The Socialist 28 February 2018

Workers strike back!

Corbyn's customs union dividing line: now stand firm for pro-worker Brexit

Save Our Square occupation: "This land is our land!"

Three major West Wales hospitals could close

Corbyn didn't collaborate with Stalinism - but with Trotskyists against it

Stormzy is right to slam Tories for Grenfell

KFC delivery crisis: make the bosses pay, not the workers!

Resist the Tory war on women

Workers strike back!

Lecturers strike around country in defence of pensions

University bosses rocked - strikes can save staff pensions!

Unite victory in EDF meter workers' union recognition fight

Corbynism shows 'Clause IV' still relevant a hundred years on

Socialist Students conference highlights successful work

200 years of Marxism meeting

United States: young people demand change after latest mass shooting

'Anti-austerity' Bristol Labour passes £34 million cuts budget

Newham: teaching workers and parents determined to halt academies

Building fund appeal: Behind the scenes at the Socialist Party office

Mary Jackson: funeral and memorial meeting

Union-led campaign beats Blairite attacks on homeless

Belper hospital threatened

Selling the Socialist in Stoke

What's behind the surge in eating disorders?

The Socialist inbox

Socialist anti-war exhibition opens in Kingston

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/984/26949

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 28 February 2018 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Stormzy is right to slam Tories for Grenfell

For an independent working class inquiry

Justice for Grenfell, photo M Finch (Click to enlarge)

Marvin Hay, Waltham Forest Socialist Party

2018 has got off to a great start for young, black, working class artists. Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out and Marvel's Black Panther scooped the Bafta for best newcomer, and grime artist Stormzy scooped not one but two Brits.

Stormzy could have been any one of the 71 killed at Grenfell Tower. When he took the stage, he correctly called out Theresa May and put the blame at the door of the government and the austerity agenda.

The prime minister replied by saying "Grenfell was an unimaginable tragedy." But it wasn't "unimaginable." A residents' group at the tower had been warning of the fire risk for years.

And the Daily Mail, in response, expounded that Stormzy had "happily benefited from the healthcare, housing and education opportunities the government, whether Tory or Labour, has provided."

It asked if he could "show a scintilla of gratitude to the country that offered his mother and him so much? Instead of trashing it."

This shows the contempt in which the establishment holds the working class. We are not allowed to pass judgment on the system that bloats the bosses on our labour.

The Mail's further implication is that immigrants and their descendants are somehow under some sort of contract of uncritical gratitude that renders them impotent in the face of the establishment's continued attacks on pay, housing and access to education.

In calling out Theresa May, Stormzy correctly made the issue one of politics. The Socialist Party demands justice for all the lost souls of Grenfell.

We fight for safe, genuinely affordable housing for all, with an end to cuts and privatisation.

The trade unions have the resources and authority needed to launch an independent inquiry, led by surviving residents, that shifts the focus from defending the establishment to getting the real answers and justice for all those who perished.

Stormzy reminded the world that what happened wasn't just a freak accident or simple tragedy. It was a predicted consequence of underfunding, overpricing and rampant profiteering.

It was a result of capitalism, and Stormzy was right to use this platform to help ensure the world never forgets.

In this issue

What we think

Corbyn's customs union dividing line: now stand firm for pro-worker Brexit