By Carál Ní Chuilín
In May this year my party colleague Gerry Kelly MLA and I organised a meeting in Ardoyne of all the statutory agencies, who have a role in the regeneration of the area and particularly all those who have a responsibility for community safety.
We also invited a broad section of youth and community workers to the meeting, interface workers, local clergy, school teachers, housing associations and members of the residents associations to discuss collective approaches to solving problems faced by the people of Ardoyne and the Bone and to hold the statutory bodies to account.
The first meeting was in response to the escalation in tension at interfaces around the Easter period but it quickly broadened out into a discussion on crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour in the area in general.
The groups involved have continued to come together on a fortnightly basis since that initial get together and the local Ardoyne Marrowbone Community Forum has now taken on the leading role in organising the meetings.
The make up of the meetings varies slightly from fortnight to fortnight with the SDLP now also regularly represented but input from the statutory bodies which include the Housing Executive; Belfast City Council’s Community Safety Partnership; Belfast Education Library Board; PSNI; Fire & Rescue Service; BCC’s Good Relations Unit; Probation Board; Youth Justice Agency and Victim Support continues to be solid.
While the initial meeting was called to look at community responses to anti-social behaviour and crime in the area the remit has widened out to look at housing issues such as repairs and the reopening of vacant homes for use by families on the waiting lists, demands for traffic calming, hotspots, the sale of alcohol to teenagers, the impact of Orange parades and interfaces.
Some of the most powerful contributions to date have been from ordinary residents who have told those present how crime or anti-social behaviour has impacted on them.
They have taken the police, the council and others to task about their responses to these issues and have come back to ensure that their complaints have been acted on.
This forum is open to all and with all the relevant bodies around the table they have enabled us to share information and resources, which have helped to tackle problems identified by the people living in the area.
On Friday last however, I was at the multi agency meeting when we were told by the centre manager that two people claiming to be from the Republican Network for Unity said they will be organising protests at future meetings.
While this news was is very disappointing for all who have taken part in the meetings to date, there is a huge determination among all those in attendance not to be deflected from the work to try to make Ardoyne and the Bone a better and safer place for the people who live there.
The meetings will continue regardless of the protests as there is too much to be done to allow ourselves to be knocked off course by any interest group.
I can only assume not having spoken to the members of RNU who made the threat that their problem is with the PSNI.
Of course people have the right to protest. However I would say to those involved in this threat that there are a number of ways they can make their opposition to policing clear without disrupting a community meeting attempting to tackle issues of justice as well as the legacy of decades of discrimination and inequality.
I would remind RNU that only two years ago the people of Ardoyne voted in their thousands to mandate Sinn Féin to engage with the PSNI and to make them accountable to the community.
There is no better way to make policing democratically accountable than have the PSNI explain its actions or inactions directly to the residents.
I challenge RNU therefore to explain to the community what their proposals on policing and anti-social behaviour are, how they propose to tackle crime, drugs, rape, assaults on the person and the social and economic problems which cause them.
We all know what they are against but that’s not enough, they should tell the community what they are for and let the people decide.
In the meantime I would urge them to join with the residents and others who are trying to build a better future rather than waste their energies in protests designed only to disrupt.
2 comments:
To view RNU's response to this spurious article, please read;
http://ardoynerepublican.blogspot.com/
Martin Óg Meehan
Cathaoirleach
North Belfast RNU
Interesting response by Martin but he still dodges the fundamental question I asked him and others in a letter this week about the logic of protesting against a community which has voted in huge numbers to support critical engagement with all statutory bodies including the PSNI.
If his problem is really with the PSNI and about the shameful events of the 13th, 14th and 15th July in Ardoyne then how come it has taken RNU two months to organise a protest about it?
Have the PSNI been off duty for those two months, has Tennent St, Antrim Road, North Queen St and Oldpark all been closed, or does it really take two months to organise a protest?
RNU's proposed protest is not against the PSNI as Martin claims but against the community in Ardoyne which has met with all the statutory bodies on a number of occasions since the events in July and which have challenged the PSNI on their actions.
I respect Martin's right to have a different view on the question of policing or any other issue for that matter however but to direct his protest at the wide range of people in the community who are demanding civic policing without articulating any alternative is a cop out.
Martin also seems to have a very selective view of the role of residents' associations in the area.
Given that between 85 and 90% of the voters in Ardoyne have voted for Sinn Fein representatives in the last two elections there is always going to be Sinn Fein representation on these associations.
The idea of the associations however, is to empower ordinary people so that they can play an active role in tackling any and all issues that are of concern to themselves.
They are very democratic with ordinary men and women taking part in them.
The associations set up to date include members of the area's micro republican groups as well as SF activists and supporters and people who have no politics at all. They all have an equal say on these bodies as any of their neighbours.
The rollout of these associations which had to be built back up from almost nothing continues and I assume that Martin and others will play a role in their own street associations with other residents.
I wasn't at the first meeting of the Mountainview Dales residents association which Martin and others gatecrashed so I can't comment on it other than to say that the residents there should be allowed to get on with the business of forming an association which will represent their interests.
The chair of the Ardoyne Marrowbone Community Forum did indeed chair the initial meeting and was acting in that capacity. It is hoped that the Mountainview Dales residents will affiliate with the wider residents' association.
I would like Martin to make clear whether he has a a problem if a member of Sinn Fein also is active in the community, I remember the Brits implementing political vetting and cutting the funds of creches, naiscoileanna and a host of other community projects which members of SF were involved in. Surely Martin isn't suggesting that if you're a member of SF that you shouldn't be allowed to hold a position within a community organisation?
Personally I think it's sad that Martin and others have chosen to make SF the focus of their divisive activities in the community rather than starting to build strong positive and resourceful communities where people are empowered.
There is much to be done to work towards a Republic of Equals, are we to spend all our time and effort instead on squabbles about how to get there?
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