Thursday, December 02, 2004
Why I hate the Notting Hill Carnival
It seems to be impossible to talk about race without people thinking you racist. Still, here goes...
I don’t, actually, it just makes for a more arresting title. Yet, it…unsettles me somehow. Right at the beginning, let’s make this clear: I do not think that anyone else shouldn’t go, that it is somehow “a bad thing” or that people having fun is wrong. I just don’t quite see what’s in it for me or what, indeed, it represents. Originally it was an expression of West Indian culture, and a demand to be recognised. So far so laudable. But it is the representation of culture which is the important thing, not the location. If the carnival was an expression of community, then as the make-up of the area changed you would expect the carnival to reflect these changes. If it is a Caribbean thing, you would expect it to move with the Afro-Caribbean populations of London. A procession representing Notting Hill’s current residents would be of young-ish families with disturbingly confident children: less colourful and with more i-pods.
So what’s in it for me? Received wisdom is that the carnival (or just “Carnival”, if you must) is a reflection of London’s wonderful multi-cultural nature. Now the visitors might be from different cultures, but the spirit of the thing is profoundly Caribbean. A multi-cultural festival would reflect Indian, Korean, Somali, “Anglo” (do we have a word for white English people yet? You know what I mean, even if you disagree with the term) and all the other dozens of communities in this city. I’m not dissing the West Indians, but I don’t listen to Soca all the year round, so not quite sure why I’d bother going and checking it out on August Bank Holiday weekend. And yes, I’m sure it’s just supposed to be fun and all the rest of it, but I’m not going to dance at a sound system to Elephantman, and would look ridiculous if I did. I guess it’s the same as gay clubs. Having been to these with gay friends I have sometimes felt a bit awkward. Not through any homophobic squeamishness, you understand, just that they’re not there for me. I’m a guest, and am using up space that a real life gay man could stand in. So yes, going in a group of white people to the Notting Hill Carnival is a bit like going to a gay club with a load of straight people. Why are you here? It’s not for you!
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It seems to be impossible to talk about race without people thinking you racist. Still, here goes...
I don’t, actually, it just makes for a more arresting title. Yet, it…unsettles me somehow. Right at the beginning, let’s make this clear: I do not think that anyone else shouldn’t go, that it is somehow “a bad thing” or that people having fun is wrong. I just don’t quite see what’s in it for me or what, indeed, it represents. Originally it was an expression of West Indian culture, and a demand to be recognised. So far so laudable. But it is the representation of culture which is the important thing, not the location. If the carnival was an expression of community, then as the make-up of the area changed you would expect the carnival to reflect these changes. If it is a Caribbean thing, you would expect it to move with the Afro-Caribbean populations of London. A procession representing Notting Hill’s current residents would be of young-ish families with disturbingly confident children: less colourful and with more i-pods.
So what’s in it for me? Received wisdom is that the carnival (or just “Carnival”, if you must) is a reflection of London’s wonderful multi-cultural nature. Now the visitors might be from different cultures, but the spirit of the thing is profoundly Caribbean. A multi-cultural festival would reflect Indian, Korean, Somali, “Anglo” (do we have a word for white English people yet? You know what I mean, even if you disagree with the term) and all the other dozens of communities in this city. I’m not dissing the West Indians, but I don’t listen to Soca all the year round, so not quite sure why I’d bother going and checking it out on August Bank Holiday weekend. And yes, I’m sure it’s just supposed to be fun and all the rest of it, but I’m not going to dance at a sound system to Elephantman, and would look ridiculous if I did. I guess it’s the same as gay clubs. Having been to these with gay friends I have sometimes felt a bit awkward. Not through any homophobic squeamishness, you understand, just that they’re not there for me. I’m a guest, and am using up space that a real life gay man could stand in. So yes, going in a group of white people to the Notting Hill Carnival is a bit like going to a gay club with a load of straight people. Why are you here? It’s not for you!
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