Yes – the day before the 2015 General Election Sweets Way Resists put out a reminder of what the real political struggle in this country is about – social housing – public services – people before profits. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! joined former residents and other supporters of Sweets Way in a show of solidarity with a mother who had been evicted by Barnet Council and placed in temporary accommodation in west London. As Juliet explained to a Sweets Way Resists campaign meeting the night before, her life, and that of her four children, had been destroyed. She was unable to travel to her job; her eldest child was expected to make a one and a half hour journey to her school morning and afternoon, despite being in her GCSE year. The letters she had received from the council after a three months silence following her appeal were threatening bureaucratic bullying.
On Wednesday 6 May we gathered to support Juliet who had a ‘last chance’ meeting with the council. We took to the roadway, the busy A1000 into London, blocking the traffic and asking for drivers to ‘honk’ their support for social housing – not social cleansing. With the news that Juliet had been offered accommodation in Barnet, we held a march of victory to Sweets Way. Only a partial victory, of course. Other displaced tenants of Sweets Way still have to be rehoused in THEIR area. And after the election, the fight against the property corporations, like Annington Homes, developers of Sweets Way and the collusion of local councils, like Barnet Council with the private sector will have to continue and gather pace.
