[NetBehaviour] Finsbury Park attack

Steven Ball steven at steven-ball.net
Mon Jun 19 10:51:23 CEST 2017


Working at Furtherfield last I spent quite a bit of time in Finsbury Park. My impression was of a lively, ethnically and religiously diverse place where people and communities rubbed up against each other pretty well. Kind of rough around the edges, but that comes with the territory, very much like my own 'hood in Deptford, South London.

It's not clear whether the perpetrators were from the area, I suspect not, but we'll probably find out sooner or later.

The police are treating it as a terrorist incident, and it's clearly a direct attack on a group of Muslims. It's shocking but unfortunately not altogether surprising that something like this might happen, given the constant drip of Islamophobia in the media, in The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, by individuals such as Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins, political parties such as UKIP and EDL, a pernicious racism pervades. There is also currently a dysfunctional systemic failure at state level to be able to cope with even the most basis of governmental functions. It's difficult to shake the impression that this country, and London in particular, is in some form of terminal meltdown right now.

But communities persist, ties strengthen, and solidarity is forged in such emergencies. Furtherfield isn't parachuted in like so many so-called socially engaged art projects often are, it is an established and integral part of its local community, so I can understand the shock waves that this attack must be causing. More strength to you!

Steven x

On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 09:21, ruth catlow <ruth.catlow at furtherfield.org> wrote:
Thanks for asking Alan.

This attack happened last night at Finsbury Park Mosque which is about 100 yards from Furtherfield Commons.

Some people drove a van into a group of late night worshippers as they left the mosque. One of the attackers was apprehended and held by the group until the police arrived.

Last year Park Theatre (local partners of ours) commissioned a playwrite to worked directly with the mosque to produce the [Hurling Rubble](https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/hurling-rubble-at-the-moon-hurling-rubble-at-the-sun) plays about how extremist violence grows. We hosted our [Superdiversity exhibition](http://furtherfield.org/programmes/superdiversity-picturing-finsbury-park) this spring in which Katherine Stansfeld an artist and cultural geographer brought together more than 50 different perspectives of lives lived in the area. This area is bold in its expression of difference - its value and its difficulties - we love it.

We have yet to hear from our local friends. I'm heading up there now - full of sorrow.

~
Ruth

On 19/06/17 03:44, Alan Sondheim wrote:

Please please share any information anyone might have about this, apparently on Seven Sisters Road. This is terrible...

Thank you,

Alan
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