Fight Against Hate Day of Action Milton Keynes - October 18Th, 2017

Fight Against Hate – Day of Action – Milton Keynes - October 18th, 2017

Citizens:MK’s fight against hate campaign was launched at the Accountability Assembly in April 2017. It began as a response to concern within member institution that hate was an issue that needed to be addressed to promote social cohesion and harmony in a diverse Milton Keynes. Many actors and institutions members of Citizens:MK were involved. Community leaders from the Open University, the Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Q-Alliance, St.Frideswide's Church, MK Muslim Association worked on the campaign from the autumn of 2016. The original groups were later joined by representatives of the Sikh community and the MK Ahmadiyya Muslim Association. The campaign’s goals for 2017-8 were: giving a voice to victims of hate crimes; running a poster competition in schools; running a poster campaign on Arriva Buses; and organising a workshop on restorative justice. Most of the goals were achieved in the first six months of the campaign. The pending goal is the restorative justice workshop. The later was one of the key themesdiscussed at the day of action. A plan of action was agreed with the Police and MK Council to deliver on this goal.

The day of action had a number of components. The involvement of young people made a difference and brought a buzz to the room. It energized those in attendance and the team received many compliments from those who attended complimenting the diversity in ethnicity, ability and disability, sexual identity, sexual orientation, ability and disability and above all the presence of old and young people. The day of action included a number of complimentary activities, including: unveiling the art work of posters produced by pupils from five primary schools; launching Arriva Bus’ poster campaign;live public performance of the song “Love is Stronger Than Hate”, composed by Nikki Elgar and performed by pupils from Summerfield School; presentation on statistics of hate crimes in Milton Keynes; testimonies by three victims of hate crimes; pledges by members of Citizens:MK, business partners, the Police and MK Council; presentations by Citizens UK guests; and a Presentation of ‘The Missing Muslims’ report by the Citizens Commission on Islam, Participation and Public Life. The event would not have been complete without one to ones. Images of school children engaging with the Police Commander and the Deputy Leader of the Council captured vividly the essence of the event.

The day of action was a culmination of many activities and meetings undertaken by the campaign team, the community organiser and other actors associated with the organisations involved. The meetings with power holders in advance enabled the campaign team to agree the asks and avoid drama on stage. More importantly working with powerholders, gaining an insight into the interest of their organisations helped in shaping campaign goals and in turn ensured that there were positive responses to all campaign goals.

What have we learnt from the campaign about being effective in public life? There are a number of lessons from community organising perspectives. These include:

-Responding to felt needs of members of the institutions – hate crime were identified as a major issue following high profile hate crimes

-Following the community organising model and cycle enabled the team to focus and get the work done(Research – Action – Evaluation)

-Building up alliances with others groups to develop synergy, avoid duplication and maximise impact - this may entail engaging with unusual allies

-Effective engagement with powerholders and looking for win … win scenarios

-Collaborative leadership which is in line with relational power that underpins community organising

-Getting on with the task at hand rather than focusing on resources. They are finite after all and small changes if well thought through can lead to big and systemic changes.

-The power of One-to-Ones – many one to one meetings took place within the organisations and with power holders. Without these it is unlikely that the campaign could have achieved so much.

-Building up and enhancing the capacity of the campaign team – collaborative leadership entails having many leaders willing to work and learn from each other. Bringing on board new members to the campaign team brings new energy and more ideas to the table.

-Discipline and accountability – the campaign team worked hard on getting the team’s discipline right. In addition, the individuals members were accountable to the team and reported on the action points they agreed to lead on at previous meetings.

Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo PhD

Leader of the Fight Against Hate Campaign Team

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