Grenfell Tower   

Text By Acturius

  Grenfell Tower, in London, now stands like a blackened diseased tooth; a foul corruption to the familiar skyline. What had been a home to many seared itself into the public consciousness via myriad dreadful images, awash with deep red – angry – flames. A vision of Hell, of such sweeping murderous rage that it seemed to belong to the disasters of Victorian era back to back slums. Beyond the humanitarian aspect, the despair felt for those caught within this Earthbound Hades, I felt an incomprehension of how this could happen in 21st Century Britain.
 
  With this incomprehension comes an anger. An anger that spreads, changes and grows as it rides the ripples of consequence and reaction. The current favourite for the most significant contributing factor is the external cladding, part of a major refurbishment. Due to not meeting suitable standards, it is thought that this multiplied fatalities through accelerating the spread of the fire and perverting the paradigm of the safest place for residents being in their own homes. How could this be allowed, how can a death toll of 79 and counting be initiated by something that should have been so closely guarded against? The pebble is dropped here, at ground zero, and the ripples radiate out.
  Cladding has been tested and declared inadequate, not only from Grenfell but from dozens of other similar blocks. A systemic lethality that leads us to wonder who, if anyone, actually polices the specification and use of these materials? These cannot be areas where there is room for ignorance, a clear authority should be a basic absolute. There are suspicions of collusion, or there having been a knowing exchange of risk for profit. Yet these still- shrouded facts are our only available start point on a journey to understanding and making sense of such a horror. The anger builds, the ripples spread.
 
  Speculation has arisen regarding whether governing bodies had been lax or complicit in allowing the creation of such a dangerous environment, this in turn has been countered within the digital society by a new norm. The tactic of trying to silence concerns through occupying a self-serving ersatz moral high ground. A pernicious tactic. Concerns and debate are derailed by assertive calls to “accept things”, by the unreasonable adoption of a voice of pseudo-reason. “Its disgusting how these people's deaths are politicised” seems to be the stonewall de jour for Grenfell Tower, deployed against those who now advocate for its voiceless lost. Ironically a demographic that was ignored when they raised concerns about the dangers of the cladding months ago. Ignored then and now dead – must we ignore them still? Another ripple forms.
 
  There is another side that must also be considered. If this tragedy was made significantly worse by the reluctance to introduce legislation, by those in power ignoring the concerns of the residents, through insufficient inspections or controls being in place; well, then it is already politicised whether we know it yet or not. No matter who is in power, it is the job of government to govern and the job of the opposition to hold them to account. It is the job of the rest of us to push for justice and for change. Ultimately if there is fault to be found then those responsible cannot be allowed to hide themselves through invoking the dignity of the dead, and if we let them we will be helping to create the next Grenfell Tower ourselves. The ripples move out, enveloping another consequence.
 
 As the story unfolds politicisation and partisanship is exactly what is fed and encouraged by sections of the press. Once more the “fourth estate” sees opportunity and mercilessly twists tragedy or response to improve circulation. Even while bodies still lie undiscovered and the corpse of the building still smokes, they misreport and sensationalise for their own end. Never mind that the copy is paid for by the choking death of innocents. If a political agenda can be pushed through misreporting someone, if the wider anger can be used then they will weave their deceit to achieve it. Those who recognise their own views validated gleefully aid without question or critical thought. And still the ripples spread further.
 
    The final ignominy, the ultimate damnation of our society lies out at the fringe, yet also within this story's heart. Those who survived, who have lost everything material along with friends and family are shunned. An outpouring of general concern manifested through charity and donations is poisoned by those who hold the value of human suffering below that of property prices. Twice already plans to split the survivors up have been thwarted. Plans that too many vicarious observers have no issue with. To have gone through all that and then, as a nation, for our response to be to tear them from their community and home. To remove them from the company of the only people who could understand what they have been through – those who had shared the experience. There are now moves afoot to re-home this caravan of the dispossessed locally but some of the more affluent locals worry about the effects on their investments, or bleat about how unfair it is that they had to pay for what is now “given away” through openly despised compassion. Of course, in truth, a price has been paid that could never be balanced by mere money. I wonder about a society where a greater concern is shown for the affect on a manifestation of material wealth – on houses held purely as assets – than over the needs of a traumatised community. Do not talk to me ever again of our “proud Blitz spirit”, it has gone to dust along with the generation who forged it.
 
  Incompetence or greed leads to tragedy, to cynicism and to cold, arrogant inhumanity. Grenfell Tower lies dead at the centre but its effect spreads out. The ripples build, the anger grows.