Jam, Jerusalem and the fight against organised crime
To some, it will be seen as a busybodies' charter - thousands of WI members tutting over the small ads in the local paper before penning angry letters to the editor.
To others, it is a creative way to deal with the unacceptable face of the sex trade - mobilising the citizenry to help fight the evil criminal gangs which profit from people trafficking.
What strikes me as interesting is that this is a rare example of the state looking to civil society for solutions to social ills.
The Minister for Women, Harriet Harman, addressed the Women's Institute today and asked them for their help.
"Look at the adverts in your local newspaper," she exhorted the organisation's 200,000 members. "They advertise women for sale for sex. Many are young women tricked and trafficked into this country and forced into prostitution."
Ms Harman urged the institute's volunteers to write to local newspaper editors whose own trade organisation, the Newspaper Society, is committed to discouraging or banning such sleazy ads. The WI was only too happy to oblige.
It is not the first time that the organisation has been "recruited" by government. In 1938, the National Federation of Women's Institutes was asked to help with plans to evacuate children in the event of war.
And when conflict did come, the WI took on a wide range of responsibilities. Inevitably, they were asked to assist with the "fruit preservations scheme" (jam) but also to help with the "meat pie scheme", the "cod-liver oil scheme" and the "fruit juice scheme".
They lined coats with rabbit skins for use by troops in Russia and they also worked closely with the Board of Trade's "knitters scheme".
If they were good enough to take on the might of Hitler's Nazis, they are surely more than qualified to fight organised criminals in the sex industry.
However, the relationship between the state and its citizens changed markedly when the war ended. The creation of the welfare state meant that voters increasingly assumed that it was government's job to run the country and improve their lot.
The fight against crime, some would argue, is rightfully a job for police and the courts - not net-twitching do-gooders. Ministers may well be accused of passing the buck - abrogating their responsibility to deal with organised criminal gangs.
If a crime is committed, it might be suggested, the justice system should deal with it, not unelected, meddling amateurs.
A similar charge was laid at Douglas Hurd's door when he was home secretary in the early 1980s. Lord Hurd (as he is now) rolled out the Neighbourhood Watch scheme across Britain, having been impressed by the activities of the first project in Mollington in Cheshire. Today, more than 10 million people are said to be involved.
Central government is increasingly aware of its own limitations. Passing laws from the top often produces little or no effect on behaviour at ground level. The levers of power don't appear to be attached to anything.
Is harnessing the enthusiasm of the British people to improve their own neighbourhoods and communities the way to make a difference?
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Is harnessing the enthusiasm of the British people to improve their own neighbourhoods and communities the way to make a difference?
-----
I think it is, yes.
I should acknowledge straight away that my knowledge of local government's relationship with national government is pretty hazy.
However, it does seem to me that the way that things are run tends to result in national strategy taking precedence over local initiatives.
This is a problem because it's invariably the people "on the frontline" who are keenly aware of the complications and grey areas, and motivated to do something about it.
Not the overall thrust of your article, I guess: But I wish it was possible for local communities to have a major say in how money is raised for local government, and how it is spent.
Complain about this comment
Yes, it is. But I don't think this attempts to do this. Firstly, advertising women for sale for sex is illegal, so where's the enforcement?
The WI is being roped into the fight against organised crime, because our highly trained, exceedingly well -equipped and vastly expensive and ever expanding police force apparently isn't up to the task!
10 Million are involved in Neighbourhood Watch (1 in 7 of us) yet, if you believe the media, the levels of crime are increasing at a frightening rate! A success story?
We'll happily spy on neighbours, especially if the frisson of illicit sex is likely to be involved, but actually engage our youth, or foreigners or any other kind of stranger, out of the question! But these days, even our neighbours are strangers, so it's a way of satisfying our community involvement without having to be involved with the community
Complain about this comment
Intresting blog Mark.
Most are far to busy to be bothered doing stuff for themselves as you first point out following the war.
However you also go on to end that people must make the change for themselves. all very easy to say the cold hard truth is very few people actualy care, well accept for the sick and the old.
Get a few sick old people together give them a bit of money for office equiptment and let them get on with it, we have got on with it making waves and changes.
But we are powerless and voiceless when it comes to matters of state. yet we make the changes to peoples lives.
