
the uprisings were attributed to the "ill-considered, immature and
racially prejudiced actions of some officers in their dealings on the
street with young people" (Scarman 1982: 63). The problem was therefore
defined as prejudice which manifested itself occasionally in the
behaviour of few, unthinking ignorant and isolated individuals. In this
account, individual errors can be punished and ignorant individuals can be
assisted to rationality by undergoing attitude change. This is an
essentially liberal perspective in which issues of differentials in power
between the police and young people and between white and Black remained
unaddressed.
In 1985, the Swann Report was published--the outcome of the deliberations
of the Rampton Committee which was set up to deal with the problems of all
Black children. It's primary focus was the growing underachievement of
African and Caribbean children in mainstream education. Racism as a
contributory cause of underachievement was identified but the Report was
indecisive in its advice as to which model of practice would best eliminate
either racism or underachievement. Issues relating to control the
curriculum, the conduct of educational assessments, and who set the tests
were side-stepped in favour of of a focus on 'cultural tolerance'. In
focussing on the children and their disadvantage instead of the racism
that the Report itself identified as a contributory cause to the
underachievement, the real issues remain undealt with. These problems and
disadvantages were associated with cultural and linguistic characteristics
of the 'immigrants' themselves; problems that they brought with them.
The perceived role of 'immigrant' language and customs as a cause of
disadvantage and an obstacle to assimilation saw the Labour Government in
the mid 1960s release monies under the infamous Section 11 to the
Education Departments within Authorities to ensure that these disadvantages
could be reduced by
"... providing smaller classes in which English can be adequately
taught, as
well as providing extra visitors to remind parents of their new
obligations in
Britain, it is essential to teach these children basic British
customs, basic
British habits and , if one likes, basic British prejudices-all
those things which they
need to know if they are to live happily and successfully in an
integrated way in this
community.."[ Hansard 1966, col 1336]
Both these reports formed the basis of much of the Equal Opportunity
initiatives within Scottish Local Authorities and the projects they
supported within the voluntary sector. The purpose of mentioning these two
reports is not to engage in invidious comparisons of governmental reports
but to draw upon two key tenets which have proven to be vanguards of
racism. The first has been to contain the challenge against racism to a
personal level and the second has been to engage in offering token projects
and short-term projects for black people people rather than working to
dismantle the system that perpetuates racial oppression. In that way, the
faceless forces of racism continue to operate, obtaining legitimation for
its actions from the silent and often uninformed majority. The essential
point of both reports was the pathologisation of racism.
Radical anti-racist community work practice needs to recognise that
pathology as described above is not ambiguous and if radical community work
practice aims to enhance the life-chances of those suffering racism, it
too cannot afford to be ambiguous.
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" The 'assertion of difference' has become, for many radicals, the
principal dynamic in society today" (Malik, 1996). Stuart Hall, a
leading Black sociologist welcomed the flowering of different ethnicities
as an expression, not of social discord but a new form of democracy through
which the voices of the many previously silenced could now be heard.
The idea that all groups have a right to speak for themselves, in their own
voice and have that voice accepted as authentic and legitimate is an
attractive proposition for many who work with people and communities who
have been marginalised, categorised and excluded. Community workers
committed to social justice and anti-discrimination may well be attracted
to an approach which on surface appears to allow for the expression of
individual identities.
The last decade has witnessed an increased desire particularly from the
white communities to learn about different cultures and lifestyles. The
hope was that such knowledge would bring about better race relations and
eradicate racial discrimination. Educational programmes began to offer
sessions where pupils and public alike could learn about "a taste of
India" or "family life in a Traveller community in Ireland" for example.
Libraries stocked up on different books about lifestyles and community
workers and social workers wanted to learn about how different cultures
cared for their elderly, conducted their marriage rites, and cooked
their exciting cuisines.
In this sense, a "culturing of politics" has occurred. The notion of
'society' is reduced to the aggregate of individual relationships and the
'social' nothing more than a particular decision that an individual may
make. (Malik, 1996). Indeed trying to understand multiple social
identities has led to anxieties from practitioners in that there is a
recognition of conflicting social pressures and identities. Given that
cultures are not static or stable, is it ever possible for a practitioner
to comprehend all these subjectivities? If no two experiences or cognitions
are identical because of the way identities depend minutely on the contexts
in which they appear, how then can the practitioner work with communities
in an appropriate and truly culturally sensitive manner?
