Road Make to Walk: Community, culture and carnival spirit

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Sixty years ago was the first time the streets of Notting Hill got transformed into the bold and vibrant cultural buzz for which they continue to be known for worldwide. While the appearance and environmental and demographic characteristics of this part of London have all changed over time, from a small working class migrant community amidst the broad metropolis to a stylish heavily gentrified area sought out by wealthy young international professionals, its heritage and true spirit always remain a constant and ever changing milestone in the celebration of unity, diversity and the shared fight against racism. 

This fight, in the light of Professor Jason Arday's tragic death, the war and conflict within the Middle East, and the continual racial hatred and division within society through mass anger against immigration, continues to be ever more important. It is in times like these that, as the people united in hope for a fairer society and sharing in our common humanity, that we should fight against the unfair police system that represses and abuses our liberties and continues to have huge prejudice and institutional racism prevalent, alongside the continual attempts the failing government makes to further repress and silence our attempts to speak out against this sense of injustice that they helped to preserve. It is because of this that, like the community of Notting Hill in the 1960s did against hostility by the local council and the police attempting to stop the carnival taking place in the streets, continue to keep the carnival alive and prove that music, costumes, dancing and celebrating in the streets are stronger and and able to overrule all authoritarian exploitative power that causes this division and hate.

It was this weekend that I attended the carnival for the first time as part of the Love Music Hate Racism bloc as a group alongside the floats and behind the mas band in costume. As well as all the reflections I had on the importance of events such as this with regard to the protest and continued struggle and fight to break away from the system that holds us back from our freedoms of expression and pride in our shared culture and identity enriched by our many different heritages, but also the sheer diversity of ages and types of people who attended, from children in costume, to teenagers out together, to ageing white-haired activists boldly dancing on. I felt proud to be dancing alongside them all, then realising that regardless of our age and lived experience, we all had something to say and some individual role in enriching humanity, an entirely ageless notion, and something that further proved the carnival to be a wonderful representation of our diversity, not just culturally and racially, but with its ability to transcend multiple generations, each with their own story. This starkly contrasts with when I went on counter demos to local anti-immigrant rallies in which all ages there seemed to only be united in fear, anger and hatred as well as, ultimately manipulation through group mentality and desire to conform to a set of ideals created in the midst of desperation and crisis. One particularly nasty one featured a children randomly passing by on the street being recruited by the right wingers and forced to say they don't want to be groomed! They could all do with learning something from us.

The extremely heavy policing on the streets, however, was something that did feel somewhat strange and wrong though especially considering that this carnival is remembered for continuing on and refusing to be stopped or reduced due to concern by the local authorities and the police, further presenting its legacy of resistance and continual advocacy against the unjust exploitation in society. It is for this that I feel a huge sense of pride, of not just the UK as my birth country for its wonderful welcoming nature (something we forget considering the rise in xenophobia and racism) and the many cultures that make it the way it is and have fully enhanced its many cities, but that I have been a part of something bigger and had a role in continuing a broader legacy. I will be excited to return again next year with my comrades to enjoy another day of love, pride and music generously laced with excellent rum punch to keep the spirits high...

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