Reparations Rebellion

I have just got on the tube at Brixton to head back to Old Street in North London.

What happened today in Brixton was quite extraordinary and it will take us many weeks and months to process and to see the effects.

I think my favourite moment was ChantalIe (?) couldn’t quite hear her name because of the music (in the yellow dress in the picture, middle right) not only giving a very moving and proper vote of thanks to XR for the support we have given today and then segueing, with only a brief dramatic pause for breath, into berating her own community for not getting out of bed on time.

“These people were here at 7 o’clock and were ready to block nine roads for you”,

she said,

“and you didn’t turn up until the afternoon”.

“Next year” she said,

“you will all be here at seven.”

The scenes we saw today were unthinkable even a year ago. Everybody was behaving better. And they were behaving better because Extinction Rebellion has modelled a different way.

The white owning class rebels, the black working class rebels, the police, the public, everybody. Everybody behaved better than was even imaginable a year ago. It was a joy to be a part of and it’s consequences will be far reaching. It was one of those days after which nothing is ever quite the same again.

It will, as I’ve said take weeks and months, and years to fully comprehend what happened today. And I hope that XR will take some of that time to ask ourselves whether, in the light of today, it really is necessary to risk losing everything (as they have in the States) by adopting a divisive and now possibly, before we have even adopted it, an outdated “Fourth Demand”.

At the very least nothing definitive or irreversible must be done before September

Today was a seismic shift and it would be a great disservice and betrayal of the people out on Brixton Hill today to ignore their contribution to our debate and press on with our business as usual regardless.

Let us pause the discussions. Focus our energy on September and then, as of course we must, take stock and see post Rebellion that if the XR that exists in late September, really is the XR of six months ago that so badly needed what the fourth demand is designed to deliver.

On the evidence of today I would happily place a small wager that says it is not.

Beyond Satire

As we get ready to pop down to Parliament in a few weeks, I thought it worth reminding myself, and you why when invited I decided that being involved with Roger Hallam's rather reckless new decorating enterprise is incompatible with membership of Extinction Rebellion.  This is a post from 15 June.

o, “Beyond Politics” the new political party has launched. It aims to be independent of Extinction Rebellion in...
Posted by Sebastian Sandys on Sunday, 14 June 2020

Airbnb vs Islington Council

Islington Borough Council this afternoon served a Statutory Enforcement Notice on AirBnB UK. 

My understanding is that the notice relates to a property in which there have been repeated breaches of social distancing and other regulations. Despite repeated approaches from the council Airbnb have maintained their mantra of "Nothing to do with us guv" . This has been their standard (and successful) retort when confronted with any of the negative impacts of their business model on city communities. Not for much longer.

On March 30th in the first of his cozy little chats CEO Brian Chesky attempted to explain to a quarter of a million hosts why he had just shafted us. Of the decision to offer guests full refunds without consulting hosts he said:

"Please know this decision was not a business decision, but based on protecting public health...... I believe we did the right thing in prioritizing health and safety."

My 2020 earnings

Aww bless.... There's hoist by your own petard if ever I saw it.

Having endured almost four months of Airbnb's sanctimonious waffle about Frontline Responders, The Superhost Relief Fund, the 25% that was really 12.5% etc I am delighted that Islington looks like the place that is finally going to effectively and comprehensively call them out. Richard Watts, Leader of the Council this afternoon tweeted his fury.

He and other councillors are furious and there is now the political will to say enough is enough. No doubt a sledge hammer will be used to crack the nut but I suspect we will now see the beginning of the end of the ninety day exemption and a move back to Airbnb only listing proprties in which the host is resident.

Once that happens here in Islington there won't be a single candidate in next year's Mayoral elections who will oppose it on a London wide basis. If London lobbies for it then I'm afraid dear readers in the North (and other places) it will happen.

And because of the way Airbnb recommended constructing the legislation in the first place it cannot be repealed here and not in Brighton, Bridlington and Blackpool.

Open Letter to Brian Chesky - CEO Airbnb

Dear Brian,

I wonder if you remember the times we met in the very early days in London, probably 2008 after I signed up to be one of the first Airbnbhosts in the UK. I remember it well. Mostly for being struck by your honesty, integrity and enthusiasm for this strange new project of which I had immediately grasped the potential. You gave me the confidence to keep faith with Airbnb as it has evolved into the global brand it is today.

That faith is now sorely shaken and looking to you as CEO to rebuild trust and confidence is proving very difficult.  Your actions (and ommissions) are making things worse and give the impression that neither you nor the company are going to be able to restore the bond of trust you have broken.

That trust is the vital  component in the  extraordinary way I have bden able to lead my life over  the last twelve years.In the trade union movement, and in The Green Party as an activist, national officer and parliamentary candidate).  Most recently, that life has been lived within Extinction Rebellion as we have changed the global discourse, and sought to disrupt national and international 'business as usual' as we continue to hurtle towards the peak of the climate catastrophe and ecological disaster that frankly, unless averted, will make Covid -19 appear to have been a walk in the park.

I had begun writing to you at the time you spoke to us on April 3^rd. Despite the incalculable harm you have overseen perpetrated on us, Airbnb’s, hosts I was much encouraged by your promises. It is desperately sad and of very great consequence that you have not kept your word.

At a time of desperate financial hardship, the early April  has now passed and there is still no word on when the 12.5% of cancelled online booking value will be paid. While I an unaware of any effort by Airbnb to contact my previous guests my own attempts to contact cancelled guests has been prevented by Airbnb. Even guests who have offered me support have had their attempts to get in touch thwarted by the company. The company continue to believe that the value to them of keeping guests and hosts separate and unable to communicate is two high to relinquish.

