Iliff Street, Elephant & Castle, London, 23rd June, 2018.In the heart of London there was a resurgence of anarchy as this little thriving community came together over permaculture
It is definitely one for the calendar every year. In a way it embodies much of the spirit of anarchy, maybe in the sense that Kropotkin illustrates it through the action of mutual aid between different social groups who show natural responsibility at grassroots level akin to the herd instinct that protect and serve the weak and the young. Maybe I don’t behave like a child anymore but personally I certainly prefer their reckless company over adults. The power of children is to draw the attention of adults who should give them what they need. For me, I was coming back to a street I used to live in when I was a babe although I have no recollection other than possibly sitting in a Butler sink.
The permaculture area was run by Jennifer Yorke, whose own children were born here, and whilst behind us there was screenprinting using a selection of simple designs, it threw me back into my past when I used to watch my dad print up posters for our wool shop business in New Cross. The spirit of permaculture is self-empowerment but it requires overcoming a fear of learning and doing things another way. The fear is, of course, of failure. But when you tell a bunch of kids to make a castle all it requires is a coordinating arm to keep them in check. Just give their imaginations a simple idea and let them get on with it. This is where a family man like Peter Meredith comes in, formerly my colleague in a vegetable/fruit box delivery scheme by the name of Greener Ventures. It was again a nice get-together as we trod the sand/clay mix into a fine mixture before plastering the sculpture. We couldn’t light up the oven but we certainly did the next best thing — we obliterated the structure and taught the kids something of the impermanence of culture (as if they didn’t know already.)
So to end this short write-up, volunteers must be members. You are invited to join me in my ventures and obviously there are perks to the thing. I may be looking a little French in this photo and I have quite a lot of skills. at
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