Here is a bit of land we have been working on. http://b0bsd3n.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!B0414DA877BBB909!160/ were a HMRI area thats seen no funding other than to flaten yet other areas localy get the kings treatment.
We are also piloting a graffiti cleanup project with local bodys and hopefully erecting graffiti boards about local youth clubs n stuff which can be redone every few months to reflect how young people feel about life and the issues they have.
The wife is up for an Community award for the work we do, which was a supprise. :)
Its all worth it in the end the hard work unpaid unloved interfering curtain twitchers that we are :)
Complain about this comment
This just the old campaigning tactic of organising a mass letter writing campaign to persuade an organisation to change their ways. The follow up, if they don`t respond, is usually an organised boycott of that organisation in order to exert economic pressure. But is raises the spectre of Ms Harman attempting to police the nation`s morals.
I`m unconvinced of the value of this, a few papers may stop accepting such ads, but there`s not a shortage of magazines that would do so and organising a boycott of the Internet or online classified ads would be impossible. This will also affect those sex-workers that have freely chosen this line of work, are independent and not being exploited by a third party. It will also affect gay male sex workers.
My concern is that Harriet Harman and the Govt are becoming increasingly puritanical about sex per se. The proposal to licence lap dancing clubs as `sex encounter establishments` is another example of this. This measure is starting to sound like Ms Harman is turning into Mary Whitehouse and wants to use the WI to start policing the morals of the nation.
Whether sex can be treated as a commercial transaction depends on your moral opinions. Public opinion polls show the majority of the public support the legalising of prostitution. There are already laws against trafficking, being held against your will etc that can be used to prosecute criminals.
A couple of years ago the Govt was considering allowing two women to set up a brothel together in flats. Now they are against all prostitution, despite public opinion polls, and failing to distinguish between the `young women tricked and trafficked into this country and forced into prostitution.`, the indigenous drug addicts who are paying for their habit, mostly by working the streets, and those that choose to work as independent escorts etc. Nor are are all escort agencies dependent on: `young women tricked and trafficked into this country`.
There is a danger that this is going to push all prostitution deeper underground, including that which is not exploited by trafficker and pimps, is fully consensual, safe and hygienic.
Complain about this comment
'Is harnessing the enthusiasm of the British people …… the way to make a difference?'
It is one way. We have a long way to pull back, years during which 'do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law' has applied as the ruling code of behaviour for the entire population – not just the over-criticised young. Developing a climate in which approval or disapproval by the community actually carries some weight in determining how people behave will be a step towards a more pleasant, or even a more law-abiding, society.
Complain about this comment
The idea of protecting women from trafficking is laudable, unfortunately, as is typical for this Government, they go about it in a ham-fisted, Nanny State manner which will only result in the legitimate (and legal) sex trade being caught in the mess this will cause.
Yes, there are some women that are forced into this trade against their will (recently the Metropolitan Police have been bandying around a figure of 70%, but with nothing to back up how that figure was come by) and they should, of course, be entitled to the full protection of the law.
Unfortunately, instead, this Government threatens them with arrest and deportation if they are caught or even if they try to go to the Police and take advantage of the protection they should be given!
Now they come up with a piece of headline grabbing nonsense that will affect women working legally and of their own free will as much (if not more) than those who have been trafficked and will only cause them to be driven further underground and make them less safe instead.
It seems that Ms Harman and her puritanical friends want to control every aspect of our sex lives, they want to tell us what we can look at if they think it might make us do bad things, they want to criminalise people for paying for sex and they want to ban legal adverts and stop legitimate business, all to impose their moral values on the country in the guise of "protecting" us from ourselves.
Well, thank you, Ms Harman, but the majority don't *need* this "protection" and those who do, it seems, won't get it.
Complain about this comment
There are two main points to consider I think with the new government legislation:
Firstly:
It would be nice to remove the amount of prostitution a lot of it clearly based around brothels, sex trafficking and the abuse of women that I have noticed vaguely dressed up in slight terms of innuendo in local, especially local London Newspapers - in which I feel the concerted effort of all the readers of these papers could help. And any drive by any group of people to help should be encouraged, perhaps, the government should be slightly more progressive and appeal to other groups as well? But I don't think that is really a point to complain about.
