permaculture

[Judith Hanna <jehanna@gn.apc.org>]

Dear Verne

I think you've missed the point -- the Reclaim the Street 'guerilla
gardening' action is political theatre, not gardening. As permaculture, it
needs to be thought of primarily in the 'peoplecare/fair shares' range of
the spectrum. 

Lee puts it well -- its a theatrical challenge to urban design and the
'money rules' culture. Participants -- and anyone familiar with London --
knows that planting in Parliament Square would be cleared, probably  next
day, and turf reinstated. It is a very high profile site -- between Big Ben
and Westminster Abbey. About half an acre of lawn, surrounded by traffic on
all sides with no pedestrian crossings to it.

The problem with RTS is not so much about the philosophy of guerilla
gardening (or the term, borrowed from New York), but the extent to which
hard left groupuscules -- Socialist Workers Party and so-called anarchists
of the out for trouble tendency -- have leapt on board, bringing their old
confrontational tactics. They always manage to have a head-banging clash
with police, which gets all the headlines and leads to the action being
dismissed or, worse in the current political context with a law and order
bill going through parliament, labelled as eco-terrorism. 

So far, no one seems to have worked out how an action that calls openly for
participation and support can prevent troublemakers leaping aboard. It is
also inevitable that, if there is only one weird-looking person in a crowd,
or one clash, that is what the media will report -- leaving out the
constructive aspects.

I'm agree with you that the RTS guerilla gardening had little to do with
permaculture -- in the same way that show gardens I've put together for,
eg, Covent Garden Flower Festival and CityHarvest festivals were temporary
educational displays. In those cases, the permacultural elements involved
working with ongoing community gardens and HDRA's Heritage Seed Library to
source plants for display, publicise the idea that you can grow food plants
decoratively in small spaces and the organisations contributing, and return
the plants and other materials used to permanent good homes afterwards. 

The RTS action got sympathetic media coverage, as well as the hostile
articles you picked up -- and the 'gardening' aspect, as a challenge to
tarmac and dollar culture, was basic to these. And as Graham notes, often
the police at these events are friendly and get chatting sympathetically.

But I can't understand how the fertility rutting aspect of May Day that
Verne goes for ever caught on in the cold damp English climate, come to that. 


Judith

Judith Hanna
jehanna@gn.apc.org
15 Jansons Rd, Tottenham, London N15 4JU