Is anyone home? Appropriating and re-narrativisating the post-criminalisation squatting scene in England and Wales

Abstract

This paper explores the political significance of narratives of home. Using the aftermath of the 2012 criminalisation of squatting in England and Wales as a case study, the paper traces the ways in which the concept of ‘home’ is deployed to both reinforce neoliberal ideals, and is utilised as a tool of resistance by squatters. This paper focuses on the ways in which particular narratives of home are utilised to shape and legitimise housing policy and legislation such as the criminalisation of squatting through moralising language that delegitimise anti-capitalist homes as ‘nonhomes’. Following this, the paper goes on to explore how tropes and aesthetics of squatting are appropriated, re-narrativised and commercialised by neoliberal stakeholders. The remainder of the paper focuses on the methods by which squatters and other housing activists, too, utilise re-narrativisation tactics. Firstly, I highlight instances in which squatters have subverted assumptions of squats as ‘non-homes’ in order to make themselves invisible, and thus safe, in the urban landscape. Secondly, I explore linguistic methods utilised by squatters as a means of disassociating themselves from negative connotations through re-framing elements of the practice as ‘occupation’. The paper concludes by calling for closer attention to be paid to the political potency of the homespace, and the ways in which narratives of home can be utilised in the pursuit of social justice and anti-capitalist housing models.

Counter hegemony, popular education, and resistances: A systematic literature review on the squatters’ movement

“…The squatting movement historically emerges as a collective response to housing crises ( Pruijit, 2013 cited by Atabien and Tekdemir, 2020 ; Campbell, 2019 ; Nowicki, 2020 ). Therefore, according to the literature analyzed, it is not surprising that there is a strong link between this movement and political activism as an alternative and counter to capitalism ( Squatting Europe Kollective [SQEK], 2010 cited in Polanska and Weldon, 2020 ; Nowicki, 2020 ).…”

“…Firstly, the stigmatization of the movement, which has been publicly delegitimized through its criminalization ( Nowicki, 2020 ; Yardımcı, 2020 ), to which the media have contributed by portraying squatters as fanatics, criminal gangs, parasites, and invaders ( Martínez, 2019 ). This has served political interests on the part of the state to continue urbanizing without encountering resistance ( Kallin and Slater, 2014 citats per Yardımcı, 2020 ; Novák, 2020 ; Yardımcı, 2020 ).…”

“…Thanks to their social and anti-hegemonic aims, links are established with other social, political, or neighborhood movements, so that squatting is adopted by the daily and political struggle of many collectives that initially did not see it as a valid and efficient response or action to achieve their objectives ( Cattaneo and Martínez, 2014 ; Anton, 2020 ). In fact, the movement, which for many years was marginalized due to the questioning and attack on private property it entails, has seen its legitimacy increase over the last decade for these linkages and interrelationships ( Anton, 2020 ; Nowicki, 2020 ).…”

Manufacturing mandates: Property, race, and the criminalisation of trespass in England and Wales

“…In deploying these simplifications, the state exposes its innate incapacity for accommodating difference, alongside a wilful ignorance of Gypsy-Traveller culture, customs, history, racism, and oppression. Through the ‘strategic politicisation of language’ (Nowicki, 2020, p.2) the consultation constructs an implicitly racialized evidence base, which de-historicizes and invisibilizes anti-Gypsy racisms (Powell and Van Baar, 2019).…”

“…At the time of writing, trespass now looks set to be criminalised as the bill enters its final reading before becoming law, with potentially far-reaching and ill-considered consequences for some of the most vulnerable and under-represented parts of society. The argument used by the UK government to strengthen powers against trespass has been made in the name of formalizing property rights, explicitly targeting Gypsy-Travellers 1 and, by extension, other trespassing groups (such as activists, ravers and squatters) (Nowicki, 2020).…”