The occupants of the buildings alongside Dalston Theatre, 4-14 Dalston Lane E9, went to Shoreditch Court this Monday morning. With very little hope for a decision which would allow them to bide more time before the plans go ahead for the demolition of the theatre, the occupants decided the best approach was to make their own voices, along with the people of Hackney that have been supporting the occupation continuously, heard in the most honest and direct way possible.
Unfortunately, much time was taken up by the statement of the other defendent, and the judge did not allow time for the statement below to be read.
Unfortunately, much time was taken up by the statement of the other defendent, and the judge did not allow time for the statement below to be read.
I am here today to present to you this letter, written by the people who are currently occupying the building next to the theatre. We have had some difficult days in the past three weeks and we know we have some hard times still to come. But we also know how worrying the situation in our neighborhood is and how important it is to express our disappointment at the way the decisions that are being made are far removed from the will of the people.
We know that your decision is bound by a legality that is in some ways beyond your control, but we ask you to realise that we are here today to represent the concerns of a great number of people.
We are the people who have been asked by this council to sacrifice some time out of our lives to be here today. We are the people inside the occupied space who, to be present here today, have had to leave our families, our jobs, our friends, in short, our everyday life. We are the people who fall outside the category of those who are forced to live their life in a precarious situation with nothing telling them that one day it will all get better: Those people who can hardly enjoy the company of others for lack of safe or affordable space in which to live their lives, or simply for lack of time, time which is consumed by the need to earn money in order to pay for food and other bare necessities for survival. We are the young kids who are forced onto the street because their existence is not recognised by the plans laid out by big businesses; we are the elderly, forgotten and left to die, bored and alone.
Nearly every single person with whom we have had a conversation in the last three weeks of occupation, a great number of people when seen as a collective whole, expressed their concerns about the way the people in charge, the ones who are there because they are voted in by us, the ones who receive their wages because we pay our taxes, are completely disconnected with the reality they say they want to improve. They have no idea about what it is like to live and raise children in Hackney. Yes Mr Judge, we are not here representing squatters as conceived of by the mainstream media. We are here to represent the ongoing cry of desperation from a community that recognises the danger of the selling off of their land.
We belong to Hackney and Hackney belongs to us all. Who has the right to make decisions about what we want to see developed in our own environment? Who should benefit from the sustainable development we see advertised all around us? Why is it that a few people in Dubai are getting richer whilst we are getting poorer? Is it possible to put an end to this injustice that is occurring all around us? How is such a thing possible when all the doors are slammed shut in front of our eyes, when the falsity and deceitfulness of those in charge is revealed on a continuous basis? How is it possible when, as is being proved by this very case, when confronted in a public meeting with a question that is not to their taste, they change the subject or simply do not answer? When they call us, the people who spend their lives building something worth fighting for, “professional protesters”, simply because their ignorance blinds them from seeing the truth that fuels our anger? For that is what we are Mr. Judge, we are angry, for we know that if we don't act to save our own future and that of our children, who will do it for us?
Throughout history we have learned that, if our world has improved at all, it is thanks to the everyday people that have chosen to go against the course of action and way of thinking fed to us by mainstream propaganda. If nobody had had enough courage to attempt the impossible, we wouldn't have discovered anything. And this is what we are here to ask of you today, to act against the prescribed way of thinking, to act with courage in order to implement justice, not courage as it appears written in books laden down with paragraphs and little numbers, but the courage which belongs to everybody.
We are not here to ask for the right to maintain our occupation indefinitely. Mr. judge, the people involved in the occupation are hoping to go back to their normal lives at some point. But we, along with the community in Hackney, are determined to be listened to and to be taken into account in the decision-making process because it is our life and that of our children which is under threat.
We ask you to stop for a moment. We ask you to take the time to read over our words again, to help us in making not just our dream, but the dream of the thousands of people on the streets of Hackney, a reality. We demand that a debate be opened, and we demand the right to participate in such a debate, as it is our lives, and the lives of all the people that cannot fit inside these four walls today, which will be affected by whatever decision is come to.
