Mini Mag Social Change issue

Alt.Cardiff If it’s offbeat and in Cardiff then it’s in here

December 2020 Issue 1

The complicated truth about FGM in Wales

PLUS Meet the Landlord of iconic LGBTQ+ pub The Golden Cross

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Find out how Extinction Rebellion is protesting air pollution

NEWS

A protest in pictures

Extinction Rebellion protest plans to build an incinerator on Newlands Road Words by Harriet Argent

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xtinction Rebellion is painting murals around Splott in protest of plans to build a commercial waste incinerator on Newlands Road.

The murals, which can be found on Pearl Street, depict people protesting for their right to clean air, something which Extinction Rebellion believes will be compromised for residents of Splott if plans to build the incinerator go ahead.

The incinerator, which is being commissioned by Mor Hafren Bio Power, would be the second in the area and just three miles away from the first.

Furthermore, the plant would be in operation 24/7 with waste deliveries being made from Monday to Saturday, resulting in around 116 vehicle movements in and out of the plant each day.

Extinction Rebellion said they were concerned this would contribute to air pollution and have adverse effects on the health of people who live nearby.

A spokesperson for Cardiff Extinction Rebellion, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they were also protesting the location of the incinerator and argued this was not just a climate and ecological issue but a social justice one as well.

“You wouldn’t see an incinerator being built in an affluent area of Cardiff,” they said, “but here we have people who are at a lower socio-economic level being disproportionately affected by air pollution.”

Mor Hafren Bio Power said they had carried out all the relevant assessments to ensure the incinerator would have a minimal impact on residents and in its Health Impact

Support for survivors

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ardiff Women’s Aid has launched a campaign to help encourage solidarity with domestic abuse survivors as the number of women being referred to the charity has risen. #IStandWithSurvivors was created to promote support for women experiencing domestic abuse who are unable to leave their homes and get help due to lockdown restrictions.

The campaign encourages people to use the hashtag and share an image of themselves on social media holding a sign that says how they show support for survivors.

Venice Fielding, the community engagement manager for the charity, said publicly showing your solidarity could help survivors feel comfortable to reach out for help.

“Part of what is so damaging about domestic abuse is the isolation,” she said, “the hashtag gives survivors a link to the outside world and shows them that support is out there.”

Reaching survivors becomes increasingly importatnt as lockdown resitrictions are making it easer for abusers to isolate them and gain control.

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The ‘smog people’ represent residents affected by the incinerator.

Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion Cardiff

Assessment report they concluded there was no significant health risk associated with potential exposure to emissions of pollutants.

Despite this, Extinction Rebellion are urging the company to consider concerns of the people who feel their community is being treated as a dumping ground.

“If the residents of the area care deeply about something, it should be listened to,” they said.

Council cuts street café fees

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usinesses in Caerphilly are now allowed to have outdoor seating without paying the street café licence fee until at least September 2021.

A street café licence is required for businesses to place furniture on a public street and it usually comes with a fee and a 28 day consultation period.

Caerphilly County Borough Council approved plans on October 28th to change this by shortening the consultation period and waiving fees in order to make it easier for local businesses to get a licence.

Cllr. Sean Morgan, the cabinet member for economy and enterprise, said he believed this would boost business for local cafés that have been hit by the pandemic.

“Café’s have lost half of their seating because of Covid measures,” he said, “this allows them to spill out onto the street and get back to their full capacity.”

He acknowledged outdoor seating is most useful in the spring and summer, but will businesses survive until then?

INTERVIEW

The pub that keeps on giving How landlord of The Golden Cross kept the pub’s community spirit alive

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hen Rob Burnett took over as landlord of Cardiff ’s longest-serving LGBTQ+ venue, The Golden Cross, at 41 years old, he realised he not only inherited a pub but a community of people.

Lockdown has been difficult for many in the hospitality industry but, for Rob, it taught him how important The Golden Cross was to his customers and that, as the landlord, he had a responsibility for them even when it closed.

When Rob decided in 2015 to take over The Golden Cross, which is located in the centre of Cardiff on Hayes Bridge Road, he had little experience of running a pub. He joked he didn’t even know how to mix a gin and tonic!

He previously worked in the vehicle rental industry for 18 years and was a company director in Manchester before his relationship brought him to Wales.

“When I moved to Cardiff, I had no inkling of opening a bar,” he laughed, “it was a friend that thought it would be a good idea.”

In 2016, his ex-business partner was let go and Rob decided to take over The Golden Cross by himself to save it from closure.

For Rob, his customers are an integral part of the pub.

“Without the community, we don’t exist,” he said,“the pub belongs to the people it serves… this is their safe space.”

So when lockdown prevented people from visiting, he knew he had to do something.

“I wanted to keep that sense of community and make sure people didn’t feel alone,” he said, “it was my responsibility to keep it going and to look out for the community that supports us.”

With the help of his resident drag queens, Rob began broadcasting live performances on Facebook to help connect customers to their beloved pub and community.

“The comments on the videos were not always aimed at the act on the stage; sometimes people were just chatting amongst each other…it was giving them a connection they wouldn’t ordinarily have,” he said, “even though their safe space was physically somewhere else, they could log on and feel connected to it.”

Rob decided to set up a GoFundMePage to accompany the online shows so viewers could support the business and raise money for charity.

Much to his surprise, he ended up raising over £8,000 in total, £3,000 of which he donated to local charities, and the rest he kept to maintain the pub.

