Eco-Village @ Runnymede, Eco-Socialism In Action?

[mark at tlio.org.uk]

written by Tim Dalinian Jones, 24.07.2012
Ref: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/07/498201.html

In the wake of the English Revolution, 1649 saw rural eco-socialist 
communes created, at St George's Hill in Surrey and elsewhere, by 
Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, aka the True Levellers [1] – 
centuries before 'ecology', 'socialism', and 'commune' were coined and 
became attractive radical beacons of hope for a better future for all. 
In 1871, the Parisian Communards created a city-wide urban commune 
[2], and English libertarian socialist William Morris moved in to 
Kelmscott Manor on the River Thames, where he'd be inspired to write 
his 1890 masterpiece: a post-revolution sci-fi novel called ‘News from 
Nowhere' [3] – of liberty, depopulated cities, love, agrarian commune 
villages, and happiness, all set in a moneyless, stateless, 
nationless, class-free, and ecologically harmonious global egalitarian 
community. In 2012, a Diggers Eco-Village commune was founded by the 
River Thames at Runnymede [4] – a 'Come & Try It' beacon of hope for 
the kind of low environmental impact future our species and our 
biosphere so urgently need to co-create. How large a part will it play 
in helping make a post-capitalist eco-socialist global community into 
a 21st century reality? And will YOU, dear reader, Come & Try It out 
for size and comfort, rest and happiness?

ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION — IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME COMING

“I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I've been running ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will”
~ Sam Cooke, from ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ (1963)
» music video with lyrics, 3:13 – 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-X9JkM9Bgo

On 15 June 2015, folk will be commemorating the 800th anniversary of 
Magna Carta – The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of 
the Liberties of the Forest – born by the river in a little tent, at 
Runnymede, Surrey, UK, and signed reluctantly by King John of England 
on 15 June 1215. Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an 
English King by a group of his subjects (the feudal barons) in an 
attempt to limit his powers by law and establish/protect their rights. 
For more info, see:
» Magna Carta 800th Anniversary website – http://magnacarta800th.com

So at Runnymede, there’s at least an 800ish-year-long heritage of the 
hoi polloi contending against the powers that be, and winning 
liberties for the common people through collective struggle. But what 
of Surrey as a county?

“Digger — any of a group of agrarian communists who flourished in 
England in 1649-50 and were led by Gerrard Winstanley and William 
Everard. In April 1649 about 20 poor men assembled at St. George's 
Hill, Surrey, and began to cultivate the common land. These Diggers 
held that the English Civil Wars had been fought against the King and 
the great landowners; now that Charles I had been executed [on 30 Jan 
1649 – TDJ], land should be made available for the very poor to 
cultivate. (Food prices had reached record heights in the late 1640s.) 
The numbers of the Diggers more than doubled during 1649. Their 
activities alarmed the Commonwealth government and roused the 
hostility of local landowners, who were rival claimants to the common 
lands. The Diggers were harassed by legal actions and mob violence, 
and by the end of March 1650 their colony was dispersed. The Diggers 
themselves abjured the use of force. The Diggers also called 
themselves True Levellers, but their communism was denounced by the 
leaders of the Levellers.”
~ Encyclopaedia Britannica, quoted in ‘The English Diggers (1649-50)’
» lots more Diggers info – http://www.diggers.org/diggers/digg_eb.html

Like me, you may have first heard of the Diggers of 1649 from the 
lyrics of the socialist anthem ‘World Turned Upside Down’, beautifully 
written by Leon Rosselson in 1974 by adapting the inspiring words of 
Gerrard Winstanley [1], and popularised as a single released by Billy 
Bragg in 1985. The song gives a richly detailed yet succinct lyrical 
summary of one one of the most radical factions to emerge from the 
1640s English Revolution – and here’s a live festival rendition by 
Billy himself:
• Billy Bragg – "World Turned Upside Down"
— playing live at the Women Chainmakers Festival, Dudley, on 15 Sep 
2007
» live music video, 3:24 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stmiyeLsErw
» lyrics – http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858584509/

So the county of Surrey can proudly claim, within its heritage, that 
363 years ago it saw the foundation of the capitalist epoch’s very 
first rural eco-socialist commune, at St George's Hill. And what of 
the River Thames, whose meanderings have formed the Runnymede 
water-meadows?

