The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois
Originally published in The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois on Sunday, December 4th, 1977.
London slum residents declare independence
Transcript
London slum residents declare independence
LONDON (AP) – The last house standing on a street of empty, garbage-filled lots fenced off with corrugated iron is the Foreign Ministry of Frestonia.
Frestonia?
It’s the latest member of the world community of nations. At least that’s what Frestonian Foreign Minister David Rappaport-Bramley says.
He has already sent a Declaration of Independence to British Prime Minister James Callaghan with copies to Queen Elizabeth II and the Greater London Council – GLC.
“We have applied fo full membership in the United Nations and if faced with GLC aggression we will ask for a UN peacekeeping force” he said.
He may need one. While the borders are quite new the GLC, London’s ruling body, is not likely to look lightly upon losing eight acres of London to squatters, even if it is an isolated slum in racially troubled Notting Hill.
The 120 citizens of the Free Independent Republic of Frestonia are squatters, illegal occupants of empty flats in half-demolished government-owned houses bordering what used to be Freston Street.
The Frestonians don’t see themselves as squatters – they say they are “caretakers and pioneer homesteaders” – and when the city ordered them to move out to make way for industrial development they opted for independence.
“Our case,” reads Frestonia’s application for membership in the United Nations, is that the GLC and the British government, through a long history of neglect and mismanagement of Frestonia, have forfeited the right to determine the future of the area.”
Although the Frestonians accuse Britain of “imperialism” the letter of independence says:
“We hope to establish cordial relations with Great Britain in the future and we shall of course allow free passage to all friendly visitors, with negligible passport and customs formalities.”
“We know people think we’re crazy.” said Geoff Gough-Bramley, proclaimed the Argentinian Ambassador in Frestonia, “but although we’re squatters, we’ve built up a super community in an area that was just left to die.
Several residents have assumed the titles of foreign envoys to Frestonia.
“If it hadn’t been for us,” he added, standing in the shadow of the four-lane West London motorway rumbling overhead, “these houses would have been rat-infested and derelict by now. We have proven that rundown areas like this are worth saving.”
For now, the GLC seems to be taking it all in stride.
“We’ll see them at the UN or anywhere else,” said a spokesman. “We have a lot of sympathy for many of the squatters, but the redevelopment of the area is in their own interests.”
The Frestonians don’t see it that way, and they are digging in. In addition to ther attempts to join the United Nations, they have sent in an application for membership in the Common Market.
“We are also contacting the smaller sympathetic nations like Cuba,” said Foreign Minister Rappaport-Bramley.
In support of their country’s Latin motto, “Nos Sumus Omnes Una Familia” (“We are all one family”) the Frestonians have all added Bramley to their surname, from the name of a stree in the area.
“The GLC’s policy in the past has been to rehouse families without splitting them up,” said Rappaport-Bramley. “This they are in no position to do with a family as big as ours. Therefore they have no alternative but to leave us to forge our own destiny as a nation.”
Admittedly, Frestonia has very little of an economic base. Many work “abroad,” by which they mean in other parts of London. But they claim there are blossoming lute-making, weaving, sign-making and pottery industries.
Jane Gough-Bramley, 29-year-old minister of tourism, claims there’s also income to be made in tourism. She has had mountain scenery painted on the corrugated iron fence.
“We might even open a hotel.” she said. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of takers if we offer a squatting weekend.”
