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A change in the law on rape, signals not only a contempt for the homeless, which has implications for the right to protest

last July, the British government launched a consultation entitled 'Options to deal with squatting. "Consultation was completed on October 5 last Thursday and a response was issued by the Secretary of State for Justice.

The consultation recommended the criminalization of squatted houses. Therefore, an amendment - Article 26 - the moral condemnation and punishment of offenders has been introduced the bill, which criminalizes the practice of the conveyance of residential property. Article 26 was approved Tuesday night, without amendment.

The decision to criminalize squatting often at odds with the responses received during the consultation period. The Department of Justice has received 2217 responses from individuals and organizations, which in 2126 were "members of the public concerned about the impact of the sentence." It also includes responses from 1990 that were submitted by Squash (Action houses of squatters course). Only 25 responses were "members of the public interested in squatting about the damage it can cause."

regional and national homeless, as expected, attacked the government's decision. The criminalization of counterfeiting and will, in his opinion, only exacerbate the housing crisis worsens. As the investigation into the crisis in the UK has recently shown more than 40% of homeless people had to resort to the occupation at a given time, while, according to the housing, about 35,000 people are faced with the prospect losing their homes between now and Christmas. At the same time, there are over 700,000 empty homes in England alone.

If a change in the law has been calibrated to serve the interests of private property inviolable, its impact on poor and vulnerable can not be underestimated. But more than that, not too much to see in the new bill a cynical attempt to shift the general concern about the impact of austerity for the most vulnerable members of our society.

This choreography pernicious - the consultation was rushed late change - also points to a more sinister sense. On the morning of Tuesday, Housing Minister, Grant Shappa, Twitter that "St. Paul. The right to protest is a right to squat in terms of the law to see if changes needed to deal w / areas such as San Pablo and Dale Farm faster. "Casual and lazy equation Shappa of protest and collective meeting with the rich and varied history of squat reveals, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of the government's legal vengeance.

saw crouching Shappa derogatory surprisingly, his suggestion that the legislation may be needed to respond to the emergence of a new movement based on the signs of occupation of a movement to prohibit and further limit the right to protest. This also goes against the spirit of the response to the consultation, which stressed that any new offense does not apply to "protest activities in non-residential buildings and buildings of the university."

Jobs in San Pablo

and the larger movement that was known is in many ways a response to a similar situation. As the logic draconian austerity public begins to bite, it is clear that an alternative model is necessary and that the invaders and occupiers have shown, in fact, it is possible to build fairer and more equal spaces in our cities.
While the government may think differently, that is, in the words of the geographer David Harvey, "an opportunity missed and a requirement that none of us can or want to avoid."