The first great European exemplar of an urban commune was created by 
the Parisian working class in 1871 [2], and in that year the 
magnificent English libertarian socialist William Morris moved in to 
Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire, several score miles upstream on the 
River Thames from Runnymede. While cognisant of the class war thrown 
up by the industrial revolution, Morris was inspired – by the 
potential for peace, rest, and happiness inherent in rural living – to 
write his masterpiece of a post-revolution, futurist, sci-fi novel: 
'News from Nowhere' (1890) [3] – of liberty for all, depopulated 
cities, love, agrarian commune villages, and happiness, all set in a 
moneyless, stateless, nationless, class-free, and ecologically 
harmonious global egalitarian community.

"Go back again, now you have seen us, and your outward eyes have 
learned that in spite of all the infallible maxims of your day there 
is yet a time of rest in store for the world, when mastery has changed 
into fellowship — but not before. Go back again, then, and while you 
live you will see all round you people engaged in making others live 
lives which are not their own, while they themselves care nothing for 
their own real lives — men who hate life though they fear death. Go 
back and be the happier for having seen us, for having added a little 
hope to your struggle. Go on living while you may, striving, with 
whatsoever pain and labour needs must be, to build up little by little 
the new day of fellowship, and rest, and happiness."
~ William Morris, from 'News from Nowhere', his post-capitalist 
future-glimpsing novel
» about – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_from_nowhere

The ‘fellowship, and rest, and happiness’ I enjoyed during my 2.5 day 
stay with the Diggers-2012 in their Runnymede Eco-Village have 
inspired me to spread the word of their bold 21st century re-igniting 
of that radical spark, which was first lit by Surrey’s Diggers-1649 – 
and to tell of the glimpse-of-our-future-happiness feelings provoked 
by visiting their eco-socialist commune (much the same as Morris’s 
protagonist William Guest did in 'News from Nowhere’, on his return to 
19th century Britain, from his glimpse of a post-revolutionary new day 
of fellowship, and rest, and happiness).

• Diggers-2012 Runnymede Eco-Village
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com


DECLARATION OF THE DIGGERS-2012
“We: peaceful people, declare our intention to go and cultivate the 
disused land of this island; to build dwellings and live together in 
common by the sweat of our brows.
We have one call:  every person in this country and the world should 
have the right to live on the disused land, to grow food and to build 
a shelter. This right should apply whether you have money or not. We 
say that no country can be considered free, until this right is 
available to all.
With our current system in crisis we need a radically different way of 
growing our communities. We call on the government and all landowners 
to let those who are willing, make good use of the disused land. Land 
that is currently held from us by force.  By our actions, we seek to 
show how we can live without destroying the planet or ourselves. Free 
from the yoke of debt and rent, our labors can be directed to the 
benefit of all.
Though we may be oppressed for our actions, we will strive to remain 
peaceful. But we are committed to our cause and will not cease from 
our efforts until we have achieved our goal.”
~ Diggers-2012, on their own website, 20 May 2012
» source – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com/about/

“Their aim is simple: to remove themselves from the corporate economy, 
to house themselves, grow food and build a community on abandoned 
land. Already the crops the settlers had planted had been destroyed 
once; the day after my visit they were destroyed again. But the 
repeated destruction, removals and arrests have not deterred them.
The young men and women camping at Runnymede are trying to revive a 
different tradition, largely forgotten in the new age of robber 
barons. They are seeking, in the words of the Diggers of 1649, to make 
“the Earth a common treasury for all … not one lording over another, 
but all looking upon each other as equals in the creation.” The 
tradition of resistance, the assertion of independence from the laws 
devised to protect the landlords’ ill-gotten property, long pre-date 
and long post-date the Magna Carta. But today they scarcely feature in 
national consciousness.”
~ George Monbiot, from ‘The Promised Land’, 16 Jul 2012
» article – http://www.monbiot.com/2012/07/16/the-promised-land/
  

WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES LAW, RESISTANCE BECOMES DUTY

Diggers-1649
“When these clay-bodies are in grave, and children stand in place.
This shews we stood for truth and peace and freedom in our days;
And true born sons we shall appear of England that's our mother,
No Priests nor Lawyers wiles t’embrace, their slavery we'll discover.

