‘Grenfell changes everything?’ Activism beyond hope and despair
Open Access
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09581596.2020.1869184
Flora Cornish
Department of Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
ABSTRACT
The horror of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, and the shock that ‘it could happen here’, in 21st century Britain,
led politicians, professionals, and community workers to proclaim that ‘Grenfell changes everything’. Affected people, turned into activists by the disaster, committed to ensuring that such a disaster could never happen again, by demanding changes to regulations
and policy. Whereas public health literature addressing activism focuses on strategies and conditions for ‘successful’ collective action, the experience of activism after Grenfell has been characterised by frustrating partial wins, inertia, delay, and setback.
This paper seeks to theorise the activist condition of seeking change that is refused and to do so in a way that values the agency and care of (thwarted) activism. Inspired by Haraway’s ‘staying with the trouble’ and critical scholarship on hope, and drawing
on three years of knowledge exchange and ethnographic engagement with the community response after Grenfell, I explore the trajectories of six activist change efforts: a fire safety campaign, engagements with a Public Inquiry, campaigns to preserve community
assets, community gardening, silent walks, and provision of support to children at a community centre, each addressing social determinants of health and ‘staying with the trouble’ in different ways. I argue that setbacks do not invalidate a struggle or warrant
despair, but that in insisting on caring for others’ lives, activism succeeds in instantiating a caring world. Beyond hope and despair is the staying power of communities who value human life and solidarity and keep fighting for them.
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Of interest:
The Politics of Health in the Canadian Welfare State
https://www.canadianscholars.ca/books/the-politics-of-health-in-the-canadian-welfare-state
Poverty in Canada, 3rd edition,
Forewords by Cathy Crowe, Rob Ranier and Jack Layton
https://www.canadianscholars.ca/books/poverty-in-canada-d3408482-0caa-489a-8a76-7faf7587d00a
Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care, 3rd edition
Foreword by Gary Teeple
https://www.canadianscholars.ca/books/staying-alive
Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, 3rd edition
Forewords by Michael Butler and Maude Barlow, Carolyn Bennett and Roy Romanow
http://tinyurl.com/hm5l4hn
Immigration, Public Policy, and Health: Newcomer Experiences in Developed Nations
http://www.cspi.org/books/immigration-public-policy-and-health
About Canada: Health and Illness, 2nd edition
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/about-canada-health-and-illness
Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences
Foreword by Alex Scott-Samuel
http://www.cspi.org/books/tackling_health_inequalities
Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings
http://tinyurl.com/3C8zteu
See a presentation! The Political Economy of Health Inequalities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCTYqAub8g
Also, presentation at the University of Toronto on how Canada stacks up again other nations in providing citizens with economic and social security.
http://vimeo.com/33346501
See what Jack Layton had to say about my books!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/10/cv-election-ndp-layton-platform.html
at 27:20