Meet the Edgeryders -----( Needs refining )

Workspaces LOTE4 “The Stewardship”
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this is an example of a short series of “Meet the edgeryders” about Nick from Guerrilla Gardening Guerrilla Gardeners in Tbilisi, just a frame work based on 2 simple questions then should be a call for action. Please help by editing it - adding, deleting …etc

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Nick from Guerrilla Gardeners Tbilisi

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What's the story

A  seven-storey hotel is planned for a site in the middle of Vake Park, the largest in Tbilisi, Georgia, and many trees have already been destroyed, excavations have taken place. Self organised groups of hundreds of citizens gathered to protest peacefully against what was deemed an illegal action. Within six months Vake Park became a permanent camp for creative gatherings, gardening workshops for school children and artistic performances, among many others. The construction has eventually been declared illegal and any further progress stopped.

Now the core activists are starting a court case against city hall for allowing the company to build there. They’re also trying to change the legislation to prevent such developments in the future

Who are they?

The Guerrilla Gardening folks are regular citizens who promote gardening and better care of the green spaces in the city. They are not an organization and don’t intend to become an NGO. About the other protesters, Nick says they are “people like us, regular citizens who don’t have political power as individuals, only when we come together. We ask them to come around and find out what we do, and join forces with us if they find the cause worthy." The other category of people who help us in fighting the establishment.(??) 

They don’t work for free, we have no pro bono lawyers. So we have to fundraise to cover the costs. We gather donations and money for certain causes e.g. taking company to court and winning.

How to become stewards in our communities?

Over at Edgeryders we are solidary with them because we see this as a legitimate way to take back a public good and protect it from destruction. We think of Guerrilla Gardeners as stewards because they are literally building an alternative and are teaching others to collectively manage a community asset.

Situations where city squares, parks and green areas, or even bike lanes become threatened need community intervention to protect and help redefine our relationships with those spaces. Have you ever been in a situation like this where you were asked to step in? How does your community act as a steward to its assets?  Leave a comment and tell us about your experience.

Or if you’re feeling brave, consider uploading a new story you know of. Sharing a story can get you a ticket to Edgeryders upcoming event Living on the Edge, Matera. 23-26 October. Learn more about this. 

Is this Stewardship ?/ How is it related to stewardship ?/ share your story ? help us in defining what’s stewardship ………Call for participation

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Edits and a suggestion

Hi @Hazem, I’ve tried to add some of my insights into this… it might need a closer look and further editing though.

I noticed you first stated you want to present Nick, but there was nothing about Nick in the content, it seemed like you are most interested to introduce the initiative. So I changed the name and context into a presentation of the "Guerrilla Gardeners as stewards.

I this should become part of a series ahead of Lote, but one that is titled “Meet the Stewards” with a short intro on what stewards are in the conception @Ben, @Nadia and others…carers of common assets - physical, immaterial, digital, or carers of communities. Can you add that intro with a couple of sentences presenting the series?

Let’s get this rolling, if we have about 2 good pieces to start we can then call out more people in the Storytellers group to do these posts. Excited!

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Actually, Nik is interesting

Good work, you two :slight_smile:

But actually, Nik does seem like an interesting person. Why does he care so much? Where does he come from? He seems quite different from most of the Vake activists, with their dogs and hippy clothes. There must be a story there…

@Hazem, I would really love it if you could find and interview someone in Al-Mutam’idiya that played an important part in the ring road story. Everyone absolutely loves it – and not few bureaucrats are really scared at the idea that people would just go out and build their own infrastructure. There is power there…

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working on it

@Alberto already pinged Nick if he has something to add , or do you mean we can describe  him as outsiders who can notice the difference ?

for the ring road I am trying to reach the people from Al ma’tmedia via facebook but I am not sure it would work , it’s better to be physically there talk with the people, have tea together …etc

ping @Abdo if he can make a visit to Al ma’temdia ?

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You describe him!

Or rather, you ask the questions, and he will do the rest. But people normally do not perceive in themselves what others might find interesting, so it is down to us to look upon Nick (or anyone really) with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

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its much better now

thanks @noemi now it’s much better , may be we can tidy it up and start posting it up ,

Ping Nick if he needs to add something @nickda@gmail.com