Just over a week ago, a massive fire broke out in a flat in West London. The fire then quickly spread, making its way all around the building, engulfing it in flames. The vicious nature of this fire was due to the cheaper, more flammable cladding used to be put up around the building. A confirmed number of 79 people lost their lives whilst many more are currently missing or presumed dead.
The cladding was added during a £10 million refurbishment last year and it appears its sole purpose was to keep the building insulated during the winter and make the building look pretty enough to please the rich residents of Kensington. When they heard of the new adjustments to their homes, the Grenfell Action Group warned the landlord of “dangerous living conditions”.
After the events of the fire, the community surrounding Latimer Road was furious, and rightfully so. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented but wasn’t, due to the ignorance of the rich. This was not a natural occurrence, it was man-made mayhem.
Pictured: The man 'whose faulty fridge started Grenfell Tower inferno' https://t.co/NIderoMBBm pic.twitter.com/Xjlu2VmAhg
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) June 15, 2017
Outlets like the Daily Mail will name and shame the man who’s fridge started the fire but do not fall into their trap. This atrocity was not caused by a small, faulty fridge; it was caused by the neglect of the people’s voice and worries. This was corporate manslaughter. Do not allow anyone to tell you otherwise. Do not allow anyone to tell you not to politicise this tragedy because, as people have said in their speeches on Latimer Road, anything regarding neoliberalism and social housing is inherently political.
Austerity is not an economic neccesity, it’s a political choice.
Stay angry. If you are of the community, stay angry. If you’re from the rest of London, Britain or even the rest of the world, stay angry. Ask questions. Demand answers. Do not allow the government or mainstream media to sweep this tragedy under the rug or downplay the number of fatalities. We need to keep the momentum of this tragedy going for as long as the public enquiry is going. We need to acknowledge that we live in a society that allowed this to happen and we need to mobilise our anger into actions.
The dead cannot cry out for justice so it is the the responsibility of the living to do so for them.
Don’t just have anger in your hearts. Now, more than ever, it is incumbent that we stand together, arm in arm. The community of Kensington and Chelsea have been amazing at this. Multiple marches have taken place and staggering amounts of donations and volunteers have started to reshape the community. It is in times like these that humanity must truly come together and help one another, purely for the sake of helping.
There are people who will try to divide us — try to divide the POC, the Muslim community, the working class. This division of the majority is what neo liberalism relies on to thrive. We cannot let this happen. Keep talking about the tragedy, stay angry but not at those just as affected by this as you are. Educate those around you on what truly happened and what needs to happen to win against neo-liberalism.
Here’s what you can do to help:
An overwhelming amount of donations have been given towards the victims who have been left with no possessions. Now, the problem is that there is no more place to store these donations. If you live in the area/know someone in the area that has any storage space available, please contact @djisla_ on Instagram.
