The difference between then and now is staggering. I’ve stayed in South Belfast the last two times I’ve been in Belfast. It looks and feels like a cosmopolitan area of any major UK city. The South Side in Edinburgh, or any other district where students live around young professionals with a bit of money, and a mixture of other people, including those in social housing. Busy, bustling, trendy bar alongside decent restaurants. A beautiful part where GAA players were playing, watched by a happy crowd, and a hipster mobile café sold espresso. I was saddened and disappointed watching events unfold over the past few days.
Following on from protests across the UK, some of which turned violent, Belfast saw businesses owned by non-whites targeted, with a supermarket and a café being burnt out in South Belfast. South Belfast MLA Edwin Poots issued the following statement:
The violence witnessed in south Belfast is totally wrong and unacceptable. Many of those engaged in the violence are not local and many in the local community are expressing their unhappiness at the rioting.
People are angry and frustrated. Over the course of the last year councillor Tracy Kelly and I have raised many issues affecting communities in south Belfast, which government bodies have largely ignored…
Working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable.
Essential services such as access to GPs and dentists are incredibly difficult to access.
It is essential that we meet the needs of people who have lived in an area for generations.
This will only be achieved through engagement, and by government bodies listening and acting to meet those needs. Violence will solve nothing.
I find the lack of challenge to Poots on this statement remarkable. He opens the statement being unequivocal about the violence stating that it was “wrong and unacceptable.” Poots then says that “People are angry and frustrated. Over the course of the last year councillor Tracy Kelly and I have raised many issues affecting communities in south Belfast” – this is literally his job, to listen to issues affecting his constituency and act accordingly.
What’s confusing about this sentence is the latter part: “which government bodies have largely ignored.” Poots doesn’t’ say which government he is referring to. It could be the legislative assembly, that his party collapsed, or it could be Westminster, where his party had the piss taken out of them by the Tories and became a laughing stock.
To condemn violent disorder and immediately say “People are angry and frustrated” over “many issues is to suggest cause and effect. Poots’ next sentence - “Working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable” is problematic on a number of levels. Firstly, including the very real challenges of the housing crisis in a response statement to rioting and attacks on ethnically owned businesses is to, again, suggest cause and effect. Unionist politicians have an ignoble history of this type of behaviour. I wrote about former UUP MLA Fraser Agnew disgracefully linking the persecution of schoolgirls at Holy Cross primary school with housing disputes:
Poots’ description of “working people” could be him stigmatising the unemployed, or the sick, or it could be a dog-whistle used by some unionist politicians through the years to imply that worklessness was more of an issue in the Catholic community. Far-fetched? This is the man who claimed that cases of Covid in Catholic areas outnumbered Protestant areas 6-1.
Poots prattling on about GPs and dentists is just more of the baseless cause and effect detailed above, and then he finishes up with:
Poots apparently has nothing to say about those whose businesses were burnt out in his constituency. But has some empty words of comfort to those who “have lived in an area for generations.”
I’m sure Poots would have been far less ambiguous about, say, a police officer waving an Armagh flag than he has been about the context to the violent disorder on his patch.
I have to keep in mind that I may be making cynical assumptions about Edwin Poots and that I could be wrong. Mistakes do happen. Like that time his son, Luke, accidently attended a memorial parade for Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder.
To condemn violent disorder and immediately say “People are angry and frustrated” over “many issues is to suggest cause and effect. Poots’ next sentence - “Working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable” is problematic on a number of levels. Firstly, including the very real challenges of the housing crisis in a response statement to rioting and attacks on ethnically owned businesses is to, again, suggest cause and effect. Unionist politicians have an ignoble history of this type of behaviour. I wrote about former UUP MLA Fraser Agnew disgracefully linking the persecution of schoolgirls at Holy Cross primary school with housing disputes:
We must record the simple answer and call a spade a spade: it is all about ethnic cleansing. They want the Prods out of upper Ardoyne, and they want those houses for their own people. It is not a coincidence that this is happening throughout north Belfast … It is Protestant, not Roman Catholic, homes that are being visited and bombed as part of this violence.
Poots prattling on about GPs and dentists is just more of the baseless cause and effect detailed above, and then he finishes up with:
It is essential that we meet the needs of people who have lived in an area for generations.
This will only be achieved through engagement, and by government bodies listening and acting to meet those needs. Violence will solve nothing.
Poots apparently has nothing to say about those whose businesses were burnt out in his constituency. But has some empty words of comfort to those who “have lived in an area for generations.”
I’m sure Poots would have been far less ambiguous about, say, a police officer waving an Armagh flag than he has been about the context to the violent disorder on his patch.
I have to keep in mind that I may be making cynical assumptions about Edwin Poots and that I could be wrong. Mistakes do happen. Like that time his son, Luke, accidently attended a memorial parade for Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder.