Rob was overwhelmed by the generosity of his customers, and it reminded him how vital The Golden Cross was to its community. He revealed, “most recently, a customer gave us £500, and his answer to me was ‘You don’t know how important The Golden Cross is to myself and my closest friends.’”

He added it was at this point he realised people regarded his pub as the backbone of the Cardiff LGBTQ+ community and he had to keep it going no matter what.

Rob had planned to leave The Golden Cross in December, but his experience with the pub over lockdown has convinced him to stay.

“I’m here for another five years,” he smiled.

“It was my responsibility to keep it going”

The Golden Cross, as we know it, has been around since 1904!

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LONG READ

FGM in Wales

Why Somali women are accusing Welsh government’s safeguarding guidelines around female genital mutilation of unfairly targeting their families Words by Harriet Argent and images created on Canva

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Survivors of FGM are facing renewed trauma as safeguarding guidelines force them to tell their doctor about their procedure

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omen who have experienced first-hand the invasive procedure of female genital mutilation (FGM) would never dream of inflicting that pain on anyone, let alone their own child.

However safeguarding guidelines in Wales state that because they are survivors of FGM, their children are considered at risk and can be referred to social services.

In the latest Welsh government policy report on violence against women, it showed the pandemic had exacerbated the risk of sexual and domestic abuse for many people and as FGM is classed as gender-based violence, it is also considered to be on the rise because of lockdown.

Consequently, in September, Welsh government circulated a fact sheet for teachers outlining warning signs that indicate when a child is at risk of FGM. But what is not included in these conversations is how government-issued safeguarding guidelines and ‘warning signs’ cause harm to communities they are trying to protect.

The most recent statistics on FGM in Wales tell us that in 2018 Cardiff and the Vale Health Board had the highest number of “newly recorded cases” with 271 and that FGM is most prevalent in the Somali community.

But charities such as Hidden Voices UK, who have a branch in Cardiff and work with survivors of FGM, say these statistics are out of date and misleading, and FGM is no longer practiced in the Somali community.

Zainab Nur, co-founder of the branch, said the statistics included older women who had FGM when they were children and therefore, the “newly recorded” cases were actually historical cases that did not take place in Wales.

“There is a generation of girls who never had FGM because we made changes to prevent it,” she said, “it’s a diminished practice.”

Cardiff Women’s Aid has also said any new referrals it gets for FGM are usually older women who had went through it years ago and are dealing with the after affects.

It’s a diminished practice - Zainab

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LONG READ However, Zainab regularly deals with cases where innocent Somali women are referred to social services based on what she believes are discriminatory safeguarding guidelines.

Two guidelines are being disputed. The first states if a parent or relative plans to take a child out of the country or if a child talks about visiting their family’s country of origin where FGM is historically practiced, they are considered at risk. The other is if a woman has undergone FGM in the past, her child is also considered at risk, and in both cases, the family may be investigated. he guidelines are accused of targeting Somali women and survivors of FGM for something that happened to them when they were children and without their consent.

“A lot of these women have been traumatised,” Zainab said, “you would never ask somebody if they had been sexually abused and assume that would happen to their child just because it happened to them.”

Another young Somali woman living in Cardiff, who we are calling Sana, said she had a negative experience with safeguarding guidelines in her own family.

Sana’s relatives told their doctor about plans to take their children on holiday to Somali Land to visit family, and it resulted in an investigation by social services.

“It was a casual conversation, but the trigger words were ‘I’m going back home,’” she said, “that’s all it took for suspicions to be raised.” octors are obliged by law to report anything that may be considered a risk indicator, but Sana said these indicators need updating if women are being placed under suspicion with no credible evidence other than the fact their family is from a particular country.

The guidelines are enforced by the Wales Safeguarding Procedures group but, they are a product of a 2011 report by the All-Wales Child Protection Procedures Review Group, a board of healthcare professionals that both Sana and Zainab

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believe do not represent their community.

Welsh government says there are steps in place to reduce inappropriate reporting with statutory guidance on how social services should respond to reports that a child may be at risk of FGM This guidance also states that any risk factors should be considered in the wider context and not seen as evidence that FGM has taken or will take place.

Bawso, an FGM charity that works closely with Welsh government, advises in its resource pack that although professionals should be sensitive to issues of culture and race they should not let fears of being branded ‘racist’ or ‘dicriminatory’ weaken the protection required by vulnerable girls.

However, despite these efforts, Zainab said inappropriate reporting is still taking place and it is wasting social services’ time and money.

Sana agreed and said, “I want to stop FGM and I would be the first person to report a case if I saw it. But, if the approach stigmatises some when it’s trying to protect others, then is it really operating in the right way? omen who have experienced, firsthand, the pain of FGM understand it better than anyone and would be the first to say it should be stopped.

But the guidelines tell them they are not trusted with their own children because they were violated without consent when they were their age and because their family is from a particular country.

One of the most important things to understand here is all parties have the common goal of ending FGM, but this is not going to happen if the voices of survivors and the affected community continue to be ignored.

The trigger words were ‘I’m going back home’ - Sana

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Hidden Voices UK Charity offers free advice to anyone who has been affected by FGM safeguarding guidelines. For more information see their website: hiddenvoicesuk.co.uk

The law and FGM Female genital mutilation became a criminal offence in the UK in 1985 with the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act. This was replaced in 2003 with the Female Genital Mutilation Act which stated it was also an offence to take a child abroad for FGM and the maximum penalty increased from five to 14 years of imprisonment.

Nobody was convicted of FGM until 2019.

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