The Moss-Side Riots of 1981: Reassessing Britain’s Bronx. by Izzy Parkin

With the 40thanniversary approaching and the prominence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and calls for further police regulation, it’s fitting to revisit the Moss-Side riots of 1981. With calls to decolonise museums and the curriculum, academia is revisiting issues of race, police and violence. This sits comfortably with the cultural turn in history, prioritising a bottom-up approach and visual, oral and literary sources from non-institutional actors

Figure 1: Still taken from archival footage: https://vimeo.com/328869130

To accompany this post, listen to ‘Dem A Sus (In The Moss)’ by Harlem Spirit, an 80s Manchester reggae band whose song refers to the Stop and Search law

Available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUo8DIvO9yc

Scholarship has begun to revisit the Moss-Side riots. Simon Peplow discusses the place of the riots in Moss-Side amongst other riots in 1980s Britain, linking with Penny Fraser’s demonstration of Moss-Side being the archetypal inner city that is demonised and conceptually detached from the city.[i]

Fraser and Peplow both emphasise the need to understand each riot individually, within a national movement. Additionally David Swanson and Shirin Hirsch have revisited the photojournalism of the riots and how this encouraged the conceptual detachment of Moss-Side from Manchester.[ii]

The aim of this post is to combine and build upon existing scholarship, understanding the individual nature of the Moss-Side riots by prioritising native visual, oral and artistic sources.

This repositions the narrative of the riots from one embodying institutional racism and the conceptual detachment of Moss-Side to one that understands the complexities of the riots. Moss-Side and the riots will firstly be discussed, before new cultural sources are introduced to rebalance the existing narrative.

The riots.

Moss-Side was known as a welcome place for Caribbean migrants to settle by 1981. Then, Moss-Side was 65% indigenous white, 30% African-Caribbean, 10% Asian and 6% other white.[iii]

Remaining relatively free of racial tension, the diversity of the area was epitomised in the Moss-Side carnival, beginning in 1972 and continuing today. Moss-Side was heavily affected by the 1980s recession with an unemployment rate of 30%, compared to 12.2% for the rest of Greater Manchester.[iv]Additionally, around 70% of under 19s in Moss-Side were unemployed.[v]One young, black resident cited this unemployment as due to his race.

“Every interview I went to I got a different excuse…what do I thinks behind it?...This facts well known, cos’ of your colour”.[vi]

The same man described this racial discrimination and abuse from the police.

“I was walking in Ally Park and I stepped in front of this policeman…and he… tried to trip me over, deliberately you know… I looked behind me and… then I just heard ‘black bastard’ come out of his mouth”.[i]

These underlying issues were simply waiting for a ‘trigger event’ as academics have recognised. This came in the form of taunting by police of local youths leaving a club on Princess Road, that they were ‘too soft to riot’ compared to the rioters in Brixton and Toxteth over the previous days.[ii] The trigger event therefore is both locally and nationally connected, as Fraser highlights.

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[i] Simon Peplow, Race and Riots in Thatcher’s Britain (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019); Penny Fraser, ‘Social and Spatial Relationships and the ‘Problem’ Inner City: Moss Side in Manchester’, Critical Social Policy 16 (1996), 43-65.

[ii] Shirin Hirsch, David Swanson, ‘Photojournalism and the Moss Side Riots of 1981: Narrowly Selective Transparency’, History Workshop Journal 89 (2020), 221-245.

[iii] Peter Joyce, Neil Wain ‘Disaffected Communities, Riots and Policing: Manchester 1981 and 2011’, Safer Communities 11 (2012), 125-134, 126.

[iv] Joyce and Wain, ‘Disaffected Communities’, 126.

[v] Joyce and Wain, ‘Disaffected Communities’, 126.

[vi] Interview in archival footage, ‘Moss Side Riots- Short Archival Film’, accessed at https://vimeo.com/328869130

[vii] Interview in archival footage, ‘Moss Side Riots- Short Archival Film’, accessed at https://vimeo.com/328869130

[viii] Peplow, Race and Riots, p.160.

