Mohammed Ali: It’s time for the people of my city to build for the future

We were proud of our city. It all changed in the 1980s when thousands of people started losing jobs as a result of textile mills closing down. This especially affected the south Asian people who were encouraged to come in the 1960s to work in them and make profits for the owners.

These communities, who lived in inexpensive inner city houses, never fully recovered – despite massive public sector regeneration initiatives to mitigate the effects of job losses.

For two decades, living in Bradford has been like walking in a desert where someone points you to a mirage in distance and it disappears as you get nearer. Our leaders told us things were about to happen that would change the face of Bradford – their promises have all turned out to be as frustrating and empty as mirages.

Ten years ago, on the weekend of July 7, the worst riot for 20 years occurred on mainland Britain in Bradford. Burning buildings and vehicles became headline news in the international media. Our friends, from as far away as Hong Kong, woke us in the middle of the night to see if we were safe.

There was a flurry of activity when experts were parachuted in to examine the reasons for these disturbances. In a decade, one would have thought that we would have moved forward. That charities like mine, campaigning for social and economic improvements, were no longer needed. But in 2011, QED-UK celebrates its 21st year – if ‘celebrate’ is the appropriate word.

Now, issues around community cohesion, race and economics are thornier than ever. These are aggravated by the fact that Bradford has experienced tragic failure around regeneration.

If anything, things have got worse in the past 10 years. It is a known fact that when Bradfordians are asked which city in the UK they are from many are ashamed to mention Bradford. Instead they would say Leeds or London. This is sad.

It would have been fantastic if – 10 years on – we witnessed a new glittering city centre as outlined in initial plans. Instead we have a giant hole in our city centre that symbolises the state Bradford is in today.

Ten years ago, the Bradford riots emerged as a result of complicating factors. Social and economic exclusion was, and still is, the biggest driving force behind community disintegration. The National Front and Anti Nazi League fuelled the flames, and there was a sense of Bradford’s Asian community defending itself during a time when violence against the Asian communities across the UK was high. Neo-fascist racism mixed with an economic recession can be a dangerous thing.

A report by Paul Bagguley and Yasmin Hussain from the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds into the riots made the point that poverty and economic deprivation was one of the major triggers of the unrest.

Figures quoted revealed that more than half of Pakistani households are in the most deprived 10 per cent of wards in England, and Pakistani men are two and half times more likely to be unemployed than white men. Recent reports show that there are more than 51,000 workless ethnic minorities in Bradford – almost half the total of unemployed.

Disadvantage is the sign of a society in trouble. There is no straightforward solution other than investment – a well thought out investment that builds on Bradford’s heritage and takes advantage of its rich ethnic diversity; an investment that puts communities and people before profit.

Genuine regeneration ensures a sensitive renovation of a city’s unique and beautiful heritage while looking to a prosperous future – creating a centre Bradford can be proud of. We do not want to be remembered as the city of rioting and demolition.

As part of our 21 year celebrations, QED-UK plans to hold a photographic exhibition celebrating the success stories in the last two decades. It’s important to remember the fact that the majority of immigrant families have integrated and contributed successfully to society, and that most families want a safe community, good education, good health and peaceful lives.

It’s crucial we look forward and develop on what works: if Bradford is to have a future, it needs to know that the only suitable place for social or economic disadvantage should be in that ugly travesty of a hole in the ground that currently dominates our city centre. The people of Bradford deserve more. It’s time to build for the future.