Haringey's Real Rebels

In 2027 Haringey will become the London Borough of Culture. The bid was marketed by the council under the strapline “Haringey — the rebel borough”.

Haringey's rebels have always been ordinary people who come together to organise, protest and campaign. By definition, a rebel is someone who resists authority, so it isn't surprising that many of these rebellions have been against the local authority itself. For example, in the past the council has called the police on cuts protesters, destroyed students' art in the Hornsey School of Art sit-in, blamed the 2011 riots on “outsiders” and closed popular community spaces.

But sometimes individual councillors have stood up to their colleagues — for example, when councillors were sacked for refusing to support the Poll Tax, or when councillors fought against the HDV proposal to sell off public land to developers. And sometimes the council as a whole has rebelled against the national government, for example in its recent active resistance to hostile measures against migrants.

Now we have a newly elected council with many members who have spent their lives in activism but are as yet untested in power.