…yet my mind was not at rest, because nothing was acted, and thoughts 
ran in me, that words and writings were all nothing, and must die, for 
action is the life of all, and if thou dost not act, thou dost 
nothing.”
~ Gerrard Winstanley, from ‘A Watch-Word to the City of London and the 
Armie’, 1649
» many more wise words – 
http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/quotes.htm

Diggers-2012
“My cause is the right to live and to grow food on the land which is 
unused and without causing harm, harmoniously and sustainably. There 
is sufficient land in this country to live freely and low impact in 
this country. To be honest I do not feel I have broken any of my own 
concept of what is right and wrong. I accept that my actions may cause 
alarm to the large land owners of this country and in a way it is 
strange that Alarm has been criminalised.”
~ Simon Moore, resident of Runnymede Eco-Village, from the dock of 
Guildford Magistrates Court, 12 Jun 2012
» source – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12396

• Double Eviction Attempts: FAIL
? being a multi-person story-telling of the failure of the High Court, 
police and security personnel to evict Runnymede Eco-Village on either 
Wed 11 or Thu 12 Jul 2012 (more video links are in the ‘Video 
Coverage’ section below)
» video, 7:36 – http://bambuser.com/v/2822559#t=58s

Like the Diggers-1649, our courageous Diggers-2012 are facing 
hostility and harassment from those who believe that they can and do 
own parts of our home world. In Europe and elsewhere, land ownership 
has for so long been a fundamental right  claimed through the use of 
violent force by the ruling classes of successive economic epochs 
(from Roman patricians, through feudal aristocracies, to capitalist 
corporate bodies) that most folk just take it for granted as a 
well-known “fact” that common people are permanently excluded from 
making a living for themselves on unused/disused land. But the 
Diggers-1649 and the Diggers-2012, through both their words AND more 
importantly their actions, do challenge and contend against such an 
institutional “fact” – since it is, after all, merely a story, told by 
a bunch of tyrants, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nearly 
all of our human ancestors, and all of our universal human psychology, 
originate in a time when much more wise stories about our relationship 
to our home world were common currency; for example…


NO MAN HAS ANY RIGHT TO BUY AND SELL THE EARTH FOR PRIVATE GAIN
Let’s lend an ear to wiser and older stories of humankind walking 
softly on the Earth, and also to the horror provoked in such wise 
story-tellers by the obnoxious violence with which the white European 
ruling class seized the land which had supported the story-tellers’ 
people for millennia. These tales happen to come from First Nations 
folk of North America, but indigenous hunter-gather peoples of all 
continents possess similar, parallel, analogous wisdom.

"One does not sell the land people walk on."
~ Crazy Horse

"My reason teaches me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave 
it to his children to live upon. So long as they occupy and cultivate 
it, they have a right to the soil. Nothing can be sold but such things 
as can be carried away.”
~ Black Hawk

“What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land 
is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and 
all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody 
and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to 
him?”
~ Massasoit

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never 
kept but one: they promised to take our land and they took it. It was 
not hard to see that the white people coveted every inch of land on 
which we lived. Greed. Humans wanted the last bit of ground which 
supported Indian feet. It was land – it has ever been land – for which 
the White man oppresses the Indian and to gain possession of which he 
commits any crime. Treaties that have been made are vain attempts to 
save a little of the fatherland, treaties holy to us by the smoke of 
the pipe – but nothing is holy to the White man. Little by little, 
with greed and cruelty unsurpassed by the animal, he has taken all. 
The loaf is gone and now the White man wants the crumbs.”
~ Luther Standing Bear
» native American quotes source – 
http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/NA_Quotes.asp

