Migration, Integration and Regeneration in Salford: Who is it for?
Innocent Empi from the Congo Support Project, Ameen Hadi a Community Development Worker for Salford City Council, and Joan Williams from the Broughton Trust, were guest speakers at this teahouse. The teahouse included an invitation to visit an exhibition, Curate and Create at the Chapman Gallery, which has themes of migration and refuge. This exhibition was curated and created by students from Hope High School with volunteers from the Salford Museum and Art Gallery’s Embrace project.
Early in the discussion the question was asked, ‘is regeneration about new buildings or is it about investing in people?’ and this question was revisited throughout the discussion. Someone posed the idea that if funds were given directly to the people who need them – instead of directing them through regeneration organisations – would this lead to a more effective regeneration? It was suggested that councils feel obliged to bid for regeneration money [implying that money spent on regeneration is not always regarded as a good thing] because if they don’t they could be missing out on something that could be positive for the community.
Ameen introduced the situation in Broughton and how it has gradually become a popular destination for migrants from various places. He said, at one time it was difficult to find people who wanted to settle in Broughton but now there aren’t enough affordable properties to keep up with the demand from people wanting to live there. However, move expensive new properties are proving difficult to sell.
Joan raised the idea of how physical regeneration of cities does not necessarily work for its communities. The Broughton Trust came about from an informal group of people who thought that single fixed amounts of regeneration funding would not be sustainable and wanted to be able to drive the direction of regeneration from within the community. So this informal group became the Broughton Trust.
It was asked, ‘who decides what happens with regeneration? Who is accountable? Who can you go to if it goes wrong? If people are not going to be consulted properly, how will it work? Can it be successful if it is only about buildings? It was generally agreed that it is usually developers who decide where and how regeneration happens.
So what are the alternatives to this? How can we go forward with something that is sustainable? How can we help people to move forward with their own lives? How can we move things forward from the bottom up? If we don’t address these things we may end up in the situation again where buildings created for regeneration at one time are later pulled down to make way for new regeneration projects. There are families who were moved from their homes for redevelopment thirty years ago who are being moved again now and despite over three decades of regeneration in Salford people are still living with insufficient money or skills for work.
The point was raised that we shouldn’t presume that everyone has the same viewpoint about where certain people do and don’t fit in. Someone else said that if you want to help people there are simple things you can do such as providing entertainment for them, football and anything that can help to make people’s lives better, but its hard to find funding that simply supports people’s lives. Also, things to help people communicate with each other, like English language lesson, also helps. In response to this, someone asked, ‘isn’t sport and music just about keeping people quiet, though, or is it about creating genuine cohesion?’
Someone else recounted a story of how, when they first came to England, they were told by another immigrant that ‘England is boring’. This anecdote seemed to catch people’s imaginations and was returned to as a point of reference throughout the following discussions. The reason given for England being boring was, apparently, that all you see here is adults spending money in pubs all weekend, whereas, he believed, young people need to see adults continuing to learn; ‘We need to build the foundations to create a more positive space for people to live in – a better Britain, a better Manchester, a better Salford’. Someone added that England is not boring because there are great sports facilities, a superb education system and social networking websites, but that social cohesion is missing.
Ameen said that he organises sports projects, such as a football competition for refugees, and cooking evenings. He wants to create the opportunity for people to meet socially, to talk, to have fun – all without needing to spend money. It was agreed that it is important for local communities to get to know asylum seekers as individuals.
The point was also raised that there are many different kinds of England that people are not necessarily being introduced to. England can mean different things for different people.
Someone said they had noticed that there appears to be some sort of attempt to destroy working class culture and, perhaps, to turn it into a middle class interpretation of how people should live [by developers]. Therefore, it was suggested, people don’t know what they are being integrated into or out of. Later in the conversation this was readdressed, with examples such as the attention given to ‘knife crime’, and the culture of ‘naming and shaming’, which has the effect of eroding working class communities rather than re-building them. Little positive coverage is given to working class communities.
Innocent works with developing refugee communities in Salford and responded to the ‘boring England’ quote by commenting that asylum seekers and refugees in Britain do not have the same opportunities as British people particularly financially. The priority of the refugee or asylum seeker is usually to spend the small amount of money they have on food rather than leisure. Innocent mentioned that often in the UK asylum seekers could not find adequate work to match their levels of experience or education and are often pressurised to take lesser jobs which means they are underpaid, thus sustaining the inequality between local communities and immigrants. Destitution in Britain is also a possibility for asylum seekers who have been turned down for refugee status. These people [as also described at the Bolton Teahouse] have no right to food or accommodation. Innocent said that he knows of people who have chosen to die here in England rather than go back to face persecution and violent death in the Congo.
