Morning Comrades!
Just as I was heading into the weekend on Friday afternoon I had a random thought that appeared out of nowhere, one that has been on my activism periphery for decades but over the last few years had taken a back seat and that questions is: “Who owns the city? The question of property and ownership are probably the most essential questions to debate for our collective future going forward and essential to not only our survival, but this entire planet.
It is an understatement to say that it remained just a thought as I have been digging myself into a hugely enjoyable rabbit hole since then - and it ultimately leads to the question of what property means and if we should/ could approach this differently. Of course, this has been a heated debated ever since the first recordings of history, and especially in Marxist and Feminist-Marxist theory this question plays a central role and I would like to share that rabbit hole with you over the next few days/weeks. To be transparent, whilst the Marxist thought is something I have invested time into, the 1000s of years of thought, realities and especially the current / modern schools of thought are relatively alien to me, in regards to theory in any case, practically, I have a few stories to share. Luckily, I have several extremely well-read comrades in my life that have worked in these fields for years and I am relying on them heavily here. Before you jump ship, I will do my best to keep this relevant, interesting and hopefully even funny for however long this rabbit hole will take to chew through. Obviously, current events are still incredibly important and I may or may not dip into them here, certainly on Friday’s, but more realistically, I will use our Telegram channel more for this whilst I run through these topics, as well as the other social media platforms.
To start off though, the Black Lodges Weekly Jams are back! As explained last week these are now back on Spotify for my own ease and enjoyment. I will post the track lists of these over in our Telegram Channel. Week 134 is back in force with 37 tracks to float your boat, mostly on the more chilled end of the spectrum that starts off over in trip-hop land, ambient and more to fuzzed out psychedelic and more. It’s a good floater for a lack of a better word.
To come back to the main point, it all kicked off with a relatively naive and simple question, who owns the city and what’s the plan going forward? It had nothing to do with any specific “problem” at my end, just curiosity. I typed that question into google and came across this youtube clip that kick-started it all. Whilst I have plenty of “issues” with this film I am not here to “react” to it, but do watch it to set the mood as it starts with a fundamental question: How are we going to tackle the essential problems of the future in our cities in regards to population, ecology, global warming and who can / should / does play what roles.
Again, there is plenty “wrong” in this short clip from my perspective but that is only mine. Also, whilst I am writing from a very obvious Marxist perspective here, my own actions in the past and probably going forward in regards to my very local material realities are shaped less by ideology than necessity/ability. If I only allure to certain actions on my part it’s not confuse anyone, but legal reasons. Squatting is still a criminal offence here but I will get into that at a later part over the next few weeks.
The fact remains, the question of property and ownership are probably the most essential questions to debate for our collective future. Who owns what and why? What is even ownership, do we have a say in what it is, should we and how do we deal with our own material realities and those of the planet?
Only if we can have a discussion and honest understanding of property/ownership can we dutifully look towards solving so many of the worlds problems. Or, I mean, let’s call it for what it is, ending this shit show called Capitalism.
I am certain that I have already posed this question here before, but it all truly went to shit at the point when the first human sat down on a patch of land, drew a line around it and said: “That’s mine.” A few thousand years later we all have to pay rent to some unknown entity for the simple reason of not wanting to fucking freeze to death in the winter and have a roof over our head when it rains, for example. When you take a moment and think about this I am sure you will share in my regular bewilderment of it all, usually around rent time - which was last week Thursday / Friday for - probably setting off the line of questions. I don’t know what it is like at your end, but after having lived in cities, as an adult, such as London, New York, Berlin and now Hamburg I can only say for myself, that hot damn, it is insanely expensive to do so, just in regards to rent and that’s not even mentioning the competition to even get a place.
“All property relations in the past have continually been subject to historical change consequent upon the change in historical conditions. The French Revolution, for example, abolished feudal property in favour of bourgeois property.” -Marx, Read it Here.
I have always not only found absurd but entirely ethically wrong. Whoever decided that this spot of land was owned by anyone and what gives them the right to charge money to live on it. Historically speaking, this always comes down to violence. Imagine the spot of land you currently live on. Who owns it? Do you know? I know in my case it is officially “the city”, but what is the city?
