Powerful story

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marjoram_blues
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Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

You need to watch this video on the Channel4 news site. Scroll down to a heading which doesn't do the story justice:
'Iran to Grenfell - how a disabled migrant escaped the tower'

Mahbboubeh. Her story. Watch, listen, and read the subtitles.
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

What I like about Channel4 news is that it usually gets to the heart of the matter; and asks penetrating questions.

This is a 3.5 minute section showing a simple testimony of a single surviving woman; alone and speaking in segments.

5 days after the dreadful fire at Grenfell Tower, having had no sleep or able to eat anything - this is raw pain which she describes as huge and unbearable. 'Nobody knows how to deal with this pain'.
And still she tells her story, and poses questions.

She woke up in the early hours, hearing a noise and realising there was a fire in her 3rd floor flat ( where she had happily lived for 7 months).
Her face shows the shock she felt as she stood there shaking like a leaf seeing the fire rage upwards from her window; rising higher and higher despite the firemen shooting water at it.

The camera breaks away. Off camera - it seems she is asked about the number of dead. This number being minimised, at first, by police - who did not wish to give numbers until they knew for sure. As if they will ever know - but it was obviously more than the teens. It was a disaster.

She says - 'Just do the maths'. 25 floors with 6 units, each full of people.

She describes the fire inside of her and asks the questions.
Why no fire extinguisher. Why no alarm. The noise would have wakened and saved the children. Why did they build a box and stuff it full of people and let them burn.

Mahbboubeh continues. Those gone are gone. Those that remain have a video running inside of them - on constant replay. Nobody knows how to deal with the pain.

People are considered different because they have no money and are not from here. Where is the humanity?
Where are people's consciences. Are we less valuable?

I'd like to know.

----
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

This time from the Guardian online newspaper.
The Grenfell Tower Fire

Kahlid Ahmed, 20 yr old male, from 8th floor, still in shock. Speaking out.

Why did they wait for people to die?
Re the political fall-out - he shows sceptism of Teresa May voicing the fact that governments simply haven't given enough attention to social housing.

And now, the news that cladding is going to be removed from other towers.

Learning a bit late. How many people have to die before they realise it wasn't safe to put flammable cladding on a 23 storey building with one staircase, no alarms or sprinkler system. Now - they are ready to fix things. Before - they were simply unwilling to spend the money.

The noise of cladding falling will stay with him...
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

Captured in a cartoon.
On same Guardian website - the Observer comment cartoon on 18/06/17 by David Simonds, The terrible Kensington Fire ' A tragedy waiting to happen'.

The burned-out shell of the tower with scorched papers drifting down. The Fire regulations.

So, we see the big Bonfire of Regulations so wished for by those that would see us leave the European Union.
What protections will remain?
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

Charity Music video *
I don't know why they usually make me groan inside. I feel like...oh dear, luvvies jumping on bandwagon. But I guess it's all for a good cause and people need to express themselves and also feel they are making a difference. This one touched me.

Cover version of Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Artists for Grenfell.
Opens up with emotional rap verse.
Powerful pictures of tears in firemen's eyes and those of survivors; relatives, friends and neighbours hugging. And the Wall.
Not an ugly dividing wall.
A beautiful wall. Covered with notes and messages of remembrance and love. And the missing.


* listen and watch - at The Guardian, under Music, Friday 23rd June.
Heading: 'Grenfell Tower Charity Single tops chart 2 days after release'.
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

I'm going to leave this now.
It's depressing the hell out of me.
Gonna go get me an ice-cream...
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: Powerful story

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

People were told to stay in their flats and await rescue. You read this a lot about disasters. People obediently following orders and ending up dead. Think of all those people who were told to stay put in the Twin Towers; plane crashes where survivors were told to stay in strapped in their seats; fires where workers were ordered to stay put. I wonder how much danger a human has to be in before the survival instinct overrides the need to obey authority.

''The 24-storey tower block was designed in 1967 in the Brutalist style of the era''
Very fitting name for an archictectural 'style' where the full list of 'design' requirements were: ''square or rectangle; stylistic genre-- 'blot on the landscape'; ugly as possible''.
marjoram_blues
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Re: Powerful story

Post by marjoram_blues »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:33 pm People were told to stay in their flats and await rescue. You read this a lot about disasters. People obediently following orders and ending up dead. Think of all those people who were told to stay put in the Twin Towers; plane crashes where survivors were told to stay in strapped in their seats; fires where workers were ordered to stay put. I wonder how much danger a human has to be in before the survival instinct overrides the need to obey authority.

''The 24-storey tower block was designed in 1967 in the Brutalist style of the era''
Very fitting name for an archictectural 'style' where the full list of 'design' requirements were: ''square or rectangle; stylistic genre-- 'blot on the landscape'; ugly as possible''.
Yes. Apparently the idea behind that advice was that each module was self-contained and fire would not spread out, or if it did, it would not be rapid and the fire-fighters would manage it. Perhaps that advice served well until the renovations to insulate and enhance appearance. I think that if I had even a suspicion of a fire, I would be outta there if possible. Of course, for some elderly and disabled on the higher levels there would not have been much option. Some jumped; mothers threw their children out of the windows - a lucky catch for at least one. But can you imagine being the person running to catch a child wrapped in a blanket...and missing.
Given the heavy smoke, some lost sight of their loved ones...
And so on.

I had never heard of the term ''Brutalist'. Reading wiki - originally from be'ton brut = raw concrete.
Critics called it 'brutal', representing 'a spiritual, intellectual and moral deformity'.
So now what is Grenfell Tower a symbol of?
Political failure. To say the least.

One positive thing - the government is having a policy re-think re schools and cost-cutting measures.
And - perhaps - social housing as opposed to social cleansing.

But why oh why - could they not see that safety comes before profit...saving lives rather than saving money...
Blind ideology. Greed. Uncaring. Brutal Bastards.
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