He went on to ask two rather important questions: “Who is the carnival for and who does it benefit?” To all who love Carnival, and especially anyone closely involved with it, such as a DJ, pan-player, masquerader or organiser, the answer to the first question seems obvious: it’s for us. After all, it’s “we ting”. Within the carnival community, the second question often generates more heat than light. Financially, the answer is certainly not us. On the other hand, we obviously do gain sheer enjoyment, if nothing else, otherwise why would we continue doing it year after year? More than that, though, Carnival brings us friendships, skills, confidence, maybe even life-changing experiences. The aggrieved resident has a point. When Notting Hill Carnival began as a small local parade the area was a slum, inhabited by people who, through no fault of their own, were considered almost as outcasts – the poor, the dispossessed, the voiceless, newly arrived immigrants and those who simply didn’t fit in to the rigid structures of British society half a century ago. Today, Notting Hill and Kensington are among the most expensive, sought-after residential districts in Europe. The disconnect between the area’s wealthy residents and Carnival is almost total. Few, if any, of the owners of the multi-million-pound mansions that line the carnival route go to soca fetes, play mas or have anything to do with Black culture or the Caribbean beyond jetting off to bijou bolt-holes in Antigua now and then. What, indeed, is Carnival to them? It has been four decades since it stopped being a community festival for all of Notting Hill’s residents. Their complaints are not unreasonable. After all, which one of us would welcome stepping out of their home to a doorstep full of vomit, urine or worse? Especially if that’s after two days of being subjected to decibels normally only encountered at the end of Heathrow’s runways. Plus there is the taxpayer’s burden of clearing away all those chicken bones and crumpled Red Stripe cans. When it comes to financial benefits from Carnival, residents are in much the same boat as carnivalists, protesting that the money goes to companies and people who put nothing into the event or the area. I encountered a version of the “who is it for?” question during a lull in activity on Great Western Road. A spectator asked me: “Why is there such a long gap in the parade? Is it always like this?” I pointed out that the event is not a show; it’s not a timetabled,
choreographed performance; in fact, it’s not designed for spectators at all. It’s all about the participants. She was shocked on learning that masqueraders paid for their costumes – “I thought they were all provided, you know, by the government or something.” Perhaps the letter-writer, Mr May, is under a similar impression. He is unlikely to have read the 2003 London Development Agency (LDA) report, The economic impact of Notting Hill Carnival, which spelled out the financial benefits – worth £132 million at current prices that the event generates for the London economy. Were he to do so he might feel slightly more relaxed about his council tax bill. And if he were to spend an hour or two at steelband practice or watch mas-makers at work or just talk to a few carnivalists he might come away with a better understanding of Carnival’s overwhelmingly positive contribution to the area. Realistically, we cannot expect our critics to come to us to find out more. It’s our job to go to them. For many years the carnival community has been inwardlooking and defensive. Today, just saying “Carnival is we ting” is not good enough. People expect more and have a right to ask “what is it for and who benefits from it?” We need to be far more proactive in answering those questions. We have, as a community, utterly failed to capitalise on the findings of the LDA report, which showed that Notting Hill Carnival generates immense financial benefits from minimal cost. We have failed to mention the softer, unquantifiable benefits Carnival brings, such as learning to work within a team, acquiring leadership skills and enabling people to express themselves creatively. We have failed to challenge our critics. We have failed to engage with the media about Carnival. We have let others set the news agenda and misrepresent Carnival year after year. We have wrung our hands and complained that the police, the councils, residents, newspapers, the government are unfair, that they are trying to take over Carnival, restrict it, cut its funding, move it or close it down, yet we fail as a community to stand together, to lobby for Carnival and promote it. Yes, some people are doing this, courageously and tenaciously, as individuals, but that is not enough; we need to speak with one voice. Who is the carnival for and who does it benefit? The answer, of course, is “everyone”. Now we just need to tell people, so they don’t need to ask the question. AUGUST 2015 SN 11