⏩Brandon Sullivan is a middle-aged West Belfast émigré. He juggles fatherhood & marriage with working in a policy environment and writing for TPQ about the conflict, films, books, and politics.
"I find the lack of challenge to Poots on this statement remarkable. He opens the statement being unequivocal about the violence stating that it was “wrong and unacceptable.” Poots then says that “People are angry and frustrated..."
ReplyDeleteBoth things can be true at once.
"ver the course of the last year councillor Tracy Kelly and I have raised many issues affecting communities in south Belfast” – this is literally his job, to listen to issues affecting his constituency and act accordingly."
Some things would be out of his control. If his constituents are telling him they are concerned about immigration, there's little to nothing he can do about that as a councilor.
"What’s confusing about this sentence is the latter part: “which government bodies have largely ignored.” "
It's not confusing at all. For the last 15 odd years, concerns about immigration (both legal and illegal) have been well documented by the government who have chosen to ignore the people. Same with the south, where there is no legislation in place for locals to object to government plans to place asylum seekers in hotels. That's one of the many reasons why there is trouble. Democracy is like a pressure valve: just because you shut it off doesn't mean the pressure goes away.
"To condemn violent disorder and immediately say “People are angry and frustrated” over “many issues is to suggest cause and effect. "
Again, two things can be true at once. People were angry at the murder of Mark Duggan in 2011 and there were riots.
"housing is unaffordable and unattainable” is problematic on a number of levels. Firstly, including the very real challenges of the housing crisis in a response statement to rioting and attacks on ethnically owned businesses is to, again, suggest cause and effect."
It would undoubtedly be an area of deep frustration among some and yes equating it with nihilistic violence is wrong. But it would be a mistake to completely dismiss it.
Over the last number of years, the atomisation of society through consumerism, poverty and the institutionalisation of identity politics has created fractured working class communities who have far more in common than they realise. They have borne the brunt of Reaganism/Thatcherism, deinudustrialisation and austerity, thus creating an attitude among some that they are being repeatedly stamped on by politicians and big business, so they are disengaged.
Disengaged not just from the political process (largely because politicians, especially those on the left, have disengaged from them), but also from a sense of the community or the collective. There are now at least two generations with no focus for their anger and resentment and no reason to fear or feel responsible for the consequences of their actions.
Combine this with a feeling that their concerns are being openly ignored (and with some on here suggesting censorship of social media and using variations on the phrase "shut the fuck up", such feelings are justified), it's no wonder the far-right are trying to sell their snake oil.
@ Christopher part 1/2
ReplyDelete"Some things would be out of his control. If his constituents are telling him they are concerned about immigration, there's little to nothing he can do about that as a councilor."
Most things would be out of his control, including immigration. However, Poots studiously avoids mentioning immigration, focusing instead on a range of issues which could at least be remedied in some way via the council or Stormont. Which brings me to...
"It's not confusing at all. For the last 15 odd years, concerns about immigration (both legal and illegal) have been well documented by the government who have chosen to ignore the people. Same with the south, where there is no legislation in place for locals to object to government plans to place asylum seekers in hotels. That's one of the many reasons why there is trouble. Democracy is like a pressure valve: just because you shut it off doesn't mean the pressure goes away."
My reading of this is that Poots is dog-whistling. He's presenting himself as a helpless bystander, not as man who has had political and power and access to significant budgets. Whilst he couldn't have done anything about immigration policy, he certainly could have delivered for people in his constituency. He could also have challenged inaccurate narratives, including those around immigration. Poots is not alone in this, of course, most politicians engage in similar posturing when they feel it is required.
Perhaps "What’s confusing about this sentence is the latter part" could have been reworded to something like "Poots deliberately obfuscates in the latter part of the sentence in order to present himself as ignored and without sufficient political agency."
"Again, two things can be true at once. People were angry at the murder of Mark Duggan in 2011 and there were riots."
The aftermath of the Duggan killing is a good point - the proverbial spark. There are similarities, I think. Long-standing, in many cases justified, grievances, this time against the police started something which morphed into something ugly, frightening, and temporarily empowering for those who participated in it.
@ Christopher part 2/2
ReplyDeleteRegarding your final three paragraphs, and bringing in one comment from another article, there is the sense of "place" - that is a person's area, which for many, especially in Belfast is crucial to their identity.
"Disengaged not just from the political process (largely because politicians, especially those on the left, have disengaged from them), but also from a sense of the community or the collective."
I think that this is a significant reason for what we are seeing. In England, particularly, WW2 is viewed with extremely rose-tinted glasses. It's easy to see why: reportage and media representations show cohesive groups, bound together against a common enemy, with important roles for everybody. That the truth is far more complicated, and much less romantic, doesn't matter. There is an idealised idea that is desperately missed. Many of those taking part in this disorder, like those who did in 2011, will have seriously enjoyed it. In bars for those old enough, and other venues for the very youngest involved, there will be a heady atmosphere as accounts are told and re-told. People did come together, after all.
