by Perifèries Urbanes (+ in Spanish Italian Catalan) tweets + pics added)
In the early hours of 14th June 2017, a fire tore through a 24-storey tower block in North Kensington, killing at least 72 people. In the wake of the event, it soon became clear that this was more than a tragic accident, as revelations began to emerge around a lack of fire 
safety standards, a refurbishment which had saved £293k by downgrading insulation to less fire-proof material, as well as panels installed on the outside of the building to make it ‘look better’ for local wealthy neighbors (creating a cavity which acted as a chimney).
It also emerged that the residents of the tower had been trying to raise their voices in the run-up to the event in order to get their landlords and the council to address fire safety issues in the building, but to no avail….
Housing Crisis 1946 – Thousands march in London in support of squatted empty blocks in Bloomsbury and near Regents Park. Housing Crisis 2018 – The same slogan is still good! 196 Retweets 239 Likes
Addressing this context after the blaze, there was an extraordinary and controversial call by leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, for the state to take over these empty buildings in order to house survivors. This idea was immediately met with dismissal as threatening core tenants of property ownership and entitlement, yet we can actually find a precedent in the UK for requisitioning empty buildings in order to address a housing crisis. Continue reading “They died for being poor: How Mass Squatting could Burst the Speculation Bubble.”
The Free 