The riot began on the 8thof July, lasting two days. It firstly focused on the police station, before turning to the destruction of property. Police initially responded in a low profile manner before employing a mobile task force on the 11th of July - tactics only previously used in Northern Ireland. Chief Constable James Anderton described this “fast and hard” strategy as being the reason the riots were crushed in 24 hours.[i]

The riots created a legacy for Moss-Side that was difficult to escape, despite other areas in Manchester statistically worse for crime. Moss-Side was known nationally as ‘Britain’s Bronx’ and its demonisation has continued- Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Home Secretary in 2009 compared Moss-Side to the TV show, The Wire, describing the city as experiencing an “urban war”.[ii] This legacy has its roots in an unbalanced narrative and it is necessary for ulterior sources to be considered

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[i] ‘News Special: Moss Side Riots 25 Years On’, Manchester Evening News, 18 January 2013, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/news-special-moss-side-riots-1035294

[ii] Chris Osuh, ‘Grayling’s Comments on Moss Side Condemned’, Manchester Evening News, 26 August 2009, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/graylings-comments-on-moss-side-condemned-928267

Introducing Evidence.

This section will introduce lesser referenced sources to rebalance the institutional narrative that creates a legacy for Moss-Side, and to emphasise the individualistic nature with which the riots should be considered.

The most referenced institutional source is the Hytner Report, commissioned by the City Council.[i] A strength of the Report is its focus on just Moss-Side, rather than consequent smaller events in Manchester. It exists unequally referenced within literature, with the opposing critiques of the Report by the Moss Side Defence Committee, formed in the wake of the riots, referenced only through subtle mentions of its existence.[ii]

This occurs despite both reports being filed alongside one another within the Race Relations Resource Centre in Manchester, as well as the prominence of many individuals, such as Gus John, who is a notable academic. Thus, already within the privileged nature of written sources, the lack of balance is clear.

This unbalanced narrative is further visible in Swanson and Hirsch’s analysis of the photojournalism of the riots in the Manchester Evening News (MEN) during and immediately after the events.[iii]

They conduct this analysis through the framework introduced by Susan Sontag of ‘narrowly selective transparency’, even though the photographs are a mirror of reality, the imperative of the photographer commands this.[iv]

Swanson and Hirsch discuss how photographs are often taken from behind police lines, presenting their perspective and contributing to the demonisation of Moss-Side through the press.

41.3% of the photographs focus upon damaged property thus emphasising considered importance.[v] The photograph of the destroyed Post Office (Figure 6) asserts the riot as an attack on the quintessential values of parochial England. Police feature in 39% of pictures, where as only 13% of photographs show the rioters, underpinning the position of the journalist behind police lines and against the apparent minority rioting.[vi]

Clearly, even aspects of visual evidence need to be understood with a more nuanced approach.

[i] Alan Benet Hytner, ‘Report of the Moss Side Enquiry Panel to the Leader of the Greater Manchester Council’, Race Relations Resource Centre: Central Library- Man/PO.2/HYT 1996542.

[ii] Moss Side Defence Committee, ‘Hytner Myths: A Preliminary Critique of the Hytner Report by the Moss Side Defence Committee’, Race Relations Resource Centre: Central Library- Man/PO.2/HYT 1996430.

[iii] David Swanson, Shirin Hirsch, ‘Photojournalism and the Moss Side Riots of 1981: Narrowly Selective Transparency’, History Workshop Journal 89 (2020), 221-245.

[iv] Susan Sontag, On Photography (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979).

[v] Swanson and Hirsch, ‘Photojournalism’, 227.

[vi] Swanson and Hirsch, ‘Photojournalism’, 228.

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This perspective can be rebalanced using cultural sources from rioters and witnesses themselves. Interviews show an awareness by the rioters of the inevitability of the riots and feeling alienated.

You piss off and write what the hell you like. Say it’s political or something. What the fuck would you do if you lived here?[i]

We know how bad it is here…We don’t need to be told that, do we?[ii]

The individuals involved feel detached and disregarded. This is interesting when considering the awareness that they will be demonised in the media.

I think that you know, the media, they’re not getting both sides of the story… it’s black and white against the police, it’s not black and white against each other.[iii]

Evidence from individual actors transcended into literary sources too. Linton Kewsi Johnson’s poem below ‘Mekkin Histri’ refers to the place of the riots amongst the others in the 80s and relates to the ‘making history’ claim of the BLM movement.

Well dere woz Toxteth/ An dere woz Moss-Side/ an a lat a addah places/whe di police ad to hide/ well dere woz Brixtan/and dere woz Chapeltoun/an a lat a adah place dat woz burnt to di groun/burnt to di groun/burnt to di groun.[iv]

The phonetic nature of the poem in a mixture of northern and Caribbean accent gives the poem its unique taste and a clear reason to disregard it- especially when choosing sources with which to record the riot in the immediate aftermath. Similarly, a spoken word piece by Moss-Side local Andrew Alan Matthews describes witnessing the riots and the clear reason for such events.

