Help plan an eco village in SW London! Sat 24th May.

You may be aware of the eco-village occupation which is being planned for Saturday June 6th. The idea is to occupy a disused urban site in SW London near Hammersmith and to start an eco-village community based on sustainable methods of living such as vegetable growing, compost toilets the works. If we combine everyone's skills and talents we can make this thing happen. There is a planning meeting on Saturday 24th May at 5PM at 100 Dukes Avenue Chiswick map here

So far contact has been made with Raven's Ait people (Phoenix) who is very up for it as well as the Land Is Our Campaign who have pledged their full support. Also Plane Stupid and other ecological groups have been contacted with very positive feedback from each so it looks like a good turn out is likely. The attached doc is a draft press release- please any make suggestions or alterations you think are neccessary- be cool maybe to have some graphics if anyone feels so inclined. Once the release is all sorted, please can you distribute it to all and sundry and tell everyone you know who would want to know that this thing is going down or up? (depending on which way you look at it 8-)

The land is everybodys.

• READ ALL ABOUT IT

For immediate release...

Background:

In May 1996, 500 The Land is Ours activists occupied 13 acres of derelict land on the banks of the River Thames in Wandsworth, highlighting the misuse of urban land, the lack of provision of affordable housing and the deterioration of the urban environment. That action grew into far more than just a simple landrights action.

A community grew up on the site called Pure Genius!! over the 5½ months that the occupation lasted for.....

Then and now:

"Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars" Martin Luther King.

In the first three months of 2009, nearly 13,000 britons lost their home to reposessions. Now, perhaps more than ever, the ideas of peaceful land reclamation and eco-villages are becoming recognized as the solution to problems such as overcrowding in cities and the destruction of the land due to harmful agricultural practices.

• Action:

In the spirit of Pure Genius, On June 6th 2009, hundreds of activists will converge on a piece of derelict land close by to Hammersmith in south west London to create an eco-village community based entirely on sustainable technology and construction techniques.

Come and be a part of this eco-village community.

• Inspired:

This eco-village occupation is inspired by campaigns like The Land is Ours which campaigns peacefully for access to the land, its resources, and the decision-making processes affecting them, for everyone, irrespective of race, gender or age. for more information, please visit:

www.tlio.org.uk

• Meetup:

The exact location of the site will be revealed on the day. The meetup point for media is at Waterloo Station (under the clock in the middle of the station) at 10AM on saturday 6th June. Please try to be on time as we don't want to be hanging around all morning.

If you would like to speak to someone regarding the campaign or the occupation, please contact ......... on: . or email:

diggers360@yahoo.co.uk

• WHAT'S HAPPENING?

WELCOME to this URBAN ECO-VILLAGE OCCUPATION. It's a unique action and maybe a bit different from things we've done before. Here's a few practical things you should know.

• WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Somewhere near Hammersmith. The actual site will be revealed just before we get there.

• THE PLAN.

Might not seem like it now, but there is one - honest! We will be setting off together in one - or maybe two or there -groups. If we can't occupy our first site, we have another one to go to, and there are other contingency plans for various things that might go wrong. Wherever you are on the way, there should be people with mobile phones who are in touch with what's going on. If we need to come back here to reorganise and go of again, that won't be a defeat - just adapting to circumstances. If there are too many people for the first train, a group will need to stay behind and catch the next one.

• ARRIVING AT THE SITE

At site 1- our first objective - to walk onto the site. Please get onto the site as quick as you can, then we can shut the gate and we've done it ! If the site gate is blocked and we have to go to site 2, we will need to form up outside site 1 and prepare to travel to site 2 by public transport (a bus ride away).

• WHAT NEXT?

Let's take 10 mins to look around then have a SITE MEETING. From then on, the people who knew where it was have finished their job and now WE'RE ALL IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING. No more wannabe field marshals. The important first jobs will be erecting a reception structure near our chosen gate, and leafleting the neighbourhood.

• NEIGHBOURS.

People will be living on at least one side of the site. WHEN WE TAKE OUR SITE, PLEASE CELEBRATE QUIETLY. It's a weekend and the neighbours won't appreciate being blasted out of bed by us. Please consider them in everything you do while we're on site. We're here to gain there support and to work with them to make the local eyesore into a decent place for all of us.

• THE LAW

If you are order to leave the site by the police under section 61 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, you may be liable for arrest if you don't do so. Even if the police are wrong in law (which is quite likely) you may still be arrested.

• MEDIA

There will be loads of them! A special posse of people has volunteered to "chaperone" the media, show them around, give them press releases and interviews, make sure they don't get too cheeky with cameras, etc. The media posse aren't "leaders" or "spokespeople" any more or less than you are. They're not there to stop you talking to the media if you want - or ignore them if that's what you prefer. Its up to you.

• KIDS

Site 1 has a feature which could be dangerous to small children (under 6 or 7). You'll see what it is as soon as we arrive. Some of the construction we'll be doing could also be dodgy. IF YOU HAVE SMALL CHILDREN WITH YOU, PLEASE KEEP THEM CLOSE TO YOU. Actually, this site won't be very suitable for small children at first. It'll improve as the week goes on and we're hoping to have a children's day towards the end of the first week.

• FIRES

We haven't got a lot of firewood and worthwhile wood runs are long and difficult in London. Fires could annoy our neighbours. We'll get a kitchen fire going and another gathering one - at least in the evenings. Please try to keep other fires to a minimum and only on parts of the site well away from neighbouring houses or flats.

• EVACUATION

A special message to all bowel and bladder proprietors: Within an hour of getting in site, we'll have commodious compost bogs rigged up. Another hour or less and we'll have a cunning pisser arranged. Meantime, fi nd a corner of the site to piss in (out of site of neighbours). In case of delays, best place to have your morning dump is here. Now. There won't be anywhere to crap on site until the compost bogs are sorted.

Home del.icio.us Digg This!