Another Hometree destroyed - Dale Farm eviction

[auroraglacialis]

HNM - I would not really deduce that people who violate zoning regulations and try by legal means for 10 years to solve that issue are thus more likely to also commit theft, robbery or whatever other criminal activity. The previous inhabitants of the house I am living in violated building regulations by building a balcony to the house without permission (not knowing they needed permission). I probably violated building codes by building a carport and a shed in the garden. Yet I assure you that I have not stolen any items or money from anyone, nor have I dumped trash on public land (actually I usually return with more trash than I went out there) and definitely I have not practiced extortion or fraud. And while I cannot say with certainty, I do not think the person who lived in my room before me was anything but a law abiding apprentice of a plumber who thought having a balcony would be a good idea.

Re land ownership in general - I think private land ownership is not really good idea. Private land use is a different thing - if someone builds a house, tends a garden or plants an orchard, she and her family should also benefit most from that, though I think especially land used for food production is much better put into the hands of the communality and commonly tended to. This actually works, even if economists want us to think otherwise claiming for a "tragedy of the commons". But actually for hundreds of years there was land that was used by a community in a way so that all members profited and everyone was interested in keeping that land in a good shape because ones own livelihood as well as ones families and grandchildrens depends on it. Its not something one needs to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. And of course if people trashed the land, took more than their share or tried to claim private ownership, the community dealt with that appropriately (and sometimes even harshly).
And guess what, it still is in place in some pockets. There are still cow farmers in Bavaria that have the right to use land that is "owned" by the community as a whole - they take care of that land and they need to resist the state which thinks that this model is no longer modern enough and wants that land to be owned by only one person or a company.

I think there is a fundamental difference between regarding land as a common property that belongs to all and one has the right to be on that land, use some things of that land and make a living with the land in a way that future generations can do the same - and claiming land is "free" in the sense that it is not owned by anyone, so anyone can just claim exclusive ownership and shut others out. A land that is "free" does not belong to anyone alone but belongs to all and should be treated that way. Not as "Its not mine so I dont care", but rather as "it is mine and everyone elses, too, so I DO care"