After Grenfell

Description

On the 14th June 2017, a fire engulfed a tower block in West London, seventy-two people lost their lives and hundreds of others were left displaced and traumatised. The Grenfell Tower fire is the epicentre of a long history of violence enacted by government and corporations. On its second anniversary activists, artists and academics come together to respond, remember and recover the disaster.



The Grenfell Tower fire illustrates Britain's symbolic order; the continued logic of colonialism, the disposability of working class lives, the marketisation of social provision and global austerity politics, and the negligence and malfeasance of multinational contractors. Exploring these topics and more, the contributors construct critical analysis from legal, cultural, media, community and government responses to the fire, asking whether, without remedy for multifaceted power and violence, we will ever really be 'after' Grenfell?



With poetry by Ben Okri and Tony Walsh, and photographs by Parveen Ali, Sam Boal and Yolanthe Fawehinmi.



With contributions from Phil Scraton, Daniel Renwick, Nadine El-Enany, Sarah Keenan, Gracie Mae Bradley and The Radical Housing Network.

Acknowledgements

Preface – Phil Scraton

Introduction – Dan Bulley, Jenny Edkins and Nadine El-Enany

Grenfell Tower, June, 2017 – Ben Okri

1. Everyday Life and Death in the Global City – Dan Bulley

2. Organising on Mute – Daniel Renwick

Photo Essay – Sam Boal

3. Before Grenfell: British Immigration Law and the Production of Colonial Spaces – Nadine El-Enany

4. Struggles for Social Housing Justice – Radical Housing Network, Becka Hudson and Pilgrim Tucker

Ghosts of Grenfell – Lowkey

5. A Border in Every Street: Grenfell and the Hostile Environment – Sarah Keenan

Photo Essay – Parveen Ali

6. Grenfell on Screen – Anna Viola Sborgi

7. Law, Justice and the Public Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire – Patricia Tuitt

The Interloper – Jenny Edkins

8. From Grenfell to Windrush – Gracie Mae Bradley

9. Housing Policy in the Shadow of Grenfell – Nigel de Noronha

Photo Essay – Yolanthe Fawehinmi

10. ComeUnity and Community in the Face of Impunity – Monique Charles

Equity – Tony Walsh

Afterword: The Fire and the Academy – Robbie Shilliam

Notes on the Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Economic Disparity
• Social Classes
• Public Policy
• Social Science
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Gran Londres
• Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council
• 21st century
• Lowkey
• Conservative Party
• General officer
• Region
• Social class
• Privatization
• Greater London
• Theresa May
• Regional
• General
• North Kensington
• Gentrification
• Parti conservateur
• Grand Londres
• London

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786804617
• Langue: English

Extrait

After Grenfell
After Grenfell
Violence, Resistance and Response
Edited by Dan Bulley, Jenny Edkins and Nadine El-Enany
First published 2019 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Dan Bulley, Jenny Edkins and Nadine El-Enany 2019
The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material in this book. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this respect and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3960 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3958 0 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0460 0 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0462 4 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0461 7 EPUB eBook

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface - Phil Scraton
Introduction - Dan Bulley, Jenny Edkins and Nadine El-Enany
Grenfell Tower, June, 2017 - Ben Okri

1. Everyday Life and Death in the Global City - Dan Bulley
2. Organising on Mute - Daniel Renwick
Photo Essay - Sam Boal
3. Before Grenfell: British Immigration Law and the Production of Colonial Spaces - Nadine El-Enany 50
4. Struggles for Social Housing Justice - Radical Housing Network, Becka Hudson and Pilgrim Tucker
Ghosts of Grenfell - Lowkey
5. A Border in Every Street: Grenfell and the Hostile Environment - Sarah Keenan
Photo Essay - Parveen Ali
6. Grenfell on Screen - Anna Viola Sborgi
7. Law, Justice and the Public Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire - Patricia Tuitt
The Interloper - Jenny Edkins
8. From Grenfell to Windrush - Gracie Mae Bradley
9. Housing Policy in the Shadow of Grenfell - Nigel de Noronha
Photo Essay - Yolanthe Fawehinmi
10. ComeUnity and Community in the Face of Impunity - Monique Charles
Equity - Tony Walsh

Afterword : The Fire and the Academy - Robbie Shilliam
Notes on the Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the contributors to this book for their willingness to offer their time, insight and research to make possible this small attempt to keep the violence of the Grenfell Tower fire in the public eye. Without their diligence and speed in responding to our requests, editorial comments and queries within such a tight time-frame, the book would never have been published by the second anniversary. Amongst the contributors, many have allowed us to use their previously published work with no fee, expressing the admirable desire that no one should profit from this atrocity.
Alongside the contributors, we have had the benefit of a wonderful editor at Pluto, Jakob Horstmann, who got the project off the ground, helped to contact contributors and piloted the book forward whenever it was in danger of running aground. The editorial board at Pluto has given us a great deal of freedom; this book would not have been a viable possibility at other publishing houses and we are very grateful for their commitment.
Bal Sokhi-Bulley suggested the title for the book and listened through all the difficulties of its journey. Wafa Iskander generously gave her time to transliteration. A range of other people have contributed in both big and small ways through conversations, suggestions, advice and encouragement. Thanks to James Brassett, Joseph Downing, Richard Dron, Lucy Easthope, David Edkins, Nisha Kapoor, Sarah Keenan, Renisa Mawani, Cian O Driscoll, Fiona Owen, Colin Prescod, Sherene Razack, Andrew Russell, Carol Shergold, Andreja Zevnik and the members of the Global Politics, Economy and Society Research Centre at Oxford Brookes University, the Centre for Research on Race and Law at Birkbeck College and the Critical Global Politics cluster at the University of Manchester.
Finally, we are grateful for the permissions to republish the following work that previously appeared in other formats:

