Empowering communities

It has everything today to do with education (or the lack of)...Start young, continue through to young adulthood, and start again with the young. Year on year, on the sylibus, lessons about how wrong it is to hate, to fear, to differentuate. 

I was taught my times table parrott fashion...and I've never forgotten them. Teach, teach, teach, the history, where we went wrong, the consequences of our and our forefathers actions, where we must be to put things right, in five, ten, twenty years and more...and teach them where we probably will be if we don't change our ways.

Above all, teach every generation where we, as HUMAN BEINGS, came from, how we evolved, how we populated the planet, that the only differences between us are purely cosmetic. Teach each generation of children that it is their responsibility to work with each other and to make their future world work.

Police should be visible on 2 wheels not in cars. They should prioritise prevention of violent muggings,, theft , knife and gang crime.

Stop the news being blocked by the police/government so the public can see what we are up against. Stop allowing the extremist marches which incite trouble.

This is the uninformed entitled exceptionalist nonsense that carries within it the seeds of it's holders own destruction. Stop making excuses for murder, rape and destruction. On the broadwalk in Regent's Park is a white fountain, you cannot miss it, and inscribed on the fountain are words to this effect...' from the people of xxxxxxx province of India in gratitude to the protection afforded to them by the British Government.' The total destruction of the murderous Thuggi sect, who butchered and mutilated countless innocent Indian pilgrims, was performed by the soldiers of the British East India Company. For every bad there was a good. I can see that. Why can the apologists for ethnic exceptionalism not see that ?

I lived in a multicultutral city all my life, 66 years, never have I seen such a rise in bigotry and intolerance as in the past 2 years, they feel emboldened by that referendum and it most definitely has given the far right youth a green light for increased racism, the crime figures prove that. Out of the 9 comments so far there have been 3 blatanly xenophobic comments, 1 forum editor, 1 from the religous group (they have their own unchristian bigotry against some minorities) and a random 4 different views of which only one has expressed a real concern about use of language, I might help balance the tolerance view since I come from a minority as well, but I do find it depressing so far.

It starts with tolerance by all to all, people can have there views but they have no place in law if that means oppressive legislation directly against a minority or it they advocate violence against those same minorities. There used to be an expression when I was younger, "if you have nothing nice to say then don't say it", these days it appears to be quite the opposite, the appallingly low standards of comment on the internet has proven that. That does not mean you cannot satirise fools or irrational views not backed by fact, the village idiot still exists even today, just in the cities as well.

We will never get an intergrated community, people feel naturally comfortable in familiar cultural surroundings, so we should not be wasting time and effort on what is akin to bussing in the southern US states, it did not solve the root cause of their problems, it actually excerbated them. I do agree with Richard Morse's comment regarding language, English is the written and spoken word in this country and except for specific foreign language teaching then provision for other languages as an alternative to English needs to be removed, with a caveat that we provide remedial courses for those living here that do not speak English, for ALL and not some kept indoors.

I think I should add to my comment, I lived in España, it was made quite clear when I registered for my social security number that Spanish is the language spoken in the office, if you don't speak it then come back with your own interpreter, I did, but so many Englsih thought it was their right to have English as the language used, "shakes head".

We need to teach the ethics of living in a free, fair and tolerant society, starting in primary scholls, with NO opt outs, it is part of the education process to teach our young and I am pleased that attitudes in the vast majority of our young are not those of my peers at the time and still now as they have aged, I won't say matured as that improvement is the sign of an advanced species. Just today we had an example of the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law used to institutionlise bigotry, business has no code, people do and we see examples of that from all the communities that make up our country. Racism and phobia's are not the exclusive preserve of white people and trying to operate a 2 tier system will not solve our problems either, contrary to the words of a certain woman, there is such a thing as society and community, except for those that try to recreate communities resembling the ones they have just left which is not a good idea, since they were fleeing the oppression of that system to come here in the first place.

