Bristol festival is too ‘white and middle class’: Councillors claim harbour event ‘represents colonialism’ and celebrates ‘white boating community’
- Bristol City Council report examined the highly popular Bristol Harbour Festival
- Noted its ‘whiteness’ and ‘invisible barriers’ to ‘members of the global majority’
- Said black and Asian residents were put off by the ‘over-consumption of alcohol’
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Bristol’s leading festival has been branded too ‘white and middle class’ in a local council report – which added that the harbour which serves as its centrepiece ‘represents colonialism’.
The investigation into the popular Harbour Festival, which attracts 250,000 people each July, highlighted its ‘whiteness’ and the ‘invisible barriers to members of the global majority’ – a woke term used to refer to the non-white population.
It also suggested that older and disabled people, families and black and Asian residents were being put off by the ‘over-consumption of alcohol and the commercial approach to food’.
The council consulted on the 50-year-old event following Black Lives Matter protests in Bristol and the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston into the harbour.
Social media users reacted with anger at the report, with one calling it ‘nonsense’ and another saying: ‘The report asks what needs changing – Bristol city council is the only thing that needs changing.’
The investigation into the popular Harbour Festival, which attracts 250,000 people each July, highlighted its ‘whiteness’ (pictured: the event this year)
The Harbour Festival is an annual celebration of Bristol’s maritime heritage and the importance of its docks and harbour. The event includes live music, street performances, fireworks and a variety of other live entertainment.
Its origins as the Harbour Regatta were raised as an issue by council pen-pushers due to the traditional event celebrating ‘the boating community’ which is ‘predominantly white’.
The council report warned that ‘the festival currently has the perception of being a ”white English festival” for some of those consulted’, with ‘nothing for communities from different cultural heritage’.
It added: ‘The consultation highlighted the ‘whiteness’ of the festival and the invisible barriers to members of the global majority, as well as participants with mobility issues or neuro diverse needs.
‘The perception of the Harbour Festival for the global majority communities within Bristol is that it is not for them, and that the cultural offer is primarily serving a white middle-class audience. Many of those of different cultural backgrounds find the over-consumption of alcohol and the commercial approach to food off-putting.
‘The narrative of the work of the festival is lost and the branding harks back to the Harbour Regatta, celebrating the boating community which is predominantly white.’
Local Tory councillor Richard Eddy slammed the report, telling the Telegraph: ‘This latest attack on the hugely successful Bristol Harbour Festival sadly comes as no surprise and is a further indication of how the current Labour mayoral regime loathes everything which is ”Shipshape-and-Bristol-fashion”.
‘The current mayor, Marvin Rees – who Bristolians voted in a referendum in May to ditch – is on record as despising everything he labels dismissively as ”Brunel, Bridges and Balloons” in the historic city.
‘As when Mr Rees championed the criminals who demolished Edward Colston’s city centre statue in summer 2020, his administration hates everything which true Bristolians prize.’
The report – which was handed to councillors as they consider the future funding and organisation of the £160,000-a-year festival – noted that 83 per cent of attendees were White British, compared to 78 per cent of Bristol’s population.
A daredevil flyboarding acrobatic display takes place on the water and attracts huge crowds during the Bristol Harbour Festival last month
Referencing the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue, Black Lives Matter protests, it argued the annual celebration needed to become more ‘inclusive’.
It read: ‘Bristol has been in the spotlight over the last two years, especially its harbour and history. The perception of Bristol on a national and international stage is one of diversity, creativity, independence and energy.
‘The festival needs to reflect recent events in its addressing of the issues around the harbour as well as celebrating the diversity that Bristol represents. There is an opportunity to harness this alongside the beauty, heritage and innovation of the harbour through events, dialogue and performance.’
The authors recommended setting up a ‘paid advisory board’ to oversee an outreach program for the festival and introducing ‘alcohol-free spaces’. It also called for more work to address the ‘harbour’s part in the slave trade’.
Bristol has long been known for its left-leaning politics, and became a focus of BLM protests which, on June 7 2020, famously saw Edward Colston’s statue torn off its plinth and tossed into the harbour.
It came as a motion to ban strip clubs and other sex entertainment venues failed in a council vote last week.
Referencing the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue, Black Lives Matter protests, it argued the annual celebration needed to become more ‘inclusive’
A consortium of women’s rights organisations and community groups had been campaigning for Bristol to follow in the footsteps of Edinburgh and impose a blanket ban.
Bristol currently has a cap of three strip clubs in the city centre, although currently it has only two – Urban Tiger and Central Chambers.
Emotions were running high at a meeting of the council’s licensing committee on Thursday, where dozens of people on both sides of the debate put forward their views.
One dancer explained how she had taken up work in a strip club when she was unable to make ends meet as a circus performer, and now has a ‘flexible enough schedule to pursue my dream career’, while another performer insisted that stripping ‘provides stability’.
Another performer, who gave her name only as Scarlett, said she suffered from chronic pain and fatigue, but stripping had given her a future.
The vote was the culmination of a review stretching back three years, and two public consultations – one in 2019 and one in 2021 – that received more than 17,000 submissions between them.
MailOnline has contacted the local council and the festival organisers for comment.
