UK: ‘Be the change you wish to see’ – Manchester’s squatters are doing just that

The idea that ownership breeds value is essentially true. However, it is not true in the Thatcherite sense, where ownership is the means to the end of an individualistic anti-society. It is true if you develop an area which’s express purpose is to be the collective property of those who inhabit it or utilise it, then you create a system of value and engagement you cannot achieve through a space engineered to profit from its visitors.

The examples of The Addy and The Wonder How They Got Inn (formerly The Wonder Inn) highlight the increasing need for autonomous community spaces in a city which has suffered greatly from the degradation, defunding and closure of public services. Precisely because of this there is a need for community-owned spaces not under the auspices of local government or private ownership in the main because these institutions are transient. While the state is capable of good governance in providing a range of services for its people, the reality of the situation we find ourselves in currently demands a different, more active attitude. [Read More]

Manchester: Council gears up for eviction of the Addy

Andy Burnham’s Labour administration found itself in yet another mess over homelessness today as it made its first abortive attempt to scare a self-organised homeless group off an occupied site in Hulme — just days after pledging to “end homelessness” in Manchester.

The spectacle has been particularly humiliating for City bosses because the squatted empty property was once better known as North Hulme Adventure Playground — a community space which was shut down by council funding cuts cuts in 2014.

The council-owned land was occupied in August by around 40 people who had been evicted from Hotspur Press — itself an embarrassing episode for Mayor Burnham which prompted protests outside his office only weeks after his election on a ticket of helping rough sleepers. [Read More]