Dear council, a poem, from rent.

Dear rent,
stop putting pressure on people,
people are stressed enough as it is,
each person is not a number, a movable box, as your dossier language and all the books you ever read and study converse with,
each person has a lifeline, an attachment to pain, suffering, longing, a long lost land,
and these things can heal when given time, without pressure,
with time to think. time to walk the streets as if one feels the sense of macondo.
the people who can afford these luxury flats, are whizzing around at the speed of light,
with barely any concept of roots, just looking for the next sugar rush.
this is not the majority and you know it.
generally they will glance at life, look tenderly at the poor,
but never stare, never look deeply at it.
like a scientist, eyes wide and glaring, yet fearful and distant,
it is always obvious.
to feel human or to feel separate from.
london is dense enough.
we don't need more people.
we need a human touch, stop looking for a way to make money, even if you (councils) are in some other trouble, some catch 22. you are more local than privately bred parliament cabinets.
like a lost child, or a troubled teen, tell the people of the area what troubles there are, and we'll unite for it, understanding,
reach out to the people already suffering with you, you in your debt, we in ours,
stop seeking some rich strangers, wealthy travellers, to romance the neon streets of london with,
they will leave when their money runs out,
you already have us, in fact, we need you, we need your legislative weight,
to bind our signatures,
ask of us our help, cooperation, tell that you're not like the one's unreachable to our questions,
burdened by multinational threats and thoughts of war, bombs, starvation and terror, haunting dreams of politicians,
but like a fear of the dark, it's just a cry of being alone out there, on some maddenned pedestool,
as if we really ever wanted nationhood, let alone one man for a whole peoples.
as people, we are not burdened by such unhuman thoughts, so let us do human things,
unengage from their debates,
form neighbourhoods,
communal gardens, take down our fences, and find a way to regrow from seed,
not to twist and bend a sy-stem already broken at the root, even if it maybe unseen,
under the surface.

In December housing rights activists from a number of European cities met in Paris to discuss ideas for joint actions in 2014. One of the main outcomes was a general plan for decentralised action at the occasion of the international real estate fair MIPIM...



MIPIM 2014

 http://www.mipim.com/

will take place from 11 to 14 March in Cannes in the south of France. This is one of global capitalism’s major annual events for all aspects of the real estate business, including the buying and selling of land, the planning, construction, financing, facilitation and management of housing and commercial property around the world. Some 20,000 people will take part, with an entry fee of €1600 per person. At MIPIM the planet is for sale.



Some of those attending the MIPIM real estate market will come from public municipalities and councils around the world. They will be seeking to sell public land and infrastructure, directly, as part of development projects or in "private-public-partnerships" (PPPs), the collaborationist approach of UN-Habitat's "Manifesto for cities". They will be approving 'regeneration' plans that respond to the interests of speculators: hotels, offices, luxury housing, shopping centres. Here, they will make contact with possible business partners to sell the commons in order to escape their financial crisis. The ordinary people who will be affected often know nothing of these deals until it is too late. We are coming together to disrupt this process.



The inhabitants of capitals across Europe will be targeting political representatives travelling to MIPIM to sell off our cities. Over 20 UK and London councils are already confirmed, including the Greater London Authority, with overall responsibility for housing in London. A teaser list of councils, developers, estate agents, banks and investors attending is below, along with a link to Boris' keynote speech at last year's MIPIM.



Please scan the list for any corporations you are struggling against, and let us know the projects they are involved with, and demands you have of them. Our actions will be successful if we can bring together diverse groups already organising against attendees, and make the links across the city and internationally. We will be acting not just on our own behalf, but also in solidarity with organisers in Southern Europe, whose domestic housing policies are controlled solely by the Troika and international big business. If we have enough local case studies we will present a dossier at a tribunal in Cannes during MIPIM in addition to the London action.



The Radical Housing Network is pulling together a coalition to take action against our political representatives selling off London - we are calling a meeting for all constituencies who are affected by transnational real estate, especially those whose enemies are named below.



The meeting will take place in daytime on Sunday January 19th, at a central London location, venue tbc.

Contact  londonnotforsale@gmail.com for further information, or to get involved in organising for March.



 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykrf5YEqvhY&noredirect=1

Savilles

Harrow Estates- Redrow PLC

Exemplar

Knight Frank

Helical Bar

Barclays

Wilmott Dixon

Albany Homes Developments

A2 Dominion

Travelodge

Blackrock

Morgan Sindall Group PLC

Muir Group

Muse Developments

British Land

Neat Developments

Capita

One Housing Group

Cowell Group

Pembroke Real Estate

Generation Estates

Great Portland Estates

Kier

Skanska

London District Housing Association

M and G Investments

UBS

United House Group

Quadrant

University of Oxford

Axa

British Property Federation

British Airways Pension Fund

Presidential Capital

Pricewaterhousecoopers

CLS Holidays PLC

Bloomberg

Reed Elsevier

Genesis

Goldman Sachs

Hamptons

Curson Real Estate

Shaftesbury PLC

ICM Wealth Management Ltd.

Hilton

Jeffries International

Land Securities

Langham Estate Management Ltd

Landmark

Capital and Centric PLC

Carillion

Logicor Europe Ltd.

Royal Mail Group

Residential Land Ltd.

Terence O Rourke

Transport for Greater Manchester

London and Continental Railways



UK Councils

Bath, Somerset

Bolton

Bristol

City of London

York

Derby

Glasgow

Greater Lincoln

Greater London Authority

Leeds City Region

Leicester

Ealing

Hounslow

Scottish Cities Alliance

Sheffield City

South Gloucestershire City

Cardiff City

Wakefield

Coventry





--
www.eighteenthirtynine.com