Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here

Episode: Squatting with Andrew
Date: October 20, 2025
Host: Andrew Sage
Guest: James Stout
Podcast Network: Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

This episode tackles the theme of land ownership, squatting, and resistance, both historically and in the present. Andrew Sage and James Stout explore how concentrated property rights, enforced by violence and policy, underpin the housing crisis and social inequality. Through the lens of squatting—directly inhabiting unused buildings and land—they examine grassroots efforts to reclaim autonomy, dignity, and community in the face of legal and economic exclusion.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Modern Housing Crisis & Its Roots

• Generational Impact: Today, millennials and Gen Z face unprecedented hurdles in housing security compared to previous generations, as homeownership becomes an increasingly distant prospect.
  • "People are pretty familiar with the lack of affordability of housing, the way that housing has been speculated upon… and more and more people are finding it difficult to get something as simple as shelter." (Andrew, 03:02)
• The Erosion of Public Spaces: Noted is the decline in communal areas for gathering and solidarity, further isolating and disenfranchising ordinary people.
• Land Concentration: Property is increasingly monopolized by elites, corporations, and even remnants of aristocracy.

2. Historical Context of Land Ownership

• Origin in Violence: Private property is described as the product of conquest—colonialism, slavery, and state-backed force.
  • "What we call ownership today is just violence legitimized by law. And it follows a very similar structure… It starts with violence, it becomes officialized, and then rent is extracted." (Andrew, 06:30)
• Parallel Extraction by State & Landlords:
  • Quote from Anders Koh: "Where a landowner builds a fence, the government erects a boundary. Where a landowner charges rent, a government levies taxes… a government wages war against a population." (Andrew, 08:26)
• Enduring Exploitation, Post-Serfdom and Slavery: Abolition did not end exploitation; it simply changed its form—from slavery to prisons, from serfdom to debt.

3. Environmental and Social Impacts

• Ecological Interconnectedness: The idea that cutting land into property ignores the biosphere’s interconnectedness and leads to degradation.
  • "All of the land and water on the earth is connected… The damage done in one place will have an impact on another place…" (James, 16:31 & 16:44)
• Rent Extraction & Speculation: The use of land as an asset leads to idle, underused property while real needs go unmet—directly linking property speculation to poverty and hunger.
• Profit vs. Stewardship: Owners have little incentive to care for land’s inherent qualities; profit trumps ecosystem and communal health.

4. Squatting as Resistance: A British Case Study

• Post-WWII Squatting: Veterans and families squatted en masse after the war, with the state unable to evict so many without public backlash. (Andrew, 20:02–21:18)
  • "Direct action solved an issue that their bureaucracy couldn't solve." (Andrew, 21:18)
• Bangladeshi and Queer Communities in the 1970s–80s: Bangladeshi immigrants squatted to escape a council housing catch-22, while queer and Black radicals created havens and community centers (e.g., Brixton’s Railton Road).
  • "Organisers like Terry Fitzpatrick... opened up derelict blocks to Bengali families. Pelham House... was transformed into homes for 300 people by 1976." (Andrew, 23:33)
  • Intersectionality: Brixton’s squats became sites for both queer and Black resistance.
  • "These squats allowed people to survive. They became places where people could experiment with alternative living." (Andrew, 24:49)
• Decline of Squatting Movement: Gentrification, legal changes, and council sell-offs eroded squatting’s golden age (1990s–2000s).

5. Neoliberal Turn and Its Effects

• Council House Sell-offs & Austerity: Thatcher-era and later New Labour policies gutted the working class’s ability to access housing, solidifying landlord and corporate dominance.
  • "Britain led the charge in like this kind of particularly cruel and callous neoliberalism right. From the 90s to today, like with absolutely no concern for the well-being of its people..." (James, 32:45)

6. International and Current Movements

• Continued Squatting in Europe: Other cities (Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Athens) have stronger squatting/co-op cultures, but the UK lags behind after aggressive crackdowns.
• Modern Mutual Aid and Occupations: Post-COVID, there has been some resurgence of solidarity projects, though life remains precarious for squatting communities.
• Ethics and Vision:
  • "Squatting represents both a struggle for necessity, but also an example of where our imagination can take us." (Andrew, 34:33)
  • Squatting is seen as direct action that meets needs and challenges the ideology of property; it’s both survival and a vision for a post-property world.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Property as Violence:
  "What we call ownership today is just violence legitimized by law."
  — Andrew Sage, 06:30

• On Extraction and Dispossession:
  "Ownership is enforced through eviction. Families are thrown out of homes, squatters beaten back by police, villages razed to expand mining operations…"
  — Andrew Sage (citing Anders Koh), 14:18

• On Direct Action’s Power: "Direct action solved an issue that their bureaucracy couldn't solve."
  — Andrew Sage, 21:18
  "Railton Road was also home to black radicalism… squats allowed people to survive, experiment with alternative living."
  — Andrew Sage, 24:49

• On Modern Absurdities:
  "You can maintain exclusive lordship, literal landlordship, over a couple acres of property and just do whatever you want with it because it's under your name. Right?"
  — Andrew Sage, 16:56

• On the Dignity of Direct Action:
  "That's a really beautiful project. It's envisioning another world, literally in the ruins of the old world."
  — James Stout, 35:42

• On Hope and the Future:
  "The tactic of squatting is one small, unfinished, but necessary step towards a future where we reject property, where land is shared, where domination is abolished…"
  — Andrew Sage, 39:30

Important Segment Timestamps

• Housing crisis & generational experience: 03:02–04:31
• Property as violence; historical roots: 06:30–09:01
• State and landowners as parallel structures: 08:26–09:40
• Enclosure, industrialization, and ongoing deprivation: 14:18–17:21
• Absurdity of land as commodity / environmental impact: 16:24–18:32
• Squatting in postwar England: 20:02–21:33
• Bengali and queer squatting movements: 23:33–24:49
• Neoliberal turn, gentrification, decline of squatting: 25:46–28:31
• Present-day resistance, mutual aid, and visioning: 32:06–36:13
• Squatting as dignity and future possibility: 35:42–39:30

Tone & Style

The episode blends radical critique, historical analysis, and grassroots inspiration. Andrew and James speak with a sense of urgency and empathy, criticizing the powers that be with clarity but also highlighting the hope and creativity found in collective resistance.

The atmosphere is both confrontational and constructive, aiming to demystify land struggles and empower listeners to imagine—and participate in—alternatives.

Conclusion

“Squatting with Andrew” provides a sweeping, incisive look at the underlying issues propelling the housing crisis: the violent origins and perpetuation of property, the possibility of reclaiming autonomy through squatting, and the prospects for more just and cooperative approaches to land. While recognizing the hardships entailed, the hosts argue squatting offers both practical relief and a radical vision for organizing society beyond property and domination.

All power to all the people.