What
Actions Have You Been Involved In?
The Land is Ours
Tony->> The first one really was lobbying,
actually getting into the corridors of power and shoving documents
under the right people's noses. You know, doing a bit of investigation
as to who's the right people to talk to. So, actually being involved
in the origins of putting that
15 Criteria for Sustainable Development together was very, very satisfying.
The other main thing was the Wandsworth occupation, the Guinness site, just next
to the River Thames. We had fourteen acres of land. Now, that's
had a real lasting effect, and what we managed to do there was
to come in behind a tiny local campaign against a supermarket
and move with about three hundred people onto this large piece
of land and build an eco-village on it. And we got a tremendous
amount of press on it, all positive, and really a very, very
satisfying action. And, for me, it was a kind of personal thing
as well. Actually getting a lot of people together doing something
really positive is an incredible buzz.
Brendan->> Yeah, definitely. And the recent St.
George's Hill action
was very satisfying. Basically St. George's Hill is where the
original Diggers' colony was set up 350 years ago, and we were
commemorating the 350th anniversary. What's really ironic is
that this St. George's Hill is now the most exclusive gated estate
in Britain. I mean, the poor people around there are millionaires.
A lot of the houses are owned by corporations and half of them
are empty most of the bloody time. And there's quite a few Americans
up there who came over rather bemused and said, "What's
this, what's going on here? Where are our guards with guns?"
But it was quite interesting. Basically, we went up there and
we occupied this piece of land in the middle of St. George's
Hill, much to the fucking annoyance of the security organization.
And we totally gave them the run around, the so-called Residents'
Association. And we carried out a survey of the local population,
and we found quite a large proportion of the occupants of St.
George's Hill were on our side. What's going on there is, it's
a thousand acre estate and it's a noted local beauty spot, and
they gradually started put up gates and barriers and turning
it into a fortress for very, very rich people. And if you trace
the history of this land, sure enough in 1804 it was enclosed
from the common land. So, basically we're up there saying to
the local people, "Now, come on, don't let them steal this
resource off you." And we got massively positive feedback
from all the local press and virtually all the local people,
and quite a lot of the residents of the hill. It was only the
dark and sinister sort of security organization, the so-called
Residents' Association, who were against us. And strangely they
would never comment to the press on anything whatsoever. I think
in terms of raising consciousness it was quite a major success
and we haven't finished with them yet.
Tony->> It's made me aware that there are actually
a tremendous number of people out there, certainly in this country,
who are very much aware that there are some deep-seated problems
in our society and that there is a tremendous amount of support
when people do come up with positive solutions. What we find
is that whenever we get something in the newspapers, we have
a tremendous amount of interest in the office, that lots of people
are really craving these positive visions, where all they're
seeing on the TV, all they're seeing in the newspapers is negative,
negative, negative. And certainly one thing I've found is that
regularly people say to me, "Why don't we see more of this,
why don't we have more of this? Why isn't there more exposure
for the kind of stuff that you're doing?" Well, I think
that's obvious. It's because within the media there is a really
quite clear corporate ideology going on, and if the answers that
you're coming up with don't fit with that corporate ideology,
it's the wrong story.
- 15 Criteria for Sustainable Development
A document prepared
by TLIO's Rural Planning Group, composed of land-rights activists,
scientists, permaculturalists, legal experts, and development,
policy, and planning specialists. It provides various models
of the types of rural development which could be considered sustainable
in the UK. Factors examined include the ecological soundness
of a given project and its permacultural design, local transportation
issues, affordable housing, historical and legal issues pertaining
to land-trusts and cooperatives, and how members of a community
can meet the economic requirements of living in a cash economy.
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- Wandsworth occupation (Guinness site)
In May 1996,
500 TLIO activists occupied 13 acres of derelict land along the
banks of the River Thames in Wandsworth. The land, owned by Guinness,
had been vacant for six years, but was scheduled to be the site
of a superstore (the ninth within a 1.5 mile radius) and luxury
apartments. Raised-bed veggie gardens were planted and a village
was constructed of recycled materials. Locals were involved in
building and running the eco-community, and thousands of folks
came to visit. After holding the "Pure Genius" occupation
for almost six months, 150 people on site were ousted by bailiffs
acting for Guinness. The eco-village was destroyed. Incredibly,
Guinness won an Ecology Sponsorship Award in Geneva the same
week that they ordered the eviction.
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- St. George's Hill & the Diggers
350th anniversary
In 1659, the
Diggers took up spades and dug up the common land on "George-hill"
in Surrey. Here, as with the other sites they claimed for the
common good, they sought to cultivate the land for the collective
benefit of the poor and landless. The Diggers are a central inspiration
for the land-rights campaign conducted by The Land Is Ours. The
1649 George Hill action was commemorated by TLIO's Diggers 350
celebrations. Events throughout the months of March and April
1999 included a working and planning week, discussions and entertainment,
and a conference. The April 1999 St. George's Hill action included
a march and a temporary land-occupation with an eco-village and
gardens planted. Today, St. George's Hill is an exclusive gated
community with its own security force and two golf courses.
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