Parveen Ali photographs, some of which first appeared in Kathryn Snowdon, Grenfell Exhibition: New Photos of the Relief Effort to be Shown for the First Time , Huffington Post UK Edition , 10 June 2018, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfellexhibition-photos-relief-effort uk 5b1ad7e4e4b09d7a3d724971 . Reproduced by permission of Parveen Ali.
Sam Boal photographs first appeared in An Irish Photographer has Captured the Aftermath of Grenfell Tower , The Journal , 24 June 2017, www.thejournal.ie/grenfell-tower-sam-boal-photos-3460761-Jun2017/ . Photocall Ireland. Reproduced by permission of Photocall Ireland, Suite 31, Central Hotel Chambers, Dame Court, Dublin 2.
Yolanthe Fawehinmi photographs first appeared in Yolanthe Fawehinmi, The Grenfell Tower Fire Unveils How Power Operates in Great Britain: The Tale of the Haves and Have Nots , Politicsmeanspolitics.com - The Blog , 19 July 2017, https://blog.politicsmeanspolitics.com/the-grenfell-tower-fire-unveils-how-power-operates-in-great-britain-163ae2e424e5 . Reproduced by permission of Yolanthe Fawehinmi.
Lowkey ft. Mai Khalil, Ghosts of Grenfell . The official music video can be found online at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztUamrChczQ . Reproduced by permission of Lowkey.
Ben Okri, Grenfell Tower, June, 2017 , The Financial Times , 23 June 2017. Ben Okri 2017. Reproduced by permission of Ben Okri, c/o Georgina Capel Associates Ltd, 29 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6PS.
Tony Walsh, Equity , originally commissioned as a video performance by ITN for Channel 4 News in August 2017 and introduced by Jon Snow as an ode to social housing . The video can be found at: www.channel4.com/news/an-ode-to-socialhousing . Reproduced by permission of Tony Walsh.
Figure 1.1 : Notting Dale Area Classification in Dan Bulley s chapter is credited to the Office for National Statistics, the Ordinance Survey and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is reproduced from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (2014) Notting Dale Ward Profile , RKBC Census 2011 profiles by ward, by permission of RBKC. At: www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/Notting%20Daledata.pdf .
Preface
Mobile phones have changed forever our shared experience of unfolding tragedy and disaster. In an instant and in real time, we bear collective witness to profound moments of suffering and death. I remember my first realisation of this - 5 February 2004, Morecombe Bay - the sea s coldest month of the year. Out on the treacherous sands in the freezing cold were migrant workers, their shift work determined by the ever-changing tides. Mainly from China s Fujian Province, backs aching and hands frozen, men and women living in the exploitative grip of ruthless gangmasters were trapped by the Bay s notorious fast-moving sea. Desperate phone calls were made, their last, to relatives across the globe as they were overwhelmed. Twenty-three drowned. The sheer horror of those phone calls I could only imagine. Now, a decade on, most people carry phones with high-resolution cameras.
Reflecting on witnessing tragedy and death, the ordeals of others , Susan Sontag (2003: 42) questions whether the only people with the right to look at images of real suffering of this extreme order are those who could do something to alleviate it . She suggests that the rest of us are voyeurs, whether or not we mean to be . It was this stark reflection by a woman who had recorded and exposed the full brutality and brutalisation of war that resonated as I watched, live on television, the horror of Grenfell Tower unfold. The dawning realisation that whether looking on from nearby streets or far beyond, we as observers shared a collective helplessness. We watched silhouettes at windows. People like us who just minutes before had been sharing conversations, watching television or asleep in bed. Now they were making their final calls to their loved ones.
Morecombe Bay, Hillsborough, the Marchioness , Lockerbie, Grenfell Tower - people just like us. Men, women and children living typically complex lives, with diverse personal histories. Grenfell, a community within a community enriched by diversity, united by humanity. A tower block in which difference - cultural, religious, social, political, economic - was celebrated in lives coming together under one roof by chance and opportunity. A community of mutual respect regardless of life histories, in which differences in age and background were recognised, accepted and celebrated. Within days, however, the full impact of loss - of life, of home, of possessions, of futures - was compounded by a fabricated, purposeful enduring stripping of identity.
In the immediate aftermath, those traumatised by death and/or survival were subjected to a condemnatory discourse that doubted their legality, their citizenship and their validity. Like Morecombe Bay, it was buoyed by racist politics that questioned the lawful status of those who died depicting an enemy queuing at the gates, aliens at the ports. Kensington and Chelsea, a Royal borough and one of Europe s most affluent local authorities, revealed its binaries: of affluence and poverty; of inclusion and exclusion; of deserving and undeserving. At a moment of unimaginable pain, these binaries, both implicit and explicit, generated negative images of families and individuals who had lost everything including loved ones and friends. The questioning of the legitimacy and genuineness of those who died was fired by a divisive Brexit-fuelled climate of inside