Councillor Awale Olad -- AMA

[OfficialAMA]

Councillor Awale Olad of Camden will be answering questions starting at 1 PM GMT for about an hour.

Awale Olad is a member of the Labour party and was first elected to the Camden Council in 2010. He is one of only six black councillors in Camden's history and the only Somali. Previously chair of Camden Council's Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Olad currently chairs Camden’s Covid-19 Oversight Committee and also serves as a Brexit Consultant for Deloitte.

In recent years knife crime has devastated Camden and there are growing concerns that the Somali community has been disproportionately affected by the violence. As the only Somali voice on the council, Cllr Olad feels obligated to scrutinise what the council is doing so they can make the necessary changes to elevate the community.

Cllr Olad's statement on knife crime in Camden following the murders of two Somali men in 2018:

 

[Draper]

Hi Councillor my question is how difficult is it for Somalis to participate in local British politics? I am referencing the article below. A former Somali refugee became a congresswoman in Minnesota. Why have we not seen the same in England?

http://islingtontribune.com/article/black-muslim-blocked-from-chance-to-become-a-councillor

 

[Karim]

My question for the councillor is:
What are the possible ramifications that BREXIT might have on the large Somali population of the UK?!!

 

[Grigori Rasputin]

My question to the councilor is;

I’m someone who lives in North America and who has visited your country on numerous occasions. Each time I have observed high rate of unemployment and welfare dependency in the Somali population. Would it be fair to say out of all the places the Somali people have settled in the West that the UK is the one that has failed her Somali citizens the most?

 

[Duchess]

My question for Awale Olad is about knife crime in Camden. Why has the Somali community been disproportionately affected by it? What is being done to tackle the gang violence in North London particularly Camden? There's been an increase in gang related deaths over the last few years, is this a failure of the government or the community?

 

[Prime Minister]

The question I wanted to ask has already been asked so my next question is: since we face a lot of unemployment, what steps have been taken to increase employment in deprived areas where Somalis live?

 

[Apollo]

My question for the Right Honourable gentleman Olad, as a social democrat how do you explain that many European Somalis from social democracy strongholds felt the need to migrate towards the more classically liberal UK?

 

[Invader]

The questions I want to ask is.

Have you endured struggle and prejudice to get where you are.

Has the Shukri Abdi ruling failed the Somali community

What is your given view on white privilege and how can it be eradicated

How can we combat the rise in Somali gangs in our youth.

 

[Ciyaalka Xaafada]

My Question is why you dont just ban knive shops and punish the carrying of a knive harsher?

 

[Duchess]

Another question for the councillor: how has Covid-19 impacted your ability to do your job?

 

[OfficialAMA]

Hi Councillor my question is how difficult is it for Somalis to participate in local British politics? I’m referencing the article below. A former Somali refugee became a congresswoman in Minnesota. Why have we not seen the same in England?

http://islingtontribune.com/article/black-muslim-blocked-from-chance-to-become-a-councillor

Hello

It’s great to be here today. Thanks for your question and being the first!

There has been some progress. I don’t think we should erase people like Mark Hendrick MP, a Somali parliamentarian representing Preston since 2000. I recall that Amina Ali was a parliamentary candidate in 2015 but had to drop out for family reasons - she would have been our first woman MP of Somali heritage. Others have become MEPs and parliamentary candidates over the past decade.

There is the need to do more and I think we will certainly have candidates at the next general election in winnable seats. We are easily the most underrepresented community in the UK and that has to change.

 

[Sloane Ranger]

As a Londoner I always hear about stabbings with young Somali guys. What would you advise families to do to avoid this cycle ?

 

[OfficialAMA]

My question for the councillor is:
What are the possible ramifications that BREXIT might have on the large Somali population of the UK?!!

Lots of things to think about. I did a Settlement Scheme information campaign for EU Londoners Hub - that’s a key issue for EU Somalis living in the UK. Here’s the link (it’s in Somali with English subs).

European Londoners Hub

Read our information and guidance on what European Londoners need to secure their rights in the UK post-Brexit.

www.london.gov.uk

There’s also lots to think about for business owners and the impact it will have on their operational capacity. As mentioned earlier, I’m a Brexit consultant but I’m not here in that capacity. Happy to point you to take this offline if you would like!