Radical anti-racist community work would encompass the need to understand
the complexities of identity politics, to recognise there can be different
subjectivities and to grasp that everyone juggles different identities for
the sake of expediency or to enjoy the position of 'belonging'. None of
these identities are to be trivialised in that they are all derived from
the person's experience and interpretation of knowledge of the various
discourses they have been exposed to. However a conceptualising of this as
multiple and dynamic must be done both within a politic of solidarity and
within an analysis of the causes and effects of structural discrimination
if issues such as racism are not to be marginalised and left unchallenged.
Indeed failure to do so lays the practitioner hostage to the prejudices and
whims of the particular group or individual they are working with at any
given time.
Within a radical anti-racist model, fundamental social relations such as
racism and racial oppression do not become reduced to lifestyle choices. A
radical approach would make connections with other forms of disadvantage
and discrimination. The comments of A. Sivanandan, Director of the
Institute of Race Relations is helpful when he urges us to:
"... organise not for culture but against racism, against fascism,
against
the erosion of civil liberties, against injustice and inequality -
against racism qua
racism instead of particularising the racisms. We are organising
not for the
Bangladeshis (in the East End of London) but against racism..." [A.Sivanandan, 1995: 2]
Radical anti-racist community work need also to be aware of how the New
Right have claimed the debate around identity and difference. The New
Right's recognition of difference is not with the intended outcome of
equalising differences but to assist categorisation to promote an implicit
xenophobic message that " difference" equals "deficit".
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There has been much debate during the last few years about terminology .
Challenging racist languages and terms has laid the anti-racist movement
open to being accused of attempting to be the thought police, curtailing
free speech and denying common sense. Words like ' Black' that were once
upon a time used by Black activists and supporters of the Civil Rights
Movement in the States during the 1960s to reclaim and reestablish Black
identity became linked in the 1990s to a hysteria against political
correctness. Virulent campaigns by the tabloid press about 'loony left'
councils who sacked childminders for having golliwogs or who allow
children to sing 'Baa Baa, Black Sheep' in schools resulted in anti-racist
terminology offending the Right and confusing the Left. For the Right,
this has been in character with their ideological base of denying voice to
different social movements and groups thereby denying them a right to be
participants within political struggle and discourse. The attempt to debunk
"Black' as a political category is part of that process. However the
confusion of the Left on anti-racism and political correctness is an
altogether more tragic affair in that the fear of challenging racist
language has also led to a fear of challenging the assumptions built into
our ordinary use of language and its implications. It also closes the door
to recognising that struggles over language are not necessarily over the
term itself (such as
'Black' per se) but over its connotative meaning (such as black =
beautiful not 'the despised'). Such confusion also prevents the
uncoupling of terms that have been coupled together illogically? For
example,in an examination of language, it would be logical to use a term
like blackboard if the board was black however, terms like 'blacklist' and
'blackmark' have connotations which are negative. Why pre-fix such terms
with black?
If one of the key aspects of radical community work practice is to
challenge racism and reclaim lost history, that is the history of Black
people over the centuries, then part of this has to include an analysis of
how language has been used to demean groups of people or ethnic groupings.
There are many historical examples where the conduct of a social struggle
has depended on the dis-articulation of terms which have been previously
used to further oppress or marginalise. Feminism in challenging the
overall usage of terms like "He" to encompass both male and female is one
such example.
Within this chapter, I have used the term 'Black' as a political term to
define any individual or group who suffers racism because of their skin
colour. This perspective by no means negates the diversity of Black
people, nor does it deny that discrimination exists against other groups,
who may or may not have defined themselves as 'ethnic minorities', such as
travellers or Irish people. Understanding the political meaning of the
term Black is a necessary step for anyone interested in working towards
an anti-racist agenda because to see Black in its political context is to
site it squarely within the structural manifestations of racism, thereby
removing the debate from a surface level involving personal examples and
individual values to one that recognises the 'superstructure' ie. how
colour as a category has been used to differentiate people into high and
low status groups for discriminatory purposes.
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It is no easy task to balance the right of the individual within the
context of the common good. Sandel (1994: 54) an American professor of
government argues that "intolerance actually flourishes where life is
dislocated, roots unsettled and traditions undone." Sceptics of
anti-racism have often used such thinking to prevent work that would allow
people to engage in critical thinking within the area of multiculturalism
and anti-racism on the basis that it would breed a backlash. The basis of
Sandel's argument within a Scottish context is that Scotland being
predominantly white may feel naturally unaccustomed or threatened by
other cultures and ethnic groupings. To enforce a programme of anti-racist
initiatives may be to impose irrelevancy to people's real life experiences
thereby causing discordance and disharmony where none previously existed.