“We come to work the lands in common, and to make the waste grounds 
grow. This Earth divided we will make whole, so it will be a common 
treasury for all. The sin of property we do disdain – no man has any 
right to buy and sell the Earth for private gain. By theft and murder, 
they took the land; now everywhere the walls spring up at their 
command.”
~ Billy Bragg / Leon Rosselson / Gerrard Winstanley / Diggers-1649
» lyrical source – 
http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858584509/

In the vast geological time-span of modern human existence (c. 200,000 
years), the relatively short-lived skim of class-riven societies (c. 
7,000 years) – in which “owning” the huge majority of the productive 
land is the violence-enforced privilege of a ruling elite – can be 
seen as an unnatural, unjust and merely temporary aberration of our 
species’ long-term history. If we are to play our part in creating a 
future society fit for our evolved human psychology, and in which we 
consciously fit ourselves into our planet’s ecosphere, rather than 
vainly attempting to dominate and thereby destroying it, then we 
necessarily need to abolish the “sin of property” in land ownership by 
the ruling class.

“If we go to prison we'll just come back … I'm not saying that this is 
the only way. But at least we're creating an opportunity for young 
people to step out of the system.”
~ Gareth Newnham, Eco-Villager

However, no ruling class ever voluntarily gives up the “rights” it has 
won through violence. So it is always a task for we 99%ers – the 
common people – to challenge and to contend against the oft repeated 
“WE Own This Land!” story, as told by the 1% boss class, and 
reinforced by the organisational expressions of their violent class 
rule – the courts, bailiffs, police, and privatised “security” forces. 
Runnymede Eco-Village is a fine example of the common people doing 
just that – demonstrating by the propaganda of the deed that another 
story (eg: “This Earth divided we will make whole, so it will be a 
common treasury for all”) leads to a way better and far greater future 
for people and planet. That’s why some of us see this marvellous 
Eco-Village as such a grand beacon of hope for humankind’s future – 
and also as a wonderful place to be, in its own right.
  

A NEW DAY OF FELLOWSHIP, AND REST, AND HAPPINESS

“Coopers Hill Woods – A natural haven
With carpets of flowers in the spring, sunny glades in the summer, and 
fabulous fungi in the autumn, the wooded slopes of Coopers Hill are 
wonderful to visit in any season. Leave the woods at the top of 
Coopers Hill for magnificent views across the river and meadows 
below.”
~ from the National Trust’s Runnymede website
» the countryside – 
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/runnymede/things-to-see-and-do/page-2/

By accident of birth, I was lucky enough to be born and raised in the 
Cheshire countryside, and (in my teenage years) to have the freedom to 
give free rein to my exploratory curiosity – by roaming freely, 
inflatable boat in rucksack, over the wooded sandstone hills of 
Frodsham and Helsby, and the woodland tributary valleys of the River 
Weaver. So I discovered experientially, and early on in life, what I 
later found to be true for our species as a whole: one of the reasons 
we find so much beauty, majesty, and happiness in woodland-near-water 
is that this habitat formed a major part of our evolutionary adaptive 
environment, particularly in the east African rift valley, and 
elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Our sense of belonging in highly 
biodiverse riverine woodland is a direct consequence of countless 
generations of our ancestors actually belonging to this kind of 
habitat, and making a living there by their own self-sufficient 
labour, as part of a hunter-gatherer tribe.

As you may detect from the photos above, I found it soooo easy to fall 
in love with the deciduous temperate forest ecosystem that covers the 
River-Thames-facing side of Coopers Hill. Through the interweaving of 
our species-memory (of our belonging as woodland creatures), and happy 
childhood memories (of tree-covered Cheshire hillsides), I experienced 
an unequalled sense of habitat-connected bliss while wandering through 
Coopers Hill Woods. And that’s as nothing compared to the uplifting 
feelings of belonging and connectedness that arose during my stay at 
the Runnymede Eco-Village.
  