Secondly:
This recent set of legislation, creates a problem. Whether we morally agree with it or not, there are a group of women in this country who are happy, and not persuaded by financial, abusive or other needs to sleep with men for soley profit, and there are clearly a group of men who are willing to pay for a sex. Increased legislation on both groups will resolve nothing. Is there not an argument for careful legislation and management that could possibly help all concerned?
Complain about this comment
This is Harriet Harperson's personal crusade against prostitution. Forget what she claims about 'trafficked workers'. It's a smokescreen for her to push her particular values on the country, and ban prostitution. She's a modern feminist - interested in gender superiority and not equality - and backed, of course, by the Fawcett society, a militant feminist organisation which sees the evil hand of men behind everything.
Despite the Fawcett Society's and Harman's spurious claims, they have no proof to back up their claims that there are tens of thousands of trafficked prostitutes in the UK. This is a political crusade for ideological reasons.
We need to decriminalise prostitution, make it safe, and make it taxable. Sweden has just gone in completely the other direction (as a result of political pressure from their militant feminist movement) and the problems are now starting to surface - beatings, drug addictions, deaths, and the linking of prostitution to money laundering, drug dealing and petty crime.
Complain about this comment
Is this the sort of nonsense we get when you have a one gender department, only communicating with people of their own gender?
Stop them advertising in the local paper and they go out of business????
How 19th Century.
Perhaps our "Minister for Women" could ask someone in another department about a new fangled man-thing called the internet.
I hear it has one or two adverts about sex on it.
Complain about this comment
I take it the police are too busy dealing with motorists then going for human traffickers now and they have to ask a bunch of Mary Whitehouse clones to do their work (for free of course).
Either that or the police are far too busy playing with their new toys (tazers) to do any real investigation work.
Either way, I stand by my opinion: LEGALISE PROSTITUTION. So what, some people may think that's a horrible suggestion, but has making it more and more illegal stopped it? Has that helped at all, or made the problem worse? It's clear from the Govt's new suggestions that it's not getting any better so perhaps it's time for a radical change and give that a chance to see if it helps or not.
Complain about this comment
Thankyou to those that had a peek at the pics.
The bit of land has a rocky history and many uses over the years, 4 years ago it was the waiting area for a young lady that sold her services to feed her heroin addiction. We had old men lined up along the low fence around the green space. As you can well imagine this went down really well with local community.
We should be looking at why this happens and how we can change these things not further criminalising those that need our help the most. All policy made by the wealthy damages those that are in need, moral crusades against these people goes against the fabric of our nation which is after all a Christian nation yet we have forgotten this in favour of ego and I.
The right thing to do is to help these women or is that a part of Christianity that can again be overruled by governments in their immoral crusades on the moral fabric of sociality. Who's teaching is right that of a person who strives to be remembered or that of Jesus?
Complain about this comment
I understand that the kind of ads mentioning foreign women is a particular problem in London etc.
Shouldn`t the police be mounting an undercover operation to ring the number, locate the premises and then raid it? I know why they don`t at present; understaffed & overstretched. The answer in increased resources for policing.
Simply getting a newspaper to stop taking adverts isn`t actually helping the kidnapped women, its just hiding the issue from the public. I suspect the argument is that it reduces the demand, but as others have said everyone knows how to use the Internet nowadays.
Like others, I believe Harman has got has agenda of trying to end prostuitution in the UK (anyone else hear echoes of the Gladstone wanting to help `fallen women`?). Ending the oldest profession? It`ll be interesting to watch her try!
To put an end women working the streets she`ll have to come up with an effective cure for drug addiction first (yeah right), but by no means is every escort or call girl either trafficked or on drugs. Many seem to be doing it just for the money. Attempting to close these down is all about moral disaproval, and that is where this is no longer about helping trafficked women but of wanting to interfere in peoples sex lives. This is an issue about what, in my opinion, two consenting adults do in a bedroom being only their concern. That makes it a civil rights issue.
Complain about this comment
What i don't understand in all this is how are these women trafficked?
When the media speak of trafficking they specifically refer to eastern europeans. Suggesting these girls pay a gang to bring them here who then take their passports and turn them in to slaves.
Well guess what? That is a laod of rubbish. Why would eastern europeans pay gangs to smuggle them in to the UK? They can already come here without a visa or anything else. So why would they pay anyone to bring them here?