Resistance to anti-racist work is often prefaced by statements like "there are no ethnic minorities here", "the real issue here is...." or "why bring it up and make it an issue when it is not one..."
This fear of backlash and the prospect of even more reactionary
consequences have held some workers back from being pro-active against
racism or have channelled their energies into other forms of generalised
discrimination such as anti-poverty work, work around issues such as
homelessness or drugs whilst all the time carefully side-stepping
anti-racist work.
Radical community with its premise firmly located within an analysis of
power, structural inequalities would seek to encompass the challenge
against racism recognising that failure to make connections across issues
is likely to leave racism unacknowledged and unchallenged. Ohri et al
writing in the early 1980s stressed that there are two objective facts
which community workers need to accept and internalise in order to address
the issue of racism. The first being that Britain is a multi-racial
society and that secondly that racism has infected 'the consciousness' of
both individuals and institutions in this society.
A radical community work practice would work to expose how racism has
infected this consciousness both personal and structural. It would seek to
work with people in ways that would challenge dominant Eurocentric values,
organising to ensure Black and white would begin dialogues to construct a
new paradigm.
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A lesson that was heard loud and clear from the MacDonald Inquiry in 1989
which investigated the murder of thirteen year old Asian pupil, Ahmed
Ullah, by a white boy Darren Colbourn ( also 13), in Manchester was
the need to make connections between different forms of oppression. Ahmed
was a victim of racism, Darren was a victim of class oppression. The
school's anti-racist approaches were confined to working with Black pupils
and parents. White parents and pupils were not brought into these
initiatives thereby relegating them into the role of 'baddies'. Two
lessons emerged from Burnage; firstly, the struggle against racism needs
to be equally a struggle against other forms of inequality and secondly, as
racism damages all of us, then everyone, both Black and white, had to be
brought into the fight against racism. It was not the responsibility of
one group alone.
Radical anti-racist community work demands a politic of solidarity,
linking experiences and identifying core elements of similarities between
groups as the beginning of the sustenance of an agenda for radical change.
Hilary Wainwright (1991) argues that social movements whilst successfully
releasing and expressing everyday knowledge have been less so in the
coordination of such knowledge. As community workers, we have been fairly
successful in creating space for people to come together to develop and to
engage in self-help, for example, womens groups and girls work but we have
been less strategic in achieving a coordination of such spaces to ensure
the emergence of a radical anti-discriminatory project. How does girls work
link in with work with boys, how does feminist thinking link to work with
men. How should feminists work with men? These discourses are yet to be
opened up within the community work agenda. It is no longer sufficient to
generate good ideas, we need to know how to implement them in order to make
a difference. If Black and white are to work together then community
workers need to be assist in organising for these energies and concerns to
come together.
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So far, I have has explored some issues that have surrounded race work
which community workers have had to grapple with at both the conceptual and
practical levels. How can this move beyond the rhetoric? The following
case-study is shared as an example of innovative practice and comments on
lessons for radical anti-racist community work practice and development are
summarised at the end.
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Wester Hailes Against Racism Project (WHARP) and the Akin Adegboye Campaign
A case study of radical community work practice
WHARP is funded primarily through the Urban Programme fund. It has just
completed its first year of operations. It has a small multi-racial staff
team of four workers (two full-time, one part-time and one administrator).
WHARP's main aim is to identify the needs of the black/ethnic minority
communities in Wester Hailes and to work to promote their rights,
aspirations and entitlements. WHARP has been operating for just over a
year. WHARP received Urban programme funding and is supported by the local
authority community education service. The need for a project like WHARP
was identified by local agencies and the community education service.
Consultation with locals, Black or white about the ethos and aims of WHARP
prior to its commencement appeared to be minimal to nonexistent.
WHARP staff identified the need from the outset to establish credibility
with local black/ethnic minority residents. Did local people really want a
Project like WHARP. If so, how could the Project best meet their needs?
To find out, I interviewed the Project Coordinator, Andy Egan.
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Send reactions and/or comments to Malcolm Parnell in Edinburgh, Scotland.
30 Blue Hills Road
Amherst, MA 01002
