Mrs. McGrath

Bruce Springsteen and friends in Saint Lukes in London; Mrs. McGrath.

Squatting

TRNN Correspondent Hassan Ghani looks at the real people, lives, and philosophies behind squatting in the U.K. where there are an estimated 700,000 empty properties and half a million hidden homeless. Squatters often improve properties and keep crime at bay in neighborhoods with abandoned buildings.  Still, last year, the government criminalized squatting in residential abodes with occupants facing 6 month prison sentences.  It is presently considering the same for commercial buildings in a campaign spearheaded by Mike Weatherley, a Conservative Party member of the U.K. Parliament.

In the video piece below, Mr. Hassan speaks with squatters in the London area, dispelling some of the myths about this diverse group of individuals asserting their basic human right to housing.  He visits some of the homes they have created together, while also giving Mr. Weatherley the opportunity to express his views.

The average rent in London is about 1,300 pounds, which converts at the time of this posting to 2,052 U.S. dollars.  Like the U.S., renters often find themselves facing costs easily gobbling more than 1/2 of an individual's already low wages or income.  As the cost of housing continues to rise, and property is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, homelessness is growing - and along with unemployment or increasing difficulties making ends meet while working.

According to wiki, there are an estimated 1 billion squatters on this planet, translating to about 1 in 7 people.  


 

Photo credit/top, courtesy of wikipedia/photographer: Mick Stevenson/famous Barcelona squat house, Casa de Okupas, Parc Guell, 2007

Christmas Address

Julian Assange gives a Christmas address (video below) from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and also marking the 6 month anniversary of his stay.  Text here at Wikileaks.  

 
  
In an almost 13 minute statement, Mr. Assange spoke passionately about the importance of freedom of expression and democracy, summarizing some of Wikileaks' work thus far, and decrying the military industrial complex.  Asserting that the "quality of our discourse is the limit of our civilization," Mr. Assange pointed to its decline amidst efforts by a generation rising to its feet to revolutionize "the way we see the world" --

Our societies are intellectual shanty towns. Our beliefs about the world and each other have been created by [the] same system that has lied us into repeated wars that have killed millions. You can’t build a sky scraper out of plasticine. And you can’t build a just civilization out of ignorance and lies. We have to educate each other. We have to celebrate those who reveal the truth and denounce those who poison our ability to comprehend the world we live in.

Mr. Assange announced Wikileaks' plans to "continue to stand up to bullies" along with the group's possession of an additional one million documents that could be released in the coming year. 

In his closing remarks, audience members began shouting, "The People United Can Never Be Defeated!"

We Shall Overcome

Bruce Springsteen and Band singing in the lovely acoustics of Saint Luke in London.