Tackling racist violence at the community level

There have been two appalling racially-motivated attacks in recent hours, one the defacing of a billboard promoting Islamic Relief, the other an attack on a mosque. Rising far-right and racist movements require a public response which is much more rooted in communities.

Common Weal believes that we should be returning to a policing system much more focussed on preventative work, reversing recent centralisation and being again rooted in the communities the police serve. We believe that Scotland desperately needs a new tier of local democracy.

Issues like the rise of far-right politics aren't regional; they are driven nationally (if not internationally) and the emerge locally. The political focus remains on the national level where politicians are most comfortable operating. Inside communities there is very little presence of public provision of services and the police presence is irregular and largely an enforcement one.

We believe that tackling the roots of rising racist violence requires the brining together of three crucial aspects. First, we need proper localism; to give power to local communities which enables them to address their own local issues with proper responsiveness and genuine local awareness. That layer of most-local democracy should also be closely involved in the delivery of two other local services.

One should be local policing where police are again stationed in and known by communities and are there to help prevent the rise of violence in the first place, not just enforce law afterwards. The other should be the local delivery of a National Care Service which is working with the members of a community most isolated or most seduced by violent rhetoric and so most vulnerable to radicalisation.

Investing in this kind of system can be done in tiers; if increasing the number of police officers is too expensive, create a system of Community Safety Officers focussing on the preventative work. We cannot prevent the rise of racism with conferences of the great and good in Edinburgh. We need to be in communities, of communities and working with communities across the range of policing, care services and local democracy.

You can find out more about our vision in our book Sorted.