St Lucia Brisbane: Argument erupts over 'guerilla' community veggie patch by ... trends now
A 'neighbourhood watch leader' has been filmed trying to dismantle a makeshift community garden after complaining that it had been planted over a cricket pitch used by local kids.
The 'guerilla' veggie patch was created in St Lucia's Playground Park, Brisbane on March 24, only for a woman named Robyn to begin removing it with her bare hands days after a council compliance officer had issued a notice to cease and clear the area.
In the 13-minute video Robyn says that she's received 'quite a few complaints' from concerned community members, and that she's there to check the state of a cricket pitch beneath the garden.
Growing Forward, a community organisation that grows food 'on stolen land for anyone who needs it', claims it built the garden on 'public land' to help people self-organise, grow their own food and promote gardening.
Despite the good intentions of the group, several attempts - including that of local resident Robyn - have been made to remove the garden since it was built last week.
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Wild Footage: Local "Neighbourhood Watch" Leader Cracks the Shits, Tries to Wreck Garden, Hugely Embarrasses Self Get this—this woman, who told us her name is Robyn, just rocked up at the garden and started tearing it up, while another woman arrived and egged her on, then called the cops on bystanders. While people from the neighbourhood and members of our collective watched on, she kicked seedlings, stomped plants, threw handfuls of dirt in the air, and pulled down trellises, all while calling the gardeners "invaders," asking people "where are you actually from?", and implying that the people filming her do all of this were the aggressors. She seemed to think it was unusual for people to be sitting in a park and to start filming when a person starts destroying a community garden. Not a good look, Robyn. It's just a garden... We assert the right of people struggling to afford food, pay rent, or find a home at all to self-organise and grow their own food. This garden was established after the area was doorknocked and leafleted and it was built with the help of people living in the surrounding streets. We don't believe that absolutely every single person in an area has to agree on how a ten metre by five metre patch of grass is used—and of course members of the upper middle class and ruling class will always oppose the working class organising itself and building community. We expect more nuts will arrive and try to wreck this garden. Maybe they'll succeed, maybe they won't. We also expect the council will attempt to bulldoze it (they've tried twice already and failed after the community gathered and turned them away). Maybe they'll succeed, maybe they won't. It's not a good look though, is it? Right now, some local school kids are getting a tour of the garden, learning about how to grow their own food, and tired gardeners are taking a rest in the shade of some trees after fixing it up. It's just kinda nice? Nothing shit about any of it. We will do our best to support locals gardening in this spot for as long as it's possible, and we will build more gardens elsewhere too. We will continue not to ask council permission or go through years of bureaucracy (and have to rent individual plots) just to be able to grow our own food. Remember: it's just a garden.
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