Squatters were forced to leave a vacant former convent next to the Royal Free Hospital following a two-day siege by a private security company hired by the building’s owner.A crew of guards from VPS security firm accompanied by two vans, purportedly containing dogs, swooped on Bartrams Convent Hostel, in Rowland Hill Street, Belsize Park, last Thursday. [Read More]
London: Giggles Nursery evicted last week
Giggles Nursery in Grove Green Road, Leytonstone, closed last year and a group of four squatters have been living there since the end of May. The squatters were evicted via court order by Waltham Forest council last Wednesday and the authority will clean up the premises today. The Guardian spoke to one squatter, known as Rob, who was still at the property on Friday to gather together his belongings. [Read More]
London: Frestonia Squatters Who Declared Independence from the UK in 1977
From Vice Magazine by Harry Sword
In 1977, squatters on Freston Road, Notting Hill, in London, declared independence from the British state. Facing eviction by the Greater London Council (GLC), the community figured the best way to evade the constraints imposed on them was to just free themselves of those constraints altogether. So they lobbied the UN and established a 1.8-acre microstate-“The Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia”-complete with its own postage stamps, visas, and passports. [Read More]
London: Victory to Focus E15 Occupation
The fight for council housing in Newham and London continues
Despite Newham Council’s attempt to evict us, we can today confirm that the E15 Open House occupation will continue until 7th October as planned.
[Read More]
London: The E15 Mums
“Did you hear the water’s been cut off?”
“No”
“Newham Council say it wasn’t them, but they were photographed out there with their van. They have broken the water mains”
This was the news I was met with when I arrived yesterday to visit the E15 Mums in a squatted social centre in the Carpenters Estate, Newham. Sprawling onto the streets is a hive of activities: kids painting, a free shop, free food and banners that read ‘social housing not social cleansing’. People are chatting, planning meetings, attending workshops, playing guitars and discussing community issues. Why would the local council try to sabotage a property occupied by a community of vulnerable single mothers?
[Read More]
London: Enough is enough, #stopMIPIM, deliver the housing we need
Diverse housing action groups in London have called for protests against the real estate fair “MIPIM UK”. Hashtag for the campaign is #stopMIPIM. Here is a flyer from the the “radical housing network“.
MIPIM, the world’s biggest property fair, is coming to London, October 15-17th.
MIPIM proudly describes itself as the world’s largest property fair, attracting around 20,000 investors, developers, local authorities, and banks each year.
It usually takes place annually in Cannes, France. This year will see the first MIPIM UK, to be held at London’s Olympia 15-17 October. Billed as ‘the 1st UK property trade show gathering all professionals looking to close deals in the UK property market’ – a gathering of professionals and elites looking to profiteer from UK land and property.
Join affected communities, the Radical Housing Network, the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and the City, Defend Council Housing, trade unions and a range of other groups to demand a City for People, not for Profit. [Read More]
London: East End mums occupy empty council homes in protest over housing policy
A group of housing campaigners and local residents occupied a four-flat block on a largely empty east end estate yesterday in protest over the sell-off of council housing to private developers while former tenants are priced out of the city.
The action on Stratford’s Carpenters Estate marked the anniversary of local campaign group E15Focus Mothers being set-up to fight for the right to stay in the borough after Newham Council proposed housing the group of single mums outside of London. They had previously being living in a hostel that was to be closed by the housing association that ran it. [Read More]
London: Grow Heathrow, another legal challenge
In the four and a half years since Grow Heathrow project started it has significantly grown in size and scope. The original abandoned plant nursery site where the project began is right next to another piece of derelict Green Belt land, that contains the ruins of several more glasshouse frames.
In the spirit of the original occupation, these have been gradually occupied and incorporated into Grow Heathrow, providing additional venues for activities, including the straw bale house that was built with the help of many willing volunteers and has been a prominent feature of the project since it was finished.
The occupiers of the Grow Heathrow site have been fighting a legal battle to retain the use of the land that the project is situated on, but that has so far been limited to the boundaries of the original site. The land bordering this, known in our community as the “Backlands”, is owned seperately by Lewdown Holdings Limited, a faceless company registered in Guernsey. After years of peaceful occupation, they have now decided to begin legal proceedings to remove anyone associated with Grow Heathrow from their land. [Read More]
London: Grow Heathrow in Court next Week
We have just been served a court hearing for the backlands at Grow Heathrow. Tuesday 23rd September, 11am, Uxbridge County Court.
Please come along to court to show your support, or come along to the Grow Heathrow site in the day to get involved in cooking some delicious food and all the rest…
We will try and pursue every avenue to prolong our stay on site – keep your eyes peeled for any upcoming news. More information to follow soon. PLEASE PASS IT ON. [Read More]
London: Squatting, Media and the Liberal Myth
(No specific names or places have been used in this article. Much of the information is purposefully left vague for two reasons. Firstly to respect people’s anonymity and secondly so individuals and groups do not feel they are specifically under attack, which is not at all my intention. My intention is to put the squatting campaign in a wider political context, and examine some of the attitudes I have observed within this context)
As a prelude to the criminalisation on residential squatting in the UK in 2012, the right-wing media went on a hysterical smear campaign against those who self-house. All sorts of disparaging nonsense was thrown about. The media’s focus became the (in)conveniently timed squatting of a large house in a wealthy area of London. It was too tasty for the media to resist: a photogenic affluent professional couple. A baby due. And freeloading squatters invading their future family home. The hacks went mental.
[Read More]
London: Grow Heathrow are recruiting
Role of Resistance at Grow Heathrow
Grow Heathrow, is an inclusive, sustainable community project on the site of the proposed 3rd runway. We are committed to furthering positive social change through education, autonomy and campaigning.
We are looking for responsible, enthusiastic and compassionate people who understand the unique nature of Grow Heathrow as a squatted piece of land under threat of eviction, in a village fighting against airport expansion.
Grow Heathrow is a nationally recognized organisation, making front page news. This is an exciting opportunity to join one of the most exciting and innovative projects of its time and participate from the ground up in real change on both a local and global level. [Read More]
UK: Come to London in October! Say No to MIPIM and AUSTERITY, Yes to Housing Rights!
The “London Radical Housing Network” supported by international activists who try to build a “European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing an the City” have called for transnational action and meetings at the occasion of the real estate fair “MIPIM UK” in October (17th – 2oth). Here is their call in it’s 29th August version.
This is a call to housing activists across Europe to come to London this October 17th-20th to oppose austerity policies and the financialisation of our homes and cities, and to create the networks of resistance necessary to defeat it. From the 15th-17th MIPIM, one of Europe’s biggest real estate fairs, will be taking place in London. Landlords, real estate speculators and politicians are meeting to discuss how to make more profit out of the misery of housing and other urban consequences of the global crisis. [Read More]
Radar Online Agenda
