'Background of distances': Participation and the community cohesion in the North: Making the connections.

Abstract

The conference Participation and Community Cohesion in the North: making the connections was held two and a half years after the North of England experienced a summer of major social unrest.1 One delegate described these disturbances as `attempted suicide by a community ¿ a cry for help.¿ This is a controversial image of powerlessness and disenfranchisement, but it raises a question that goes to the heart of our reasons for holding this conference. Does the success of Community Cohesion depend on the ability of communities to nonviolently express their views on the issues that concern them? Does it depend on a belief in one¿s own power to effect change without violence? In other words does it depend on the extent to which people see a point in working together for goals they have set themselves?