A chance to share your beliefs and be listened to
DIFFICULT DIALOGUES ALLOW PEOPLE TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS IN SAFE ENVIRONMENT
I SPENT seven years as Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and there were many successes but also many challenges along the way.
One of the most testing was in 2014 with the violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.
What has that got to do with Manchester?
Well the action on both sides led to strong emotions particularly but not only in Jewish and Muslim folk living here.
This resulted in protests and counter protests outside one particular shop selling Israeli cosmetics in King Street with police officers in the middle trying to keep the peace but allow the right to protest.
There was also a significant increase in hate crime which means that ordinary folk going about their business were attacked for recognisably being a member of their faith.
The civil war in Libya was another example of a foreign conflict touching the city as we discovered that we have one of the biggest Libyan communities outside Libya.
Indeed it is pretty rare for a conflict overseas not to have some footprint of raised emotions here given the diversity of Greater Manchester.
Many of these conflicts involve long standing disputes, grievances and feelings of injustice going back many decades and it is simplistic to expect folk with a heritage and family ties in such countries not to be affected.
Most seriously many of the terrorist attacks in this country and specifically in our city are linked to overseas conflicts or indeed the longstanding painful conflict in Northern Ireland.
Part of my frustration back in 2014 was that there was not some alternative to these tensions being played out on the street with a significant risk of disorder.
We needed influential figures in these communities and others to find another means of expressing and challenging the strong emotions generated and avoiding a conflict overseas spilling over into conflict here. No overseas conflict or atrocity can justify an individual here being attacked, in particular just because they are from a particular faith or nationality. We need to stand together against such hatred. In a democracy it is crucial that people can express their views, and often their anger, and that fundamental differences are not ignored or downplayed.
Free speech or the right to peacefully protest cannot be curtailed in pursuit of some idealised notion of community relations which ignores difference and ignores grievance.
On the other hand in such a diverse place as Greater Manchester where so many nationalities and traditions live side by side it cannot be in a way which threatens our peace and longer term cohesion but rather promotes our values of respect, challenge and open debate.
If dialogue has failed in some overseas conflict it cannot be allowed to fail here.
That is why #WeStandTogether run Difficult Dialogues and other events for people to express their thoughts in a safe and supportive environment.
We invite all readers to take up these opportunities to share your ideas and beliefs, listen and be listened to, and build mutual understanding and respect. Sir Peter Fahy