Hi guys, being too ill to do my gardening job has given me more time to write - maybe the keypad is mightier than the shovel... A long time ago, around those mystical times of Arthurian legend, the British were a multicultural bunch of people of Celtic / Roman / Angle / Saxon / Viking origin. They were farmers and hunters of the great forests. Although there were occasional disputes among the tribes and villages, it was generally agreed that the land was given to them all to use equally. These were times of song and rhyme - and then the Normans came and ruined everything. They took the whole country by force, and forced the native people to pay them taxes. The Normans quickly morphed into the aristocracy, who enslaved them all further under feudal law. Later came the enclosures and clearances which left the people with little or no common land (remember that?). Then came industrialisation and wars. Bankers and businesmen moved in to take advantage of both. They seized more land and assets. This wealthy elite became the landowners and landlords alongside the aristocracy. Their money increased with interest in their banks. The debts of the poor increased with interest too, and so the great divide started... So here we are in the current system. The Normans are still here because whether youre paying a landlord or a bank for the right to use land or property (that is supposed to belong to us all), you will have become a de-facto wage SLAVE. Mortgages are always set at well over the market value, and unless you were lucky enough to inherit, or got your mortgage during the boom times of the 50s, or 80s, you will most likely be spending the best years of your life working to pay it off. Not forgetting the threat of foreclosure hanging over your head like the Sword of Damocles. Its called working 9 til life! So, youve settled into your life of slavery, youve got your land and now you have to deal with the planning law - which is very restrictive. Fine if you want to build a big hotel or a power station or something equally good for the economy. But it seems with the amount of hoops one has to jump through, just to simply live and work on the land, the planning system appears to be designed to keep undesirables from using land and generally wandering around in the countryside. The right to roam doesnt exist. Many times I have met red-faced angry farmers telling me I wouldnt just wander into your living room, so what are you doing on my land? How absurd is that? But this is exactly how landowners think. Over centuries, the rights of the common people to access the land, have been slowly chipped away. Each time a new law is passed, a little bit more is taken, usually for some underlying economic reason, but economics has now become totally devoid of any connection to nature or to the rights of individuals. So this monster is raging, and the planet and people are suffering as a result. People are being systematically forced off the land. Its time for a new approach. If you feel resonance with these words, then please come to The Land Conference in Totnes on March 21st and then we will all see what we can collectively do about it. YO! Roly
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 22:58:57 +0000
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