Dumb knives have no

Adam has lived in the inner city of Birmingham throughout his life, Spending their teenage years armed: sometimes with knives, sometimes with rifles, always in a gang. And he is never particularly worried by the police. “Because we live in poor areas,” he says, “Police are doing nothing.” They will arrive after a great shooting to make sure, “Like Christmas,” says Adam, all flashing lights and excitement. But then they leave again, leaving their criminals and victims to their fates.

The second city in England is now ahead of London for its high levels of armed, violent crime. Firearm crimes here are almost double in London. The second city in England was a seminar of the world. But just a 10 -minute drive car from the bulls, you will find the crumbling terraces of small hairs, where the streets are blocked with abandoned mattresses and broken cars. Where families once flourish against the backdrop of Victorian civic elegance, now dozens of illegal businesses are crowded the streets in improvised huts. And bands fail. Jaffar*, the owner of one of the few legal businesses in the area, explains that “the people here are crazy. I manage the right business and pay the taxes I owe. But if I say something about those who do not, I will be physically attacked. “

Only in January, two men were accused of attempting murder after individual attacks here, while another local was closed for shooting someone in a parking lot. And if you face the chaos, you will also be directed. Ahmed* was brutally attacked by a group of thugs, “because I had talked about people involved in drugs in a community center,” he says. “I guess they thought I was them. They defeated me pointlessly. “

There are many men happy to beat. “Banks attract young children through drugs, through clothes, through cars,” Adam says. “Little children see that the way to make easy money is to sell drugs.” How easy it is to be clear when they are taken to see rows from “comfortable stores” on Coventry Road, where drugs are sold openly, even when the owners obviously they wear knives. “Buying drugs here is like entering a beer shop,” Adam says. “And catch a gun is like buying chocolate. I can take one in 30 or 40 minutes. “

The dominance of gangs is just as strengthened in other neighborhoods in Birmingham, explaining figures of violence in violence in the city. But according to Ahmed, hardened crime is supported by the main disorder. To illustrate what he meant, he takes us to Small Park Heath, a short walk from Shanti City near Coventry Road. There is a decorative lake and ribbon proudly funded by philanthropy in the 1870s. Now, however, the lake is suffocated by garbage. Used syringes and empty boxes with nitric oxide-now-lleg doctor for recreation-enhanced muddy slopes. Under the legs, the soil is flexible, the result of warriors dug from unverified infections of rats. The floor of the tape is scattered with used condoms: prostitution is complete.

How then can I understand the anarchy? The guilty inaction of the government is partly: clear enough at the advice level. After effectively declaring it bankrupt in 2023, the local government is forced to apply deep cuts, reducing everything from youth clubs and sports facilities to social services. Even more strict savings are also in the onset, despite the estimated 17.5% jump in the Council’s tax rates over the next two years.

It is equally tempting to blame more serious legislation for the central government. Last week, Interior Secretary Yvet Cooper said he was considering Idris Elb’s call to replace pointed kitchen blades with thinner alternatives. A funny suggestion – it is double that when one thinks that Shabana Mahmoud, the local MP in Little Heath, is also the secretary of the justice of Kyar Starmer. It is not surprising that no one we talk to here thinks that changing the shape of the instruments would make a big difference, although many claim that more active police force can be a good first step. “This,” says Adam, “can stop the children who will come to your house nowadays and shoot him because the police have never stopped them from doing something before.” Of course, this would not be cheap, and in addition, west Midlands police have seen his budget reduced and the numbers of officers, reduced by 700 since 2010.

“Under the legs, the soil feels a strange sponge, the result of unverified wars of rats. Bandstand, in turn, is now used by prostitutes. ”

Taken together, the so -called. Broken Windows Theory feels relevant here. Developed by American social scientist James Q. Wilson in the eighties., He claims that when a low-level disorder is fixed, a more serious crime will inevitably follow. “If no one is ever drawn,” says Mohammed Ashfak, the Kikit project founder, who has long worked to try to reduce the abuse of substances and violence, “people will manage their cars without road taxes or insurance, and smoke weed in Their cars driving under the influence. “

In the meantime, talk to the locals and you understand that the main social and political tension here is strengthened by recent arrivals from abroad. In a small hat, as in other parts of the inner city of Birmingham, a long -established Pakistani community dominates. But in recent years, more migrants have joined them from Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia, a fact, a fact that their neighbors have begun to resent. Mansoor and Ahmed, middle-aged men who were born of Pakistani parents in Birmingham, tell us that these newer arrities are guilty of much of the illegality and chaos. According to Mansoor, a local chain of convenience stores known for the sale of medicines is controlled by members of Afghan tribal network.

In the absence of the state – Ashfak says that the police are “just not enough officers” – the locals are organized. Mohammed Zahir, a muscular man of his forties, who owns a Thai kickboxing fitness room, is looking for ways to divert children from crime. “Children are like mushrooms,” Zahir explains. “If they come into contact with bad things on the streets, they will absorb it, especially if they think there will be no consequences.” Not that he is naive, noting that some of his most ardent students begin to study self-defense because they are scared From the gangs: Only for them to become “horrors” on the street.

No wonder the residents are caught by more durable political decisions. With the work of labor to block knife orders on Amazon, local alternatives appear. In the last election, Mahmoud defeated an independent candidate called Akhmed Yakoob with only 3 241 votes. In 2019, although with few different borders, its majority was almost 30,000. In the nearby Yardley, Jess Phillips stumbled home after heavy pressure from workers. As for the local government, last year’s election for the Mayor of West Midlands saw almost 70,000 votes in Yakoob.

After the general election in July, most reports suggest that these rebels lead the so -called. Voice Gaza and this is unknown, it is certain that mostly the Muslim regions of Birmingham are dissatisfied with Labor’s foreign policy. In the end, locals suggest that the destructive social tissue is the decisive electoral factor. “Voters really want to see the effort to improve things on the streets in the poorer regions,” says Ashfak, “And these MPs can fight next time if they don’t.” Yakoob agrees. “I received 33.2%, emphasizing Labour’s failure on local problems,” he stresses, a platform that covered everything from drugs to a crime with weapons.

There is a lesson in cities other than Birmingham: an urban degeneration born of the municipal bankruptcy brings a political price.

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*Some names have been changed.