NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL 2022

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2022 :: RMTnews 24 This year saw a return to the Notting Hill Carnival, the largest event of its kind in Europe, and Black Pride in August. RMT commemorates the struggle that is the Notting Hill Carnival, that is an ongoing political protest and a call for diversity and anti-racism. There are those that are blissfully unaware of the roots of the Notting Hill Carnival and the protest that grew out of the political climate then. It is sad to state that today we live in an environment of increasing sophisticated racism and intolerance. We live in a generation of the Windrush Scandal and a hostile environment. A society in which refugees that are not ‘politically white’ and do not come from a Christian European country face deportation to an African country not of the refugees choosing. A society that will strip you of your citizenship and ‘send you back’ to your grandparents’ country, regardless if you have ever been there, if you fall foul of the law. Where some see costume and revelry others see politics and resistance. There are some that say Notting Hill Carnival should be or is devoid of politics. In the words of Dr Clare Holder in a recent RMT event: “Notting Hill Carnival is born out of politics and struggle of black people and these struggles are commemorated and celebrated brought together on the streets of Notting Hill”. She quoted the late great Darcus Howe who said: “Carnival is about people, no NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL 2022 Nathan Wallace of the union’s black and ethnic committee hails the return of the Notting Hill Carnival and Black Pride