Prevention rather than the cure

In the month that the Metropolitan Police carried out hundreds of arrests as part of the newly launched Trident Gang Crime Command, one community project proved there is a better way to deal with the apparent growing gang problem in London.

Based in the heart of Tower Hamlets is the Aasha Gang Conflict Mediation Project, which was formed 10 years ago as a means of reducing the impact of gang violence on communities. How do they do this? By mediating between rival gangs and developing programmes which can assist in transforming their lives to empower them in making positive changes.

Last week, Aasha celebrated a decade of community cohesion work at the official launch of youth organisation Osmani Trust's new centre off Whitechapel Road.

The ethos of organisations such as Aasha is to prevent problems before they occur. The people behind Aasha know what it is like to be in gangs and the desire to fight for territory and be in control. In fact, during the 1990's, they were the very people bringing terror to the streets of Tower Hamlets. At the launch of the Osmani Centre, former gang members recalled their harrowing stories of growing up in a part of London which was plagued by Far-Right groups engaging in a bout of Paki Bashing. Gangs were formed to protect the local community from racists from the BNP and Combat 18.

But soon the gangs began fighting each other, sometimes leading to violent clashes. After a series of clashes between some of the big gangs in the area, a meeting was called at the East London Mosque to deal with the matter. What came out of the gathering was a renewed hope; suddenly the youngsters who were rivals put their difference aside, empowered to become youth workers and mediators and the Aasha Gang Mediation Project was born.

Muhammad Rabbani is manager of the Aasha Project. He spoke to over 500 youngsters gathered at Osmani Centre, who chose to attend and take part in the many activities during half-term rather than hanging around the streets.

Rabbani said,

“Empowering communities to solve their own problems through grass roots engagement is a far better strategy than trying to arrest our way out of any problem. Projects like Aasha are well placed to reach the young people and motivate them towards change. What we need to do is support community initiatives and empower them. Young people want to take the step, we just need to reach out to them and earn their trust.”

Organisations such as Aasha and others around the country who work tirelessly and in the shadows of our community play a big part in tackling the issues. Sure, there's no denying that there are problems on our streets, but without such grassroots projects, the problem could be even bigger.

Funding is the big issue and with the austerity measures that have come in, organisations such as Aasha have to complete endless paperwork to apply for money to keep projects running. Grassroots groups who engage with youngsters and keep them off the streets have played and will continue to play a valuable role in reaching out to the youth before they fall in to the trap of gangs.