Ninety years ago, there was a massive Kinder Scout violation, a protest at the highest point in the Peak District, in which pedestrians, mostly from Greater Manchester, invaded en masse, calling for greater access to the swamps.
The mass crime contributed to the adoption of legislation on national parks and helped pave the way for the creation of the first long-distance hiking trail in the UK, the Pennine Way. But the dreams of these offenders have not yet come true. In 2000, the Land and Road Rights Act established a partial roaming right in England and Wales, but covered only 8% of England and the rest was still privately owned and inaccessible to the public. This month, the government overturned a review of the right to roam the countryside. Environment Minister Rebecca Poe says there are no plans to publish the results of the review, a decision condemned by activists. Speaking at a memorial event in Hayfield on Saturday, Caroline Lucas, a Green Party MP for the Brighton Pavilion, said the decision was “disappointing” and “outright embarrassing”.
Anita Sethi before the walk Photo: Joel Goodman / Guardian
The historic event of the Kinder mass crime parallels the problems of access to the open, which people of color and the working class now face. The British countryside is demographically whiter than cities, with a study by Natural England showing that only 1% of visitors to national parks are of BAME origin. In 2019, a review of Defra’s landscapes of national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) said: “I feel as if the national parks are exceptional, mostly white, mostly middle-class club. The review proposes a systematic reform of the management of national parks and AONB boards, stating that only a “small proportion” of such boards are black, Asian or minority. A Countryside Charity research report reveals the gap between socially disadvantaged areas and the countryside, highlighting issues such as poor public transport as barriers to access.
The first time I followed in the footsteps of the Kinder Scout mass offenders, known as the Manchester Ramblers, was after I was racially abused on a TransPennine trip by a man who told me to go back to where I came from – and so I did: I’m from the north and decided to take a reclamation trip on the Pennine Way.
I’m going up Kinder Scout again, this time one of the Kinder in Color Walk groups, an initiative that notes the massive disruption and highlights the problems of inequality and inaccessibility that still remain, uniting people of color to walk together. The event’s organizers include Sam Siva, also an organizer of Land in Our Names, an earthly racial justice group, and Nadia Shayk, who described the event as a “coalition” uniting other groups campaigning for better access to the province, including Muslim tourists, black girls walking, land in our names, the right to wander and landscapes of freedom.
North End of Kinder Scout Plateau, Peak District National Park, England, United Kingdom Photo: John Bentley / Alamy
The event focuses on ritual and healing. “We want to heal the earth and ourselves,” organizers said. “We want to share space so that our joy, healing and resistance are imbued with the same spirituality we feel when we connect with the earth.
The history of the province is rooted in colonialism, class and exclusion. The walk seeks to change that. Sheikh says accessibility has been taken into account in the planning: the starting point for the 3-kilometer round trip, for example, is in Edale, given the fact that there is a train station there.
Anant of Manchester, who is also part of the Mad Walkers and Manchester Walkers, believes more ethnic minorities should be encouraged to go for walks. I go with people of all ages, including a family with young children who are climbing a mountain for the first time. I talk to people from the Survivor Alliance who tell me, “I love going out. We are healing and recovering from the traumas we went through. When we are outside we feel free. It’s amazing to meet people and enjoy nature. “
As we walk, there is hope and challenge in the air that the dreams of brave violators of access to nature for all can still come true.
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