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callout to take out in the 'housing and autonomous spaces' bloc on 1 April

Housing and Autonomous Spaces bloc | 27.03.2009 14:26 | G20 London Summit | Culture | Free Spaces | Social Struggles

Join the housing march @ G20 Meltdown
1st April (Financial Fools Day)
Meet at Cannon St. train station at 11AM and bring a pillow with you
 blackhorseG20@gmail.com

TEAR DOWN THE WALLS! RAISE THE ROOFS!


On April the 2nd the world's leaders are meeting in London for the G20 summit. In the wake of the banking crisis, they are meeting to try to salvage a tottering system, which is aimed at growth for its own sake, at the expense of our living standards and the environment. However, this strategy seems to be failing and the system cannot achieve the rates of growth necessary for its very functioning and continued survival, relying on credit to stave off its collapse. 

Do the leaders of the world remember that the credit crunch originated in the “housing bubble” and the mortgage crisis?!!

Despite Gordon Brown’s claim that the economic crisis is all the fault of US sub prime mortgages, the same trends were apparent in the UK credit boom as commercial banks turned themselves into investment banks and triggered speculation on the housing market. The credit boom was increasingly underwritten by mortgage finance, leading to an unlimited amount of money chasing a finite housing stock. Housing prices rose by 150% between 1996 and 2008, when they finally peaked: in 2004 staggering 63,000 mortgages were granted here at a price 10 times greater than the applicant’s income.

In 2008, there have been 40,000 home repossessions across the UK and current estimates for 2009 are in the order of 70,000-75,000!

The other side of the housing bubble coin has been the crisis of homelessness counted in the millions denied a step on the ladder (or greasy pole) to affluence. The crisis has been exacerbated by the sell-off, privatisation and destruction of council housing and the rolling out of so-called “regeneration schemes” to attract the new rich and to displace the poor whose presence adversely affected house prices.

Officially there are 80,000 households homeless. Set this against the estimate that in 2008 there were some 750,000 properties standing empty in Britain –and the crisis becomes a scandal!

In the UK both Labour and Tory governments have carried on selling off social housing as well as privatising housing-relating services. Low rent community centres, squats and autonomous social spaces have also had to fight for existence. This reflects a trend towards more cuts to social services, privatisation and compulsory work schemes in Europe and beyond. It is also part of a continuing enclosure of resources and means of living — which includes water, land and housing all around the world.

The bailiff knocking on your door is a not-so-distant cousin of the cartel forcing peasants off common land elsewhere!

As a result of the relentless pursuit of at any cost, production moves to where wages are lowest and more and more areas of everyday life become fair game for enclosure and privatisation. All over the world we have been witnessing a property boom at the expense and exclusion of many communities; it has produced gated communities and privatised public spaces, constant surveillance, disintegrating communities as well as collective forms of action.

Reclaim the city from the elites and private interest!

End dispossession from their lands and houses!

We demand a democratic and socially just system which returns the power to communities!

RECLAIM THE LAND! HOUSING FOR ALL!

Where there are empty properties, we must occupy.
Where there are agribusiness monopolies, we must organize to till the soil ourselves
Where there are bailiffs we must erect barricades

Each act of resistance to enclosure is a rallying cry
Each occupation is a fresh assault on the borders of capital

The 1st of April ioin the housing and autonomous space bloc at Cannon Street at 11AM

….and bring a pillow with you!
 blackhorseG20@gmail.com



Housing and Autonomous Spaces bloc
- e-mail: blackhorseG20@gmail.com

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land enclosures and borders

27.03.2009 16:16

other websites advertise the black horse procession as against land enclosures and borders. I know they're interlinked but this callout makes no mention of it. could someone clarify?

one of no borders


land enclosures and borders

27.03.2009 16:16

other websites advertise the black horse procession as against land enclosures and borders. I know they're interlinked but this callout makes no mention of it. could someone clarify?

one of no borders


copy and paste

27.03.2009 16:25

A general strike in France; riots in Greece and Lithuania; in Iceland the government is forced to resign; mass protests against poverty and food riots in the countries of the ‘global south’. Worldwide, a new wave of social struggles has begun.

On the days from 28 March to 2 April, these struggles will become visible on the streets of London. As the leaders of the 20 richest countries try to fix an inherently corrupt system, tens of thousands will demonstrate against the effects of the capitalist crisis and for real alternatives [watch this video call].

A ‘No Borders’ perspective on this crisis and resistance stresses the importance of its international dimension. The global movements against the crisis fight for a break from capitalism and for a new society based on solidarity not protectionism.


Therefore, No Borders activists from Manchester and elsewhere will be present at the protests against the G20 to counter any nationalist impulse that could threaten to paralyse an emerging mass movement in the UK. The movement of people across borders is not the cause of the capitalist crisis; though migrants are the first to be blamed by all nationalist sections of society. As this crisis is global, so must be our response.

We hope to see you:

On the “Militant Workers: Direct Action” bloc on the large trade union and NGO demonstration in central London on Saturday 28 March.

On the “Black Horse” procession leaving Cannon Street rail station at 11am on 1 April. This procession has been called against ‘land enclosures and borders in honour of the 360th full circle anniversary of the Diggers’ and will lead to a street party at the Bank of England.

another callout
- Homepage: http://nobordersmanchester.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-borders-mobilises-against-g20-summit.html


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