NINO STAFFA DIRECT ACTION: AGAINST WHO? FOR WHAT? Anarchism, as the GAF document says « is the overall alternative to the hierarchical social model» (64). But apologists for the housing allocation system which operates in Britain would argue that the great progress which has been made in housing since the Second World War is a sure indication that the hierarchical society which exists in Britain is essential for the well-being of the people. Furthermore, the majority of people in Britain now live in better housing than they ever did before. British cities are also producing an increasing number of homeless people and a decreasing number of areas providing accomodation to those with limited incomes. Furthermore, those people who manage to receive the permission to live in a house pay the increasingly heavy price of total subordination to one or more of the institutions which control access to housing and to other aspects of our lives. Colin Ward sees the need for an « anarchist philosophy of the city». « Anarchism - the political philosophy of a non-governmental society of autonomous communities - does not at first sight seem to address itself to the problems of the city at al!. But there is, in fact, a stream of anarchist contributions to urban thought that stretches from Kropotkin to Murray Bookchin historically, and from John Turner to the International Situationist ideologically. A lot of people who might help us evolve an anarchist philosophy of the city would never think of trying because in spirit, though less often in practice, they have abandoned the city» (65). He points out, furthermore, that « the poor of the poor countries ... have a freedom that the poor of rich world cities have lost. Three freedoms in fact, in John Turner's words: « the freedom of community self-selection, the freedom to budget one's own resources and the freedom to shape one's own environment». In the rich world the choices have been pre-empted by the power of the state with its comprehensive law enforcement agencies and its institutionalised welfare a- (64) Gruppi Anarchici Federati: Che cosa sono I GAF, Edizioni CDA p. 11. (65) COLIN WARD: Housing: an anarchist approach, Freedom Press, London 1976, p. 87. 44
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTExMDY2NQ==