Innocent went on to describe why asylum seekers come to Britain. He talked about how people from the Congo are fleeing persecution, how their rights may have been abused by their government, and how they may have suffered physical and/or political abuse. He talked about how conflict has been incited between the Congo and neighbouring countries by European and American governments in order that they may take advantage of this situation to can gain access to local minerals (essential for the manufacture of laptops and mobile phones) for export. A percentage of the money made by these international corporations goes to governments but does not reach people who need it because of government corruption. Families in these areas of Africa no longer have reasonable access to school, food or water, and Innocent described how often family members have to take it in turns to eat. In addition to this, if people act or speak out against this situation they are persecuted, tortured or locked up for uncertain amounts of time. The UK is a place of safety for these people. Later in the discussion, Innocent added that there are refugees coming from Iraq and Afghanistan and that the UK government has a role and responsibility in this, that we are aware of what the UK government has to gain from this conflict but that people are losing their lives over it.
Someone else later added to this line of conversation that responsibility for situations of conflict must also be taken by the countries in which they are happening (and cannot wholly be blamed on America and Europe). The leaders in those countries are often already corrupt.
The discussion continued with thoughts about how provisions, such as ESOL courses, could be made for immigrants; how perhaps the large corporations involved in the situation in the Congo are likely to be linked to those involved in regeneration in the UK; about how our emphasis shouldn’t be on our differences but on our similarities; and, alternatively, how by understanding the differences in where we have all come from, we can understand one another.
The question was raised, ‘is regeneration of Salford just a way to expand the city centre (combined with a prettifying-exercise)’, and it was confirmed that expanding the city centre was, in fact, a stated aim in the Salford regeneration plan. So it was suggested that this pushes community facilitation further down the list of priorities for regeneration. Joan said that she was uncomfortable with looking at regeneration in terms of class [as is sometimes the case] and that we should put the individual person in the middle of discussions around regeneration. She added that what we need to do is to find out what it is that people need to create a successful community where people feel safe and valued, and to look at why some areas of the city are successful, and why other areas are not.
Drawing a close to the discussion, Innocent made the point that most refugees do not intend to stay in Britain. They come here to seek security with the intention of going back to their homes once the situation there has been resolved. Like anyone, they miss things about their homes, such as the weather, the food and their friends and families. Innocent went on to ask, ‘how can we stop the West paving the way for poverty? How can the West obtain resources from Africa and Asia in a democratic and equal way?’
The discussion was closed with the reflection that by opening such a can of worms, and by looking at them in this kind of environment, hopefully we have come some way to making our thoughts clearer and to help us express them in the future. KD
Early in the discussion the question was asked, ‘is regeneration about new buildings or is it about investing in people?’ and this question was revisited throughout the discussion. Someone posed the idea that if funds were given directly to the people who need them – instead of directing them through regeneration organisations – would this lead to a more effective regeneration? It was suggested that councils feel obliged to bid for regeneration money [implying that money spent on regeneration is not always regarded as a good thing] because if they don’t they could be missing out on something that could be positive for the community.
Ameen introduced the situation in Broughton and how it has gradually become a popular destination for migrants from various places. He said, at one time it was difficult to find people who wanted to settle in Broughton but now there aren’t enough affordable properties to keep up with the demand from people wanting to live there. However, move expensive new properties are proving difficult to sell.
Joan raised the idea of how physical regeneration of cities does not necessarily work for its communities. The Broughton Trust came about from an informal group of people who thought that single fixed amounts of regeneration funding would not be sustainable and wanted to be able to drive the direction of regeneration from within the community. So this informal group became the Broughton Trust.
It was asked, ‘who decides what happens with regeneration? Who is accountable? Who can you go to if it goes wrong? If people are not going to be consulted properly, how will it work? Can it be successful if it is only about buildings? It was generally agreed that it is usually developers who decide where and how regeneration happens.
So what are the alternatives to this? How can we go forward with something that is sustainable? How can we help people to move forward with their own lives? How can we move things forward from the bottom up? If we don’t address these things we may end up in the situation again where buildings created for regeneration at one time are later pulled down to make way for new regeneration projects. There are families who were moved from their homes for redevelopment thirty years ago who are being moved again now and despite over three decades of regeneration in Salford people are still living with insufficient money or skills for work.
The point was raised that we shouldn’t presume that everyone has the same viewpoint about where certain people do and don’t fit in. Someone else said that if you want to help people there are simple things you can do such as providing entertainment for them, football and anything that can help to make people’s lives better, but its hard to find funding that simply supports people’s lives. Also, things to help people communicate with each other, like English language lesson, also helps. In response to this, someone asked, ‘isn’t sport and music just about keeping people quiet, though, or is it about creating genuine cohesion?’
