Page 7 - C.A.L.L. #44 - Fall 2018

The Golden Age of

Squatting

The history of squatting in London tells a story of communities sprouting from the grassroots
in resistance to the harsh world of capital.

John Komurki, The Towner

Over the past few decades, London has become a melting pot for some of the world’s
grubbier money. One knock-on of this has been rampant speculation on property, with local
people being priced out of the market, and whole blocks being left empty. Such an economy

forces most everyone within it to take part in the cycle of exhaustion and consumerism — or
leave the city. More than last week’s closing of Fabric, this squeeze is exemplified by the
eviction of Passing Clouds, a vibrant music venue and community centre that grew out of the
East London squat scene ten years ago in response to a pre-Olympics wave of gentrification.

Last year, their venue was sold to developers, who will no doubt knock it down and build
overpriced flats.

Another victim of

London’s colonization by
capital has been the
squatting scene itself. The
squat movement flowered
in London in the 1970s,

when an estimated
30,000 people lived in
squats in Greater London,

and the movement
provided the base for
many London subcultures
over several decades. In
2012, the scene took a

legal body blow when squatting in residential (rather than commercial) properties was made a
criminal offense; before it had been a purely ‘civil’ question (that is, a dispute between two
parties). The impact of this change was huge, not just on squatting, but among ‘alternative’ and

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