Facing facts

13 March 2008

A MONTH ago on this page the main item asked 'Who speaks for ordinary people?'

This is an extract from that article: People living in East London throughout the past 30 years have seen the world around them change to an extent that once would not have been thought possible.

To their credit it has largely been achieved in a peaceful way, but there is no sense in denying there is an underlying resentment over the loss of so much that was once familiar to them.

They believe their feelings do not count and that there is no one in authority who will at least articulate concerns about their own place in society.

Last week the BBC broadcast the results of an investigation which implied the 'white working class' felt they were being 'swamped and silenced by immigration' and that 'no one speaks up for them or even listens to their concerns'.

One newspaper columnist on Sunday wrote: 'The middle classes sneer at their crude racism and belittle their fears'.

Most people feel obliged to say 'I'm not a racist' knowing full well that is what they will be called once they step outside the political margins.

Angered by what they see as crude massaging of the facts only increases their frustration and builds up further resentment, particularly among those who feel they are now the marginalised minority.

No one needs to be told this is a delicate subject, but feelings become even more inflamed and exaggerated when people think the truth is being denied to them.

Last week Canon Michael Ainsworth, Rector of St George in the East, Stepney, asked a group of youths causing a disturbance to quieten down and they then savagely attacked him, inflicting injuries that required hospital treatment.

I could end it there, but the youths involved were Asian and made religiously insulting remarks - making this a racist incident.

Whether it is eventually investigated in that way remains to be seen.

Those are the facts, but when I spoke to him Canon Ainsworth wanted to emphasise the positive relationship he has with the large Asian presence in his parish and to play down the behaviour of disaffected youths.

He is also a governor of St Paul's School in Whitechapel, where 70 per cent of the pupils are Asian, and he has no difficulty with that.

Nevertheless the fact remains that a few Asian youths, possibly fuelled by alcohol, carried out a cowardly attack on him.

In cases of this kind there is always a tendency to play down the racial overtones in a way that doesn't apply when the roles are reversed.

The Rev Alan Green, Area Dean of Tower Hamlets, emphasised the need for a more balanced reaction to faith hate crimes.

He put it succinctly in this way: When graffiti is daubed on a mosque it is construed as race hate, but when the same happens to a church it is more often than not regarded as vandalism.

"There is a real difficulty in getting that balance right," he told me.

The attack on Canon Ainsworth therefore has to be seen in the broader context of society today, with many people struggling to come to terms with all that has happened.

At last the Office for National Statistics are admitting that their estimates of London's population is grossly out of date.

For instance, in the case of Newham the official figure of 231,000 is something like 70,000 short of the mark.

That problem is compounded when local authorities turn a blind eye to overcrowded properties, because to do otherwise would create massive problems for them.

Is it therefore any surprise that pressures build up on vital services like health and education?

These are the kind of issues that concern ordinary people most of all, because they live with them day in, day out.

It also explains why so many feel there is no one prepared to speak for them.

The changing face of East London has brought distinct benefits, but it has also created problems which should be confronted in an open and more honest way.

Only then can we hope that they will be seen not in terms of race or religious affiliations, but as a result of political mismanagement that affects everyone living here.