Yeah black unrest in the Moss/ Over stop and search/ Racial tension running high/ An outcry.[v]

These words speak over a piece of artwork by Matthews presenting his memory of watching the riots, providing more than a one-dimensional view into his lived experiences.

The above evidence can be used to understand the causes and events of the riots and the community impact- information that cannot be gleamed from written, institutional sources.

[i] Michael, Nally, ‘Eyewitness in Moss-Side’, in John Benyon, ed., Scarman and After: Essays Reflecting on Lord Scarman’s Report, the Riots, and their Aftermath(Leicester: University of Leicester, 1984), pp.54-62, p.58.

[ii] Nally, ‘Eyewitness in Moss-Side, p. 58.

[iii] Interview in archival footage, ‘Moss Side Riots- Short Archival Film’, accessed at https://vimeo.com/328869130

[iv] Diane Frost, Alex Singleton, Richard Phillips, ‘Researching the Riots’, The Geographical Journal 179 (2013), 3-10, 6.

[v] Andrew Alan Matthews, ‘Moss Side Riots in the Eighties’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ioLgZVfiI.

Figure 8: Artwork by Andrew Alan Matthews. Video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ioLgZVfiI

Concluding Thoughts.

Understanding the Moss-Side riots from the perspective of Moss-Siders is important when challenging the institutional narrative from the 80s that embodied casual racism. It brings the challenge of such narratives within academia to light in the era of BLM and undoing the demonisation of the northern working class. Although 40 years ago, discussions of and arguments against institutional racism are globally relevant today.

The legacy of the riots continues in the demonisation of Moss-Side, but also in the continued production of cultural artefacts related to the riots. Author Joe Pemberton’s book Forever and Ever Amen (2000), discusses the life and experiences of a young boy growing up in Moss-Side, alongside flashbacks to life in St Kitts.[i] He cites his reason to write the book as being due to the legacy of Moss-Side being different to how he experienced it.

I saw an article about troubles in Moss-Side, Manchester and there was an overwhelming feeling in me saying, ‘Hey, I don’t remember Moss-Side, where I was born, being like that’, and therefore the urge to redress the balance in my own way came and was expressed in my writing.[ii]

This post has aimed to introduce more personal, cultural sources of the Moss-Side riots in order to balance the institutional narrative previously produced. Such sources sit well with the developments in existing scholarship and can only serve to deepen our understanding of notable events such as the Moss-Side riots.

End Notes

[i] Joe Pemberton, Forever and Ever Amen (Headline Review: 2000).

[ii] Robert H Crawshaw, Corrine Fowler, Lynne Pearce, Postcolonial Manchester: Diaspora Space and the Devolution of Literary Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015), p.279.

Bibliography.

Primary

Andrew Alan Matthews, ‘Moss Side Riots in the Eighties’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ioLgZVfiI.

Alan Benet Hytner, ‘Report of the Moss Side Enquiry Panel to the Leader of the Greater Manchester Council’, Race Relations Resource Centre: Central Library- Man/PO.2/HYT 1996542.

Moss Side Defence Committee, ‘Hytner Myths: A Preliminary Critique of the Hytner Report by the Moss Side Defence Committee’, Race Relations Resource Centre: Central Library- Man/PO.2/HYT 1996430.

‘Moss Side Riots- Short Archival Film’, accessed at https://vimeo.com/328869130

Nally, Michael, ‘Eyewitness in Moss-Side’, in John Benyon, ed., Scarman and After: Essays Reflecting on Lord Scarman’s Report, the Riots, and their Aftermath(Leicester: University of Leicester, 1984), pp.54-62.

‘News Special: Moss Side Riots 25 Years On’, Manchester Evening News, 18 January 2013, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/news-special-moss-side-riots-1035294

Osuh, Chris,‘Grayling’s Comments on Moss Side Condemned’, Manchester Evening News, 26 August 2009, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/graylings-comments-on-moss-side-condemned-928267

Secondary

Crawshaw, Robert H.; Fowler, Corrine; Pearce, Lynne, Postcolonial Manchester: Diaspora Space and the Devolution of Literary Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015).

Fraser, Penny, ‘Social and Spatial Relationships and the ‘Problem’ Inner City: Moss Side in Manchester’, Critical Social Policy 16 (1996), 43-65.

Frost, Diane; Singleton, Alex; Phillips, Richard, ‘Researching the Riots’, The Geographical Journal 179 (2013), 3-10.

Hirsch, Shirin, Swanson, David, ‘Photojournalism and the Moss Side Riots of 1981: Narrowly Selective Transparency’, History Workshop Journal 89 (2020), 221-245.

