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Let us briefly leave the fraught and disputed foreshore and seabed of Aotearoa and visit the Moscow, the river that flows through Russia’s capital city. Back in the 1950s, when Russia was under a Communist dictatorship and private property was outlawed, an area on the river’s far bank was given to peasants to grow food. It became Rechnik, a picturesque village of simple wooden homes surrounded by orchards and vegetable gardens.

Rechnik - wrecked by Russia's nouveau rich

Unfortunately for the peasants, this land – once on the outskirts of the city – is now within commuting distance of central Moscow and worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The city authorities want it back for a “public park” (yeah, right) and they have begun to demolish the houses. The residents have a legal right to occupation, according to human rights lawyer Yevgeny Arkhipov. Here’s hoping Yevgeny wears a bullet-proof vest at all times.

Winging our way westward, we arrive at the inner London suburb of Hackney Wick. This is where, in 1924, philanthropic aristocrat Major Arthur Villiers led the Manor Gardens project to make allotments of land available “in perpetuity” (and the Major could afford good lawyers). On these plots, local slum-dwellers could grow fresh produce to supplement their poor diet.

The slums have gone, but the English people’s love of allotments endures. Allotments produced food that helped the Brits to win World War 2. Major Villiers’ project became a fertile haven where, in recent times, neighbours of various ethnicities have worked together, swapping gardening lore and recipes, and they no doubt helped to inspire the movie Grow Your Own.

Eternity, said Woody Allen, is an awfully long time – especially towards the end. But these days, perpetuity is somewhat shorter.

Manor Gardens, ruined by land-grabbers in the name of sport. Picture by diamondgeezer.blogspot.com

Manor Gardens allotments lay just inside the boundary of the site designated for the 2012 Olympics. The land was compulsorily acquired by the Labour Government’s London Development Authority (desperate to secure the Olympic Games and the next election, and blot out memories of the catastrophic £1 billion-plus Millennium Dome just across the river) although it will only be needed for a few weeks to provide pedestrian access.

Allotment holders came up with an imaginative yet practical alternative design that would have transformed their traditional arrangements (featuring rusty old baths and bits of third-hand corrugated iron). Spectators would have been treated to the unusual experience of strolling to the stadium through attractive, semi-rural surroundings in the heart of London.

Lord Seb Coe, in happier times

It sounded like a reasonable compromise, but sharp suits from the Olympic Delivery Authority – led by sports czar and grasping artificial aristocrat Lord Sebastian Coe – were hostile. In reality, the Olympics are Corporate America in Lycra. Official food and drink sales are strictly licensed by Coe and Co and apparently only supplied by Kraft-owned Cadbury, McDonalds and Coca Cola (for goodly fees). Perhaps the owners of the Olympics feared a nightmare scenario of ordinary walkers pausing on the way to buy a few freshly picked tomatoes, lettuce leaves and basil for their lunchtime salad.

The gardeners were fobbed off with a piece of inferior-quality land somewhat further away, in Marsh Lane – the ancient name may provide a clue as to its condition. This move has upset another community that has lost some of its precious open space, and long-suffering taxpayers have so far forked out well over £1 million for remedial drainage work.

Similar stories crop up with depressing frequency. From China to India, from Africa to the Americas, and all points in-between, small groups struggle to retain ways of life that have evolved to suit the places they inhabit and love – while governments and special interest groups, energised by big money and grandiose ideas, remain blind to the intrinsic value of what is already there. Major Villiers made his fortune at Barings Bank. That bank, established in 1762, was destroyed in 1995 by another opportunistic vandal, Nick Leeson.

Footnote: In 1649, a radical offshoot from Oliver Cromwell’s army declared England’s land to be a common treasury and began to plant fruit and vegetables on common land in south and central England. It was a response to a shortage of food and what the Diggers saw as the misuse of productive land by large landowners. On BBC Radio 4, Alice Roberts meets The New Diggers – groups and individuals across the UK who are determined to tackle the looming food crisis by making wasteland grow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbz09

The Olympian rape of East London is described in detail here:

http://www.metamute.org/en/The-Regeneration-Games

Other background information about how dodgy people steal honest people’s property is at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8482837.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_Garden_Allotments

http://www.lifeisland.org

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2007/apr/08/features.magazine37