"There are now at least two generations with no focus for their anger and resentment and no reason to fear or feel responsible for the consequences of their actions.
Combine this with a feeling that their concerns are being openly ignored (and with some on here suggesting censorship of social media and using variations on the phrase "shut the fuck up", such feelings are justified), it's no wonder the far-right are trying to sell their snake oil."
I completely agree. This is one of the reasons for my disdain towards men like Poots. Unionist politicians for generations have fed off sowing anger and discord, and promoting and propagating myths. I think Poots cares little about the low income PUL community, and I doubt the welfare of immigrants and Catholics is high up on a list of what he worries about.
What I would add to your concluding comments is that there have been at least two generations, particularly in the PUL community, whose political don't, and never have, offered a vision of hope. They haven't been given a sense of optimisms: their political leaders instead focus intently on what has been *done* to them, by Westminster, Dublin, the EU, and so on.
Thinking about it, it's testament to the PUL community that the disorder, whilst very serious, was not as widespread or violent as it could have been.
BTW, I am not saying the CNR community, and their political leaders, are remotely blameless on any of this: I was focusing on Poots as I'm surprised his statement was carried uncritically.
"Thinking about it, it's testament to the PUL community that the disorder, whilst very serious, was not as widespread or violent as it could have been."
DeleteIt wasn't backed by the UVF that much I know, some wombles were probably involved but I'd expect no better from them.
However, some noses have been put out of joint when the Muslim's in that area said to the PSNI who were forming a line that this was "..their area and they should be beating the rioters back." Fair play to the cops for replying.. " No, this is a COMMUNUAL area, take your masks off and disperse."
And that was from a cop.
Brandon - I struggled to find in Poots' statements the nasties that you have seen.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the piece I was expecting to hear something along the lines of what Enoch Powell or Nigel Farage had been saying - even some in the British Labour Party - but his statement was mild by comparison. It left your piece with the look of a hammer cracking a nut.
Lack of housing does not cause racist rioting but I don't see Poots saying that it does. What lack of housing combined with seriously weak public spending in a polity where participatory democracy is weak there is going to be a build up of pressure that will burst out at the first opportunity.
That anger is then tapped into by racist ideology which spawns rioting. Social protest movement theory has been illustrating this for decades.
I think where unionism has performed very poorly is in the horrible causes it rallies to - Zionism, White South Africa, Rhodesia. The sectarianism that has been such a feature of unionism makes the distance to racism much closer.
Yet long before any of this unionism was very welcoming to foreign people. The Chinese community lived in unionist areas and if I am not mistaken were very appreciative of the efforts made on its behalf by Robert Bradford prior to his assassination by the IRA.
Yep, and I still have mates from when I was a kid who are from HK but who grew up with us. The difference is they happily assimilated into the society with us. Even mixed race kids and I've started to notice these in the Bands and there's been no issue.
DeleteNot the case in the rest of the UK though.
@ AM
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't that Poots indulged in nastiness, it was that his statement was, in my opinion, weak, and failed to offer any reassurance to the victims of violence, whilst sending coded messages to the perpetrators. In doing so, it's business as usual for a large number of unionist politicians.
During the Troubles, statements from unionist politicians following loyalist violence seemed to follow a formula: condemnation of the violent act, followed by a political statement which either spoke to the inevitability of the aforementioned violent act, or linked it to a supposed injustice being borne by the PUL community. One that springs to mind was given following the 1993 murders of John Todd and 15 year Brian Duffy. A unionist politician condemned it and then said it was the inevitable result of continuing talks with Dublin.
"Lack of housing does not cause racist rioting but I don't see Poots saying that it does."
No, Poots doesn't explicitly say it. But he includes it in his statement condemning the violence and in doing so implies that it was a causal factor. If Poots was a different sort of man, perhaps there could be an argument to be made that he was bringing it up because he felt that doing so could temper the anger of some of those rioting, but I don't see that as possible.
I wrote the piece quickly and, perhaps not for the first time, perhaps my contempt for the subject of the article got in the way of the quality of the writing and clarity of what I was trying to get across. Maybe I'll stick to historical writing...
I found this interesting:
"Yet long before any of this unionism was very welcoming to foreign people. The Chinese community lived in unionist areas and if I am not mistaken were very appreciative of the efforts made on its behalf by Robert Bradford prior to his assassination by the IRA."
The now notorious man interviewed outside Sandy Row Rangers was positive about Chinese people, but bitterly opposed to other ethnic minorities. I'll see what I can find out about Bradford and the Chinese community. I always enjoy finding these little bits of history.