[imc-oxford-features] urgent feature proposal: community gardens

[owen at riseup.net]

Can I put this up in the next few hours, since the eviction is tomorrow?
I know I end up asking for this kind of exception quite often; it's
because it takes something quite urgent to get me to write a feature
(normally I don't have enough time!).

We can reword it once it's up, if people disagree with some of it or can
suggest improvements.

Owen

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A Tale Of Two Gardens
(not sure which pic to use yet, maybe a split pic made of one pic from
each story!)

"They left the land to rot, covered in trash and needles. They hope the
buildings will fall down, so they can justify flogging to the highest
bidder [...] Reading Borough Council call it development, regeneration. We
call it gentrification, exclusion."

In Reading, a group of local activists and residents have reclaimed a plot
of land left derelict by the local council, transforming it into an
attractive community garden. After months of hard work, they went public
with banners and door-to-door flyering, advertising the opening day and
encouraging the neighbours to see the garden as common land for all to
enjoy. The councils response? Injunctions and threats of eviction.

Undeterred, the group pushed ahead with the opening day, which was a great
success.

A few legal hearings later, the council have their eviction orders, and
are expected to try and evict the garden and adjacent squatted building on
Wednesday 20th June. Help is needed to resist the eviction - meet 9:30am
at the garden.

Meanwhile, in Oxford, locals have turned an area of derelict garages into
a similar community space - in this case, apparently with the help and
blessing of the local council (undoubtably because access issues make the
site unsuitable for developers).

They held their official opening on Saturday 16th, also a varied and
wonderful community event. In a sickening counterpart to events in
Reading, council bureaucrats and the local Blairite MP used the project to
prop up their own crumbling reputations, much to the discomfort of many of
those present.

+links
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