We need to tackle the bigger problem, intolerant bigotry in its many forms needs eradicating and that means the ethos of "my school is better than yours" which leads to silly interschool rivalry and fights also goes, education is or should be a co-operative partnership and not a competitive one. The State should not be following a broken business model where greed is good and being top dog is also good, especially when that means the lower and very poor dogs get trampled on, it leads to resentment and an ethnic blame culture, I never want to see that ever again.

I lived in a multicultutral city all my life, 66 years, never have I seen such a rise in bigotry and intolerance as in the past 2 years, they feel emboldened by that referendum and it most definitely has given the far right youth a green light for increased racism, the crime figures prove that. Of the 9 comments so far there have been 3 blatanly xenophobic comments, 1 forum editor, 1 from the religous group (they have their own unchristian bigotry against some minorities) and a random 4 different views of which only one has expressed a real concern about use of language, I might help balance the tolerance view since I come from a minority as well, but I do find it depressing so far.

It starts with tolerance by all to all, people can have there views but they have no place in law if that means oppressive legislation directly against a minority or it they advocate violence against those same minorities. There used to be an expression when I was younger, "if you have nothing nice to say then don't say it", these days it appears to be quite the opposite, the appallingly low standards of comment on the internet has proven that. That does not mean you cannot satirise fools or irrational views not backed by fact, the village idiot still exists even today, just in the cities as well.

We will never get an intergrated community, people feel naturally comfortable in familiar cultural surroundings, so we should not be wasting time and effort on what is akin to bussing in the southern US states, it did not solve the root cause of their problems, it actually excerbated them. I do agree with Richard Morse's comment regarding language, English is the written and spoken word in this country and except for specific foreign language teaching then provision for other languages as an alternative to English needs to be removed, with a caveat that we provide remedial courses for those living here that do not speak English, for ALL and not with some kept indoors.

The truth is bitter the government has to bring back the youth club to all the community,By doing that hateful we stop him how community and we tolerate each other, Because where ever is unity there must be a love then we will be able to tolerate each other, I remember in those days will you come to pick your child that is with some parents meet and deer be become friend to each order, wherever love is there will be no room for hateful challenge and intolerant, God is love, when you love God you we love everybody surrounded you,

Challenge the racism coming from commentators like Maura below who think 'extremism' and 'intolerance' is an exclusive characteristic of foreigners and non-Europeans by educating Britons in PRIMARY and SECONDARY school education on:

- Colonialism, empire, slavery and the crimes of Europeans outside Europe instead of representing non-Europeans as subhumans who 'benefitted' from European and British imperialism.

- The violent history of racism, white supremacy and orientalism.

- The history of the idea of Europe and its culture, including their inheritance of 'Arab' scientific disoveries and analysis of ancient texts.

- The history and hard facts of migration including the migration and 'settlement' of Europeans in non-European countries. Cultivating an openness to the fact that human beings have always travelled across the world and settled in new places, for different reasons and with different consequences each time.

- Cultivating cross-cultural and cross-religious knowledge and understanding.

- Cultivating an ethic that puts first the rights of all human beings not hierarchised by nationality, citizenship, colour, cultural background.

Stopping people coming from other no European countries settling in the UK and making sure they understand there are lot of cultural differences. Before entering they should pass a very complex exam about the UK and European laws and how respect in perceived differently in our countries. Especially telling that we have Equality and women cannot be abused. A first attempt to use firearms will be punished with immediate deportation.

Also making sure that different cultures mix with the local people and not stay isolated between people of their same country. They need to make an effort to love and appreciate this culture if they want to stay. This will make sure they stay away from having hate and intolerance and not spreading any extremism. In few words I believe that extremism can only be stopped through education.

Primary school says we are at the heart of the community, nothing could be further than the truth.

By law there should be a parent room in every school so parents can share storys, successes. etc

Invest in building communities or involving more people in sports, play together.