Thursday 22 December 2005 3.42pm
One man's "trouble-stirring" could well be a real case of discrimination couldn't it? All depends on what side of the effects you are sitting on....
Southwark Council seems to have a track record of this sort of thing. There have been several incidents, for example the issues on Peckham of bullying shokeepers, the night club closing which leaves the council most likely having to pay heavy compensation for illegal actions, the concerns on council hiring policies, the concerns about bully of elderly black pensioners, etc. You put those together, and that could in many people's eyes - certainly those of the minority community - be reasonably construed as a pattern.
The Lord Herman Ousley report seemed to find that while Southwark Coucil had adequate policies regarding discirimination, they were not being APPLIED. Which is really what matters - the effects that poeple feel. There were also some pretty damning revelations in there. And by many accounts Ousley was on the soft end of things.
I think one has to be careful here not to go bashing people for raising concerns. I have actually spoken with some of the people concerned and I think there is a real issue here - the effects of these acivitites on them, the degree to which they seem to feel excluded from a voice, and the degree to which they seem to feel they are exculded from a role in the decision-making over things which obviously affect them. It is not mere hysteria. From what I could see, they genuinely feel like they are bing steamrollered.
The council would probably be better if it took this seriously and actually resolved the concerns, rather than resort to knee-jerk bashing these people with murky words such as "sedition"????. I doubt that will make the problem (or the publicity surrounding it) vanish. In fact it will probably only reinforce the beliefs that something is seriously wrong...
jackie rokotnitz Wrote:
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> How on earth the Mayor has come to the conclusion
> that there is some sort of racial discrimination
> in the E&C Regeneration Plan I cannot
> imagine. In my experience (which is quite a lot, I
> sit on the Diversity Panel of the Elephant Links)
> this is totally and utterly untrue. In fact the
> exact reverse is the case. Whether the source is
> the racial minorities themselves or some misguided
> do-gooder, this kind of publicity is seditious and
> ridiculously trouble-stirring. Where on earth did
> this come from?