A common feature of Eco-Village Open Days is an open-ended and 
egalitarian discussion concerning land rights. On Sat 07 Jul 2012, our 
discussion took place in the open air, at the Magna Carta Monument, 
just 400m down the hill from the Eco-Village. I did my best to record 
what was said with a view to publishing that audio track here, but 
despite the recording software appearing to have captured 1.5 hours 
worth of sound, on retuning home the recording was significant by its 
absence, and even an undelete utility app failed to find it – so my 
apologies to all for this technical mishap.

During our land rights discussion, I highlighted how open, 
free-ranging, radical discussion circles are a common feature of grass 
roots revolutionary change throughout the capitalist epoch, from the 
Levellers choosing which issues to raise during the Putney Debates in 
the English Revolution [5], via the English Chartists, Parisian 
Communards, and Russian Soviets, to the global Occupy movement of 2011 
? 2012 ? on-going. Afterwards, while sitting together around the 
village longhouse fire, not only did the Eco-Villagers suggest to me 
that formal meetings within the Eco-Village were kinda unnecessary, 
because open, free-ranging, radical discussion was happening all the 
time – but that’s what I discovered to be very much a living truth of 
village life. The majority of my stay was taken up by sitting in a 
circle of Eco-Villagers around the fire in the communal longhouse, the 
constituent members of which varied over time, chatting and discussing 
about everything under the sun, including but not limited to…
• practical and operational camp experiences, including group process
• forest stewardship – the National Trust forest stewards are both 
pleased and impressed by the Eco-Village’s intentionally low 
environmental impact, and by the villagers’ care for the forest 
ecosystem in which they have chosen to embed themselves
• land ownership and land rights
• inclusivity, and how to increase it, especially around women’s 
participation
• science as a collective progressive process cf. “personal science”
• liberation struggles, and particularly mad pride (personal interest: 
I have bipolar disorder)
• spirituality, religion, agnosticism, and militant atheism
• quantum mechanics, and especially the Higgs mechanism (following the 
Higgs boson success reported by two of CERN’s LHC detector teams)
• Eco-Village history, including police relations
• a whole bunch of other stuff my old brain cannot recall in the 
moment

Inspired by the outcome of one villager asking another one afternoon, 
“Who are you?”, on a clear and dark Sunday evening, I facilitated a 
go-round based discussion where each person asked the person to their 
left that simplest of questions, “Who are you?”  Only in very rare 
circumstances indeed have I ever encountered a group of people so 
willing to share of themselves so deeply, with such clarity, honesty, 
and vulnerability, while including in their circle of trust a newcomer 
who is actually facilitating their sharing. An obvious conclusion is 
that village life had already forged immense bonds of trust, 
solidarity, and community among the Eco-Villagers, to an extent I’ve 
previously encountered only in groups who’ve been together much, much 
longer. But their openness to not only welcoming in a newcomer (albeit 
one demonstrating useful prior experience in camp life, group process, 
and radical history-&-politics), but also allowing such a newcomer to 
facilitate an egalitarian, deep-&-meaningful, group discussion on 
personal identity was uniquely wonderful to behold.

Another villager reported welling up with tears of joy on realising 
just how much of communal life he’d been deprived of for so long, in 
comparison to the rich sense of authentic human community he’d 
experienced as an Eco-Villager. And I too was overcome by tears of joy 
when it came time to leave, because it only took a couple of days of 
being there to realise that the Runnymede commune is re-discovering 
the hugely significant benefits – emotional, psychological, and (dare 
I say it) spiritual – of communal, self-sustaining, collective life in 
a temperate forest habitat. On that basis alone, I highly commend to 
you, dear reader, a multi-day stay at Runnymede Eco-Village – or even 
better, why not take up residence there and grow the village, even as 
it helps you to grow?

