Inner city decay has been a feature of post-industrial societies for more than half a century. The rise of what was once known as the new middle class, largely made up of tradespeople and skilled manual workers, led to growth in the suburbs, leaving previously thriving urban communities in decline.
This process was accelerated and accentuated by the Troubles, which also led to community consolidation among those who remained, or what can be described as ghettoisation, with less population fluidity than would be expected under normal circumstances.
In urban areas, such as those in south Belfast where racist violence has flared in recent days, a culture of exclusivity has developed, fuelled in part by fear and sectarianism then reinforced by public housing policies. Low educational attainment, high unemployment and a lack of effective political representation has led to greater alienation and a collective sense of being disregarded.
It hasn’t occurred solely in unionist areas but what was once characterised in the more racially polarised United States as ‘white flight’ has arguably been more marked in places like the Donegall Road and Sandy Row, where as a result there’s been greater availability of vacant housing and empty retail units.
Those arriving in Northern Ireland have naturally gravitated to these areas for financial reasons. They have set up businesses and worked in jobs that locals often spurn. Through enterprise they have helped revitalise shopping thoroughfares, providing an alternative to the generic global brands that increasingly dominate our high streets.
Yet these recent arrivals are being blamed for a crisis in public services and community cohesion that has been evolving for decades. The immigrant population in south Belfast isn’t a problem but a symptom of a problem that is affecting post-industrial societies across the world.
Scapegoating these people for government failures is not only wrong, it lets those responsible for addressing issues like a lack of housing, limited employment opportunities and substance abuse off the hook.
Those purporting to represent these communities will talk of “legitimate concerns”, which is often just a way of justifying or giving credence to racist views. They obviously aren’t going to concede that they have failed their constituents.
The DUP recently had an MP for South Belfast and in 2016 returned two MLAs in the constituency. Yet when it negotiated the confidence and supply deal with the Tories, rolling out rural broadband was its priority rather than improving skills or addressing educational under-achievement among the working classes – but then why change things when apparently we have a ‘world class education system’?
It could also be argued that Stormont’s Social Investment Fund embedded paramilitary dominance in unionist working class areas rather than encouraging transition, as was supposed to happen.
Claiming, as Edwin Poots did earlier this week, that “working people are being driven out of the community because housing is unaffordable and unattainable” suggests not only a hierarchy of entitlement based on skin colour but that recent arrivals are responsible for displacing those who’ve left the area over decades, many to escape the yoke of paramilitarism.
Social problems arise for manifold reasons and require complex solutions, coupled with strong leadership. Deflecting blame from where it belongs will only excuse violence and allow resentment to fester.
