PeaceMaker / About Us  
 

HISTORY

Poverty and economic stagnation seemed to be conspiring with bureaucratic inertia to create all the conditions for social breakdown. When eventually that came, in the form of the Oldham riots in May 2001, PeaceMaker was already a voice in the community. Not representative of all the extremes of opinion during that divided and violent moment. Far from it. But a voice nonetheless, that seemed to offer hope in the aftermath of what many northern towns were experiencing.

 

At national and international levels the lesson was suddenly all too clear: sitting back while different ethnic ‘communities’ developed parallel but entirely separate existences was no longer an option.

The human, social, and indeed economic costs were far too high. Communities were waking up to the fact that, for far too long, they had concentrated on what divided, rather than what united, them. In the months and years that followed, PeaceMaker was increasingly called upon by national government, and by regional and national policy makers that had lost (if they ever possessed) the ability to find out what Britain’s diverse communities were saying about their lives and aspirations as British citizens.

PeaceMaker’s unique ability to reflect an enlarged and hitherto ignored vision of Britishness was invaluable, allowing PeaceMaker’s young ambassadors to enter communities and engage in debate, not only within Black and Asian neighbourhoods, but also directly with some of the most demoralised and disenfranchised White communities. PeaceMaker contributed to major consultative and policy documents. And it matured as a service delivery agency in its own right, setting up and running projects that formally recreated the opportunities for multicultural experience, that had by now been all but lost for people from across all communities.

PeaceMaker is now ready to engage at all levels with those who wish to ensure Britain never again sinks to the low point of 2001’s riots, and to work with anyone who wants to challenge racism and build an inclusive, multicultural Britain.


KEY DATES

October 1997 : PeaceMaker is formed as a small voluntary organization.

May 2001 : Oldham experiences the UK’s worst race riots in 15 years.

2002 : Prime Minister Tony Blair appears in the PeaceMaker film ‘Colour Blind’.

June 2004 : Raja Miah receives the MBE for services to community relations.

October 2004 : PeaceMaker becomes a registered charity.

September 2005 : PeaceMaker registers as a company limited by guarantee.

October 2005 : PeaceMaker is selected by the government’s ‘Futurebuilders’ scheme for investment to support its work.

2006 : PeaceMaker launches a nationwide series of conferences. Speakers include David Blunkett and Ted Cantle.