Blog post

Rent Strike Weekender

Lily Dessau14 September 2016

Image for blog post entitled Rent Strike Weekender

The Rent Strike Collective is hosting a weekend of events from 16th-18th September at DIY Space for London to transform a spark of local movement into national collective action!



This year, students from UCL, Goldsmiths, Roehampton and the Courtauld Institute took action over the soaring rates of student accommodation. UCL conceded, compensating students and implementing rent freezes and finally a 2.5% rent reduction in the university’s entire housing stock. But more importantly, collectively the universities put the question of unaffordable rent under scrutiny and demonstrated the power of direct action, which Rent Strike Collective are continuing through this weekend of events with support from the Radical Housing Network, Plan C and the NUS.

From the organisers: ‘The UCL rent strike won over £1,000,000 following a five-month strike, proving how concerted action centred on housing can win students material concessions for a better life. It’s time to start spreading the strike.’

The #rentstrike ~ weekender ~ is an opportunity for us to share methods and tactics for launching rent strikes on our own campuses, in a horizontal space where we can learn, participate, meet and scheme with each other. Workshops will be facilitated by activists from the UCL rent strike and special guests.’

The event is hosted by DIY Space for London, 96-108 Ormside Street, London SE15 1TF. Participation is free: register here.

For travel, accommodation and food support, click here 

The full programme listing is on Facebook. Highlights include:

Saturday 17th:

12.00: workshop: organising to win / workshop: planning an offensive
15.00: workshop: escalate! / workshop: action!

Sunday 18th:

11.00: propaganda workshop / banner making / WHAT DO WE DO NEXT?

Get in touch for more information: rentstrikeweekender@gmail.com

Donate to the strike fund.

#RENTSTRIKE

Filed under: housing, students