Joyce, Peter, Wain, Neil ‘Disaffected Communities, Riots and Policing: Manchester 1981 and 2011’, Safer Communities 11 (2012), 125-134.

Pemberton, Joe, Forever and Ever Amen (Headline Review: 2000).

Peplow, Simon, Race and Riots in Thatcher’s Britain (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019).

Word Count: 1594.

The Moss Side Riots (Moss Side Nostalgia)

£190.00

The Moss Side Riots (Moss Side Nostalgia)

https://youtu.be/Q_ioLgZVfiI

https://youtu.be/syrmIea_pzs

My family and I sat outside on deckchairs with cups of tea watching the events unfold. Rioters and families were emptying the shops, filling up trolleys with food and goods, returning time and again. Two families started arguing in the street over a settee and 2 chairs and fights took place.

My friends saw somebody with a gun and Ricardo Cowies Dad was on top of his truck with a baseball bat fending off the thugs.

There was a lot of unrest within the black community with stop and search practices by the police and a programme called Roots stirred a lot of racial tension in the area as well.

Original artwork with signed Certificate of Authenticity

Aproximate sizes

W 47.5” x H 15.5" D 1.5”

Media: Acrylic

Surface: Box stretched canvas

Delivery in the UK only

By recorded delivery

Moss Side nostalgia art collection

The below paintings and videos of my Moss Side Nostalgia collection highlight life growing up in Moss Side in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I remember having good times and bad times growing up in Moss Side. But overall I found life long friends there and had a happy childhood. This collection is to help rebalance the negative portrayal of Moss Side in the 1970s and 1980s It is my way of trying to turn a negative into a positive.

https://youtu.be/XeCAfwj-Ups

Urban Cityscape, a Depiction of my friend Ricardo Cowie and me, we used to collect discarded pushbikes that were found in the rubbish filled alleyways of Moss Side. We would rebuild these bikes and sell them to Nevs second hand shop on the corner of Cowesby Street and Claremont Road. This was one of the ways we earnt pocket money to buy fireworks and sweets. Painted in Acrylic and Ink using the croquis method for the characters in the scene.

The Den in the Moss

https://youtu.be/dRbGJiBBdgU

The Den is a depiction of when friends and I used to make den's out of old air raid shelters and derelict houses in Moss Side, we had these hideaways to avoid bullying gangs in Moss Side, it was exciting and we always had escape routes worked out, often leading from dangerous derelict unsafe buildings. This was a way of life for kids in Moss Side in the 1970s and 1980s. Painted in Acrylic and Ink using the croquis method for the characters to show movements. Urban cityscape.

Street Football in Moss side

https://youtu.be/iSJXgZYHFAQ

Street Football is a depiction of friends and I that used to play on the streets of Moss Side in the 1970s and 1980s.We used to play kerby, keepy uppy, Kick can, knock and run, making wooden bogies and riding our bikes up and down terraced streets. this scene is of caythorpe Street where my friend Mark Egerton had a green grocery shop. we played on the streets from dawn till dusk. Painted in Acrylic and Ink and pallete knife using the croquis method to give movement to the characters. impressionistic Urban Cityscape.

Penny for the Guy

https://youtu.be/MLT5f7hDirA

Penny for the Guy is a depiction of friends and I that used to make Guy Fawkes out of old clothes and collected money from passers by outside the claremont pub in Moss Side. One time a drunk from the pub gave us a penny for the guy and he stole it, so we placed Peter in the box with a bag on his head,unfortunately another drunk booted him in the face and somebody threw a banger in his lap for a joke. Moss Side was a rough place to grow up in the 1970's and 1980's and kids from poor backgrounds had to find ways of earning money for sweets and fireworks as there parents were not able to fund this. Painted in Acrylic and Ink using the croquis method to bring the characters to life, Impressionistic Urban Cityscape.

Nevs second hand shop

https://youtu.be/jqMiZD-GLLU

A Depiction of Nevs second hand shop on Claremont Road in Moss Side in the 1970s and 1980s. we used to sell pushbikes to Nev that we had rebuilt from discarded pushbikes found in the rubbish filled alleyways. we would get scalextric tracks and toy cars and money from him for selling the bikes to him. We would often see people chopping up drugs in the back of his shop. Nev used to rent his back room out to a reggae band, we would dance on the streets and play football as the band practised. Painted in Acrylic and ink and using a pallette knife to give depth to the artwork. Impressionistic urban cityscape.

