99.9% of all attendees at the Carnival are just there to have as good a time as is humanely possible and being present at such an uplifting unifying experience means it is not that hard at all. It is beyond joyful to be a part of and to see people from all over London, all cultures, all backgrounds, all areas coming together to spend two days dancing on the streets as one.
And yet the media still continue to focus on the arrests. Around 300 odd this year which equates to 0.06% of the amount of people there, roughly a million odd. It is virtually nothing, same arrests as Glastonbury and they only have 200,000 people in attendance.
All the shots above were taken at the Disya Jeneration sound system which for 99.9% of the weekend was the most chilled beautiful peaceful atmosphere and nothing but positive vibes. It kicked off at one point on the Monday, apparently started by a girl scrap and it quickly turned sour as more and more people got involved and the street rapidly descended into aggro. What was joyous turned sour in a second. The police moved in to break it up but exacerbated it to a degree as hostility turned towards them. The sound system responded by shutting down the street completely which ended it and they told everyone to come back in an hour which they did and everything carried on as before.
Crime and violence is an element of society that cannot be completely eradicated. It exists and always will. You can reduce the societal forces that propel people into anti-social behaviour but most attempts to deal with crime is focussed on the symptoms rather than the causes so it can only be effective to a degree. But it is not the story of Carnival, it is just a miniscule part of it. And it isn’t the story of our society, it is just a very small part of it. But the incident showed how quickly things can go bad and how just one person can alter the entire vibe on a street full of thousands of people having nothing but a good time.
The majority of people, no matter where they are from, have no interest in anything but getting on with their lives and trying to have a harmonious existence. The news will make you believe different but that is just their focus. That is not to say there isn’t a rising crime element in the U.K which desperately needs dealing with but not in the way they are doing. 50% of youth clubs have been closed in London in the last 5 years due to council cuts and knife crime has increased double since then. These two stats are completely intertwined and we need to provide safe and available places for young people to go so they are not lured into a negative whirlpool they cannot escape from.
I will leave you with this photo to show the Carnival masses in action, dancing in the street, having the time of their lives. This is the main story of Carnival and always will be.