“We invite everybody to join us, especially those who have become 
dispossessed due to the unequal and cruel nature of our system of 
crises.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

If you want to avoid the nauseatingly awful, weeks-long, corporate 
culture domination festival that masquerades as ‘London 2012 
Olympics’, what better way than an extended stay with the 
authentically grassroots Diggers-2012 at their Runnymede Eco-Village?


CONTACTING RUNNYMEDE ECO-VILLAGE
For example: about your impending visit, stay, intention to become a 
resident villager – or owt else, really (support, donations, you name 
it):

• Phone – 07963 475 195 or 07905 283 114 – mobile phone / text message
• Email – diggers2012 at yahoo dot co dot uk
» Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Diggers2012
» Twitter – http://twitter.com/freetheland/

“Please bring camping equipment – tent, sleeping bag, cup, supplies 
etc. – if you wish to join the camp. Whilst scouting around the area 
we have discovered ample disused land on which to grow food and 
communities.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404


FINDING YOUR WAY TO RUNNYMEDE ECO-VILLAGE
Please see these 13 images above for maps, aerial photography, terrain 
views, etc., &c. to help you find your way to Runnymede Eco-Village. 
The six short links in these captions will take you to the relevant 
cloud-based mapping resources for the related images. You can click on 
the images above for a full-resolution edition, which you could then 
print out or copy to a tablet or phablet, in order to show a taxi 
driver or a bus driver where you’re after going.

02. Eco-Village Location – Up Close – http://goo.gl/maps/hlXQ
03. Eco-Village Location – Far Out – http://goo.gl/maps/fGrZ
04. Eco-Village Location – Map – http://goo.gl/maps/BkIf
05. Eco-Village Location – Over Coopers Hill
06. Eco-Village Location – Up Coopers Hill
07. Eco-Village Location – Landscape and Lanes – 
http://binged.it/N1MYOB
08. Eco-Village Location – Street Map – http://binged.it/OaUIbd
09. Eco-Village Location – OS map – http://binged.it/N1MIPn
10. Eco-Village by Rail – London Waterloo for Egham Station – a Well 
Connected Terminus Station
11. Eco-Village by Rail – Egham Station, only 37 minutes from London 
Waterloo
A1. Cycle parking under the spreading cedar tree
A2. Runnymede Air Forces Memorial
A3. Magna Carta Monument

“The nearest train station is Egham, about 25 mins walk.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

Egham overground rail station is only 37 minutes down the track from 
London Waterloo overground rail terminus station, which connects 
directly with:
• Waterloo East overground rail station
• Waterloo underground station:
— Bakerloo line
— Northern line
— Jubilee line
— Waterloo & City line

Here are three cloud-based journey planner apps which can help you 
plan your visit to Runnymede Eco-Village:

• Transport for London – Journey Planner
» automated journey planning – http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk

• National Rail Enquires – Journey Planner
» automated journey planning – 
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search

• Transport Direct – Route Planner
» automated route planning – http://www.transportdirect.info

“If you want to get nearer the camp by public transport you can get on 
the Slough bus from Egham town and get off at the stop before the top 
of Priest Hill, Englefield Green. That saves you a walk up a steep 
hill and is ten mins from the camp.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404


YOU DON’T ONLY HAVE TO TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
How about these 1075 words of George Monbiot, climate activist, 
writer, public intellectual, and all round good egg? George visited 
Runnymede Eco-Village in the week of the double-eviction FAIL in 
mid-July 2012, and published this piece via the Guardian’s Comment Is 
Free section:
• ‘After 800 years, the barons are back in control of Britain’, by 
George Monbiot, Comment Is Free at The Guardian, Mon 16 Jul 2012
— “The Magna Carta forced King John to give away powers. But big 
business now exerts a chilling grip on the workforce.”
» article – 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/barons-in-control-of-britain

And there are many more reliable reports of Runnymede Eco-Village too. 
For instance…

• ‘Windsor Eco-Occupation (regularly updated)’ by rikki, Indymedia 
London, 10 Jun 2012
» video-led reports – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12379

• ‘Olympic ASBO arrest @ Windsor Eco village’ by Dean, Indymedia 
London, 11 Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12392

• ‘Update! Olympic ASBO arrest Released!!!’ by Dean, Indymedia London, 
11 Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12396

• ‘Latest From the Diggers - Join Us!’ by Lucca, Indymedia London, 13 
Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

Video Coverage
» Live Broadcasts – http://bambuser.com/channel/Diggers2012

» YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/diggers2012

» Interviews – [to follow, once editing is complete – TDJ]


And What Is More…
If you come across other info sources and articles about Runnymede 
Eco-Village, please do add links to them in a comment below this 
feature.

