C421 case Study, fyi.. sorry for cross post
Hence the ongoing work to encourage real democracy cells to form in boroughs and neighbourhoods under one (white flag?) banner of which Project 2012 and Campaign for Real Democracy CRD are the most recent staging post.
To rewind to 2006 / 07, following the 2006 C421 fora by the time of spring / summer 2007, following our agreement to focus on a local indie democracy strategy, I'd set up a small informal local network in N14, and, after a number of meetings our group agreed - in fine democratic styel - to campaign for a community-owned street market as it was seen as a nice practical activity, which could help regenerate the area without resort to Tescos, Costa Coffee et Al, plus it helped the individual and collective entrepreneurial spirit we'd identified in our group. And - and this bit helped a lot, in fact it came 1st - we'd also identified a good spot on a wide bit of pavement near the tube for just such an endeavour: called Ashfield Parade
Next step, we made enquiries of the Council. They gave us mixed messages, but overall we were told the spot in question was an appropriate place to apply for permission ( can you see how I hated this already? ) for a street market. I decided to follow the rules, treat it as an educational experience as i knew that most local people would not jump straight in at the direct action deep end. T
Official council response was given after officials had ample time to consider the rules and regs, and the exact legal status of street in question. Indeed we even attended a meeting in the Council building at which are local MP, keen to offer his moral support. Although, because of our strange and muddled UK constitution he has no power to actually help us make it happen even though he is our local MP, all the licensing decisions are made by the local state (ie the Council) until MPs make a national law to supercede or re-regulate them, still it was good to have the support.
Anyway, on the basis of the local state's considered reponse a great deal of time and energy was spent on making a formal application which we were told would take 3 months to process. Although there were no guarantees, we were told there was a very good chance we would be given permission, because our proposal fit very well with the agenda for regeneration of towns, of which our town havng been blighted by a new ASDA and the 90s recessions, at the same time in a double whammy for local high street shops, scores of which had closed in last 15 years.
Although we were warned how expensive the licence would be; I/we did not allow ourselves to be put off by, because althogh what we were aiming for was a community owned market ( so that the rents from stall holders therefrom could be used to finance local services to the people in the area) on balance it was probably best to just getting on with organising the market, and cross the licence fee bridge as and when we came to it cos if people let obstacles on th efuture horizon put them off, nothing would ever change, (basically my naive trust in the goodness of the campaign!) and anyway, it will all come out in the wash, in a way this is an educational experience for everyone including me so let's just do it etc.
Incidentally, by now my mind had raced away with the possibilities. The space in question (Ashfield Parade) has two very wide pavements and an almost square 5 lane road in between the pavements, aswell as being possible to close down (to road traffic) completely because of the way the town (Southgate) area's streets are designed (ie there is a perfectly adequate alternative way of getting around town if the street was closed, especially on a Sunday when it's not busy anyway) so (and here's where my mind raced, egged on by a local colleague who is a planner and seemed to think it a great idea.. )
..this means it would make the perfect space to campaign for a uprooted concrete, ie reclaimed for nature (greened over) town square (which the area lacks) with fountains, trees, bandstand etc etc instead of the 5 lane road / car park it presently is ie it could be the peoples square! (in the spirit of the Peoples Palace Picnic last month, hey, maybe we should hold a picnic next to the Ashfield Parade space..? which incidentally some of us woul like to be named Phoenix Square one day.
Anyway, sorry for digression : back to the first step of the N14 community ownership of assets agenda as we saw it at the time:
Sep 2007 we put in our official application for a free licence to hold a street market on Ashfield Parade, which, given the Council advised 3 month process time meant in theory we should've got the green light in Dec / Jan 2008. At this time, we had in mind a spring 2008 start in mind, as the weather would've started warming up by then.
So, following this, we started making contact with the local org farmer, and arts and crafts people across London markets who might be free on a Sunday (the day we planned for the market, as there is free parking that day and a lot of the shops on the Parade in question would be closed which would give us more pavement space). And then, while we awaited their reponse, a stroke of good fortune unexpectedly struck...
As part of our initial enquries we'd discovered that the small green space (Crown Lane) next to the big street pavement in question (Ashfield Parade) was owned by TfL. By way of the tactic of 'try anything and everything' I'd written an email to an anon/office info email address at TfL requesting permission to hold a charity market there. 'Charity' in that revenues from the market rent would go to support the local community group we'd formed, in its mission to offer local, democratic not state / private public services to the neighbourhood and wider world. At the time of writing I had precisely zero expectation they'd even reply, let alone say yes, but lo and behold they emailed back. And then we had a chat on phone and we struck it off, and somehow they said yes. Yes to us doing four (but only four) Christmas street markets there, on the small (and lovely) green space next to our eventual target space of Ashfield Parade.
