Runnymede Eco Village, which evolved peacefully on a few acres of steep, muddy, dilapidated woodland for more than three years, achieving an initially positive legal ruling in the High Court in June 2015, before losing a subsequent appeal in early September, was finally evicted, seemingly without notice and with a quite shocking but regrettably common degree of force, on the morning of Wednesday 16th September 2015.
The alternative
community had its roots in a land rights campaign called Diggers2012 which sought to
highlight the deeply unequal nature of land ownership in the UK. They
did this by reviving the spirit and tactics of the historical Diggers
of 1649, also known as the True Levellers, a millenarian group
created primarily by a former cloth merchant named Gerrard Winstanley. Along
with a small group of like-minded people, Winstanley had sought to “make
the earth a common treasury for all” by occupying wasteland at St
George's Hill in Surrey, building rudimentary structures and sowing
vegetables, and inviting all to come and join them. We know about their ideas because, living as he was in
the early days of the free press, Winstanley was also a very active
pamphleteer.
As is so often the
case, the eviction of Runnymede Eco Village demonstrated the disregard that some bailiffs seem to show towards persons and personal possessions. No
attempt was made to spare even the beautiful 16th century-style longhouse that had served as the main communal area for the community
for example. Part of me always felt that, even if the residents were
one day evicted, the longhouse could still have provided an
interesting curiousity, either for visitors to the woods or for
future residents at the top of the hill, but perhaps this was a
naively hopeful expectation.
The reality of what
actually takes place during evictions of this nature is a disturbing
reminder of what is required to create the “blank slate”
necessary for more profit-oriented forms of development to take
place.
This may lead some
to wonder if the surplus time and energy required (to destroy organic
communities and protect private profits) is really worthwhile. Whilst
property owners, or aspiring property owners, may think it is, and
their attitudes may be shared consciously or unconsciously by those
who accept the norms of the dominant culture
without question (as being somehow "the best of all possible worlds" or simply "our way of life"), those with
different desires may beg to differ, as the poet and former
Runnymede resident Ben Cheal explains on his blog.
While there have
been some attempts recently to address the issue of land rights north
of the border in Scotland, given the increasingly authoritarian
nature of the current Conservative administration, it
remains a challenge to put forward issues of land redistribution on a
national level in the rest of the country. This is not to say that
there aren't people active in those struggles however, merely that
such activity so far remains very grassroots.
Prior to the creation of Diggers2012, for example, some of the chief protagonists had staged a one week occupation on part of Clapham Common in September 2011. Land and Freedom Camp, as it was called, was an attempt to highlight many of the same issues later raised by Diggers2012.
Prior to the creation of Diggers2012, for example, some of the chief protagonists had staged a one week occupation on part of Clapham Common in September 2011. Land and Freedom Camp, as it was called, was an attempt to highlight many of the same issues later raised by Diggers2012.
The temporary
nature of the Land and Freedom Camp may offer a more endurable model for
future land rights campaigns, one that would perhaps circumvent the
trauma commonly associated with evictions. Of course, for those more interested
in pursuing an alternative lifestyle than campaigning exclusively for
land reform such a shift in tactics may require a larger adjustment
as they are forced to adopt a more nomadic life. However this may
turn out to be not without its own appeal. It is worth remembering that nomadic, hunter gatherer societies have
often demonstrated a remarkable longevity and environmental
sustainability compared with more settled civilisations.
One thing that
becomes apparent with many fixed communities which come together in a
spirit of protest is that the longer they persist the more the focus
tends to shift over time, as different people come and go. This is
less so in the case of occupied spaces like Faslane Peace Camp or
Grow Heathrow, which have both maintained very clear campaign goals
(against nuclear weapons and airport expansion respectively) over
many years. In the case of more anarchic communities like Runnymede
Eco Village its three year existence saw the focus of the community
shift, as older members of Diggers2012 left and younger campaigners
from the Love Activists group moved in.
The Love Activists
have been specifically focused on the related issues of housing and
homelessness, which has been exacerbated by PSPO's (Public Space
Protection Orders, which are used by local councils to criminalise homelessness and begging) and
increasing gentrification, both symptomatic of the short-sighted
focus of many politicians who remain intent on catering to the
disengaged prejudices of the middle and upper classes.
The Love Activists group first drew media attention for their short-lived occupation of an £80 million, grade 2 listed, offshore owned, former HSBC building in Charing Cross on 20th December 2014. This was part of their 'Homes Not Banks' campaign, a form of creative direct action intended to open the empty building up to the homeless of London for unconditional food and shelter. Undeterred by an eviction on Christmas Eve, they maintained a street kitchen on the pavement opposite the former bank well into the following January.
The Love Activists group first drew media attention for their short-lived occupation of an £80 million, grade 2 listed, offshore owned, former HSBC building in Charing Cross on 20th December 2014. This was part of their 'Homes Not Banks' campaign, a form of creative direct action intended to open the empty building up to the homeless of London for unconditional food and shelter. Undeterred by an eviction on Christmas Eve, they maintained a street kitchen on the pavement opposite the former bank well into the following January.
The “hippies”
who are focused more on stepping out of mainstream society often remain a persistent presence throughout such
long-running protest camps, based as they are around maintaining an
alternative community, a model of the kind of egalitarian world many
of us might rather build for ourselves given sufficient time and
space. The same could be said for many of the artists and poets
seeking the freedom to create in a space where the pressure of money
no longer holds sway.
When the Runnymede
Diggers were eventually evicted they carried the distinction of having maintained their peaceful
occupation for twice as long as the historical Diggers of 1649. The group's community page on facebook had attracted over 1,800
likes and the community had a distinct culture of its own. While some evicted residents apparently held out
in a disputed patch of woodland between the now enclosed, derelict
campus site to the south and the National Trust-owned Runnymede Park
to the north, other former residents have already hit the ground
running.
The Four Seasons Community Cooperative, whose new community page attracted 136 likes in its first two days, held its first open meeting on Sunday 20th September 2015 at the newly occupied Oast House Adult Learning Centre in Staines, a council-owned property just along the River Thames which has apparently been empty for more than eight years. The current intention is to “pave the way toward a transition network” in the Staines area, and they have already launched a 38 Degrees community petition to Staines County Council, in an attempt to have the building they are presently occupying designated an Asset of Community Value.
Those keen on
campaigning on the front lines for a fairer system of land rights and
more affordable housing, as well as those simply seeking an
alternative, more liberated and ecologically sustainable life, will
most likely roll on, come what may, learning skills at each new
occupation. What I find most inspiring is the practical DIY approach and respect for individual freedom and autonomy at work in these spaces, together with the awareness that despite the violence of the eviction, the spirit of Runnymede will very likely be carried far and wide, the seeds needing only a little bit of fertile ground to grow.
Anyone interested
in learning more about the full spectrum of campaigns for a fairer and more
sustainable distribution of land in the British Isles (or WISE Isles, if you will) may be
interested in following the work of campaign groups like The Land
Is Ours or the magazine The Land.
Amended: June 3 2016