It was with great pleasure that Mrs Angry returned to Friern Barnet Library - the Peoples' Library - on Thursday night, to celebrate the anniversary of the occupation which saved its life, and led to its re-opening as a community library, and to attend the launch of a book, 'Occupied and Opened', written by Rosie Canning and telling the story of the saving of the library from the different perspectives of those involved.
The library was packed with familiar faces as Mrs A arrived, and some new ones too. Occupier Phoenix introduced her to Richard Stein, the lawyer from Leigh Day, who represented occupiers and residents when the council tried to evict them. He has been involved in some immensely important public interest cases: the campaign to save Lewisham Hospital, the challenge to the Bedroom Tax, UKUncut's challenge to Goldman Sachs' tax deal with HMRC ...
He reminded the audience of the origins of present day squatting, when members of the armed forces returned from fighting in the second world war, and found a chronic shortage of housing obliged them to take possession of vacant properties. These days it is estimated that 20-50 thousand people live in squats.
He clearly holds a great affection for the friends he made from the occupation of Friern Barnet Library: something which, as he observed, 'brought together such community: a beautiful thing to see ...'
Mrs Angry thought back to the evening, a year ago, when she knocked on the gate at the back of the newly occupied library, and found Phoenix eyeing her warily over the fence ... see here:
Mrs Angry has a lot of respect for Phoenix, in fact: in world of moral compromise, and worse, he is an inspiring example of resistance, optimism, tolerance and good humour. Ok, yes: I'm trying to avoid referring to him again as Occupy's movement to Mary Poppins, which caused him some amusement. But he is a charismatic, energising force of nature, obstinately and perhaps naively loyal to his own ideals, and yet a shrewd strategist, and wily campaigner.
He referred to the recent criminalisation of squatting, in residential buildings, a move proudly promoted by Tory MPs Mike Weatherley - and our own homegrown easycouncil guru Mike Freer, (whose name provoked a certain amount of jeering, in contrast to a large amount of cheering for new Labour candidate Sarah Sackman, the barrister who represented the library in the court case).
Freer's rather surprising efforts on behalf of the anti-squatting legislation were driven by his anger over Libyan protesters who occupied the £11 million mansion owned by the Gaddafi family in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Some of Freer's local Conservative supporters live in similar splendour in the Suburb, of course, like Mr Chaim Zabludowicz, whose family's immense wealth is based on arms manufacture and trading. Such residents fear for the safety of their properties, when vacant, and must be thankful for the efforts of their MP.
You might be forgiven for thinking such concern was grossly misplaced, and prefer to see your MP act on behalf of his less advantaged constituents. Still, this week, he did turn his attention to such issues: stating in a debate in parliament that he has found on visits to job centres that both claimants and front-line staff are 'enthusiastic' about universal credit ...
Both
MPs like to present squatting and occupation as inherently anti-social,
morally repugnant - although Weatherley was exposed this week in this Political
Scrapbook
story, as, at least temporarily, moderating his views somewhat when
given the opportunity to visit community squats and see for himself the
benefits of such arrangements. Mrs Angry would suggest that what is really morally repugnant are the socially divisive policies of this government, and those that support them, actions that are driving the most vulnerable members of our society to despair, while community activists like Phoenix and his fellow occupiers are by contrast virtuous, honourable, and entirely vindicated by outcomes like the reclaiming of the People's Library.
Full story and chapters read by 12 contributors summed up by the legendary Barnet Blogger Mrs Angry.
If your not Angry with whats going on in the world ,and the slaughter and privatisation of our public services your not paying attention....as the old saying goes........keep it up Mrs Angry.......check out her blog on the privatisation of most of the Barnet local council depts to Capita,which a judge agreed was wrong in a Judicial review,but said nothing could be done as the application was put in a day or so late.
ThisTory flagship programme of selling off council departments to private for profit companies will soon be rolled out to other councils around the country....Crapitasiation.
Broken Barnet: A beautiful thing to see: the library that lived, one year on
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