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Is Bristol ready for 2007? |
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I’ve lived in Bristol my whole life. I’ve watched the unsavoury aspects of recent arguments over the dropping of the Merchants Quarter name for the Broadmead expansion and the Slavery apology with sadness but little surprise. They are evidence of a deeper truth that underlies life in Bristol – that although the terms on which we interact may have changed, race is as potentially divisive as it ever was. Two great ideas from history come to mind.
In 1963 Martin Luther King wrote a letter pleading with city leaders to move beyond superficial social analysis that looked only at events to one that looked at the themes that generated those events. Then there is Czechoslovakian playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel. In the 1970’s he wrote to the communist leader of his country pointing out that the absence of conflict should not be taken as evidence as the presence of peace. Using these two ideas to think about life in Bristol, I see the recent events as evidence that palatable race relations in our city are based on a fragile tolerance rather than a strong peace. And it’s the underlying fragility of these relationships that leaves us unable to cope with challenge. This leads me to the suggest the city may be ill equipped to play a positive role in the 2007 bicentennial marking of the abolition of the slave trade. I am in no way suggesting Bristol should not take part. I think we should. It should be a year in which our city (and country) gets to grips with the fullness of its history and through that build a foundation for a stronger future. But I’m concerned that without proper preparation it will simply be a year in which we see more evidence of the underlying dysfunctional nature of the city’s race relations. But exposing dysfunction can be useful too. In the face of that challenge we’re going to need a city leadership that draws on the wisdom of King and Havel. Our political leaders are going to have to move beyond traditional party politics. We need leaders (political or otherwise) who see the racial fracture that’s become apparent as an opportunity to build a stronger Bristol, rather than as an opportunity to score political points with simplistic attacks on political correctness. They should be taking to their public platforms to equip the city with ever more sophisticated tools that enable us to come to more mature understandings. This rather than pandering to a bar room analysis based on gut reactions, superficial events and childish emotion. It’s a leadership that will need to understand that real development is just as much about building strong relationships than it is about half billion pound shopping centres. And it’s a leadership that will have to make the idea of reconciliation as central to political discussions as is employment. It’s not good enough to leave all this stuff to the churches and other faith groups. It’s too important for that. Marvin Rees Broadcast Journalist |
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