Is Gentrification Turning London Into A Ghost Town? — Transcript

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1. 0:00cereal The Humble breakfast staple is
2. 0:03hardly something to revolt over or so I
3. 0:06thought because in September 2015 a
4. 0:08group of protesters got really mad over
5. 0:10an East London store that sold the
6. 0:12innocuous breakfast for around $5 to7
7. 0:15which to be fair is a lot when you
8. 0:17consider it's just a bowl of cereal the
9. 0:19angry mob held bottles smashed windows
10. 0:21and even burned an effigy of a policeman
11. 0:24now the riot wasn't because the place
12. 0:26had run out of well this the fight was
13. 0:29really about a much bigger problem
14. 0:33gentrification the protesters are an
15. 0:35anti-gentrification group called the
16. 0:37parade the group launched their campaign
17. 0:39against the store because they felt it
18. 0:40symbolized a bigger problem in London
19. 0:42and indeed in many other metropolises
20. 0:45around the world many
21. 0:46anti-gentrification protesters aren't
22. 0:49100% opposed to the idea of urban
23. 0:50renewal but they do have a problem with
24. 0:53what it's doing to local communities
25. 0:55higher rents and housing prices mean
26. 0:57that established working-class
27. 0:58communities are being forced to move the
28. 1:01parade have even gone as far as
29. 1:03describing the problem in London as
30. 1:04social
31. 1:05cleansing and people aren't necessarily
32. 1:08moving in to replace those who have left
33. 1:10urban renewal gentrification whatever
34. 1:12you want to call it is making properties
35. 1:14in cities like London much more
36. 1:16desirable for foreign investors or those
37. 1:18who are wanting to buy a vacation home
38. 1:20so now imagine walking down a street at
39. 1:23night in one of the most vibrant cities
40. 1:25in the world only to find it's eerily
41. 1:28quiet there are no lights on in the
42. 1:30houses because well nobody's home this
43. 1:33is actually happening in London Burrows
44. 1:35like Camden and Hammersmith to
45. 1:37paraphrase a popular British band from
46. 1:39the' 70s pockets of London are looking
47. 1:42like a ghost town and the same exact
48. 1:44thing is happening in New York Melbourne
49. 1:46and San Francisco ghost towns are an
50. 1:49extreme manifestation of urban renewal
51. 1:52but it does highlight the real bone of
52. 1:53contention surrounding the practice loss
53. 1:56of community because the essence of why
54. 1:59somewhere is designed able to live can't
55. 2:01be bought or built it's true
56. 2:03anti-gentrification protesters should
57. 2:05not have used violence to get their
58. 2:07point across but there is some truth
59. 2:09when they say we don't want luxury flats
60. 2:12that no one can afford we want genuinely
61. 2:14affordable housing we want community and
62. 2:17this might hit home when instead of
63. 2:19London it's echoing through the streets
64. 2:21of what used to be your neighborhood
65. 2:24there's another fight over Land
66. 2:25Development happening in America
67. 2:27involving the US government big oil and
68. 2:29believe it or not a prairie chicken to
69. 2:32find out more check out this episode the
70. 2:34energy industry got upset because their
71. 2:36land use could be limited
72. 2:37conservationists got upset because they
73. 2:39thought the land use still wouldn't be
74. 2:41limited enough and it really only got
75. 2:44crazier from there thanks for watching
76. 2:46and don't forget to subscribe to seek
77. 2:48stories
78. 2:49[Music]