The London group of the Anarchist Federation has recently launched a new London-wide paper. The aim is to give publicity and support to the growing movement of resistance and to offer analysis of the issues we face. We very much want groups and campaigns to write article for the paper. In Issue One we featured an article by Grow Heathrow and in the current issue we have articles Haringey Solidarity Group on their workfare campaign, a member of London Campaign against Police Violence, Polar Bloc, and the Save Earls Court and West Kensington/Gibbs Estate anti-demolition campaign. If you are interested in writing for Rebel City, please contact us at london@afed.org.uk.

Here is the introductory article to the first issue. You can have a look at both issues by going to Resources and clicking on the link to LibCom.

Welcome to Rebel City

More skyscrapers, fewer homes. Entire estates torn down, new ones being built for new occupants. The rise of shopping malls and sanitised, uniform chain stores, food shops and cafes. Cuts in social services and social housing, soaring rents and property prices. Attacks on the poor- cuts in benefits, the bedroom tax, low wages and precarious jobs. Rising level of evictions and homelessness, councils forcing the homeless to move out of London. Fewer green and open spaces, development of tourist attractions, overcrowding in private rental accommodation, increased pollution from traffic, police violence and ‘law and order’ crackdown- the list could go on.

All of these things have one cause- the transformation of London from a place of homes, neighbourhoods and social networks to a cashcow for the rich and powerful. Like elsewhere in the world, we are witnessing social cleansing on a mass scale as London is turned into an investment opportunity and playground for the increasing number of the super-rich both home-grown and foreign, with local and national politicians firmly behind them.

This process has been going on for several decades. There have been pockets of resistance as individuals and groups fight back: against workfare, benefits cuts, the bedroom tax, hospital closures, estate evictions, luxury developments, police violence and racism. However, the attack on London continues, seemingly unstoppable. But recently more and more people are realising what is happening and are beginning to link up struggles and winning some important victories against property developers, landlords and councils. The future of London now hangs in the balance. It is up to us to fight for the kind of city we want to live in. This puts us in direct opposition to wealthy investors, property developers and construction companies, the financial institutions of the City and Canary Wharf, estate agents and landlords as well as politicians in Westminster, City Hall and local councils and their servants in the police. It will be a hard fight; but we cannot afford to lose.

Make London the Rebel City!