COMMUNITY ACTION
Street dread

Carl Mitchell, of the English Collective of Prostitutes, takes a very different view of vigilantism from the other side of the street.

The activities the Street Watch organisation in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham were glorified in these pages (Street legal, January 28), with photos of elderly men sitting by the roadside with placards, illustrating the power of "community action". But from the point of view of prostitute women and others who oppose Street Watch, this is not "community action". It is mob rule.

In 1992, the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) opposed a Birmingham council report recommending the introduction of "toleration zones" to force prostitute women out of residential areas. We believe this report set the climate for vigilantism. In July 1994, the time the Balsall Heath "community action" started, women from our network were terrorised by bricks through their windows, beatings and threats.

Other women also felt threatened. For example, a local woman was quoted in the press at that time as saying: "As a young woman, I have never felt threatened by prostitutes in my street. The same is not true of the `pickers' who gather on the street corners. Obscenities have been shouted in my direction; lewd suggestions addressed to me; placards waved, including `Your (sic) dead, prostitute :"

In November 1994, ECP members took part in a, Central TV programme. Two people from Balsall Heath who spoke out against this "community action" claimed they were later attacked by men who had been on the programme. Despite our protests to the police, Central TV, the council and local MPs, women in the area continued to be subjected to attacks and abuse.

In 1996, we went to Women Against Rape, who wrote to MP 'Lynne Jones about further violence against women. The reply Jones forwarded to us from the police said that two men were suspended from Street Watch following an attack on a woman.

Prostitute women feel that "community action" has created a dangerous culture of aggression towards them.

As recently as last week, a woman in the Balsall Heath area received anonymous, threatening letters. One said (original spelling): "Hello Bitch, So you think your clever running a brothel. Well lets see what way we can stop you! Now we could smash the windows: We could smash your face. Best of all we could burn you out, it only takes one match and a spot of paraffin, still that's too quick. I think mugging would be better."

For decades, prostitute women have been part of multi-racial Balsall Heath. This working-class community was peaceful until Street Watch set out to "clean up" the streets. Over the past four years, they have forced up to 450 prostitute women out of the area.

The police legitimise Street Watch by issuing them with identity cards which authorise them to patrol the streets. This is a threatening situation for prostitute women, who feel that violent men might misinterpret this as a signal that attacking women who are prostitutes (and who's to say who is a prostitute and who isn't?) has police approval. This is particularly worrying since a number of prostitute women have been murdered in the Midlands in the last few years.

It has been estimated that 50 per cent of people in Birmingham are on or below the poverty line. No wonder increasing numbers of women and young people are on the game.

It's not afar cry from Tony Blairadvocating The Full Monty as a solution to poverty.

Sex Workers

All Women Count