'F*ck Gentrification': Post-Conflict ‘Development’ in Belfast | Jim Donaghey | PSA 2021
Channel: Anarchism Research Group Loughborough
Date: 2022-06-29

In this presentation given as part of the Anarchist Studies Network panels at the 2021 Political Studies Association conference, Jim Donaghey (Ulster University) discusses the struggle between alternative, anti-sectarian space and gentrification in Belfast.

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"In Belfast, the overarching conflict of the Troubles (1969-1998) left gaps – social and physical – for counter-cultural initiatives to take root, but with the advent of ‘peace’, gentrification has gathered pace and is squeezing out the space occupied by these alternative cultures. Against this backdrop, the punk anarchist Warzone Collective has operated a series of social centres in Belfast city centre – from 1986 to 2003, and again from 2010 to 2018. This paper will analyse the significance of ‘punk space’ in the conflict and post-conflict contexts of Belfast, highlighting the shifting frames of critique deployed by these punk anarchists.

The anti-sectarian impetus of the Warzone Collective has been manifested in their social centres. This bricks-and-mortar counter-cultural space was hugely significant during the conflict, not only as a counterpoint to sectarian society and segregated physical space in the city, but also as a critique of ‘merely’ non-sectarian initiatives – politics were not ‘left at the door’, they were critically confronted in this alternative environment.

The advent of ‘peace’ in Belfast has led to new challenges for the Warzone Collective. Post-conflict gentrification of Belfast city centre has been explicitly tied to a ‘peacebuilding’ narrative – essentially that ‘development’ will bring prosperity and ‘normalisation’, thus preventing backslide into renewed conflict. The eviction of the Warzone Centre in 2018 was just one example of arts and cultural organisations being displaced from the city centre in the pursuit of profit-driven ‘development’. This is reflected in the Warzone’s critique of the neo-liberal development agenda that underpins ‘peacebuilding’ – succinctly phrased as ‘F*ck Gentrification!"

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#anarchism #gentrification #belfast #punk