Unable to pay rent in March, it looks as though April and May will be the same. No sooner do I pass on to my landlord promises and information given to me by you and Airbnb then deadlines pass and trust is further eroded.

I was unable to join your second call on Thursday and have now spent five days looking at a screen promising a video “shortly”.

 And so, if you are unable to meet the commitments you have made voluntarily, and without urgent and immediate financial support then it looks as though my twelve year journey with AirBnb will be over. With will go my home and my income and at 57 with three years to go before any provision for my retirement becomes available, that is not a prospect I welcome.

I hope you are staying well.

Best,

Sebastian

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

Well, the bright side of life has revealed itself in two different 180^ degree U turns (or clarifications, or developments) today. Neither of them in any way a panacea but both welcome in their own way. First, I understand that the prime minister has undertaken after pressure from colleagues and "the media" to send every household an A4 sheet of toilet paper. Bravo Sir. Your finest contribution so far. I have so far been unaffected by this aspect of the developing crisis, and if I'm honest had rather thought it to be an invention. After all, the best way to cheer up the British is to point a finger at how poorly some of our former colonies, Australia, the United States (not Canada) seem to manage without us at the helm. What content editor could resist footage of overweight Trump voters engaged in fisticuffs over 4ply before returning home to meet an early death from lack of health insurance.. The President of the United States For The Time Being must surely be the first to reduce his vote share by bringing about the early death of his core support. It surely wasn't happening here? However, the other night in a Zoom meeting an otherwise sensible comrade (who I previously imagined lived a well ordered life) was on his 'phone in the streets after dark hunting down loo paper. He was passing the home of someone else in the meeting and so a couple of rolls were defenestrated to everyone's delight and his relief. Wasn't clear whether it was a failure of household management, a failure of the supply chain or simply poor time management at the root of the crisis - but we all laughed. Not having a shortage in the People's Republic, I shall find an alternative use for the prime minister's gift when it arrives.(Suggestions in the comments welcome) In the second volte face, Brian Chesky, one of the founders of Airbnb summoned us all (Airbnb hosts) to our screens at 11pm this evening for "a chat". I've always liked him. And trusted him. In the early days he would come and visit. He couldn't I think quite understand how this bonkers english bloke, living in a leaking unheated hovel with mice (The Watch House) in Bethnal Green had so embraced his very Californian platform and with such success. I didn't take to the others and their funny little San Francisco ways but I took to him. That the whole AirBnb phenomenon happened in the teeth of his Grandma's opposition, "Don't be silly Brian dear. People will never have strangers to stay in their home" showed a contrarian streak that appealed. Anyway tonight he came good. Not only did he say all the right things, he announced a financial package which by no means compensates, but will mean poverty instead of penury and that is a great improvement on how things looked this morning. As well as a substantial sum in a 'hardship fund",there are measures to ensure the sudden losses will be more equitably shared going forward and retrospectively. And in a touch that really does speak to the Airbnb I embraced eleven years ago, all guests who have stayed with me in that time will be contacted. They will be given the opportunity to get in touch and offer a bob or two if it would help. Sweet in it's way, but I'm about to find out whether my adventures think of me as fondly as I do of them and I'm not sure I want to know. But, hey ho, needs must.

How to Beat Coronavirus Capitalism

I've joined a couple of online sessions with Naomi Klein this week. Safe to say she's a woman who has a clear sense that she is no longer a voice crying in the wilderness. I'd not come across Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor before. She too is tremendously impressive here. I do recommend this broadcast.  In Islington we've had two great online discussions this week.. The first after "Shock Doctrine" was our first 'Zoom Movie Night' and the second after watching this when we were joined by the magnificent Ruthie Shallcross​.  (Lovely to see you xx).  Perhaps the only certainty at the moment is that nothing will ever be the same again. Whatever world emerges from the period of physical distancing we are experiencing, we will all, individually and collectively have been changed and that change will bring almost limitless possibilities.



From the transformed relationships we will have with the neighbours we have come to know and discover through to profound changes in the the geopolitical discourse and relationships that shape the entire world.. Whilst the public faces of the forces of conservatism and reaction haven't so far covered themselves in glory we  can take no comfort from that. The second rate numpties in the White House, in Downing Street are the window dressing. The people who put them there have been, as Milton Friedman told them to forty years ago been waiting for this moment, have been waiting and are ready.



As has already happened in China, on Thursday the US Environmental Protection Agency announced on Thursday they would no longer be policing or enforcing legislation regulating extraction, safety  in the workplace, pollution, employment or the live of indigenous communities.  The limited rights in these areas that have been so hard fought for look set to be discarded in the pursuit of private weath.



Those who would wish it so, are skilled. They are smart and they are savvy. They are highly organised and disciplined. But so can we be. We must be or we fail.



Watch and listen to folk like Naomi Klein, like Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor . Sure, watch them from the sofa or in bed at the moment but get three or four people together afterwards. Online, or on the 'phone, In corresponce or by email. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that we collectively start to imagine. Start to imagine the world as it will become in the ".afterwards".  Those concerned with amassing private wealth and the power it buys are doing just that. Right now. Tonight. They have money, and they have guns. They have the apparatus of the state and largely compliant legislatures. And they have the fear and exhaustion of the people. It's an impressive armoury.



What we must not do is add to it.  The most valuable tool of all, which they will be banking on, is the failure of our imagination.



Let's not give them that. So start swimming or we'll all sink like stones.



https://open.spotify.com/track/52vA3CYKZqZVdQnzRrdZt6