Decolonise St Pauls Carnival – Signs Appear At Bristol Event
Community concerns that the meaning of Carnival is becoming lost
Whilst the local media lauded a successful – technically unofficial – Carnival in St Pauls this year, signs appeared around the local area on the day asking attendees to be mindful about why they were there.
Some of the signs appeared around the junction of City Road and Ashley Road reminding people that the event was not a ‘free party’ and to not be a ‘coloniser’.
Two of the signs displayed on Carnival day
One sign said: ‘Decolonise St Paul’s Carnival. Are you a coloniser? It is not wrong for white people to attend Carnival, it is wrong to take it over and turn it into something it is not.
‘Colonising takes from a community and gives nothing back. Look around you: are you celebrating Caribbean culture with Caribbean people! Enjoy Carnival mindfully. Don’t repeat the pattern of your ancestors.’
A second sign said: ‘De-colonise St. Pauls Carnival. Don’t repeat the pattern of your ancestors.’
And a third: ‘Carnival is not a ‘free party’. Free party: Referring to a genre of party not how much it costs.’
St Pauls Carnival is an annual celebration of African Caribbean culture. Some years have seen the official event cancelled – such as Covid or years where financial or infrastructure support was not available.
In May this year, an announcement was made by St Paul’s Carnival CIC, saying that there would not be a return to a full-scale event this year. This was because it would “not be possible” to deliver the event “safely” at the scale and size Bristol has come to expect. The event attracts around 150,000 people each year.
The traditional event is a huge carnival featuring schools, dancers, community groups, floats and performances where African Caribbean culture is centred. The rest of the day culminates in street parties, with sound systems, food and entertainment.
It all started back in the 1950s. Economic migrants, known as the Windrush generation, came to Bristol, settling in the St Pauls area of the city.
Come 1968, the first Carnival event – St Pauls Festival – took place. It was an event that was about celebrating and sharing African Caribbean culture. This grew into the festival we know now.
Importantly, the carnival beginnings are tied to the community activism which saw seven members of the Windrush generation start and support the Bristol Bus Boycott.
As Carnival has grown, it’s attracted thousands of people from across Bristol – as well as further afield.
This has led to worries that the event was beginning to lose the heart of what it is about.
It’s not an unfounded concern, with mainstream media coverage over the years often portraying a biased perspective by focusing on white people attending the event.
St Pauls Carnival is due to return to the first Saturday in July 2027, for which a full event is hoped for.
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