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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Squatting


You must read this article about the British squatting movement. The basic premise is this: apparently, England does not have many laws against squatting. It's actually something they're sympathetic to that has deep ties to the country's history. Squatting isn't considered a criminal offense, but a civil offense, and a group of progressive young artists and professionals has taken advantage of this situation by squatting in some extremely high-end properties, like this $33 million mansion in London. They live communally, dumpster dive for most of their food, and "have turned the house into a venue for lectures, workshops and exhibits that they call the Temporary School of Thought. For the past two weeks, the group has invited the public in for seminars on topics including Polish history, juggling, "alternative food design," biofuels and "treehouse training.""

Is this brilliant, or what? I can't say that it's high end, but the house next door is still vacant... anyone up for a little artists' colony?

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