An anarchist reading of Like a Good Neighbor, Squatters Are There
Herbert’s 2018 paper Like a Good Neighbor, Squatters Are There: Property and Neighborhood Stability in the Context of Urban Decline examines the impact of “illegal property use” in Detroit based on a four year ethnography. The paper explores the nature of neo-liberal capitalist property ownership, and how abandoned and run down properties were improved by squatting. They note that “I find that residents in distressed neighborhoods in Detroit support and encourage certain forms of illegal property use in order to improve their area” (Herbert 2018:237) and “By embracing an ethos of care to assess the normativity of illegal property use, Detroit residents respond to the unique constraints and affordances of their declining city, and employ unique tactics to improve their neighborhoods.” (Herbert 2018:254). This combination of the popularity of certain forms of “illegal property use” and neighborhoods employing unique forms of ethos of care may lead one to expect that there is some popularity of anarchistic or anarchic activist methods. To the contrary, Herbert (2018) suggests that it would be incorrect to imagine that their interlocutors are supportive of “anarchist-like” opposition to private property. This is interesting, as they discuss at many points forms of direct action as a means to improve, save, reclaim, and/or recycle dilapidated properties both through illegal scrapping and illegal squatting. Whether or not the intent is an organized resistance to private property a-la Rojava (CrimeThInc 2015), squatting is a form of direct action that is frequently employed by anarchists and is a form of, at least, anarchic activism (CrimeThInc 2014).
Taken even further, the act of scrapping and salvaging as a means to improve one’s neighborhood, something Herbert (2018) describes on page 252, or as a means to construct stronger communities is more than just an anarchic form of activism, it is a method of anarchism called “illegalism” (Nomad and Mag 2021). It suggests that, as a form of resistance to the state, deliberately illegal acts should be undertaken (Nomad and Mag 2021). This is, whether politically motivated or otherwise, in effect being done when Herbert (2018) describes scrappers salvaging materials to improve the neighborhood, either by sale or recycling, and when deconstructors demolish a property that is unsafe. Finally, the act of illegally constructing community gardens, not that something such as gardening should be considered illegal in any capacity, is an anarchic form of direct action. Since at least 2003, anarchists in Detroit have been using unoccupied or neglected spaces to practice urban farming and produce food for food insecure communities (Miller 2009). This is not to say that all participants in Herbert’s (2018) ethnography were or are anarchists, but the notion that they are not participating in anarchic forms of activism is inconsistent with what anarchism is. While some people may be uncomfortable with labels like “anarchism”, “anarchic”, or “anarchist-like”, these are useful labels to describe forms of activism and/or direct action.
CrimeThInc. 2014. “Hidden Histories of Resistance.” The Anarchist Library. Retrieved November 14, 2022 (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/crimethinc-hidden-histories-of-resistance).
CrimeThInc. 2015. “Understanding the Kurdish Resistance.” The Anarchist Library. Retrieved November 14, 2022 (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/crimethinc-understanding-the-kurdish-resistance).
Herbert, Claire W. 2018. “Like a Good Neighbor, Squatters Are There: Property and Neighborhood Stability in the Context of Urban Decline.” City & Community 17(1):236–58. doi: 10.1111/cico.12275.
Miller, Jon A. 2009. “Small Farm Movement Takes Root in the Motor City.” The Anarchist Library. Retrieved November 14, 2022 (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/jon-a-miller-small-farm-movement-takes-root-in-the-motor-city).
Nomad, Tom, and Gallus Stanig Mag. 2021. “An Enduring Passion for Criminality.” The Anarchist Library. Retrieved November 14, 2022 (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tom-nomad-and-gallus-stanig-mag-an-enduring-passion-for-criminality).