Why don't they just hop on a plane or in a car and come here?
Well the answer is they do in countless numbers and have done for some time.
So their maybe lots of girls here selling their bodies from the eastern EU. They might even have pimps but they are not slaves, the suggestion they are defies logic.
Complain about this comment
Because many women answer job adverts to become an au pair, or similar, in the UK, arrive and find themselves driven to an address, imprisoned, passport removed, raped and constantly threatened to do what they`re told, or be beaten or killed.
There have been countless examples from resulting court cases in the media over the past few years. For example:
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Women39s-sex-slave-nightmare.909654.jp
There are already several laws these traffickers/slavers can be prosecuted under including rape, false imprisonment, causing or inciting prostitution, as well as human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The answer is to provide adequate resources to the police to tackle this, not getting the WI writing letters to newspapers or leading the public to believe that all involved in prostitution have been trafficked.
Complain about this comment
Indeed many are the direct result of the prohabition of drugs. in the last few years our community have seen many young girls and women turned in to sex workers that have been introduced to heroin and crack to work to pay for their own drugs and the pimp/partners drugs.
We need to stop mounting law upon law on a foundation that has no solid base other than what an indervidual considers right for the masses.
Maybe if the WI want to help these women, when any sex worker s found, these good natured moral people put them up in their own homes and help them out of drug abuse and violance.
The head corner stone is legal brothels a clear line drawn in law.
Complain about this comment
"This is Harriet Harperson's personal crusade against prostitution. Forget what she claims about 'trafficked workers'. It's a smokescreen for her to push her particular values on the country, and ban prostitution. She's a modern feminist - interested in gender superiority and not equality - and backed, of course, by the Fawcett society, a militant feminist organisation which sees the evil hand of men behind everything."
Really couldn't have put it much better myself - number 8 really is 100% spot on.
Funnily enough many WI branches are massively more progressive and sensible than Ms Harman and are quite sensibly calling for the legalisation of prostitution - a tv program was shown about this during the summer. The WI toured different countries looking at how sex workers operate in them and they found the best model to copy was that of New Zealand.
It is pretty clear that Harriet Harman is a political dinosaur - just as sexist, nasty and out of touch as any member of the previous conservative government was. I really, really hope we see the back of her soon.
Complain about this comment
Harriett Harman should have a multiple thronged approach and also go after the large corporations peddling prostitution like certain cable t.v. companies. Governments are also to blame for allowing the back doors of prostitution to remain open. But really the biggest hurdle is to educate women so that they don't see prostitution as an easy, viable income source. Young girls need to know that their brain is their best commodity.
Complain about this comment
Joan Olivares while your theory is sound what other income is there for a female heroin addict with a average need to generate £1000 - £2500 to feed her habit?
sex slaves/workers in the uk and worldwide pay for huge drug deals.
the back door to modern prostitution is? MODA 71, the UN single treaty on narcotics maybe? cant see that being closed.
Complain about this comment
How many foreign woman enter our country, illegal or otherwise to work in the catering trade scrubbing pans for a living? Probably none. They are here to make money and selling your body seems to be very lucrative. End of.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Sorry book this book is not like its title Joan.
I run a community group we remove large quanitys of heroin and cocaine from our communitys.
Im the one who is possative who helps who works at all level's to keep your children safe to keep your communitys safe my name is such because i use cannabis the green herb of the feilds. nothing more but this me a community leader a criminal.
I live in a world in my head as you put it were 5 years ago my brother died of heroin addiction my 14 year old daughter was raped by 2 men 4 and a half years ago. Oh thats the real world aint it. My wife gets a community award tommorow for the work she does, just because my views are different and the rest like blind sheep following the teachings of men and not of the truth that binds the human race together.
So whats your drug of choice to turn teen's into sex workers, for my community its heroin and cocaine in all its forms.
can you claim a 35% reduction i crime and antisocial behaviour.
moderate away truth hurts.
Complain about this comment
I see how this works cowards dont like simple truth's no wonder were in this mess.
Mark if your in doubt you can always give merseyside police a ring :)
Complain about this comment
35% reduction in anti social behaviour.
23% reduction in heroin and cocaine/crack cocaine.
sit on pannel for funding for local youth,
funding for older people.
Work with local services ie youth club's police youth services.
so yes i am very selfish.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS