The Space Hijackers was a group based at Limehouse Town Hall in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, active between 1999 and 2014, that defined itself as "an international band of anarchitects who battle to save our streets, towns and cities from the evils of

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s, multinationals and other hoodlums". '' Time Out'' magazine described the group as "an inventive and subversive group of London ‘Anarchitects’ who specialise in reclaiming public spaces – usually without permission." The group's activities included "guerrilla benching" — restoring benches that had been recently removed and bolting them to the ground — organising a midnight game of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

in the centre of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

financial district, and satirising the glossy architects' drawings that are displayed on the perimeter of luxury apartments by depicting children's playgrounds and other projects they believe to be actually desirable. Many of these activities aimed to bring to people's attention to the role which corporations play in society in a different light.

Purpose

The Space Hijackers existed mainly to change the public's perception of spaces it regularly uses, mainly by staging unexpected events. Their explicit objective was "to effect and change the physical space of architecture", and, eschewing violent protest and other forms of transparent direct action, their methods aimed "to invade and re-brand corporate space". They believed that the use of physical space is becoming more and more politicised, and thus in order to break apart from that politicization they staged events that were typically 'unusual' for that particular space, 'hijacking' it and hoping to change people's perception of the use of that space forever. They believed that increasing politicisation usually leads to increased subordination and discrimination and other forms of domination and control and so Space Hijackers claimed to seek to break down and deconstruct society's notions of space. They sought to effect this by attempting to undermine the authority of the owner's "

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...

", confusing and re-contextualising it and thereby making apparent the possibility of an alternative future. Protests tended to be non-violent and Space Hijacker projects usually involved a good sense of fun. Protest strategy includes involving passers-by. The Space Hijackers had many contacts with other groups, including but not limited to

Critical Mass In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fi ...

Indymedia The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seattl ...

, Rhythms of Resistance samba band, free media collectiv
iconscious

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping is a radical performance community based in New York City. The Stop Shopping Choir is accompanied by a comic preacher, Reverend Billy, portrayed by performer William (Billy) Talen. The philosophy of ...

and evoLhypergrapHyCx. The Hijackers pulled several of these groups together in Anarchitecture Week 2005, a week of anti-building related activities in response to, and hosted at the same time as Architecture Week.

Projects

Formed in 1999, their first major action was the Circle Line Party - a party on

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

's Circle Line which attracted around 150 people armed with sound systems, disco lights and bars all disguised as luggage. Projects of the Space Hijackers included the following: * Becoming the Official Protestors of the London 2012 Olympics *

Zapatista Army of National Liberation The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (Mexican ), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Since ...

protests * Spoof Planning Permission Applications * A Second and Third Circle Line Party * Inner-City Midnight Cricket
Mayday Anarchists vs Members of Parliament Cricket
* "arms dealing" at the DSEI arms fair * Using
parking meter space as a rented office
* 'Supporting' Nike with banners including "Sweatshops ROCK!" at their sponsored events * 'Auctioning' a tank outside the DSEi weapons exhibition in 2007 * Running a 'professional protest stall' on the London Police march for more pay, with advice for the police on their rights as protesters

G-20 London Summit

During the 2009

G-20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

demonstrations in London, members of the Space Hijackers protest groupBBC News: "G20 call for action amid protests"
/ref> drove their

Alvis Saracen The FV603 Saracen is a six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier designed and produced by Alvis since 1952. It has been used by a variety of operators around the world, and is still in use in secondary roles in some countries. The Saracen became ...

armoured personnel carrier (known to them as "the tank") into the

and parked it outside the Royal Bank of Scotland in Bishopsgate.BBC News video of Saracen outside RBS
(no commentary) (1 April 2009) The Saracen, which had been painted bright blue with black and white chequer stripes in a mock police livery, was equipped with CCTV. Eleven Hijackers were arrested and charged on two counts of impersonating police officers. On 27 January 2010, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges against the Space Hijackers because there was "not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction". The Space Hijackers won compensation from the police, but their names and biometric data were kept on file for 18 months, allegedly because of a dispute between the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police.

Citations

External links

Space Hijackers

Sweat London
(archived copy), used for the pro-Nike campaign
Anarchitecture Week

Space Hijackers Official protest site for the London 2012 Olympics
{{Culture jamming Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Cultural appropriation Culture jamming Psychogeographers 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom