Wanstead before Christmas, the squatters movement has been spreading fast. There were token occupations on December 21 in Leyton and Notting Hill. Squatters moved into an empty vicarage in Capworth Street, Leyton, and stayed there for twenty four hours. In Notting Hill they were in occupation for five hours.
The next stage was the occupation of empty property by the homeless families themselves, supported by squatters groups. The Ilford squat has held out for several weeks and the squatters have won an important victory in the courts. In Notting Hill, too, Maggy 'Shannon, who had been living in a basement with two children while sewage leaked through from a lavatory, picked up her belongings and moved across the road into an empty house. She was soon joined by the Matthews family, who left their room into which water leaked from the ceiling. Again, the court decison went in their favour.
On March 15, Notting Hill squatters moved two families into a house in Artesian Road which had been empty for nine years. On one floor, there is a couple who have just been evicted from the room in which they were living; and another, a man whose wife and child are in a hostel for the homeless.
The crucial, recent development is the spontaneous squat. People are taking up the dea and thinking to themselves: if they can d it why not us? The squatters movement i reaching a new stage and people are just moving in. In Stoke Newington a young couple in their twenties have moved into 85 Prince George Road. They were burned out of their furnished flat a month ago, and their baby was two weeks in hospital suffering from suffocation. They contacted North London squatters for advice and support after taking action themselves.
Similarly, a young couple, Elaine and Dave, had squatted in a house in Adelaide Road, Let for week before they could contact Leyton squatters. They had seen the vicarage occupation on television, but did not know how to get in touch with the squatters. The main force of Leyton Squatters were helping out with the Ilford occupation and were not around. Elaine and Dave knew the house was empty, because Elaine's sister Pat Worth and her husband Harry live next door. The previous tenant did a moonlight flit before Christmas. Pat and Elaine contacted the agent about renting the house but got non-committal answers. It was impossible for them to stay with Pat and Harry Worth because their house accomodation but separately in a homeless council property. They WCEC offered hostel, in true poor law style. Elaine was far gone in pregnancy and that's no time to be either split up or homeless. In desperation, they simply moved next door. They bolted the doors and fastened the windows and waited. First the builders came. They told them they'd have to get out. Dave and Elaine sat tight. By this time. members of Leyton Squatters were on the delivered her first baby. Dave is still in the house and determined to stick it out. Leyton squatters are bringing charges against the builders.
There are dangers in the progress of the squatters movement. It could bite off more than it can chew and find that people are suffering as a result; or it could turn into merely a charitable affair. Fortunately, the way things are being handled at the moment, there is no danger of this. When people take up the idea, get on with it, and then contact the groups who have had the experience of other squats, it becomes a political action in the proper sense of the word. When you squat, you redeline all the cockeyed priorities of a society in which whoever has most comes first and gets most again. More than this, you do something which even the mass media cannot distort. The action in itself says what is wrong with an unequal class societv.
In the 1940's a judge denounced the squatters as a "bunch of ignorant busybodies going about making confusion". Well, here we IGNORANT. because we don't believe in the law of the judges and the privileged class BUSYBODIES.. because we care what happens to other peopl MAKING CONFUSION... as much confusion as we can because we know that that is the only way to get things changed If you want to work with existing squatting groups or form your own, contact the Dwarl and we will put you in touch. Please send us information about what is going. on, so that news can get out to other people Late News: Edinburgh has a housing waiting list of 6,000. The corporation owns a large number of properties which it is renting out at between seven and nine pounds a week - which excludes anyone who would normally get a council house. On March 17, the Edinburgh Squatters occupied one of these flats, which has been partially empty since 1965. This was a token occupation lasting six hours in solidarity with the London Squatters. They hope to install a family as the next stage of the campaign which will be in about a month. There are important legal implications in the Edinburgh squat. Police evicted the squatters and are trying to bring charges against them. There is a law of 1865 which makes lodging in private property illegal.
Anyone interested contact Tom Woolley, 14 Preston St, Edinburgh 8, Tel: 031-667-7241. Late News: London. Squatters in Drury Lane have been in occupation for three weeks. They are in a large building empty for two years, and due for demolition in 1973. They are busy cleaning it up and organising washing facilities They intend to adapt it into an arts centre and home for unmarried mothers. They pay money each week to do this. Each floor has a
The Black Dwarf 28th March 1969