 

[OfficialAMA]

My question to the councilor is;

I’m someone who lives in North America and who has visited your country on numerous occasions. Each time I have observed high rate of unemployment and welfare dependency in the Somali population. Would it be fair to say out of all the places the Somali people have settled in the West that the UK is the one that has failed her Somali citizens the most?

No, I don’t think it’s a fair assessment. The UK has a huge problem with the way it generates data on Somali people so we never know the real scale of the problems we have here. An estimation of our population in the UK is circa 500k. There are issues with deprivation but there’s also a problem with access to employment and healthcare.

I also don’t think we can make adequate comparisons between refugee communities and economic migrants. However, I think as a community we are making strong progress, the next generation seems to be armed with the skills ready to take on our labour markets and I’m very hopeful (and confident) that we are going to do really well.

 

[OfficialAMA]

My question for Awale Olad is about knife crime in Camden. Why has the Somali community been disproportionately affected by it? What is being done to tackle the gang violence in North London particularly Camden? There's been an increase in gang related deaths over the last few years, is this a failure of the government or the community?

I don’t think Camden is an outlier in terms of knife crime when compared to the rest of London but, yes, there’s been a disproportionate impact on Somali boys in particular. There’s a combination of problems: lack of support at schools, service failure, the allure of the drugs market (Camden has the biggest drugs activity in the whole of Europe), social media, and little resources invested in tackling this issue.

There’s a long way to go on this and we need to know how to dislodge the drugs market from young boys in our local secondary schools who seem to be trapped in this hell.

 

[OfficialAMA]

The question I wanted to ask has already been asked so my next question is: since we face a lot of unemployment, what steps have been taken to increase employment in deprived areas where Somalis live?

Great question! I’ve, for many years, pushed for ’unlocking the entrepreneurial zeal’ of the Somali community in the UK. So we have many businesses here that are Somali owned and run.

Each local authority has it’s own programme for tackling unemployment, but here in Camden, we have a cross-departmental taskforce looking at cracking endemic unemployment across our many vulnerable communities.

Covid-19 has made matters worst - we did a great report on this and how we’re going to respond to the new challenges we’re facing. Happy reading:

https://www.camden.gov.uk/documents/20142/181204604/Disproportionate+impact+of+COVID-19+on+Black%2C+Asian+and+minority+ethnic+communities+evidence+base.pdf/38907a27-5852-2c79-31ed-f5f609b47399?version=1.0&t=1593609941789&download=true

 

[OfficialAMA]

My question for the Right Honourable gentleman Olad, as a social democrat how do you explain that many European Somalis from social democracy strongholds felt the need to migrate towards the more classically liberal UK?

This made me laugh! Just to say that I’m not a privy counsellor so my title is not Right Honourable.

There are many reasons why European Somalis migrate to the UK. It ranges from better employment opportunities and earning power, to family, love and marriage. I’ve enjoyed seeing Somalis migrate from Europe to the UK - they bring new ideas and extra skills, and languages. Make sure you get your settled status sorted out!

Here’s a good piece for the EU Commission on this very issue:

Currents of the second Somali migration wave

As a significant portion of the Dutch Somali population has undergone a second wave of migration to the UK, the 'Secondary movements of...

cordis.europa.eu

 

[AdoonkaAlle]

@OfficialAMA

May Allah grant you successes in all your endeavours and keep you steadfast walaal

 

[OfficialAMA]

The questions I want to ask is.

Have you endured struggle and prejudice to get where you are.

Has the Shukri Abdi ruling failed the Somali community

What is your given view on white privilege and how can it be eradicated

How can we combat the rise in Somali gangs in our youth.

There’s a lot here. Each deserves it’s own thesis!

Struggle and prejudices: yes, absolutely. I’ve also got the triple whammy of being Muslim, black, and working class. How many people do you think want to give me a slice of their economic and political power?

Shukri Abdi: dreadful and very miserable for the family and us as a community. I there needs to be a more wide ranging look at this - a proper inquiry that looks at every detail of what happened. The family should also seeks to take this to the ECHR rights of the child.

 

[OfficialAMA]

My Question is why you dont just ban knive shops and punish the carrying of a knive harsher?

There are serious consequences for those who carry knives. It’s usually unlikely that these are bought from shops - the more dangerous, illegal weapons are from the black market, and you can just easily get a sharp knife from your kitchen. I don’t think there are easy answers to this question.