How the Right Stole the '60s

[dweller]

(And Why We Should Get Them Back)
By Astra Taylor, AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/story/36328

note, towards the end of this article, the author pointed out WCHA in Carrboro, so i thought it should be posted here...dp

Today we often hear how '60s-era efforts to build counter-institutions went up in smoke, like so many communes collapsing under the weight of free love. But the reality is that today thousands of people carry on these traditions, furthering '60s values largely under the radar. There's the Weaver Community Housing Association in Carrboro, N.C., a nonprofit cooperative. WCHA, founded in 2002, is the brainchild of Dawn Peebles, who, in her early 20s, was living with a handful of roommates in a place she describes as a "slum house." After realizing how much money they were throwing away on rent and how much better they could run things themselves, Peebles was inspired to take action. She traveled the country visiting dozens of dweller-controlled living situations, including anarchist squats, tree sits and a Seattle feminist collective that's been around for over three decades.

Today WCHA continues to grow and now owns a total of 19 apartments on two pieces of land. Because WCHA attracts many who would probably never consider living on the stereotypical '60s commune, the residents are incredibly diverse. People young and old, black and white, politicized or not-so-much, call the coops home. As Peebles put it, "You don't have to be a card-carrying anarchist" to benefit from cheap housing.