Someone else recounted a story of how, when they first came to England, they were told by another immigrant that ‘England is boring’. This anecdote seemed to catch people’s imaginations and was returned to as a point of reference throughout the following discussions. The reason given for England being boring was, apparently, that all you see here is adults spending money in pubs all weekend, whereas, he believed, young people need to see adults continuing to learn; ‘We need to build the foundations to create a more positive space for people to live in – a better Britain, a better Manchester, a better Salford’. Someone added that England is not boring because there are great sports facilities, a superb education system and social networking websites, but that social cohesion is missing.
Ameen said that he organises sports projects, such as a football competition for refugees, and cooking evenings. He wants to create the opportunity for people to meet socially, to talk, to have fun – all without needing to spend money. It was agreed that it is important for local communities to get to know asylum seekers as individuals.
The point was also raised that there are many different kinds of England that people are not necessarily being introduced to. England can mean different things for different people.
Someone said they had noticed that there appears to be some sort of attempt to destroy working class culture and, perhaps, to turn it into a middle class interpretation of how people should live [by developers]. Therefore, it was suggested, people don’t know what they are being integrated into or out of. Later in the conversation this was readdressed, with examples such as the attention given to ‘knife crime’, and the culture of ‘naming and shaming’, which has the effect of eroding working class communities rather than re-building them. Little positive coverage is given to working class communities.
Innocent works with developing refugee communities in Salford and responded to the ‘boring England’ quote by commenting that asylum seekers and refugees in Britain do not have the same opportunities as British people particularly financially. The priority of the refugee or asylum seeker is usually to spend the small amount of money they have on food rather than leisure. Innocent mentioned that often in the UK asylum seekers could not find adequate work to match their levels of experience or education and are often pressurised to take lesser jobs which means they are underpaid, thus sustaining the inequality between local communities and immigrants. Destitution in Britain is also a possibility for asylum seekers who have been turned down for refugee status. These people [as also described at the Bolton Teahouse] have no right to food or accommodation. Innocent said that he knows of people who have chosen to die here in England rather than go back to face persecution and violent death in the Congo.
Innocent went on to describe why asylum seekers come to Britain. He talked about how people from the Congo are fleeing persecution, how their rights may have been abused by their government, and how they may have suffered physical and/or political abuse. He talked about how conflict has been incited between the Congo and neighbouring countries by European and American governments in order that they may take advantage of this situation to can gain access to local minerals (essential for the manufacture of laptops and mobile phones) for export. A percentage of the money made by these international corporations goes to governments but does not reach people who need it because of government corruption. Families in these areas of Africa no longer have reasonable access to school, food or water, and Innocent described how often family members have to take it in turns to eat. In addition to this, if people act or speak out against this situation they are persecuted, tortured or locked up for uncertain amounts of time. The UK is a place of safety for these people. Later in the discussion, Innocent added that there are refugees coming from Iraq and Afghanistan and that the UK government has a role and responsibility in this, that we are aware of what the UK government has to gain from this conflict but that people are losing their lives over it.
Someone else later added to this line of conversation that responsibility for situations of conflict must also be taken by the countries in which they are happening (and cannot wholly be blamed on America and Europe). The leaders in those countries are often already corrupt.
The discussion continued with thoughts about how provisions, such as ESOL courses, could be made for immigrants; how perhaps the large corporations involved in the situation in the Congo are likely to be linked to those involved in regeneration in the UK; about how our emphasis shouldn’t be on our differences but on our similarities; and, alternatively, how by understanding the differences in where we have all come from, we can understand one another.
The question was raised, ‘is regeneration of Salford just a way to expand the city centre (combined with a prettifying-exercise)’, and it was confirmed that expanding the city centre was, in fact, a stated aim in the Salford regeneration plan. So it was suggested that this pushes community facilitation further down the list of priorities for regeneration. Joan said that she was uncomfortable with looking at regeneration in terms of class [as is sometimes the case] and that we should put the individual person in the middle of discussions around regeneration. She added that what we need to do is to find out what it is that people need to create a successful community where people feel safe and valued, and to look at why some areas of the city are successful, and why other areas are not.
Drawing a close to the discussion, Innocent made the point that most refugees do not intend to stay in Britain. They come here to seek security with the intention of going back to their homes once the situation there has been resolved. Like anyone, they miss things about their homes, such as the weather, the food and their friends and families. Innocent went on to ask, ‘how can we stop the West paving the way for poverty? How can the West obtain resources from Africa and Asia in a democratic and equal way?’
The discussion was closed with the reflection that by opening such a can of worms, and by looking at them in this kind of environment, hopefully we have come some way to making our thoughts clearer and to help us express them in the future. KD