And of course there is also plenty of info from the Eco-Villagers 
themselves via their own web presence:
  
• Diggers-2012 Runnymede Eco-Village
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com
» Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Diggers2012
» Twitter – http://twitter.com/freetheland/


VISITING RUNNYMEDE
While the Runnymede Eco-Village is undoubtedly by far the most 
engaging occurrence in the Runnymede area, nevertheless if you’re 
planning to visit, stay, or become a resident, then there are other 
attractions you may desire to check out.

Natural Beauty
• ‘Langham Pond – Runnymede’ by Alan Bostock
— pictures of the site of special scientific interest
» photo gallery webpage – 
http://www.runnymede2015.com/langhamponds.htm

• Runnymede Visitor Information – National Trust
» website – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/runnymede/


History Lynx
• Magna Carta
The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of 
the Forest – granted (under considerable duress) by King John at 
Runnymede on 15 June 1215
» full text – http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/magna2.html
» Magna Carta 800th Anniversary website – http://magnacarta800th.com

• Runnymede Air Forces Memorial
“The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, 
near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men 
and women from the British Empire who were lost in operations from 
World War II. All of those recorded have no known grave anywhere in 
the world, and many were lost without trace. The name of each of these 
airmen and airwomen is engraved into the stone walls of the memorial, 
according to country and squadron. It is a Grade II* listed building 
and was completed in 1953.”
~ Wikipedians, from ‘Air Forces Memorial’
» illustrated article – 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Forces_Memorial


Poetry Corner
• “The Reeds of Runnymede”, by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
— A poem commemorating the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede, 
Surrey, on 15 June 1215
» poem – http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_runnymede.htm


MISSING IN INACTION
As ‘regular readers’ of mine may have realised, this is my first piece 
of photovideojournalistic activism since…
• State Deploys ‘Divide & Conquer’ Tactics on 09 Nov [2011]
» photo-red action report – 
https://london.indymedia.org/articles/10950

I’ve been ‘missing in inaction’ due to a major episode of severe 
bipolar depression, brought on my the British state’s attempts to 
screw over sick and disabled people by attacking our rights to 
benefits – to try to help lower our ‘burden’ on the profits of the UK 
capitalist class. Any road up, I’ve successfully negotiated the 
privatised assault on my living standards by ATOS, and emerged 
victorious, to renew my championing of a way better and far greater 
future for people and planet than the permanent crises by which 
decadent and decomposing global capitalism are jeopardising our 
survival.

This feature took waaay longer to create than I anticipated, so I 
thank my Eco-Village comrades for their forbearance (no doubt many 
stopped wondering ‘Whatever happened to that Indymedia piece we were 
promised by Tim?’ some time ago) – I’m finding slow-&-high-quality to 
be the radical antithesis of the time-is-money quick-&-dirty approach, 
and far better suited to keeping me sane. I can but hope that you 
agree that it was well worth the wait.


Up the Revolution,

Tim Dalinian Jones


Acquiring These Photos
The pix above are auto-downsized versions for onscreen webpage 
display. If you would like the free, edited, full-sized versions (up 
to 3072x2304px, 7.1Mpx, typically c. 3 MB) just click on an image: 
bingo! You can also right-click on an image and choose ‘Open Link in 
New Tab' (or similar) to open a full-sized version alongside the 
report webpage. If you'd like to take a copy of the full-sized image 
version, right-click on it and choose ‘Save Image As...' (or similar). 
Share and Enjoy!

