The English Riots - Where do we go from here?

The riots that have engulfed London and other major cities in the United Kingdom over the last week are finally receding in intensity but in the wake of the horrific scenes of violence, looting and arson that has left people shaken, the real issues look set to take centre stage especially as post mortems are carried out.

Whilst a lot of ground is being examined as to what the causes were, very little in my opinion is being said about where to go from here. Yet unfortunately, in the debate in Parliament following David Cameron’s speech, MPs seemed to skirt around the issues of tackling the degeneration of moral values in society instead choosing to talk about policy, funding and policing. It was as if the proverbial elephant in the room was ‘how do we tackle moral decline?’

So maybe it is not up to the politicians to take the first step. Perhaps it is up to us as communities and society who will have to swap markets for morals in politics, business and community life. We have to rediscover the moral agency that will allow us to apply universal ethics and values to our daily lives. This is not something that can be enforced by a government, but is something that has to be internally generated before it can be lived. For this, we will have to go back to the basics to develop a shared language of morals, ethics and values, which will feed into respect and understanding.

In essence, we will have to rediscover a spirituality of commonality which will allow us to recognise the common space and substance amongst all doctrines that will provide the fuel for social change and trigger action for the unity of humanity. This shared language will enable us to develop a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes this improbable experiment of reconciling and rehabilitation of vulnerable communities possible. These values and ideals will have to be living, which cannot find expression on paper or monuments or in the annals of history books, but which remain alive in the hearts and minds of people inspiring us to pride, duty and sacrifice. These living values will have to help us to build on shared understandings and should be the glue that binds every healthy society.

People might scoff at the naivety of this statement but the point is that we have no choice. We have got to a position where something new needs to happen. For too long, narrow interests have vied for advantage with ideological minorities seeking to impose their own versions of absolute truth.

In order for this to happen, as many people have already been talking about, we need to engage: with each other, at different levels and ultimately with the authorities. The Bishop of London talked about nourishing relationships in order to develop an understanding of right and wrong. I would go even further to say that an extension of nourishing relationships and engagement is the concept of linking and partnership for mutual learning. What we need is a change of paradigm of the post Second World War twinning initiative between towns in England, France and Germany which was done as a means to prevent future conflict in Europe through international friendship and solidarity at community level. What we need now is the development of partnerships in solidarity between towns, local authorities, schools, hospitals, religious organisations, youth clubs to not only understand each other but to strengthen communities, add to social cohesion and contribute to personal and professional development through friendships made and work undertaken across the partnerships. Whilst this is needed within the UK, it is also a feature that this should be undertaken between the UK and counterparts in the Global South.

The concept of linking and partnerships are increasingly important to people (especially those with counterparts in the Global South) because with the increasing global nature of the workforce; movement of industries and companies; the narrowing of the information border and the gradually interdependency we as a globalised community seem to be becoming, people (especially the youth) in the UK need to understand the cultural contexts of other countries so that they develop the skills to be employed in far flung areas; they develop the skills to interact with each other and ultimately they develop the skills to respect one another. It increases not only community cohesion within the UK but will also contribute to social skills and global cohesion.

Within this spectrum of partnership and linking, we cannot disassociate ourselves from the role of faith. As we talk about the development of new morals, ethics, values and spirituality, we need to consider faith and the role that faith organisations will have in adding to this new narrative. Faith provides a narrative and a space in which one can start to explore some of these discussions of ethics and morals. In many of the smaller communities (especially the minority ethnic and immigrant communities), faith and faith organisations play a pivotal role in responding to the demands and pressures of the local community, where they operate with local knowledge to address specific community problems. They are highly active in many fields of social service, healthcare, education, human rights, youth development etc. They are self reliant, capable of harnessing the communities’ manpower, skills and resources. They serve very often as role models; variously taking a stand against corruption, developing infrastructure, delivering “sharp end” programmes and offering relief, healthcare and educational resources- where they would not otherwise be found. They are invariably unswerving in their zeal and commitment and many organisations work entirely voluntarily in a spirit of service.

We need to realise that each of us (with our own faith, culture and community spirit) bring something to the table. Only by coming together can we ever hope to move out of our silos and attain a much more cohesive community that better understands, respects and accepts each other. We need to collectively work such that breeding violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate. We need to ensure that our youth are given accurate information about other traditions, religions and cultures. We need to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity and to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings.