Monday 19 June 2017

The Dalits are expendable




Subject: The Dalits are expendable.

It's revealing that the money set aside to assist the dispossessed families from the burnt out block of flats in London is 5 million pounds which is equivalent to the purchase price for "one" of those flats not a mile away. 
It sort of lends perspective in this land of democratic equality regarding the gulf which has been allowed to grow between the rich and the poor. Dalits (untouchables) in the land that fostered the Mother of all Parliaments, where representation was meant to prevent exploitation, where the rule of law and the regulations which are bound up in legislation, can be exploited for profit. Where the regulations which we all had faith in are but an uncomfortable impediment to a section of our community. Regulations which are now called "guide lines" by the planners, guide lines to circumvent when it suites the powerful lobby who make decisions on our behalf. 
Lives in the Favelas of Brazil  or in the shacks lining the road in the Cape have a different value to those in the high rise apartments in Rio or the manicured homes in Rondebosch and in any society where the disparity of wealth is so acute. Wealth brings a blindness as people enclose themselves in a consumption cycle, buying and displaying, like so many peacocks, oblivious of everything around them other than their next possession.
The Dalits in Grenfell Tower lived their lives coming and going some acutely aware of the failings in the safety arrangements in the flats. Writing of their fears they posted their detailed document to the Council and to the Housing body which had been set up to act as a buffer between the Council and the Dalits. 
Years, generations, of prejudice form like a callus over the unreality of the way some people live their lives. In the council offices they are aware of the priorities set from on high and with HR cutting back, the man or woman sitting at their desk doesn't want to become embroiled in the nitty gritty of making a case for the Dalits and potentially endangering their job.
And so we have the unsightly picture of the Prime Minister playing catch up, first in her misjudgement of only being seen to speak to the leaders of the rescue services and not the tenants and then being upstaged by the 'Queen of all people' who mingled quite informally with the people who had lost everything and were being housed in a hall nearby.  Eventually the 'Vicars Daughter' remembered her fathers sermons and came out, in her prickly, stiff way to visit the injured in hospital. 
At least she got in to see them. The hospitals have barricaded themselves behind regulations not allowing a search for the missing as a father or mother wait for information to know if their son or daughter is being treated in that particular hospital.
The inhumanity of privileged information and the rights of confidentiality are laid out like a bear trap preventing the near hysterical, grieving relative from clarifying whether  someone is there being treated or not. This is no time to talk of 'patient confidentiality', there are dozens if not hundreds of dead charred bodies awaiting discovery why not at least release the information of those who made it out.
Of course if you are  Dalit you know to stay in line. You can't expect much help from the politicians who have passed the buck for years on safety in the high rise blocks.
The professionals such as the Fire Chief who should have been proactive with the Council and with Government as to the potential failings of fire protection. The Architect and the Structural Engineers, the Contractor who was "allowed" to choose the less fire retardant cladding on the basis of cost. So many people scurrying around looking for cover.
Only the Dalits will pay, as they always do. They are immune to justice since being so far down the chain no one of influence cares, except perhaps this time, the wrong done against them is so great that "the people" won't let matters rest and perhaps we will see heads role this time, tall heads not low hanging fruit. 
Building regulations which are such an inconvenience to that powerful lobby the Building Contractor, who time and again take short cuts, with the connivance of the politician who wants as always the most from the least and being a chancer at heart is prepared to prevaricate when things that need doing are deemed expensive. 
The Dalits are after all, expendable.


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