Markets campaigns across the UK – sharing experiences and thinking future actions
25th January, 1-6pm
Central House, University College London
LG01 (basement)
14 Upper Woburn Place
London
WC1H 0NN
This meeting will bring together various campaigns across the UK that have been active in defending and promoting public markets against abandonment, closure and/or gentrification.
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CFGN member ‘Audacious Veg’ is running a crowd funder which you can find out more and support through this link, and also some info below
It only costs £21 pounds to change a refugee’s life with a seven-day bus pass – donate today!
Here at Audacious Veg, we wanted to find a way to make newly-arrived refugees feel welcome in London, and make their lives a tiny bit easier. We asked ourselves- “how can a tiny food growing project make a big difference to people seeking asylum in the UK?”
Refugees seeking to claim asylum in the UK are not legally allowed to work, and often struggle to survive on less than £5 a day. This makes London’s high transport costs unaffordable, leaving many refugees isolated and unable to access support services. You can help change this.
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This Wednesday the Mipim property fair returns to London, celebrating a housing system that puts an obsession with profit over people’s right to a decent home. By promoting this unsustainable approach to housing and land use, Mipim benefits the global rich whilst destroying our communities. Mipim brings global property development companies together with local authorities and other “partners wanting to close deals”, often selling public land and assets. Barnet council gave the West Hendon estate, worth an estimated £45m, to Barratt for just £5. This approach is being enabled by a government whose policies are exacerbating the housing crisis, as the Tories’ new housing bill shows. We condemn everything that Mipim stands for, and join communities and campaigners to say no to Mipim, yes to housing justice.
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Re-posted from Radical Housing Network website
In 2014 a motley crew of private developers, speculators, councils and politicians met in London to carve -up and sell -off our city. But activists from housing campaigns, tenant organisations and trade unions were there to meet them. Our message was ‘Homes for Need not Greed!’ We made a big impact, with lots of news coverage, and we managed to close down their junket for a while. Twelve months later, the housing crisis has got worse and they’re coming back. We need to be there too!
What is MIPIM?
MIPIM (Le marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier) proudly describes itself as a gathering of ‘the most influential international property players, looking to close deals in the UK property market’.
Why Join the Protest?
We’re facing a major housing crisis. Rents and mortgages are out of control and there are five million people on council waiting lists. Public land that should be used to build the homes we need is being sold off or given to speculators at rock-bottom prices (public land worth £45million was given to Barratts for £5 by Barnet council without the knowledge of the council tenants living on it). Our neighbourhoods are under threat from estate demolitions and displacement. Entire communities are facing eviction. The wealthiest 1% – whose interests are represented at MIPIM – are profiting from the struggle of ordinary people to afford their basic housing needs, many of whom are now being made homeless as a direct result of the regeneration projects.
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