A counter narrative to fundamentalism

In the aftermath of this dreadful  but somehow expected attack on the streets of Woolwich there has been some interesting and broad discussion about the need for a new ‘counter-narrative’.  I have heard and read the phrase repeatedly – a call to create something that speaks louder than the madness of fundamentalism.

It has left me wondering who will speak this new narrative?  The teachers who feel oppressed and oppositional to the Education Secretary? The arts and culture sector that has been urged to focus on its economic merits above all else?  The press – that is so mistrusted with regard to morality that it has to be investigated by parliament?  Television – with its seemingly endless prime time pumping out of karaoke and senseless shallow nonsense about celebrity? The High Street – struggling to find its feet and purpose against the warehouses of giant supermarkets and online delivery (which we see being addressed more sensibly and creatively by Dan Thompson @artistsmakers than by the depressing Mary Portas)?  

Who speaks the new narrative - McDonalds?

Some have stepped forward to say that this attack has been long-awaited, surprised that it has not happened before now.  What is it about 21^st century Britain with the constant barrage of the narrative of greed, intolerance and trivia that it seems not that surprising that  something like this might breed?  

The counter-narrative that is needed is the one of tolerance, fairness and culture.  Instead the daily news provides the ammunition for the hate fermenters, we see unfairness, bankers greed, debt and poverty, smart weapons used on illiterate people, the deaths of millions for the want of a few pence sandwiched between the latest stories of technological advances in apps for us.

The arts and culture sector should be the free mouth that speaks the narrative that can save us and in many places it is.  What better sector to reach the disaffected, who better to create new anthems and encourage creativity and the inner spirit that has no god’s axe to grind? 

From Danny Boyle’s expensive but hugely successful reminder of what this society has within it and where it came from, to the inclusive and personal work of artists and organisations working with the most disadvantaged – the failed, the prisoners, the future failers, the pre-rioters, the homeless, the kids, there are examples everywhere of why we should support the arts and what the arts does for us beyond economic terms.

There are so many examples of great public cultural works and festivals, performances, arts education and social projects, some that inspire and reach out to broad congregations, some that work and are directed at small, isolated and disadvantaged groups and individuals.

I read this week an ‘article’ from Conservative Home calling for all councils to cease funding the arts.  Conservative Home is an online blogging/news site for grassroots conservatives, it is owned by former Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft, so should be taken seriously.  The article is all about promoting the free market approach to arts ie no subsidy, if the unsupported arts are any good they will survive, if not they will not have any market value and they will die.  Is this the new narrative that is needed?  The narrative that says a Big Mac and fries must be good because millions buy it?  

Is this the ‘counter-narrative’ that will breed tolerance and save young people from each other and save us all and make a better world?

The arts and culture sector does more than the money it costs to either the ticket or tax payer.  It inspires and provides an alternative to the intellect killing of the free market media with its lack of morality and flag waving boorishness.

The arts and culture sector must be both smart enough to understand itself and what its role is, and brave and articulate enough to speak up. 

We need three things: 

• increase not cut the public funding of the arts; 
• make the arts a statutory responsibility that local councils must support; 
• for artists and arts organizations to remind themselves of what our responsibility is and what we owe the public in return.

There is no doubt that there is a desperate need for a counter-narrative that speaks – one that offers an alternative to the chest beating fundamentalists and flag wavers and dog eat dog free marketers from wherever they come.  The art and culture sector speaks loudly, it is one of the things that archaeologists and historians use to measure societies past.  In our present we must use it and support it to express our best and most positive values and against that which is corrupt and most vile, from wherever it comes.