It's a ritual observance where someone in power that does homage to an issue only for it to be subsequently qualified and not infrequently negated by what is then said next.
We see it offered towards so many contemporary issues. Politicians paying tribute to the ‘heroic’ NHS and then offering a paltry 1% pay rise after the pandemic. Our servicemen, so brave in protecting us yet must rely on charities to help them cope in civvy street, often with physical and psychological difficulties after service.
Those in power paying tribute to small business being the “backbone of the economy”, then proceeding to give the highly lucrative public contracts to large businesses that not infrequently donate to party funds or have other connection. We see it with overseas aid wherein we cut vital support that affects communities elsewhere, lives and futures as a gesture to the right in an increasingly “Little Britain” mentality.
Words really do come easily, do not of themselves command massive resources and are easily qualified or tempered when members of the community object. Add to that increasingly in politics, there is probably no such thing as truly bad press these days, even some of the worst ‘gaffs’ seem to have a curious habit of simultaneously embarrassing and entertaining.
We recently saw the controversy around the taking of a knee, both in most football games and in particular, the game between England and Italy a few weeks ago. We heard a Home Secretary label it as gesture politics, I have to disagree.
When 22 men of mixed race kneel down in an open public forum in front of millions on television, this appears to be very much a statement rather than a gesture. It is about people coming out, not with the ‘politically correct’ observances but clearly signalling where people stand (or perhaps kneel).
We must all better recognise and understand the daily challenges born by many in our communities regarding issues of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, the list goes on but equally, however, we also need to be cognisant of significant groups of people that suffer without champions in plain sight. For example, young white working-class males are being overlooked in terms of inequality and social mobility.
So many economies owe much to the lives and labour of people who were exploited over generations with little reward and often abuse and oppression instead. We need to understand the impact of that in the cultural collective of those people and the groups they identify with. Just as therapists can see the transgenerational damage of the horror and attrition of both World Wars having residual influence in the clients they see today, we must understand that hurt like this runs deep.
In the North East, race is a key issue. I recently spoke to someone I eminently respect in the NHS who talks about the abuse of NHS staff who are disproportionately recruited from ethnic communities to come and work in hospitals and surgeries. The relatively low density of ethnic communities in the North East compared to elsewhere can mean a reduced level of cultural and racial awareness and a concomitant increase in abusive language and other behaviours proffered towards people who come to work with no intention other than to care for the sick. Whilst this is completely unacceptable, we are asking regional communities, often exploited and at the back of the queue historically to display an empathy for others they have rarely had extended to them. Industrialisation and the acquisition of wealth via ‘dark satanic mills’ and similar impacts on entire communities, irrespective of ‘intersectional’ issues. Hate may be a crime these days, but poverty and powerlessness can often feel like a life sentence.
So, there is no room for gesture politics, but there are places for debates, openness and declared principles. Equally we should be able to have those dialogues without the excessive anxiety of causing offence as attitudes, issues, perspectives and even language develops and changes. Get terminology wrong and it can cost careers these days. This means whilst we need empathy and advocacy for those with a concern, we also need some compassion for others as they learn, confront their prejudices and the implicit beliefs that have been drilled into them over generations, along with innate evolutionary survival biases that often favour people’s similarities and see differences as a threat.
Away from symbolism and public profession of support, to achieve real progress we need to offer both the openheartedness and respect to listen to one another’s lived experiences. The late Jo Cox has been quoted many times asserting that what unites us is greater than what divides us. We need appreciation and a celebration of both.