All these photos are 'CopyLeft'
This means you are free to copy and distribute any of my photos you 
find here, under the following license:
• Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported 
License
» Human-readable summary - 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
» Attribution: tim.dalinian.jones at gmail.com

Footnotes-&-Lynx
[1] Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, aka the True Levellers
» about Gerard Winstanley – 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrard_Winstanley
» about the Diggers – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers
» the Digger Archives – http://www.diggers.org/top_entry.htm

[2] In 1871, the Parisian Communards created a city-wide urban commune
» about the Paris Commune – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
» about the Parisian Communards – 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communards
» History of the Paris Commune – 
http://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/

[3] English libertarian socialist William Morris, and his 1890 
masterpiece post-revolution sci-fi novel 'News from Nowhere'
» about William Morris – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris
» about 'News from Nowhere' – 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_from_Nowhere
• ‘News from Nowhere’ eBook at Project Gutenberg – “Offers 40,000 free 
eBooks to download”
» free access, free to download – http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3261
• ‘News from Nowhere’ at LibriVox – “Our goal is to make all public 
domain books available as free audio books”
» free audiobook download – 
http://librivox.org/news-from-nowhere-by-william-morris/

[4] The Diggers-2012 Eco-Village commune by the River Thames at 
Runnymede
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com

[5] The Putney Debates in the English Revolution – a series of 
discussions from March to November 1647, between members of the New 
Model Army, a number of the participants being Levellers, concerning 
the makeup of a new constitution for England.
» about – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putney_Debates
And as the giant in ‘Twin Peaks’ was wont to say, “It is happening 
again…”

Subject: [Campaignforrealdemocracy] Urgent Ideas Request - October 
Levellers' Event
From: Mark Barrett via lists.aktivix.org [marknbarrett at googlemail 
dot com]
Date: 14 July 2012 [Bastille Day! – TDJ]

Dear Friends and Occupiers :)
  
Levellers Event - Urgent Request for Ideas

Following GA endorsement for the concept back in December, you may 
have heard some of us (from the Occupy London Economics, Real 
Democracy Working Groups, and Commons Grouping) are attempting to 
facilitate a 21st Century Putney Debates* / Levellers' Event this 
coming October.

As part of the preparation, I'm casting around for everyone's ideas on 
what this event should be about. For the first stage, everyone who 
wishes the event to be a success is invited to say, in three sentences 
what they would like to happen, and what they want from the Levellers' 
event.

This request for input in three sentences is stage one in a three 
stage planning process being developed by Sean B of EWG, using Agile.

So, if you are inspired by the idea of holding an event inspired by 
this  please get in touch with your ideas on what it should be about, 
and what you would like to get out of it. In case you're wondering the 
request for three separate bullet point-like sentences is important 
for the collaborative Agile process which Sean and John B both know 
all about.

Anyway, this is getting kind of urgent as we are nearly in August. 
Also I will be away for Ramadan, so please help us get the show on the 
road in good time by sending something back by latest Wednesday 
evening so then I can process the responses and send them all in one 
batch to Sean for stage two to go forward with all your wonderful 
ideas in the mix!

More info on the history of the Putney Debates* is set out below.

Love and Solidarity

Mark

[*The original Putney Debates, groundbreaking in their time started at 
St Mary's Church (Giles Fraser's old parish) on October 28th 1647. 
They ran until November 11th, considering the future of the English 
Constitution after the removal of the King from the old political 
order. And of course the Levellers, who sought a democratic 
constitution based on an 'Agreement of the People,' were famously 
excluded from the final political settlement.  You can read more about 
them here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putney_Debates ]
_______________________________________________
Campaignforrealdemocracy mailing list

[6] Eco-villager quotes – published in:
• ‘After 800 years, the barons are back in control of Britain’, by 
George Monbiot, Comment Is Free at The Guardian, Mon 16 Jul 2012
» article – 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/barons-in-control-of-britain

  

tim.dalinian.jones at gmail.com (Tim Dalinian Jones)
- Original article on IMC London: 
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12578