Moss Side Carnival

https://youtu.be/7-p4QBN9f9Y

Moss Side had a Carnival every year, I remember it being colourful and there was always a great party atmosphere mixed with drug dealers selling their wares.

I also remember a Pimp that used to ride down Great Western Street in his open top pink Cadillac with leopard skin seats and perched on the back were his three bitches (prostitutes) advertising their services.

Mind Yer car Mr

https://youtu.be/S7rfFKWydrU

Mind your car Mr, is a cityscape depiction of Friends and myself that used to look after cars for the fans during a manchester City Game in Moss Side. We used to earn our pocket money by minding the cars until half time. Man City used to open the gates to allow the kids to watch the second half of the game. we used to buy sweets, jubleys and fireworks, we had great fun setting them off.

The street that I used to mind cars on was Cowesby Street in Moss Side, I would often get in to fights but this was my patch. One time an Asian Lad spat in my face for no reason, I snapped and began to fight him and was beating him when Ricky pulled me away and the Asian Lad ran off. I looked down at my right hand and it was bleeding from a cut, Ricky told me that he pulled a knife on me. Painted in Acrylic and Ink using the croquis method to give movement to the characters.

Georges Barbers Moss Side

https://youtu.be/xu8A-akLnW8

We used to go to George's barbers to play on the Arcade machines and play pool. We worked out that if you put a electric gas fire lighter in the money slot it would register free credits on the machines and we would play for hours not spending any money, until the owner worked out what we were doing. they eventually put alarms on the machines to stop us doing this.

Mr Floods Toy Shop in Moss Side

https://youtu.be/8jSMY6_YHUM

A depiction of Mr Floods toy shop that was on Claremont Road Moss Side in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr flood was a kind man, I used to buy airfix kits and toy soldiers and spent hours painting and making them. the shop was darkly lit and smelly as he had cats and a parrot on a perch as you entered the shop, he was also a pigeon fancier and had a coup in his back yard. He took me and ricky on holiday one year to his caravan in wales. Painted in Acrylic and ink using a pallette knife for depth to the artwork. Impressionistic Urban cityscape.

Bonfire night in the Moss

https://youtu.be/8TorG6UlxdI

Bonfire Night is a depiction of a piece of derelict land at the back of our house on Princess Road Moss Side (since been demolished). I remember the street glowing orange and the heat was intense. We had great fun sharing treacle toffee, playing dunking the apple and putting potatoes in the bonfire and setting off fireworks and sparklers. Painted in Acrylic and ink with paintbrush and pallete knife using the croquis method for the characters to show movements. Urban Cityscape.

Moss Side Riots in the 80's

https://youtu.be/Q_ioLgZVfiI

https://youtu.be/syrmIea_pzs

A depiction of the Moss Side Riots in the 1980s. we heard an explosion whilst sitting in the living room in 222 Princess Road. There was a riot taking place, looters were robbing the shops. turning cars over and firebombing them. My family and I sat outside on deckchairs with cups of tea watching the events unfold. Rioters and families were emptying the shops, filling up trolleys with food and goods, returning time and again. Two families started arguing in the street over a settee and 2 chairs and fights took place. My friends saw somebody with a gun and Ricardo Cowies Dad was on top of his truck with a baseball bat fending off the thugs. There was a lot of unrest within the black community with stop and search practices by the police and a programme called Roots stirred a lot of racial tension in the area as well.

The Egertons in Moss Side

My friends family in Moss Side

Man City Maine road boys from the Moss

Manchester City, Maine Road, A cityscape / landscape painting looking back on past times when I was a child, remembering when I used to live and play in Moss Side, City used to open the gates at half time allowing the local kids to watch the second half of the game for free. We had great fun running down the tunnels and watching the game. My favorite player was Colin Bell. Painted in Acrylic with pallette Knife and ink outline using the croquis method to bring the characters to life, showing a bustling crowd going to a game.

Andrew Alan Matthews

Art by Andrew Alan Matthews

The Moss-Side Riots of 1981: Reassessing Britain’s Bronx. by Izzy Parkin

The Moss Side Riots (Moss Side Nostalgia)

Moss Side nostalgia art collection

The Den in the Moss

Street Football in Moss side

Penny for the Guy

Nevs second hand shop

Moss Side Carnival

Mind Yer car Mr

Georges Barbers Moss Side

Mr Floods Toy Shop in Moss Side

Bonfire night in the Moss

Moss Side Riots in the 80's

The Egertons in Moss Side

Man City Maine road boys from the Moss

Ricardo Cowie my best mate

Mark Egerton my best mate