Acts of trespass
I’m searching for a word, something to capture exactly what I am looking for.
Nick Hayes has captured something vital. In the UK we are over-protecting private property. Some protection is fine, even healthy. We need the state to stop strong individuals from simply taking what they want. The historic problem is that the strong have used the state to do just that. In recent times they used one, outdated and ill-informed essay (The Tragedy of the Commons) by Garret Hardin, a man who never saw a well-managed commons and lacked the imagination to know that it is not only possible but in many places a fact. This justified the enclosure of things. But prior to that they believed in a God-given right to take and to exclude.
So much for the problem. Nick sets out the problem very clearly.
He also hints at the solution. We need to burst the bubble. We need to break the rules. But, as we do so, it is important to ensure that the rule is the only thing we break. Metaphorically we need to break into the homes of the rich and do the washing up. We need to do no harm, and maybe do some good. We need to make a fool of the law – or rather the laws that exclude. We need to become holy fools, trespassers and tricksters.
I’m searching for a word, and it means this: acts of trespass that playfully expose the violence of the opposition; acts that call upon the good in society, that evoke the democracy we have worked this far to develop; acts that bring about change. I’m searching for it because it needs to be breathed into existence. It needs to live. It needs to go beyond me and appear like wildflowers in the verges. It needs to be all over the landholding minority before they know what has (actually not really) hit them.
MyFutureHome 