Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass

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The welfare system is strongly criticised because McGarvey regards it as a punitive system for the poor and vulnerable devised by people with no real comprehension of what it is to be poor. The shadow of austerity also looms large within McGarvey’s safari tour. He lauds those instances where real grassroots community action occurs within disadvantaged areas, but laments that these efforts are simultaneously hindered because they do not fit with the preconceived ideas and preferences of the powerbrokers, those individuals and organisations that provide funding and a public voice for such local community projects. A systemic analysis that focuses on external factors unwisely forgoes the opportunity to explore the role we, as individuals, families and communities, can play in shaping the circumstances that define our lives. A systemic analysis does not account for the subtleties of poverty at ground level; the link between false belief and self-defeating action that keeps so many of us trapped in a spin cycle of stress and thoughtless consumption.

In rhyming verse, he explains his rough upbringing. He references cheap alcohol and gray council flats. This is how McGarvey begins the songwriting workshops he teaches to prisoners all across Scotland. Over the next few weeks, he will hear his student’s stories, too. Inevitably, they will speak of poverty, drug addiction, and abuse. They will speak of lives that make crime hard to avoid. Darren McGarvey stands in front of a group of prisoners. The air is tense, his audience, all young incarcerated women, are apprehensive. He needs to break the ice and to earn their trust. So, he does what he always does: he raps.spiked is free for all to read. But to keep it that way, we ask loyal readers like you to support our work. He cannot exactly offer solutions and if you are not British, more Guardian style statistical context would be welcome... We must open another frontier in politics. Not one based on railing against the system, but about scrutinising our own thinking and behaviour. One of which is about reclaiming the idea of personal responsibility from a rampant and socially misguided right wing that has come to monopolise it. A new leftism that is not only about advocating radical change but also about learning to take ownership of as many of our problems as we can, so that we may begin rebuilding the depleted human capacity in our poorest communities. Considering this, and in the absence of a bloodless revolt soon, the question for people on the left is no longer simply: “How do we radically transform the system?”, but also: “How do we radically transform ourselves?”

In this extract from his radical book Poverty Safari, former rapper Darren McGarvey sets forward a new approach to an old and complex problem After reading a number of articles both by and about Darren McGarvey, I must admit that I went into Poverty Safari with high expectations. It’s perhaps because of these expectations that I came away from the book feeling a little disappointed. Yes, the comments are racist. And yes, it’s disappointing to hear such xenophobic talk. But McGarvey knew he couldn’t just berate the teens with a lecture. That wouldn’t change their opinions at all. Instead, he put himself in their shoes. Where did they learn these ideas? Why did they feel true to them? There is a big disconnect between the grand social engineering agenda of government and the far simpler, unglamorous aspirations and needs of local people, many of whom are not fluent in the ways of jargon.”Brilliant. Haunting, thought-provoking and compelling in equal measure, this devastatingly honest memoir merged with political and social polemic is essential reading for anyone even remotely interested in alleviating poverty. Part memoir, part barnstorming polemic, the blinks for Poverty Safari take you through the gritty realities of social deprivation in the UK. You’ll get a glimpse of life in underfunded council flats, personal stories of drug addiction, and insightful commentary on how to fix systemic poverty. By the end, you’ll understand why this gripping work won the Orwell Prize for political writing, one of the UK’s most prestigious awards.