June 24, 2017

The fire that swallowed Grenfell Tower is political

located:	United Kingdom
editor:	Shira Jeczmien

Under a Tory government that rejects regulations for safe housing for all, it seems that the tragic fire that engulfed the 24 storey Grenfell Tower was political on every level. Just after midnight on June 14th, the fire brigade was summoned to the West London social housing tower, situated in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in a desperate aim to salvage what would soon become a 24-hour inferno, leaving at least 58 people dead or ‘missing, presumed dead’, dozens injured and 120 families without a home.

Indeed speculative accusations that follow incidents on such scale are to be expected, but in this case the evidence of criminal negligence as well as sheer dismissal of repeated pleas to make the tower safe for its inhabitants is overwhelming. Since 1999, the residents have been reporting dangerous electrical wiring to their landlord the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO); and in 2013 laptops, refrigerators and other electric appliances were suddenly damaged by a series of mysterious power surges. Needless to say, the tenants of the social housing block had every reason to fight for their basic human right of safe housing – and precisely that they did. Yet instead of securing the electrical systems, renewing the emergency lighting and access to and from the tower, the residents of Grenfell Tower received a £10 million refurbishment that included blocked access to a fire exit on the walkway level and highly flammable exterior cladding.

Why is this devastating fire political? Because just last year the Labour party proposed an amendment to the government’s new Housing and Planning Bill which was swiftly rejected by the Conservative party. It is political because basic appeals by citizens were rejected and ignored; and it continues to be political as long as over 4,000 tower blocks in the UK remain functioning without meeting the regulation standards, of which 87 are cladded with the same flammable material.

Both Rydon, the contractor who oversaw the refurbishment of Grenfell, together with Harley Facades, the company that installed the cladding insist fire regulations were met – meanwhile The Fire Brigade Union advocates that the problem doesn’t lie within the regulation itself, but the tests that comply with the regulation. The Grenfell Tower fire is political because accountability and justice are key, and nowhere yet to be found.