Ugly in Oldham

More than the scale, it was the timing of the racist violence in Oldham that lent it a certain political urgency, says Hasan Suroor.

WITH SOME exaggeration, last week's racial violence in Oldham, a deprived Asian-dominated town in the north of England, has been described as Britain's worst in 15 years. Public memory is short - barely five years ago there were equally, if not more, serious riots in Brixton and Bradford. In Oldham, there was no loss of life, rioting was restricted largely to hit-and-run attacks, and the trouble was not allowed to spread as the police managed to get on top of the situation rather quickly.

This does, not however, detract from the seriousness of the incident and as the distinguished academic and Labour Peer, Lord Bhikhu Parikh, pointed out, it should be treated as a wake-up call by all those who have a stake in good race relations. He did not agree with some of the glib journalistic description of Oldham but said there was no doubt that what happened there was a ``symptom of a deep sense of insecurity'' among the Asian community. The community, he said, felt ``besieged'' because of a variety of factors and not enough had been done to address its concerns. Things were made worse because the police were ``not exactly a model of honesty'' when it came to handling race issues.

In Oldham, as The Guardian mentioned, there was ``very specific antagonism'' between the Asian community and the police. ``The local chief superintendent, Eric Hewitt, is regarded with deep suspicion by a chunk of the community he is meant to serve and protect,'' it said. This was a reference to Mr. Hewitt's statement that last year more Whites had been victims of racist attacks than Asians fuelling reports about growing aggressiveness among Asian youths and emergence of ``no go'' areas for Whites in Oldham.

More than the scale, it was the timing of the Oldham violence that lent it a certain political urgency. Coming, as it did, in the midst of an election campaign dogged by a series of race rows the incident got inevitably involved in a bit of competitive poll rhetoric. The Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of contributing to a climate of hate with their propaganda on asylum and race - a charge which the Tories predictably denied and demanded an apology. Labour quickly distanced itself from the ``blame game'' and the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, was careful not to name any organisations while blaming White extremists for stirring up racial tension, though it was clear that he was referring to the supporters of the far right National Front (NF) and the British National Party (BNP) who have been active in Oldham.

Having signed the Commission for Racial Equality's pledge not to use race in the election campaign, Mr. Blair obviously wanted to avoid any controversy - in fact he was at pains to be seen as being above the fray. So, while he criticised unnamed White extremists, he also rounded on Asian youths for taking the law into their hands, and implicitly rejected allegatons of police ``heavy handedness''. ``The fact is that the police there have got a good record on race relations. You cannot excuse (the violence) in any shape or form at all,'' he said alluding to the Asian community's retaliatory violence.

As in every riot, there are conflicting versions and it is not clear how exactly the trouble in Oldham on May 26 started but it is widely acknowledged that it was provoked by a gang of White youths who attacked Asian homes and shops after an innocuous argument between two children, of whom was an Asian. The subsequent rioting which sporadically continued for three consecutive nights was a backlash. Asian residents said that they had been putting up with racial abuse and harassment for weeks as extremist elements from outside poured into Oldham over weekends looking for trouble. They alleged that police failed to act on their complaints. ``For the past fortnight, Asian kids feel they have been asked to stand back while skinheads walk around the town handing out (provocative) literature,'' a spokesman of the Bangladesh Youth Association said.

Police admitted the presence of outsiders, mostly NF and BNP supporters, but said they could not legally stop anyone from entering Oldham. They claimed there was nothing objectionable in the leaflets distributed by the BNP which is contesting two parliamentary seats from Oldham. The trouble climaxed weeks of tension which deepened after a 70- year-old White war veteran was attacked, without any provocation, by some Asian youths. While the man's family said it was just another case of mugging in which a White happened to be a victim, police registered it as a racist incident.

There is a view that the BNP, which stands for racial segregation and repatriation of immigrants, decided to contest two Oldham seats though it has no base here simply to exploit the tension in the area.

Oldham is one of Greater Manchester's most educationally and economically backward towns with youth unemployment as high as 40 per cent breeding frustration among both Asians and Whites. Illiteracy and unemployment is higher among Asians - mostly Bangladeshis living in run- down council houses. The youth are second and third generation Asians, born and brought up in Britain - more aggressive than their parents and less inclined to offer the other cheek. ``The White lumpens have found a match in them and hence the running battles,'' one Asian political activist said.

The answer, The Times said, is more jobs, better schools and more police - a police seen to be fair. And the message from Oldham, according to TheGuardian, is that ``people only turn to riot when they have no other way of being heard... It is time for politics to listen''.

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