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Michael Potten: ‘Everything is driven by money’ |
‘Gap between rich and poor leads to violence on streets’
THE gulf between rich and poor in Islington is a root cause of youth violence, the borough’s young person of the year has claimed.
Michael Potten, 19, who last month won an EC1 New Deal Pride award, told a meeting of Islington Council’s executive last week that, with multi-million pound complexes next to council estates, young people were surrounded by things they want but cannot have.
The former St Aloysius College student, who has just gained a place on the Prime Minister’s Fellowship scheme, added: “This is why some young people resort to crime. Some feel a quick and easy way to obtain money is to start selling drugs. As with any business, some look to expand and make more money. They start selling drugs in another area and taking what is considered to be someone else’s profit. This is where conflict is caused as obviously each one’s ‘friends’ will back them. This is happening across the UK, not just London.
“In the capitalist society we are living in, everything is driven by money, so it is no surprise young people are starting to want money themselves.”
The answer, he said, was for young people to be given more credible job opportunities, training and apprenticeships that would make them financially stable. “This could result in a decrease of selling drugs, which would lead to a decrease in youth-related crime and violent incidents,” he said. “It will not solve the issue, but it would be a first step to beginning a chain of events to eventually make our society a better place for everyone.”
He is one of seven young men campaigning against knife crime who were part of a delegation to the Town Hall last Thursday, in the wake of Ben Kinsella’s death. The youths are all part of the Listen-Up project at the White Lion Centre in Angel which aims to give young people a voice.
Central Foundation School pupil Mohamed Ali, 16, said more than 200 young people had attended a youth violence discussion at the Emirates Stadium last month. Highbury Grove School student Gouled Mohamed, 17, said: “The aim was to ask young people what they think are some of the important issues around youth violence and what they felt would help stop gun and knife crime. The main issues were education, policing, youth culture, poverty and money.”
Islington Green pupil Sami Adam, 17, said education had an important part to play, adding: “Teachers face a daily struggle to maintain authority within a class environment.
“It’s a known fact that up to two-thirds of excluded pupils become known to the police and one-third end up in court, so getting education right is crucial.”
Islington Green School student Mateus Lutumba believed police needed to show more respect to young people. He said officers should be more involved in social events. “Perhaps this would let them see young people as more than just ‘hoodies’ and we could see police as more than uniforms and badges,” he said.
Lib Dem community safety chief Councillor Terry Stacy said: “The events of the last week have been extremely shocking for everyone involved. The thing that came out for me was the march organised by young people for young people. It was a real vote of confidence that young people are taking this issue seriously.”
He added that the council was in talks with contractor Kier Islington about offering construction training. |
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