The gardening (non-violent) revolution

Gardening can change the world. The best way to bring people together, to stand in solidarity with their fellow sufferers, is, of course: food. Food is above politics; it is on the side of both the proletariat and the bourgeosie. But food can also be political.

Guerilla gardening allows food to belong the people again, rather than the supermarket. The idea is simple: find some land that's not being used, plant it, then eat the results! In an urban environment, this can be a bold statement. In Cuba, people overcame the loss of imported food and oil from the former USSR by literally digging up the streets and turning them into community gardens, or organopónicos. Now, people are working similar (slightly less drastic, perhaps) wonders in the UK: Todmorden, a town of some 17,000 people in the North East of England, has become an edible urban environment, with community growing spaces outside the railway station, the fire & police stations, the health centre, and in schools. Check it:
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/projects/community-growing.

The guerillas are mobilising here in Bath, too. There are several community garden sites in the city - http://www.transitionbath.org/guerrilla-gardening - with hopefully lots more to come. The Summerfield Road site, for instance, is happily housing raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, jostaberries, rhubarb, and some hazelnut trees. Here is a picture of some people having fun planting there:

In the words of the great fallen guerilla Cherry Guava: 'Gardening can make food happen, as if by magic. In fact, gardening is a form of magic.'