2022 so far in Bristol, the wokest city in Britain
COLSTON FOUR CLEARED BY JURY
In January, a Bristol jury sparked anger after clearing the so-called ‘Colston Four’ of criminal damage for the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston.
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At the time, critics claimed the jury were politically motivated and described the ‘extraordinary’ verdict as a ‘vandals’ charter’ which they feared could hand other demonstrators a ‘dangerous’ licence to carry out similar acts.
Government sources insisted the trial would not stop authorities bringing prosecutions against vandals who damaged or defaced statues during political protests.
CIDER CANCELLED
Bristol’s woke warriors attracted fresh ridicule in February by calling for the public to boycott a popular cider producer over its tenuous links to slave trader Edward Colston.
The ‘Countering Colston’ group – which campaigns to cleanse Bristol of his legacy – were branded ‘heartless bastards’ for urging drinkers not to buy Thatchers Cider.
Activists were angry about fourth generation cider maker Martin Thatcher’s membership of the Society of Merchant Venturers, which is now a charitable organisation dedicated to education and the care of the elderly but in its previous incarnation had Colston as a member and was heavily involved in Transatlantic slavery.
Four-generation cider maker Martin Thatcher found himself targeted by woke activists this year
FEMINIST STUDENT LOSES CASE AGAINST UNIVERSITY
In April a PhD student lost her attempt to sue Bristol University after claiming they colluded with trans activists who wanted to ‘cancel her’ when she said only biological women can give birth.
Raquel Rosario-Sanchez had alleged university chiefs had failed to protect her when the row blew up over the use of the word ‘maternity’.
Feminist Ms Rosario-Sanchez said Bristol – dubbed the country’s ‘wokest’ university – did not tackle transgender activists who targeted her in a two-year hate campaign.
KILL THE BILL RIOTERS CLEARED
In May, a jury cleared a Kill the Bill rioter after accepting he was acting in self-defence when he stole an officer’s baton and kicked their shield – months after BLM activists who tore down a statue of Edward Colston also walked free.
Kadeem Yarde, 24, was among hundreds of young people who marched on Bridewell police station in Bristol city centre on March 21 last year. More than 40 officers were injured during the ‘mass disorder’, in which the windows of the police station were smashed and several vehicles set alight.
The demonstration was organised to show discontent towards the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – with the riots subsequently dubbed ‘Kill the Bill’ protests.
The jury heard that Yarde, described as a ‘committed social justice activist’, disarmed the officer of their baton and kicked their riot shield ‘to ward off attack in the face of excessive force from police officers’.
BACKLASH AT BARRING OF REPORTER
In June, ITV joined the BBC in boycotting Bristol Council’s mayoral briefings after the council banned a local reporter for daring to ask Labour mayor Marvin Rees if he saw the irony in flying to Canada to give a short speech on climate change.
In a clip which went viral, Local Democracy Reporter Alex Seabrook was interrupted by a press officer who questioned whether he should be allowed to ask this question.
He and other LDRs have since been banned by Bristol Council but other journalists and organisations have rallied behind him in support – with the BBC yesterday, June 23, deciding to boycott Bristol Council.
ITV West Country have now joined the BBC and have pledged not to attend or cover any of the mayoral briefings until this ban is lifted.
Ian Axton, Head of News at ITV West Country said: ‘ITV News West Country stands by other media organisations on this issue. We will not attend the fortnightly press briefings held by the Mayor until the exclusion of Local Democracy Reporters is lifted.’
In the cringeworthy virtual press conference, Saskia Konynenburg, head of communications at Bristol City Council, said that she did not think the reporter’s question on the mayor’s 9,200-mile round trip in April to give a climate talk was ‘legitimate’.
A spokesman for Bristol City Council confirmed there had been a ‘long-standing’ agreement the reporters wouldn’t be sent.
They said: ‘There has been a long-standing mutual agreement between the Mayor’s Office and the Post about personnel attending press conferences whenever they are announced and held, and that LDR’s would not be sent due to the narrow definition of their role as an impartial service.’
However, this has been disputed by Bristol Live editor Pete Gavan, who said: ‘In the past, we had agreed to send other reporters to the mayoral briefings when possible but reserved the right to send the LDRs.’
IT’S NOT A MAN’S WORLD
In July, reports emerged that the University of Bristol had outlawed words like ‘mankind’ and ‘millennial’ to avoid causing offence – while terms such as ‘manpower’ were to be replaced with ‘workforce’.
Bosses at the Russell Group universities fear the everyday expressions contribute to stigmas and can have negative associations, reports the Sun.
At Bristol, students and faculty have allegedly been told to replace the word ‘manning’ with ‘stationed’, while ‘able-bodied’ people should now be called ‘non-disabled’.
The 146-year-old university, which counts stars like Simon Pegg, David Walliams and Matt Lucas as alumni, has also asked that generational nicknames like ‘boomers’ and ‘millennials’ be avoided.
As part of its style guide, ‘humankind’ should also replace ‘mankind’, while ‘workforce’ should be used instead of ‘manpower’.
In its writing style guide on its website, under ‘specific terminology’, it reads: ‘Avoid using generational labels (‘Generation X’, ‘Baby Boomers’, ‘Millennials’) where possible.
‘These can reinforce negative stereotypes, and the terms are not easily understood, especially by some international audiences.’
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