Guerrillas with shovels and trowels
LONDON - In Stratford, in the farthest reaches of East London, a band of guerrillas has taken over a plot of land. It’s the wrong side of 11 p.m. on a hot, sticky night, the air heavy with rain that refuses to fall. Passersby gawp at the guerrillas as they lay claim to a patch ofground at the entrance to a small block of apartments.
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„We have reclaimed it from the local government!” says a youthful, ruddy faced guerrilla, brandishing his ”weapon” defiantly. Another looks out for ”the law”, which might decide to barge in and break up this miniature invasion of one of London’s flattest, most featureless suburbs, better known for having a big train station than for underground activity.
What’s going on? Why has this bit of East London gone all El Salvador for the evening? These are guerrillas with a difference. They’re ”guerrilla gardeners” to be precise. Their weapons are shovels and trowels, and they plant shrubs and chrysanthemums, not bombs. They’re here to make green a gray patch of land.
It’s true: If ever two words didn’t feel right together, it is ”guerrilla” and ”gardener”. „We like the contradiction in the phrase ”guerrilla gardening””, says Richard Reynolds, erstwhile leader of the movement thathe kick started into existence two summers ago. Initially it was just him, on his lonesome, carrying out „solo missions of horticultural regeneration.”
„I saw neglected, orphaned land around the dual carriageways divided highways of the Elephant and Castle a big, smoggy, concrete intersection in London and decided to do something about it”, says Mr. Reynolds, an advertising account planner by day. From these inauspicious roots, the movement has grown exponentially, sprouting new chapters from Vancouver to Brussels and inspiring more green fingered do gooders to venture out in the dead of night to prettify ugly urban spaces.
The movement’s aim is simple: to make public space more attractive. Activities are organized via the website www.guerrillagardening.org. Typically, a resident who’s had enough of living in a cityspace where things are vastly more gray than green, writes to the site and asks for help. The guerrillas decide which cases are most pressing, then ready ”troops”, and descend on a section of the chosen spot to sprinkle seeds of hope and regeneration.
Guerrillas believe this is as much political as horticultural, that they’re having an impact on society, even rejuvenating democracy. It’s reflected in their language, suggesting they’re not only planting shrubs but challenging authority. Reynolds refers to ”sleeper cells” waiting to „blitz our city with plants.” Their ”invasion” of Stratford aims „to create a new democracy of gravel and sparse ornamental grass”, to „liberate this patch from long term miserableness.”
Authorities tend to turn a blind eye to the nighttime antics, say experienced guerrillas. And it’s not inconceivable that financially beleaguered local governments might even be grateful. Residents seem to like the results, but they aren’t quite transformed. Take Frances Barrow, who lives near a guerrilla makeover done last month. „Yeah, it looks better”, she says, „I hope somebody keeps it up.”
Perhaps guerrilla gardening is a response to the alienation of urban life - the distance urban residents and workers can feel among the gray monoliths owned (and neglected) by faceless bureaucrats. Guerrilla gardening looks like an attempt not only to make cities more colorful, but also to take symbolic ownership of them and make them more livable. (The Christian Science Monitor)
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