Grenfell Tower, London
*Please read before commenting*
The decision to publish this picture wasn’t taken lightly.
In the early hours of Wednesday 14 June 2017, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in the North Kensington area of London burnt down. It’s believed a faulty refrigerator in a flat on the fourth floor caught alight. The flames rapidly spread through each flat, eventually engulfing the entire high rise tower block within a matter of hours.
The final death toll for the fire, which is the worst single incident that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has had to attend since WWII, is not expected to be known until 2018 but is likely to include the names of more than 80 men, women and children.
The supposed cause of fire, from faulty fridge electrics, masks the real debate about how such a tragedy could happen in one of the richest cities in the richest countries in the world. The use of cheap, flammable exterior cladding has been overwhelmingly identified, though still legally unproven, as the primary reason why the fire spread so astonishingly quick across and up the building’s 24 floors.
The campaigning group Justice 4 Grenfell, set up in the immediate wake of the disaster, organised to oppose the predictable incoming tide of media and political whitewash which has attempted to cover up the real reasons why the Grenfell Tower was a disaster waiting to happen. Residents had complained for years to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC) about their safety concerns; which included the lack of an internal sprinkler system and adequate fire escapes, and combustible waste being left in hallways. But their concerns were systematically ignored.
Poorly enforced tenancy rights in the UK among poorer and marginalised socioeconomic groups also, perversely, increased the likelihood of tenants with legitimate concerns being targeted for eviction by landlords, who deemed them to be troublemakers. Instead, and sickeningly so in light of what would happen on 14 June 2017, people who were seriously concerned for their own welfare and those of their fellow tower block residents were either ignored or met with outright hostility by RBKC and landlords.
Grenfell Tower, which was built in the early 1970s, astonishingly had only one lift and fire escape. This meant that when the tower was ablaze there was no alternative route for residents to flee to safety. Families became trapped on the tower’s higher floors, out of reach of fire hoses and engulfed in toxic fumes and incendiary heat. Unable to escape, they tragically lost their lives before the heroic firemen and firewomen from the LFB could rescue them from their burning homes.
When we see pictures like the one above, they can often render us cold and passive. Conversely we can also feel repulsed, angry and disbelieving that such a tragedy could happen anywhere, least of all in the richest neighbourhood of one of the richest cities, in one of the richest countries in the world. How could it be that fundamental safety requirements were repeatedly ignored in favour of profiteering? How could cutting corners on safety management be coupled with contempt for the concerns of individuals? The injustice is writ large, while justice is waiting to be served.
At the time of writing, Justice 4 Grenfell campaigners have again raised serious concerns in the national press that the terms of the inquiry into the disaster are too narrow, and purposely so. Their concerns are entirely legitimate; local and central government, which has presided over years of failing housing policy and grinding austerity is attempting to wriggle free from the far reaching socioeconomic and political consequences of their decisions. The culmination of which have arguably been instrumental in tragedies like Grenfell Tower becoming far more likely to happen.
The truth can be avoided, subverted, even denied. But it can never be silenced.
For more information
Justice 4 Grenfell: justice4grenfell.org/
Donate: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/categories/emergencies/gr...
Latest reports: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/grenfell-tower-fire
Grenfell Tower, London
*Please read before commenting*
The decision to publish this picture wasn’t taken lightly.
In the early hours of Wednesday 14 June 2017, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in the North Kensington area of London burnt down. It’s believed a faulty refrigerator in a flat on the fourth floor caught alight. The flames rapidly spread through each flat, eventually engulfing the entire high rise tower block within a matter of hours.
The final death toll for the fire, which is the worst single incident that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has had to attend since WWII, is not expected to be known until 2018 but is likely to include the names of more than 80 men, women and children.
The supposed cause of fire, from faulty fridge electrics, masks the real debate about how such a tragedy could happen in one of the richest cities in the richest countries in the world. The use of cheap, flammable exterior cladding has been overwhelmingly identified, though still legally unproven, as the primary reason why the fire spread so astonishingly quick across and up the building’s 24 floors.
The campaigning group Justice 4 Grenfell, set up in the immediate wake of the disaster, organised to oppose the predictable incoming tide of media and political whitewash which has attempted to cover up the real reasons why the Grenfell Tower was a disaster waiting to happen. Residents had complained for years to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC) about their safety concerns; which included the lack of an internal sprinkler system and adequate fire escapes, and combustible waste being left in hallways. But their concerns were systematically ignored.
Poorly enforced tenancy rights in the UK among poorer and marginalised socioeconomic groups also, perversely, increased the likelihood of tenants with legitimate concerns being targeted for eviction by landlords, who deemed them to be troublemakers. Instead, and sickeningly so in light of what would happen on 14 June 2017, people who were seriously concerned for their own welfare and those of their fellow tower block residents were either ignored or met with outright hostility by RBKC and landlords.
Grenfell Tower, which was built in the early 1970s, astonishingly had only one lift and fire escape. This meant that when the tower was ablaze there was no alternative route for residents to flee to safety. Families became trapped on the tower’s higher floors, out of reach of fire hoses and engulfed in toxic fumes and incendiary heat. Unable to escape, they tragically lost their lives before the heroic firemen and firewomen from the LFB could rescue them from their burning homes.
When we see pictures like the one above, they can often render us cold and passive. Conversely we can also feel repulsed, angry and disbelieving that such a tragedy could happen anywhere, least of all in the richest neighbourhood of one of the richest cities, in one of the richest countries in the world. How could it be that fundamental safety requirements were repeatedly ignored in favour of profiteering? How could cutting corners on safety management be coupled with contempt for the concerns of individuals? The injustice is writ large, while justice is waiting to be served.
At the time of writing, Justice 4 Grenfell campaigners have again raised serious concerns in the national press that the terms of the inquiry into the disaster are too narrow, and purposely so. Their concerns are entirely legitimate; local and central government, which has presided over years of failing housing policy and grinding austerity is attempting to wriggle free from the far reaching socioeconomic and political consequences of their decisions. The culmination of which have arguably been instrumental in tragedies like Grenfell Tower becoming far more likely to happen.
The truth can be avoided, subverted, even denied. But it can never be silenced.
For more information
Justice 4 Grenfell: justice4grenfell.org/
Donate: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/categories/emergencies/gr...
Latest reports: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/grenfell-tower-fire