On Monday 2nd October, there will be an action in the morning in Central
London, as part of an international Day of Direct Action on Housing &
Landrights, on what will be World Habitat Day 2006. Details of meeting points ..etc will be revealed at the Sunday event.


Divided City
Open Forum on speculation, housing, land and social rights
Sunday October 1, 2006, 12.30pm-6 pm
Limehouse Town Hall,
646 Commercial Road, London E14 7HA
Organised by the London Social Forum

The Open Forum is free to all, but participants will be asked for a
donation to help cover costs. Food and refreshments will be provided,
including Zapatista coffee.


The Programme:

12.30 Session-1: with:
- Doreen Massey (Open University): London as Financial Hub
- Ana Sugranyes (Habitat International Coalition): Social Impacts on Habitat
- Sebastian Mueller (Dortmund University): Impacts of privatisation and
speculation
- Fred Harrison (Land Research Trust): The Property Bubble
+ time for Open discussion

14.00 Session-2: Privatisation, Development and Large-Scale Speculation, with
- Chris Shirley Smith (Independent Water Consultant): Thames Water
- Martin Slavin (Journalist): Impact of 2012 Olympics on London
- Knut Unger: European global investments
+ time for Open Discussion

14.45 Workshops
- The Lea Valley, impact of the Olympics, Gentrification and Displacement
- Networking on Housing Rights and Finance

15.45 Workshops
- London Effect on Property Markets
- A Right to Land, with Dale Farm travellers, Grattan Puxon from the Roma
Federation, Maggie Smith (Romany Gypsy Council tbc) and Simon Fairlie (The
Land is Ours/Chapter-7)

16.45 Open Forum (in 3 parts):
- Introduction to Urban Watch and Mapping (Citymine(d), NodeL), L-Atlas,
Cartography of Resistance, Violation Database and Real Estate Corporate
Watch.

- London Campaign Roundup

- The Democratic Deficit, including speakers on:
Democratic Audit (Manchester Open City), Sustainable
Communities Bill (Steve Shaw), Inclusive dialogue on rural inhabitants,
farmers and public lands and Perspectives from the South (Angie Balata)
and the North (Simon Fairlie)

18.30 Summing Up and Close

Films and food at Ramparts in the evening.


Outline:
On Sunday 1st October, Limehouse Town Hall - in the shadow of Canary Wharf
- will be host to an event called “Divided City Open Forum” on the effect of financial speculation in the City of London on housing and the community's right to live.

Through short presentations and a series of workshops, the necessities of residence, democratic deficit and resistance to global corporate finance and evictions will feature heavily, with guests from as far away as Chile and Egypt (Cairo Housing and Land Rights Network). There will also be a session on the impact of the 2012 Olympics on London and the effect of development in the Lea Valley. Workshops include ‘Networking on Housing Rights [and privatisation]’, and ‘A Right to Land’ with campaigners from the travelling community and the Land is Ours land rights campaign.

The final session of the Open Forum will examine solutions to corporate domination and community struggles, including the Local Communities Bill,
systems of democratic audit, and the broader context. In terms of the latter, we will explore the concept of democracy and relate the effectiveness of constructing alternative methodologies of accountability within an economic system where human and material exchanges are grounded in enclosures, as in the privatisation of public utilities such as water and health/education/transport systems. We will refer to the underlying neoliberal agenda, which deepens and intensifies the market economy and breeds both prosperity and exclusion, in both urban and rural contexts.


Transport:
Trains: DLR Limehouse or Westferry; c2c from Barking, West Ham and
Fenchurch Street.
Tube: Mile End (Central, Metropolitan, District lines) and then a 277, D6,
or D7 bus; or, Aldgate (Circle, Metropolitan) or Aldgate East
(Metropolitan, District) and then a 15, or 115 bus.
Buses: 15, 115 (from Paddington station, Aldgate tube, East Ham); 395
(from Surrey Quays tube), D3 (Isle of Dogs, Bethnal Green); 277 (from
Highbury and Islington tube via Dalston Junction, Mare Street and Mile End
tube), D6 (from Mare Street via Bethnal Green and Mile End tube), D7 (Mile
End tube and Poplar).



Other events over the weekend include:

Saturday September 30th

10.30 am-4.30 pm Friends Meeting House, Euston, London Tenants' Federation
Conference, Tenants's Vision for Housing in London (please book in advance: 020-7874 5464).

8pm til 10.30pm Somerstown Community Centre
150 Ossulston Street (off Euston Rd)
HOUSING IS NOT ENOUGH with Rob Inglis, artistic director of Jellicoe-Neville Performing Arts. Featuring discussion on the KX Cultural Interchange and the work of the local grassroot community re-evaluating the King's Cross development. With Somalian and Bangladeshi food & refreshment .


Monday 2nd October 2006
Day of Direct Action on Housing & landrights in London, as part of World Habitat Day 2006