I mention this for a two reasons. The first being that Mieville, a London writer, has obviously modelled at least part of this conceit on his hometown. The second being that he will be in attendance at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival in early June, the first in the area, and a definite sign of the rise and rise of certain parts of Hackney as interesting, ‘cool’, bohemian hang-outs.

Last Saturday (22/05/10), in London Fields, on one of the hottest days of the summer a sunbather was shot after getting caught in a flare-up of gang violence. A perfect, if sad, example of the two co-existing worlds that occupy the same spaces in the borough meeting with tragic consequences.

A recent article in the Hackney Citizen has claimed:

“So the ‘kidz’ decided to remind us THEY ARE HERE! And who can blame them. Their parents are being defeated by generation upon generation of poverty, escaping from war zones, beaten by the system, drowning in smack, crack, alcohol, junk food and trash tv. But their children have still got the anger of untapped potential burning in their hearts. They protect what they do have, and what they have is territory. Where are the pubs, clubs, cafés, gyms and park equivalents for them?

We expect them to stay hidden, keep their ugly poverty away from out rose-tinted Ray Bans. It’s time we woke up, heard their cries for attention, listened to their anger and gave them something of their own. Hackney is taking a deep breath. This could be one long, hot summer, folks.”

It is very hard, as the writer seems to be doing, to defend any sort of gang activity and I would deeply question his assertion that whoever was responsible for this had any sort of agenda beyond whatever gang-squabble started the incident in the first place. It was not a cry of rage at the perceived gentrification of the area, but something that has a tragic, fatalistic inevitability to it. Follow the logic of what has happening socially in Hackney, and indeed across London, and something like his has to happen.

I have no interest in adopting a holier-than-thou, ‘I’m more working class than you’ attitude that criticises vocally the ‘trendies’, the gentrification and the coffee shops(but of course these are all the things that make places like London Fields and Stoke Newington appealing). I will vocally criticise Broadway Market, but that’s because it is too fucking expensive and clearly aimed at a certain demographic that does exclude a massive amount of people who live nearby. This is an unfortunate fact, but even that does not make it ‘wrong’ (whatever that may mean).

As someone who works with a number of disadvantaged young men and boys in the area – and I have worked on the estates around London Fields – the obvious gap between rich and poor becomes very apparent, and it would be easy to indulge in some anti middle-class posturing, which I must admit I have been guilty of in the past. But this is too simple an answer. Nobody in their right mind is going to say that the improvements and facilities that are now a part of London Fields are a bad thing, and in theory they are there for everyone and anyone to use. Yet it is true that a lot of local young people can’t go there precisely because of gang activity – if it is perceived as ‘their turf’ then they fight over it.
It all comes to down to a question of attitude, and perspective. Gang violence is something I will never condone, but from the experiences I have had working with some young men in the area I do have a (limited) understanding of the issue, and have been able to put a human face on it. The social and cultural conditions that create these things are really not that hard to understand – poor housing, lack of education, a feeling of exclusion from mainstream society. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could work that out. It doesn’t excuse any of it, but there is a reason for it, and it’s a reason that we have to get to grips with and understand. Not to fear, but to know. The gang’s are real, but don’t believe what the papers tell you either. Maybe find out for yourself?

The problem with the middle-class makeover of Hackney is one of ‘unseeing’. I do believe that to maintain a certain lifestyle in areas of London such as this one, where so many different social groups and people from different social levels live side by side (and I literally mean side by side), then to accept the failings of where you live, and your own implication in that, will destroy the image of the life you want to live. If you try and buy a lifestyle, you better put on blinkers, look straight ahead and ignore the contradictory information flickering in the corners of your eyes.

Again, I am not criticising aspects of these lifestyles; I love living in Stoke Newington precisely because of some of the very same things that I find unpalatable – as a vegan, places like the Whole Foods Market are a godsend. But then I am aware that I’m a single man who has the luxury of choice. The place is too expensive. That is a simple fact. I’m excited by the upcoming Stoke Newington Literature Festival. Will there be some complete wankers there? Yes, of course. It doesn’t invalidate the thing itself.

So here we come to the issue of attitude and perspective. It’s possible – and I know this, because it’s how I and many friends live our lives – to enjoy all of the great things the area has to offer, without ignoring everything that is wrong with the place. You can’t buy an aspirational lifestyle and live here without ignoring those who don’t fit into that lifestyle. I believe that to be a fact. However, you can reconcile these issues within yourself and stop ignoring what’s happening. In fact, once that happens, you’ll most likely become part of a force that changes things for the better, for everyone. Naïve and idealistic, possibly, but it’s what I think

And there are a lot of real problems, that a cup of overpriced coffee won’t solve. But then neither will my vegan pesto.

Gary Budden

THE JUNK

www.myspace.com/thejunkpunk

Hailing from Brighton, and quite possibly the greatest ska
punk band in the UK at the moment, this seven peice will tranform the
intimate Ryan’s Bar into a sweat-soaked, mayhem-filled dancefloor.

and..

THE STERILIZERS
www.myspace.c…om/thesterilizers

Awesome London-based Oi street/2 tone punk. Get your
moshing (do people still call it that?) and moonstomping shoes on!

and…

LIAM O’KANE
www.myspace.com/liamokanemusic

Jimmy The Squirrel’s frontman does a solo set! Lovely stuff.

and…

THE APOSTATES
www.myspace.com/theapostates

Dirty ska punk with reggae rhythms, from London town.

www.myspace.com/outofstepmusicnight

Featuring:

DAVE PEPPER
seriously amazing words and rhymes, one of the best poets in the UK
www.myspace.com/mrpepperpoet

DANNY CHIVERS
Climate Camp activist and comedy poet. Brilliant and slightly mad.
www.myspace.com/dannychivers

PETE THE TEMP
subversive, heart-rending and blackly comic
www.myspace.com/petethetemp

BRENDAN PICKETT
sci-fi poetry weirdness
www.myspace.com/brendanpickett

+ compere CAPTAIN OF THE RANT
www.myspace.com/captainoftherantpoetry

Entry by Donation
Saturday April 17th, 6-9pm

Listen to some words to make you, like, think and shit, before heading to the pub!!

We sat in a pub nearby, swigged on a pint of cider. I thought of the first Ballard novel I had read, ‘The Drowned World’. As I looked at my companions, sinking into various states of liquid oblivion, it seemed oddly appropriate. Ballard’s work – along with other leading lights of the British New Wave (Moorcock, Harrison, Aldiss) – had been a constant in my adult life, a writer who I would gush over whilst inebriated, a writer who female friends claimed not to ‘get’, a writer who had peered through all that seemed dull and unimportant in modern life and saw the insanity lurking there. A unique force. Gone now, made part of other people’s fictions, their real-life stories influenced by the truth that never was.

We had never believed Ballard was real, not really real. His life story so famous, his books so perspective-altering that he could never have lived in…Shepperton. But he did. We were happier now he was dead, resigned to history, now he could grow and swell into distorted flabby myth. A distended legacy.

The day Ballard died, 19 April 2009, I sat in a pub, sweat drying on cool skin after a ferocious punk gig. Thought about going vegan, of starting smoking again, of ex-lovers and future adventures, of atrocity exhibitions, car crashes, sexual openings, boredom and humdrum psychopathys.

Ballard died, and I was still alive.

AL BAKER

THE RUBY KID

PRESS1

3 CHORD CRAIG