Revolutionary violence and jihadi Islamism
ON REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE: INITIATED BY THE LEFT, OR BY ARMED ISLAMISTS Terrorism in the name of Islam has dominated the news for at least fifteen years now. We’ve had 9/11 [2001], 7/7 [2005] and with the events in Paris we now have 7/1 and 9/1 [2015]. (This article refers to the recent murder by self-styled […]
On youth in the multi-cultural inner-city in the 1990s
Youth in the multi-cultural inner-city: Learning from experience I learned as much of my sociology from experience as I did from books. Ethnography has always been my preferred method. I learned to write as much from home-made journalism, particularly for Chapeltown News and Big Flame, as I did from the great literature I’ve consumed since […]
2001: ‘Riots’, or violent urban protests, in four northern English cities
The so-called northern ‘riots’ in 2001 were, in my view, a turning point in British society. For the first time, British Muslims (the protagonists were mainly, but by no means exclusively, Muslims) engaged in violent protest against racists and discriminatory policing in forms that were reminiscent of the ‘riots’ led by British African and Caribbean […]
Diverse communities and the question of cohesion
Ages ago I was asked to write a chapter on diversity for a book on the Yorkshire and Humberside region put together by colleagues at Leeds Metropolitan University. I got tremendous help from Professor John Stillwell (Geography, Leeds University) who produced statistical maps for me at the drop of a hat. The chapter contains lots […]