Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

The war on squatters

Spotter | 06.11.2011 20:59 | Analysis | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | South Coast | World

What we are seeing is a well-orchestrated clampdown on alternative culture. Again. By the Tories. Again.

We need to keep our eyes peeled.

When the amendment to the legal aid bill regarding squatting was announced, Mike Weatherley said “Today is a good day for everyone except the anarchists” on BBC Radio Sussex. He is MP for Hove, also a (wannabe?) member of the rich elite, the 1%, for which every day probably is a good day, thank you very much.

He thought it was a good day because the amendment will criminalise squatting in residential buildings. Despite regulations already being in place to protect intending occupiers and displaced residents, people like Weatherley want to protect the holy law of property rights. I wonder how many houses Weatherley himself has.

Just like with reform of the drug laws, it seems like property law has to get worse before it gets better. It’s obvious that squatting is going to be criminalised, because that is what those in power want. Ken Clarke made a speech saying he was going to criminalise squatting the day before the consultation on squatting ended. Not the day after but the day before. The fact that the huge majority of those consulted thought there was no need for consultation was conveniently overlooked.

A letter to the Guardian from 158 academics, lawyers and solicitors working in housing law stated that the debate was not being helped by Members of Parliament giving incorrect statements in the media. What is interesting is to analyse the response of some of those MPs. Mike Weatherley said “the self-proclaimed experts who signed the letter, sheep-like, have a huge vested interest when it comes to fees after all,” as if everyone behaved like speculators.

Grant Schapps was even better. He tweeted that the people who signed the letter, who we can genuinely call experts in their professional field, were “sadly out of touch.”

Then he commented in the Guardian that “The guidance I published earlier this year makes clear to homeowners where the law stands on squatters, however commonsense suggests there should be quick and tough sanctions available when someone’s home is squatted, without the homeowner necessarily needing to bring a civil case.” Despite the clear fact that there are already legal measures in place to protect owner occupiers (as already mentioned), Schapps chooses to keep on perpetuating the same soundbite as Mike Weatherley. He was challenged on Twitter by some of the writers of the letter, those sadly out of touch, self-proclaimed experts and naturally did not deign to reply. There was no other way to answer.

It is clear that a united front is being presented here. The facts may not stand up to to scrutiny, but doesn’t really matter. The Daily Telegraph had already claimed victory for its Stop The Squatters campaign back in March. We’ve lost the legal battle long ago!!

(Although we will see how it pans out in the real world)

What’s next? Well the war on travellers of course. Stand by for more bullshit, this time courtesy of Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Pavilion.

With links at  https://brighton.squat.net/?p=153

Spotter
- Homepage: https://brighton.squat.net

Comments

Display the following 7 comments

  1. Info — Mario Buda
  2. condemlab — changeit
  3. Wider stratagy for housing — Subjugated
  4. laboratory condem nation — 'alf an octopus
  5. Yes to autonomy — Subjugated
  6. Simon Kirby, MP his time would be better spent looking Sussex Police — The Informer22
  7. SIMON KIRBY MP HUMAN-RIGHTS WHATS THAT? — SUPERCOX

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech