O Grito

"At an inter-faith meeting in Stockwell on Sunday night, an Anglican clergyman said that anger may be legitimate, but must be channelled constructively. He seemed to be referring to 'our' anger: at terrorists, and maybe the police. But a youth worker next to me said that we should talk and listen to young Black and Asian people who feel their needs are ignored, and understand their anger.

They also have plenty to be angry about in the behaviour of 'the West', from the war in Iraq to arms sales, exploitation by multinationals, our vacuous culture of fashions, computer games and bling. YouGov found that 31 per cent of Muslims think Western society decadent and immoral. Even when we held a mass protest against the war, we only kept it up for a day; we don't have the stamina of the Ukrainians.

If they express anger in ways 'we' don't like, they get ASBOs, too often followed by prison; they come out angrier still, ready fodder for the most militant group around, which currently happens to call itself Muslim (much as the IRA called itself Catholic).

Meanwhile schools and youth work are strapped for cash. Clearly prisons must be restricted to serious offences such as carrying and using weapons; the money saved should be transferred to improve schools, youth work and the (hopefully few) remaining prisons.

As regards their more generalized anger, we should find common ground with them on global issues (though not, for example, on attitudes to women), in non-violent protest. But that will mean sacrifices of money, time and effort. Are we up to it?


Martin Wright"