Culture, Arts and Refugees

Project Focus:

Strathclyde police set up an annual festival to provide a celebration of diversity through music, dance and fun to help overcome community tensions in the Sighthill area of Glasgow,which stemmed from hostility between refugees and asylum seekers and the
host community.

Background:

The area of Sighthill in North Glasgow was already run down and had high levels of poverty and disadvantage before the arrival of more than 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers as part of the national dispersal programme in 2000. The indigenous community saw the assistance received by new arrivals and tensions arose.Additional problems developed around the congregation of young male asylum seekers in public places,which although a cultural issue, was seen as threatening by the host community. Shortly afterwards a Turkish asylum seeker was murdered and another member of the
community was stabbed.Although the assault was not racially motivated, it inflamed tensions in the area. Police, councillors and community representatives feared race riots. The idea of a festival came from community police officers who felt that it would be important to: get asylum seekers and refugees,many who were living in fear of racial violence, out of their homes; to enable people to experience and enjoy each others cultures – there are 70 nationalities living in the area with 40 languages spoken; and to promote integration and reinstate harmony in the community. Glasgow City Council stepped in to provide manpower and financial support as did several local business sponsors,The Scottish Executive, Scottish Arts Council and Joint Police Board.

Participants:

The communities of North Glasgow and asylum seeker and refugee communities.

Activities:

The first festival was held in 2001 and is managed year-round by community police officer,Tony Gallagher.The festival takes place on one day in June but is preceded by ten weeks of community arts, cultural and sports workshops run by different community groups. The festival opens with a carnival parade with all groups in national dress and opening speeches by local dignitaries.The festival features different tents for drama and fashion, music and dance, with stalls offering free cuisine from different countries, a football tournament, police dog display, police band and funfair. Workshop and festival activities have included:

• Sports including football, cricket, rugby, and Kabbadi – a Kurdish game similar to Rugby.
• Mexican martial arts.
• Asian, Nigerian and Kurdish dancing and national dances by other community groups.
• Breakdancing.
• Japanese drumming.
• Steel bands from Jamaica.
• Dhol drumming.
• Percussion groups.
• Rock bands.
• Drama.
• Literary workshops.
• Video workshops.
• Food preparation and cookery workshops.
  

Activities take place using 6 major languages as well as English – Arabic, Kurdish, Iraqi, Iranian, Somalian and Nigerian. Local interpreters are used to assist with activities.

Outcomes:

• Police statistics indicated that racially motivated crimes declined considerably in the Sighthill area following the launch of the festival: In 2001 Strathclyde police recorded 73 incidents reported by refugees and asylum seekers in the Sighthill area. In 2002 this had declined to 17 – a fourfold decline in just 12 months - with 23 cases recorded in 2003.
• Festival attracted 68,000 people in 2004.
• Workshops involved hundreds of local people.
• Festival brings out people from across communities and enables them to interact in a good humoured way.
• Police say the community has ‘learned to behave as a community’.
• Positive community response to the festival – children are dressed in their best clothes and families feel safe to go out.
• The police have noted greater cohesion and mixing between groups between whom there have been tensions, such as Iraqis and Iranians.
• Workshops provided skills development, opportunity to mix and meet new people and gain empowerment.
• Some refugees and asylum seekers have gone on to obtain formal skills and qualifications e.g. those involved in cooking gained a certificate from Glasgow City Council and have started using skills in catering.
• Police have gained skills in cultural project management.
• Other police needs – such as an asylum liaison officer – were identified through the project.
• Project has become a model for policing in culturally diverse situations in the UK and other forces are now looking at replicating the format.
  

Sources:

Research interview. Video interview. Video materials. Crime statistics. Strathclyde Police website. The Guardian website.

Contact details:

North Glasgow International Festival
Baird Street Police Office,
Glasgow
G4 OEX
Tel: +44 (0) 141 532 4100
E: ngifest@aol.com