First and second post in this series on Finsbury Square here.
Technical points about ownership of the land were dealt with swiftly. Perhaps the closest thing to a legal argument heard was the right to a home life guaranteed by article 8, and the bigger picture that Beth, Eddie and Rosa described eloquently and passionately was sadly too big for the narrow confines of the court room.
OFS began as a political camp, and developed into a third world camp in a first world city. The realities of homelessness were never far from the surface. As one of many testimonies put it: “It may seem from the outside a drunken disorder,” came the testimony of one occupier, “but for me it has provided security.” If this is the shape of things to come as austerity bites, with shanty hamlets popping up overnight like mushrooms, what worked well, and what could have worked better? Should activists welcome those marginalised by the system they are against? Can activists cope with them?
How do you check aggression checked within a community? We have grown up in a world where the only sanctioned and permissible force in such matters is the police force, where welfare is the business of state employees rather than friends and relatives? Can we do it better, and how long will it take to learn? Greed is in the marrow of capitalism, and addiction is its most refined expression, but what do you do when optimism lapses and your comrade’s crack habit re-emerges? If addicts are part of the 99%, how can they be empowered? How do we include the vulnerable and traumatised, or your bat-shit crazy friend when he trashes a lovingly built clay oven?
When do you give up on a person?
What do you do with them when you have – chase them away with sticks?
“This is not a political idea, m’lud,” this is life and limb,” argued Eddie, before suggesting that the neighbouring land owners and businesses might offer humanitarian relief to destitute people? “We know that the numbers of homeless in the city are already mammoth, and this is just the beginning of the cuts. Are we able to set precedent on this site that says yes, Islington own the land – we don’t contest that. But Islington have responsibility, that these extremely large corporations have a sense of noblesse oblige?”
Where do responsibilities begin and end? What are your responsibilities to yourself, if you have lived on the streets since you escaped the horrors of home? What are your responsibilities to those on the fringes of your community? What responsibility do you have for the conduct of your nation or financial zone? It is the responsibility of the state to house the homeless, but Islington council has admitted that it doesn’t have the resources, and many of those evicted from St Pauls are still sleeping rough. Hostel beds fall short as they are being filled with Olympic athletes, rough sleepers are turned away. Might the council provide another campsite, if bricks and mortar were too much to ask for?
Owen was called upon to explain his “act of God” defense. “I think everybody has a divine right to do what they think is right,” he began in a West Indian lilt, perhaps not consciously reflecting the “Dieu et Mon Droit” on the coat of arms above the judge’s seat. Exactly as he said it, Sister Ruth arrived in the courtroom to mark the divinity of the moment. His defense was not developed beyond that point, the minor miracle went unnoticed. Sister Ruth stayed mostly quiet for half an hour until allowed to speak, when she shared her feelings about the Royal Family.
Court adjourned. Judgment to be given at 2pm
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