So, we'd got a nice break: TfL gave us permission as technically they are a private landowner to hold a market on their land. We could go ahead immediately, in Dec as a preparation (and take full use of the Christmas economy) for the bigger step into the Parade alongside, which hopefully would follow soon after in the early spring as planned from our Council application. Yoc can imagine that, for the first bit of the campaign, it really felt as though fate was smiling on our plucky project, because we were being given a free licence right from the start, and we were therefore able to going without going through all the dreaded council hoops.
Paranoid that this was too good to be true, we then called the Council and asked them if there were any payments or licences we would need to take out to do the Dec markets. They said no, if it was private land no licences or payments were necessary.
So! We had already struck gold and had every reason to believe (naively) that, after testing in Dec on the green space, with the minimum of hassle we could then build a great new democratic owned market (the real common market as i called it half jokingly) in Ashfield Parade alongside. (Incidentally the Parade itself is big enough to have 40 stalls with the road still open, and possibly 120 or so with road closed. To give you an idea of the financial restrictions that we were already aware of, the Council had said it would charge in the region of 1300 pounds to have the road closed down, each and every time. Still, we had and still somehow have faith we can get the market up, one day, our way, and so we carried on with the first stage of the campaign.)
What happened next? Energised by the possibility, as quick as lightning we got the public liabilty insurance for the market, we begged borrowed and stole gazebos, tables and street lighting from other local charities, and the arts department of the council. We got posters and fliers designed and distributed. We recruited stallholders. Hell, I even bought a van. And the market happened. It was great fun, freezing cold and even Sarah Bear came to play at one of them, so PnW were there already.. also we had Milli Moonstone who was a trooper in absolutely freezing temps. Children of all ages ran the stalls, Down2Earth our lovely friends from Peckham had as stall, and we had a giant Mexican Pinata on Xmas eve, Santa of the Jazz Volcanoes showed up and even the Enfield Brass Band played. It was a great experience.
And then, on Xmas eve reality kicked in. The Council, whose bloody Cllrs had actually come along on the first day to bask in the glorious localism, innovation, and potential economic and environmental benefits of our endeavour, then hit us with their whammy. On Dec 24th, as we were doing the last of our four plucky Crown Lane markets, we got the call saying the state was very sorry but there had been an error in the initial advice it had given us. Ashfield Parade, it turned out was a "designated street trading area" but it was not, as they had led us to believe, a street trading area designated for street markets (even though there had been the odd French touring market there in the past, presumably in breach of the Councils own regs, although they must have granted permission for them) rather it was actually just for the shops on the street to apply for licences to sell their wares outside their shops. So, we could not possibly get a green light as they had suggested would be the case. Rather, in order to make the Parade "designated" in a way that markets would be allowable, there would have to be a change in the law which would require consultation which would of course take months and months.
So, as a result of state incompetency we were encouraged to spend a lot of time and money - all on a voluntary basis - before being stopped in our tracks by the same people who had encouraged us. But the Council was then pushed into the position whereby it had to launch a Borough wide consultation on the future of street trading on a number of streets throughout the Borough. So, we launched a follow on campaign to push the Council to set aside Ashfield Parade as an area suitable for a innovative people owned market (which we did via a newsletter, the Phoenix see
http://www.peopleincommon.org/Southgate%20Phoenix%20summer08.pdf which we now want to do a second edition of ). As a result of this, the Council accepted the Parade could be a place for 'specialty / seasonal / farmers' markets, although not at all on the terms we are calling for (ie local, democratically owned).
And now? After a long time in hiatus (mainly due to exhaustion) I am now in talks with the local 6th Form College (situated next door to the Parade) about running the next phase of the campaign through them, with assistance from the students as it would be great experience for them and the Council can bloody well stay out of the whole thing!!!!
Incidentally, and sorry to go on but I am trying to illustrate the point of what we are up against we were also told that,not only had they got the advice wrong about Ashfield Parade, but also, due to another error the Council actually should have charged us to hold the market on Tfl's green space at Crown Lane. I can't remember what the regulation they'd dug up was, but the long and short of it was that according to their rules they SHOULD have charged us near 300 pounds for each day, so 1200 for the four that we did. There is no sense that civil society should be given space to do its thing, and sort out the problems of cohesion and community fabric we face, only intead the market or state agenda to increase revenue and social control. Community / civil society independence and autonomy, outside of the corporate or state model doesn't get a look in - tolerated as a necessary evil at best. yet that is where all the solutions exist!
