Citizens in Glasgow
are up in arms over a council proposal to transform historic George Square , into a corporate “retail-led”
space with crass “public art”. Many rightly see it is an attempt to drive the
political and social life of the city out of this important square
Without any consultation, the Labour-controlled council has
unveiled six options, each more corporate than the one before, in a £15 million
project, most of which will be borrowed against future business rates income.
The plans will ban protests and demonstrations from the
space. No longer will councillors be within hearing distance of rallies outside
their cosy offices. And people simply sitting and enjoying the space, eating
their lunch or chatting with friends, will in future be surrounded with the
pressure to buy more stuff, or driven out by barriers for big corporate events.
There has been an attempt to play the nationalist card,
boasting that Victorian statues, for example of Sir Robert Peel will be
removed. But this is a shallow view of history, which ought rather to be taken
as a whole – including the fact that many grand buildings in the city centre
were built out of the proceeds of slavery.
Virtually in secret, the council commissioned a PR firm to
conduct a so-called consultation. When this writer asked under the Freedom of
Information Act who was being consulted, and if she could be consulted, she was
told that the council didn’t have the information, only the PR firm, and it was
therefore commercially sensitive. This is a complete distortion of the meaning
of the legislation.
It turns out that just 42 citizens were polled about whether
the square should change. Apart from that, it was only corporate and city
political bodies that were invited to comment, with the exception of the Scottish
TUC who strongly objected to efforts to ban demonstrations from the square.
One of the Council’s notorious “arms length” organisations,
Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (slogan: “Glasgow
with Style”) is driving the plans. Its role is to “create customers”. Council leader
Gordon Matheson is the chair with other councillors on the board. There is more
about the interchangeable web of corporate politicians and political corporates
that run Glasgow
on the Restore George Square
website.
None of these bodies have any concern for a genuinely
sustainable economy that works for the people. There is no suggestion that
serious number of jobs will result from these glitzy activities – just as
events like the City of Culture
and Garden Festival did not improve the city’s fundamental economic situation.
The question is who owns public space – is it the council
and their corporate partners in civic crime, or is it the people? This is part of the bigger question of what
kind of democracy we have and who it serves.
Thousands of city council workers have already been made
redundant, and there are plans to get rid of at least 1,000 more between now
and 2015. The total will probably be higher because the council was told in
September that it is facing a £50m deficit by 2015.
The council meets tomorrow to agree further closures of day
services for people with learning disabilities and that is only one of many
services that are being devastated by cuts. Meanwhile, youth unemployment in
the city now stands at almost 25%.
We need to free ourselves from this system that operates
solely in corporate interests and thrives off a repressive economy that
benefits the ruling elite but has no benefits to offer the citizens.
Glasgow People’s Assemblies is hosting Assemblies for
Change, where the nature of the changes needed, and the route to achieving
them, are at the heart of an open discussion. Join
us on Facebook and come to the next Assembly for Change event on January 26.
Penny Cole
Environment editor
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