Monthly Archives: February 2012

North-east England must not be divided.

We are living in hard times. It seems like every time you turn on the news, another foreign economy is struggling.  All this news laps upon our shores from our globalised world. There is no escaping this. Here in the North-east, the situation is doubly difficult as we live on the periphery of England, far from the centre of financial and political power. Again, there is no escaping this.

There are some in our region who would seek to cause division, by encouraging hatred between us, along the lines of race or religion.   This kind of behaviour goes very much against the traditional way of doing things in the North-east.  It is also the last thing we need.

Historically, we have seen difficult times in the region many times before and despite this, we got through them by sticking together in our trade unions, and through organisations like the Co-operative movement and other networks. This all formed part of a vital associational life in our region.  It is this type of response to economic problems that we need now.

Any violence and aggression from the far-right just leads to even more problems; problems we can well do without at the moment.  It leads to the personal misery of those directly affected, and to feelings of suspicion amongst the community at large.

It also gives our towns a bad image, which is the last thing we need at the moment. Like many places we need new inward investment to help create new jobs, especially for the young. Divisons between sections of our community will not help us to recover from the economic crisis we are in.

Our region was not affected by the 2011 August riots which caused so many problems and misery in other towns. We have the opportunity to present ourselves as an area with good community cohesion and indeed it could become our greatest selling point.  It would be a terrible shame if our economic recovery was hindered by the thoughtless actions of a few thuggish extremists.

Jesmond Law Student charged with racist abuse

A TYNESIDE student today appeared in court charged with a breach of the Communications Act 2003.
He denied racially abusing Footballer Stan Collymore on Twitter.

Ironically, Joshua Cryer, 21, of Jesmond, Newcastle and originally from Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, is a law student at Newcastle University.

The case was adjourned until April 2 2012.

See Evening Chronicle

Tyneside Tweets: Racism in 140 characters…

The world of football is again shamed by racism this week as Nigerian born Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi was subjected to racist abuse via Twitter.
Newcastle United FC have condemned the comments in a statement.

29 year old Peter Copeland from West Rainton, Durham, has been charged and admitted two offences under the Malicious Communications Act.

See: The Journal ; The Guardian ; BBC

From Eldon Square to Tahrir Squar; Undermining the myths

The events of 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa heralded the fact that the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims is narrower than imagined.

In Tunisia, Libya Syria, Bahrain and the Yemen, ordinary people, mostly Muslim but some Christian and other faiths rose up to demand their rights.  And what were these rights? A right to freely choose their leaders and to assemble to demand that right. An end to corruption. A decent education system for their children and a decent health service for when they or their loved ones fall ill. In other words they want the same rights as us;as do people in Iran, Burma and across the world.

A common myth perpetuated by both Islamic Fundamentalists and the far-right, repeats the adage that Muslims are somehow alien and completely to your average Westerners. Now, to be fair, there are a tiny number of Muslims in Britain who support Islamic fundamentalist values, just as there is a tiny percentage of British people with fascist views. The vast majority of Muslims, however, want pretty much the same as everyone else.

When Muslims and non-Muslims get together they do not tend to discuss the finer points of theology or politics, rather, they discuss the things that bring us all together; families, work, schooling etc. Why is this the case? Because at the end of the day, there is far more that we share as humans than that which divides us.These are universal values which have been shared by spritual and political leaders across the world, and across time itself.

Centuries ago, the Chinese philosopher Confucius spoke of the idea of “ren”, and of doing unto others as you would wish to have done to you.  This could be said to be the very basis of what we call human rights.

And in the land that is now India, the Emperor Ashoka (269 BC), was said to have been so shocked by the horrific death and suffering following the battle that won him the province of Kalinga that he converted to Buddhism and erected pillars containing edicts. These have been described by historians as an early version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Christians quote their prophet Isaiah as saying “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream� and Christians believe that a prophet Micah said that there would be peace when everyone could sit under their own fig tree and when everyone had a fair share of resources.

Persian history, describes Cyrus the Great (580BC), an emperor who freed the slaves in his land and built good homes for his people. It is a tragic irony that modern-day Persia, Iran, is has such an awful human rights record.

There are many examples of leaders from outside the western world who laid the foundations for what we call human rights. History and current day events show that the values of freedom, human rights and democracy are universal and have been for centuries.  Anyone claiming otherwise, be they far-right or Islamic extremists, are in denial of the truth and seek to divide us. Yes we all have differences, but diversity enriches human life, and we have a great deal in common that binds us together.  As humans we share universal values, of love, justice and peace – regardless of whether we occupy Eldon Square or Tahrir Square.