A big loaded question actually, one that is debated heatedly and has been so for again, as long as cities have existed, and that is damn long time. I will spare you the academic side to all this, but one text most of us here in the West will always return to is Plato’s “Republic”, for all the wrong reasons to be fair and I will die on the hill, that, almost all defenders of our so-called “democracies” have never actually read that damn thing. However, as he described in The Republic, the ideal city, or polis, was one based on justice and human virtue. It was a form of social and political organization that allowed individuals to maximize their potentialities, serve their fellow citizens, and live in accordance with universal laws and truths. If that is the premise we go off on, then it is PEOPLE that constitute a city, not a place, or land, or borders, or property… see where I am going with this?
“…creates capital, i.e., that kind of property which exploits wage-labour, and which cannot increase except upon condition of begetting a new supply of wage-labour for fresh exploitation.”
And therefore,
“Property, in its present form, is based on the antagonism of capital and wage labour.” - Marx. Read it here.
If we agree that “we” are the city, then shouldn’t we decide who owns what and at what cost? Should “we” own anything and if so, who decides what and what it is worth? I’ve never been asked and yet somehow I am being asked to pay a certain amount each month to have a roof over my head. Absurd, if you ask me. Coming back to violence though, again, imagine the spot of land you live on, someone owns it. Right? If you go and ask how they got it, they will most likely say that they bought it. From whom though? The previous owner? How did they get it? Bought it? From whom, how did they get it? From the city? Who is the city? Didn’t we just agree that “we” are the city? Ah, the institution of the city, the social & legal construct “we” agreed on? I didn’t. Ah, but our ancestors, but how did they get to be “the city” and how did they get the land?
Frankly, at some point some motherfucker said this is mine and anyone that questioned got a hit over the head with a big fucking stick, at best, mostly likely worse and it continued from there onwards. “Laws” and “Legality” truly are only a smokescreen to “justify” ownership through socially accepted forms of monopolized violence. Call them knights of lore or the damn cops today. Doesn’t really matter to be honest. If that is the reality of ownership then, is it just a question of having a bigger stick? Yikes, violence as a potential problem solver for not paying rent…? Ask yourself this then, who has the bigger stick? “We” or “the city”? - and this is just the absurd reality we face here in the “civilized” west.
Essentially, if violence is the only basis for ownership, isn’t it inherently wrong then? Again, puh, big loaded question. What is even right and wrong, or rather, have you ever been asked or simply told and beaten into submission to accept what is right or wrong? Should we continue to hold on to definitions of “right and wrong” that were established ( ahem, again, by force ) by our ancestors, let’s say 200 years ago if they absolutely make no damn sense anymore today, or even worse, only favour the strong and corrupt at the expense of everyone else? Should every generation debate what is right and wrong for them and if so, how would this be enforced?
Coming back to cities and who owns what, why and what the plan is going forward, it is hugely important to have this conversation for the sake of our future. Right now, nothing works, because of the material realities established by force in the form of capitalism, a death cult whose negative impact we are all experiencing on the daily.
I am going to dedicate a part of this newsletter to the question of living, property and ownership going forward as it interests me hugely. It is at the core of Marxism and now that my theoretical part is done, “officially” and academically, it is time to return to the real, tangible world and I hope you are around for the ride. This topic is huge and I have a lot to learn, eagerly as the question of how to live is and truly should be at the core of everyone invested in a better tomorrow. This is a discussion of theory and praxis, as in, how should and could it be, and what can we do, today and tomorrow. Exciting really.
I have asked an extremely dear comrade mine who studied this and these questions to supply us with an introductory reading list and I have compiled a few videos to watch throughout this text.
Do buy / read these books ( ideally not from Amazon )
The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs ( History, On Making a City from Below )
The Production of Space - Henri Lefebvre ( Theory )
Le Droit à la Ville- The Right To The City - Henri Lefebvre ( Theory, Ground for Protest )
Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution - David Harvey (protest)
Feminist City - Leslie Kern (Feminist Cities, Theory and Praxis )
Common Space: The City as Commons - Stavros Stavrides ( On Commons, Ownership )
Again and as always, thank you for your time and attention. Happy to hear your feedback, questions and comments below.
Until then, I remain yours, without compromise,
V.