Until the time when the decision has been made as to what exactly will be done with the land, we request the right to remain where we are in order to safeguard the space, as it has already been shown that we cannot place our trust in those that have been in charge of the security of the building up until the time of occupation. Only in this way can we even begin to ensure that the fate of this space, which belongs to the people of Hackney, will be determined in a fair and just way.
We know that your decision is bound by a legality that is in some ways beyond your control, but we ask you to realise that we are here today to represent the concerns of a great number of people.
We are the people who have been asked by this council to sacrifice some time out of our lives to be here today. We are the people inside the occupied space who, to be present here today, have had to leave our families, our jobs, our friends, in short, our everyday life. We are the people who fall outside the category of those who are forced to live their life in a precarious situation with nothing telling them that one day it will all get better: Those people who can hardly enjoy the company of others for lack of safe or affordable space in which to live their lives, or simply for lack of time, time which is consumed by the need to earn money in order to pay for food and other bare necessities for survival. We are the young kids who are forced onto the street because their existence is not recognised by the plans laid out by big businesses; we are the elderly, forgotten and left to die, bored and alone.
Nearly every single person with whom we have had a conversation in the last three weeks of occupation, a great number of people when seen as a collective whole, expressed their concerns about the way the people in charge, the ones who are there because they are voted in by us, the ones who receive their wages because we pay our taxes, are completely disconnected with the reality they say they want to improve. They have no idea about what it is like to live and raise children in Hackney. Yes Mr Judge, we are not here representing squatters as conceived of by the mainstream media. We are here to represent the ongoing cry of desperation from a community that recognises the danger of the selling off of their land.
We belong to Hackney and Hackney belongs to us all. Who has the right to make decisions about what we want to see developed in our own environment? Who should benefit from the sustainable development we see advertised all around us? Why is it that a few people in Dubai are getting richer whilst we are getting poorer? Is it possible to put an end to this injustice that is occurring all around us? How is such a thing possible when all the doors are slammed shut in front of our eyes, when the falsity and deceitfulness of those in charge is revealed on a continuous basis? How is it possible when, as is being proved by this very case, when confronted in a public meeting with a question that is not to their taste, they change the subject or simply do not answer? When they call us, the people who spend their lives building something worth fighting for, “professional protesters”, simply because their ignorance blinds them from seeing the truth that fuels our anger? For that is what we are Mr. Judge, we are angry, for we know that if we don't act to save our own future and that of our children, who will do it for us?
Throughout history we have learned that, if our world has improved at all, it is thanks to the everyday people that have chosen to go against the course of action and way of thinking fed to us by mainstream propaganda. If nobody had had enough courage to attempt the impossible, we wouldn't have discovered anything. And this is what we are here to ask of you today, to act against the prescribed way of thinking, to act with courage in order to implement justice, not courage as it appears written in books laden down with paragraphs and little numbers, but the courage which belongs to everybody.
We are not here to ask for the right to maintain our occupation indefinitely. Mr. judge, the people involved in the occupation are hoping to go back to their normal lives at some point. But we, along with the community in Hackney, are determined to be listened to and to be taken into account in the decision-making process because it is our life and that of our children which is under threat.
We ask you to stop for a moment. We ask you to take the time to read over our words again, to help us in making not just our dream, but the dream of the thousands of people on the streets of Hackney, a reality. We demand that a debate be opened, and we demand the right to participate in such a debate, as it is our lives, and the lives of all the people that cannot fit inside these four walls today, which will be affected by whatever decision is come to.
Until the time when the decision has been made as to what exactly will be done with the land, we request the right to remain where we are in order to safeguard the space, as it has already been shown that we cannot place our trust in those that have been in charge of the security of the building up until the time of occupation. Only in this way can we even begin to ensure that the fate of this space, which belongs to the people of Hackney, will be determined in a fair and just way.
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
more info please
14.03.2006 13:29
hacknette
who was the other defendant?
14.03.2006 13:36
interested