As it was, we barely broke even, so if what this means is that not only did they stop us in our tracks but also, if they had actually been following their own regs, in effect we would have done nothing, we would have been unable to do anything at all. arguably there would have been no consultation as it was outr our momentum that at least attained that. And all of this because of the state's obsession with social control even in the face of an overwhelmingly positive, potentially win win (as evidenced by the albeit superficial supprt and presence of the local Cllrs and MP). Basically, if they were to give us space and suppor to shine, they can bask in the regenerative, cutting edge innovative and cohesive success of it, us, we the people. Also, we can then provide services in the area that they are freed from having to worry about. But do the powers that be see this:? Do they, in the words of Fantastic Mr Fox, do they cuss! No, all they see is something that could get out of control and, worse still threaten their power base (essentially their jobs). Essentially they - like most of the establishment politicians, business people, journalists alike - are not democrats. They do not trust people. And so they would rather shut us down and so they prevent anything really good and beautiful from taking root. We are seen by many of the as annoy, wilful potential obstacles to them getting their way and their say.
All that energy, all that good will from civil society and for the building of one - all of it closed down by the local state. Once again.
So, for the next stage, we will have to try a different tack..
Anyway, sorry for the length of that. I left out quite a bit believe it or not including my near arrest a few months later when I faced a coppers handcuff for refusing to 'step away from that cappucino` as the local newspapers gleefully reported it. Me, I was simply trying to defend a local shopkeepers right to have his tables and chairs outside hisr shop, as is preferred by the local community who like the piazza feel so far secured on Ashfield Parade. Unfortunately for the shop keeper in question, Council sees things otherwise and so they sent in their environmental crime (yes, environmental crime) unit at lunchtime on the day in question. 8 or so heavies plus cops to confiscate 5 tables, 15 chairs and break up our refreshments in the sun, harassiung the local populace simple to defend thee state's 'right' to turn every thing they touch into a barren wasteland. All in the name of bureacratic nicety (not to mention imperial control of the revenue stream) .
So anyway, here's a Mary Beard article on Roman ways, and sorry for the (hopefully informative and, at least partially entertaining) rant..
Remind you of anything..? :-)
THEY MAKE A DESERT AND CALL IT PEACE
I am usually suspicious of claims that understanding the history of the ancient world helps you to understand the history of our own. When people tell me that antiquity was so like today, I tend to object that it was very different in almost every respect. But two of the topics in Roman history that I teach have come to seem almost uncomfortably topical — and raw.
The first is the whole theme of “native” resistance to the Roman Empire. If you didn’t have the military resources, how could you stand up against the ancient world’s only superpower? Between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD, Rome extended its control over the world from the Sahara to Scotland. As with most empires, it was not without advantages for at least some of the conquered. I’m not just talking about consumer goods, literacy, water and drains (which didn’t impact on as much of the Roman world as we often imagine). Rome’s imperial strategy was first to incorporate the local elites and then spread citizenship, with all its advantages, throughout its territory. It was generosity, even if sprung from self-interest.That said, what could you do if you didn’t fancy being taken over by Rome ? The Roman legions represented an insuperable military force. They might occasionally be delayed but, while their power was at its height, they could not be defeated. Barbarians were not stupid. They did not waste their men’s lives in formal battle lines against the superpower. Instead, they did what the disadvantaged will always do against overwhelming military odds: they ignored the rules of war and resorted to guerrilla tactics, trickery and terrorism.
Much of this was ghastly and cruel. Our image of plucky little Asterix with his Boy Scout-like japes against the Roman occupation is about as true to life as a cartoon strip would be that made suicide bombing seem like fun. Boudicca’s scythed chariots (if they existed) were the ancient equivalent of car bombs. In terrorising the occupying forces, she was said to have had the breasts slashed off the Roman civilian women and sewn into their mouths. Roman writers were outraged at barbarians’ tactics in war, decried their illegal weapons and their flouting of military law (“terrorist” sometimes captures the Roman sense of the Latin word barbarus better than the more obvious “barbarian”). But in the face of invincible imperialism, they must have felt they were using the only option they had. Does it sound familiar?
My second teaching topic is the account by the Roman historian Tacitus of the career of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was governor of Britain in the late 1st century and extended Roman power north into Scotland. On one occasion, the barbarians were foolish enough to risk a pitched battle — and, just before it, Tacitus puts into the mouth of the British leader, Calgacus, a rousing speech denouncing not only Roman rule but the corruption of language that follows imperial domination. Slaughter and robbery go under the name of “power”. And, in a now famous phrase, he says: “They make a desert and call it peace.” This is often treated, and quoted, as a barbarian denunciation of Roman rule. It is nothing of the sort. No real words of Calgacus or of any British “barbarians” have survived. As with many imperial powers, the most acute critiques often came from within the Roman system. This is an analysis by Tacitus himself, a leading member of the Roman elite, observing the consequences of Roman expansion and daring to put himself into the place of the conquered. As such, it makes an even more appropriate message for us. Whatever forms our “deserts” take — whether it is the poppy fields of Afghanistan or the ruins that will be left of Beirut when Israel and Hezbollah (and our own culpable inactivity) have finished — we are still making them and calling them “peace”.
