Held at the end of August each year, the
carnival attracts more than a million visitors and is seen a
symbol of interracial tolerance which dates back to the 1960s
and celebrates the Afro-Caribbean community.
However this year there will be no booming sound systems
crawling through crowded streets, bedecked with
outrageously-costumed dancers. The physical parade was cancelled
earlier this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Instead, organisers have spent a month filming acts to be
broadcast over the internet between Aug. 29 and 31, hoping to
keep the spirit of the carnival alive and bring it to a wider
audience.
"First I was very sad that it wouldn't be on the streets - I
still am - but I'm very excited about the possibilities of this
year taking Carnival into unique places," said the carnival's
executive director Matthew Phillip.
The carnival's roots trace back to post-war racial tension after
Britain opened its doors to Caribbean citizens to help ease
labour shortages and rebuild the country.
In the same streets where riots once raged, the event
celebrating Caribbean music, food, and culture emerged as a
focal point for efforts to bring communities together.
The online 2020 event will be set against a backdrop of
heightened focus on racial inequality in Britain, and as a virus
that has disproportionately affected Black communities continues
to circulate.
Tens of thousand of protesters marched in London in June under
the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, condemning police
brutality and racial inequality after the killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis.
So, will the carnival mean something more this year?
"Carnival is always relevant you know ... Carnival itself is
almost a protest, it's people claiming the streets," Phillip
said.
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala, writing by William James; editing
by Stephen Addison)
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