you may be aware of the eco-village occupation which is being planned for
Saturday June 6th (see deatils below). The idea is to occupy a disused urban site in SW London
near Hammersmith and to start an eco-village community based on sustainable
methods of living such as vegetable growing, compost toilets the works. Come and be a part of it.
Saturday June 6th (see deatils below). The idea is to occupy a disused urban site in SW London
near Hammersmith and to start an eco-village community based on sustainable
methods of living such as vegetable growing, compost toilets the works. Come and be a part of it.
Pure Genius1
Pure Genius Roundhouse
The land is everybodys.
For immediate release...
Background:
In May 1996, 500 The Land is Ours activists occupied 13 acres of derelict land
on the banks of the River Thames in Wandsworth, highlighting the misuse of
urban land, the lack of provision of affordable housing and the deterioration
of the urban environment. That action grew into far more than just a simple
land rights action.
A community grew up on the site called Pure Genius!! over the 5½ months that
the occupation lasted for.....
Then and now:
"Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars" Martin Luther King.
In the first three months of 2009, nearly 13,000 Britons lost their home to
repossessions. Now, perhaps more than ever, the ideas of peaceful land
reclamation and eco-villages are becoming recognized as the solution to
problems such as overcrowding in cities and the destruction of the land due to
harmful agricultural practices.
Action:
In the spirit of Pure Genius, On June 6th 2009, hundreds of activists will
converge on a piece of derelict land close by to Hammersmith in south west
London to create an eco-village community based entirely on sustainable
technology and construction techniques.
Come and be a part of this eco-village community.
Inspired:
This eco-village occupation is inspired by campaigns like The Land is Ours
which campaigns peacefully for access to the land, its resources, and the
decision-making processes affecting them, for everyone, irrespective of race,
gender or age. for more information, please visit:
www.tlio.org.uk
Meet-up:
The exact location of the site will be revealed on the day. The meet up point
is at Waterloo Station (under the clock in the middle of the station) at 10AM
on Saturday 6th June. Please try to be on time as we don't want to be hanging
around all morning.
If you would like to speak to someone regarding the campaign or the occupation,
please contact Carolyn on: 01727 812369 or Gareth on: 07515 166011 or email:
diggers360@yahoo.co.uk
e-mail:
Comments
Hide the following 11 comments
Liking it
20.05.2009 16:21
Leveller
I hope it doesn't go pear shaped like Wandsworth eco village did
20.05.2009 17:25
A similar thing happened to the Rainbow Centre at a squatted church in Kentish Town in the mid 1990s. We need to think of ways of how to stop it becoming a nightmare.
Wandsworth Eco Village veteran
Message to Wandsworth Eco Village Veteran
20.05.2009 21:17
Leveller
ideas
21.05.2009 09:20
As to keeping the thing trouble free you all might like to read up on Freetown Christiana's history: fairly similar setup thats only threat these days is big business.
.
great news
21.05.2009 11:20
riku
O God no !
21.05.2009 11:59
I wonder why I bother sometimes.
Really pissed off with this sort of shit on IM
Reply to Really pissed off with this sort of shit on IM
21.05.2009 17:38
Wandsworth eco village veteran
Reply to Really pissed off with this sort of shit on IM
21.05.2009 17:39
Wandsworth eco village veteran
Reply to Really pissed off with this sort of shit on IM
21.05.2009 17:40
Wandsworth eco village veteran
Going pearshaped
22.05.2009 17:25
These projects need either INDEFINITE commitment from a good core of people or they should be for a fixed period then closed (which doesn't really address the issues, does it).
TO PISSED OFF If you'd ever been involved in a project like this, you'd realise how it meets the immediate needs of homeless people and how enthusiastically many local working class people throw themselves into it (as at Wandsworth). Of course, if it goes pearshaped they disappear immediately, quite understandably. It needs to be a safe and welcoming place for adults and kids.
I think you've created a Sun-style stereotype and are knocking down your own aunt sally without objective analysis (for which is there's always a need).
Nuvver Wandsworth Veteran
great!!
24.05.2009 20:53
Don't become too attached to the results of your labours. Treat the whole thing as a great learning experience: learning to build stuff that stays up and working (something that takes a LONG time to learn for anyone without building experience), learning to improvise with the materials you can find, learning to deal with the chaotic folk who are always around any open project like this. Destruction is just as necessary as creation - in a city, druggies and the police are forces of nature just as rain and wind are. Build as if you're going to live there forever (and then if you're lucky it might last a few years) but in the awareness that if you get kicked out tomorrow, the most important product is what you can carry with you in your brain and your hands. There are plenty of sites out there so don't think of this occupation as the last, but the first of many. It would be great to see a call like this happen every spring, and if the project manages to last out the year, to spend the winter preparing more people to start new occupations.
There is a wealth of information available on all aspects of ecological living, but it is a very big and very urgent job to translate that info into practical knowledge of how to live in place. The more people are doing that, the better.
Genuinely sorry I can't be there to help in practice, but my own house is still waiting for a roof, windows, floors..... maybe next year??
a self builder