Grenfell to Gaza: whose lives are valued?

On the 8th anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 people died, I look at the dehumanization of those in social housing, and compare it to dehumanization in Gaza.

A photo I took at the foot of Grenfell Tower on June 14, 2022, published as part of my photo-journalism project ‘The State of London‘, which ran from 2017 to 2023.

In my new article on my website, Grenfell to Gaza: Deadly Hierarchies of Race and Class on the 8th Anniversary of the Grenfell Tower Fire, which I hope you have time to read, I reflect on how this is a disaster that should never have happened, involving the agonizing deaths of 72 residents of a social housing block in west London, who died after an inferno engulfed the tower in the early hours of June 14, 2017.

This is a situation that only happened because those responsible for the safety of the residents were complicit in an industry-wide policy of profiteering and cost-cutting with the full backing of central and local government.

In my annual reflection on the enduring significance of the fire, I focus in particular on issues of race and class, largely ignored in mainstream media reporting, and by the official inquiry, even though 85% of the victims of the fire were of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) origin, who are, it seems, disproportionately housed on the upper floors of high-rise social housing blocks.

I also reflect on how social tenants have been marginalized in favour of a privatized rentier economy, resulting in them becoming, at best, second-class citizens, and, at worst, disposable, as the victims of 'regeneration' and 'gentrification', and draw comparisons with the ultimate process of 'regeneration' and 'gentrification'; essentially, the entire State of Israel, where, with the backing of the same elites responsible for Grenfell, Israel is engaged, in Gaza, in a diabolical process of genocidal 'gentrification.'

My song ‘Grenfell’

Please feel free to listen to my song ‘Grenfell’, a cry for justice for the survivors and the families of the bereaved, which was recorded with my band The Four Fathers, and with the great Charlie Hart, who plays accordion on it. The song is included on our latest album, ‘Songs of Loss and Resistance’, and was described by a supporter as "Accordion-powered social justice reggae!"

You can also watch a video below of us performing ‘Grenfell’ shortly after I first wrote it, as recorded by a German TV crew.

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