The Land is Ours is a British land rights campaign advocating access to the land, its resources, and the planning processes set up in 1995 by George Monbiot and others. [1]
History
Their first campaign was the occupation of the disused Wisley Airfield in Surrey by 400 people in 1995, from which there was a live broadcast on the BBC's Newsnight programme. [2] Nearby St. George's Hill is symbolically significant as the site of a 1649 protest, when the Diggers planted vegetables on the common land there. [2]
Throughout the summer of 1996, the group set up Pure Genius!!, an eco-village on a derelict former distillery site owned by Guinness in Wandsworth, London. [3] [4] The squatted community was evicted the day before the London Wildlife Trust were meeting to officially designate it as a conservation site containing many species of flowers and birds classed as extremely rare in London.[ citation needed]
On 1 April 1999, on the 350th anniversary of Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers' occupation of the same hill, The Land Is Ours organised a rally, then occupied land at St. Georges Hill near Weybridge, Surrey.[ citation needed]
In April 2004, The Land Is Ours occupied Castell Henllys, a tourist site with reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses, in protest at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park's decision to demolish That Roundhouse at nearby Brithdir Mawr. [5] [6]
Influence
In 2009, a group inspired by The Land Is Ours opened Kew Bridge Eco Village, a squat on land owned by property developers St George; this was evicted on 27 May 2010. [7]
The Land Magazine
The Land Magazine is a magazine, published by The Land Is Ours, about landrights, at Monkton Wyld Court, Dorset. [8] [9]
See also
References
- ^ Monbiot, George (22 February 1995), "A Land Reform Manifesto", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on May 17, 2008, retrieved 2008-08-06
- ^ a b Keiller, Patrick (1999). Robinson in Space. Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781861890283.
- ^ Davies, Anna (2012). Enterprising Communities: Grassroots Sustainability Innovations. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 9781780524849.
- ^ Billingham, Peter (2005). Radical Initiatives in Interventionist and Community Drama. Intellect Books. ISBN 9781841500683.
- ^ "Picket ends to save eco-house". BBC News. 14 April 2004.
- ^ "Eco Homes Land Occupation Protest - UK Indymedia". www.indymedia.org.uk. 9–14 April 2004.
- ^ Mason, Ian (27 May 2010). "Eco-villagers evicted from Kew Bridge home". Richmond and Twickenham Times.
- ^ "The Land Magazine". The Land Is Ours. 1 December 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "Contact us". The Land Magazine. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
External links
- The Land is Ours website
- The Land is Ours email list
- The Land Magazine
- https://tlio.gn.apc.org/contact-chapter-7/
- TheLandIsOurs[ dead link] yahoo groups
- Diggers 350 UK Squatting and Land Rights email information/article sharing and discussion service list, began in 1999
- The Story of the Land on George Monbiot's website.
- Video from Pure Genius campaign
| Influences |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Squatter groups | ||
| Legalized squats | ||
| Former squats |
| |
| Notable squatters | ||
| Legal framework | ||
| Linked topics | ||
