The murder of young men in Moss Side and the imprisonment of many under joint enterprise laws has left a community traumatised. 84Youth are addressing that trauma and challenging damaging narratives perpetuating youth violence.
Community-led housing’s potential is yet to be realised
Community-led housing is on the rise. Local groups in need of suitable housing in Greater Manchester are being encouraged to get involved in creating genuinely affordable housing tailored to their needs.
Established housing cooperative Homes for Change show what can be achieved when support is provided which allows people to work together to create housing solutions.
Moss Side 1981 – riot or uprising?
Gus John was a key figure in the Moss Side Defence Committee, which formed to defend Black people charged during the violent confrontations between the police and the public in 1981.
Prior to John’s keynote speech at an online antiracism rally on Monday 1 March, Ameen Hadi reflects on the reasons this conflict erupted in 1981 and how it can inform the ongoing struggle against racism.
Review: ‘Never Counted Out! The story of Len Johnson, Manchester’s Black Boxing Hero and Communist’
In this guest post, Bernadette Hyland reviews Michael Herbert’s biography on Manchester’s black middleweight boxing champion and communist, Len Johnson. When my parents moved to Clayton, a working class suburb of Manchester in 1963, it was a large sprawling council estate surrounded by engineering and manufacturing factories and dominated by two busy main roads, Ashton […]
Manchester Windrush project will document ‘hostile environment’ abuse
The “hostile environment” immigration policy of the Home Office has blighted the lives of many people it has affected. The Windrush Wonders Oral History Project aims to raise public awareness of these stories of abuse by recording and publishing them. A project launched last Thursday in Moss Side will record the effects of the Home […]
The legacy of Black Power in Moss Side: activist Coca Clarke tells her story
Coca Clarke is an 85-year-old Black Power activist and she is still an active member of the vibrant Moss Side community, a community that – despite its many laudable efforts – struggles to shake off the lazy stereotypes and assumptions placed on an entire community by the media since the ‘gang wars’ of the ‘80s […]
Former Black Panther joins local community leaders for anti-racism event in Moss Side
Moss Side has historically been one of the most deprived areas in Britain, and still today it suffers from the narrative regarding the events of the 1980s and 1990s that saw widespread poverty and unemployment lead to high rates of drug-related crime and a series of shootings. However, Moss Side also consists of a bold […]
Who Let Grenfell Burn ?
Manchester poet Tom Skinner wrote this two days after the fire in Grenfell Tower. “It was a response to seeing the government trying to dodge the guilt of what they have allowed to happen”, says Tom. It’s based on Bob Dylan’s song Who Killed Davey Moore. Who let Grenfell burn, Who’s to blame, what can we […]