the parliament square democracy village faces a new eviction hearing date at the high court starting on monday 14th june at 10.30 the case is expected to last several days. villagers are also calling out for help from other activists as this protest goes from strength to strength and establishes its credentials as a fresh and exciting direction for the peace movement.

lawyers from bindmans, and barristers representing various parties at parliament square, have persuaded the high court judges that several days will be required to hear all the arguments relating to the GLA's attempt to evict the democracy village with a possession order. there are several robust lines of defence and the judge has agreed they should all be heard.

the court hearings will begin on monday the 14th at the high court in the strand, and is open to members of the public to come and witness and support the legal case.

the democracy village made camp in parliament square on mayday and has defied all expectations, lasting through the state opening of parliament and defying david cameron's promise to do something about the 'shambles' in parliament square.

over the past five and a half weeks, the village has established a kitchen, toilets, meeting space, garden, oak tree, tripod, and the residents have festooned parliament square with huge banners calling for the end to military involvement in afghanistan.

it has received wide media attention, with bbc, world media and national papers all running articles on the camp including interviews with some of the people involved where they have been able to eloquently put the case for their views. don't forget that the recall of troops from afghanistan is widely supported by the british public in opinion polls, and so the democracy village camp represents the views of the general population more accurately than the horse-traded coalition government that seized power.

the camp is not without its issues. due to its position and open plan, it attracts some visitors with baggage and problems, and as a radical community it is faced with difficulties in how to include disruptive personalities in its open planning and review meetings, but despite these difficulties the camp has been the launch site of many effective direct actions, and has managed to pull together a very serious legal challenge against plans to remove it.

one exciting aspect of the camp is the number of new and younger activists involved. the radical community has been hoping to involve and attract new faces for some time now, and that is clearly beginning to happen.

but the villagers feel now is the time for the peace movement to seize a real opportunity to push seriously for an end to the afghanistan war, and they are calling out for help from the wider and more established activist network to come and help build on this excellent start. they need more experienced people to come and share skills - climate campers, facilitators, mediators, rope-climbers, media people, tech people, those with good experience of direct action and networking. it's time, they say, for you to charge up your phones and get down to parliament square and give whatever time you can to continue building this new movement.

with unprecedented "austerity cuts" imminent (all because the banks stole our cash!), this summer could finally see the long-time-mooted "summer of rage", as unions, public service workers, teachers, and nurses all come under attack from an unelected government. if the camp can continue to grow deep roots in the square, and if it gets the support from the wider protest movement that it is now showing it deserves, then magical things might begin to happen.

even if the first court case is lost, there may be grounds for appeal, so there may be weeks rather than days in which to strengthen the camp's physical presence. but the sooner more people become involved, the more chance there is that the camp will be difficult if not impossible to remove.

they are trying to keep their blogspot up to date, but this is one of the things they need media-savvy techies to help. any takers?

http://meltdown.uk.net/election/Democracy_Village.html

http://democracyvillage.blogspot.com/