In 2009 Anna Minton wrote about the ever-increasing erosion of public space. Ground Control starts with the story of the transformation of London’s docklands to Canary Wharf and the shift in land ownership from the realm of the public to the private. Areas in London have slowly become the property of large corporations … the Occupy protest at St. Paul’s was a result of the restrictions around the bank of England, which is now private property and directly forbids any form of public protest.
This is not just in London… and this does not only affect local businesses or those wishing to protest … it affects the general populous in ways that we have yet to truly discover. And this is where our story begins….
In 2013 a popular piece of public art was destroyed in Newport. The depiction of the 1839 Chartist Uprising was made into a large mural in 1978 and showcased the City’s role at the very beginning of the civil rights movement in Britain. A movement for freedom, equality and social justice. A movement that was initially met with the force of government troops and in Newport 22 people died, shot dead for protesting.
The demolition of the mural was in part to make way for a new shopping centre, a shopping centre that had been promised for a decade or more, a shopping centre that promised the people of Newport a Debenhams. The council were too afraid to insist that the mural stay, be incorporated into the plans of the development. The council could not find the suggested £200,000 to save it or move it. They could subsequently find £90 million pounds to assist the developers when the project hit a snag. The snag being that not enough retailers had pre-leased outlets in the new development to commence with the building. But this talk today is not about art v retail. It’s about displacement.
Anonymous
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