People feel like the government aren't here for 'em any more.
Can't get a job, can't get a car, can't get anything.
Can't get your life on track so you get your house.
It's pretty shit.
You can call us feral, you can call us chavs, you can call us pikeys,
you can call us hoodies.
They're sick of seeing their parents being thrown out on the street.
They're sick of asking for food hand-outs.
They're sick of seeing their nanas struggling for money.
People are waking up.
They're actually getting ready to fight back.
Manchester. It's one of Britain's wealthiest cities.
But go a couple of miles out of the city centre
and you find a different story.
A ring of white working-class estates that are down on their luck.
Who are you lot?
What's the problem round here, then?
What do you want the council to do for you?
If the council is listening, what do you want from it?
Clayton is one of the most deprived parts of Britain.
Male life expectancy is ten years below the national average,
and half the residents are under 30.
It's a very working-class area.
Just down the road from here
is where the Industrial Revolution was born.
You probably can't get more working class globally if you tried.
The factories that was here aren't here any more.
We have a lot of people in sort of menial work,
and a lot of people on benefits within the area as well.
I totally think people feel forgotten,
especially working-class people.
I don't really know where to start, to be honest.
I mean, people are...
People feel like the government aren't here for 'em any more.
And as a result of that,
there is a growing sense of we have to do it ourselves now.
See you later, mate.
Like a lot of people round here, Mikey had a tough upbringing,
with stints of homelessness.
But unlike many, Mikey wants to do something to lift his community.
How are you?
Are you stressed out?
Bit hungover?
Yeah, as I couldn't sleep, so...
Right. Nervous? Excited?
A bit of both, a bit of both.
We need to go, anyway, let's go.
Mikey has rallied a group of like-minded mates
who want to push for change in their area.
Should we go to the park and drop the generators off first?
They call themselves the Community Action Network,
and today they're going to throw a free party
to spread the word on their estate.
I feel doing free parties, taking back space that belongs
to the people from the council and saying,
look, we don't need permission to do this party here,
and bringing in people from the local community, of all ages,
not excluding anyone.
You don't need a licence, you don't need no ID,
you don't need to pay any money to get in.
We're taking back that space for the community to get together,
to talk about how we can make the community a better place
and to generally have a good time.
Everything should come together in the next couple of hours, hopefully.
It's a lot of people involved.
Obviously you can't pull something like this off on your own.
You need a whole community behind it.
Hello.
Hi, come in.
I think there is no sense of community really any more,
and if we can sort of show people that we can come together
and do positive things, then to me that would be a victory in itself.
There's nothing for the kids in this area,
so we're just trying to put on an event
because there's absolutely nothing!
Hello, mate. How you doing? You all right?
What's going on? It's the evening.
What happens now?
Sit down.
Basically just rely on the generosity of the public.
See if I can make any money begging,
so... That's it.
Get the cup out, which is...
It's actually not allowed to do,
but not everybody sticks to the rules, do they?
Spare change, please?
It's just trying to get money and get somewhere to kip for the night.
It's like £18 for the cheapest B&B that I know.
How likely are you to make 18 quid?
It could take five minutes.
It could take five hours. Could take five bloody days.
You never know.
Not going too well.
And if you haven't got your 18 quid together, what happens?
Stay on the streets.
Oh, thank you, mate. It's not nice.
It's not exactly what I want to do.
Begging, asking the public for money.
25p.
I kind of have to do it.
Street life.
There's a lot of people out there who are couch surfing,
just staying at friends'.
Bouncing around from place to place,
renting a room when they can afford it,
staying on boats, living in barns.
These are people you're talking about.
These are people who had lives, had loved ones, had family.
Had pets. Had goldfish!
You know, hamsters.
Regular lives.
I've seen an homeless dude with a lizard.
You know?
What is beautiful about a doorway?
I don't know. What's safe about a doorway?
What in any way at all could you call a doorway
any kind of shelter or home?
In a squat, I get a warm, safe, dry place.
This is Manchester's most famous squat,
the disused Corner House cinema.
For four months, it's been occupied by a ragtag group
of squatters and protesters.
They've turned the building into an unofficial refuge for the homeless.
My front door closes.
My windows close. They've all got locks on.
I've got running water, hot and cold.
I've got electric.
I've got a nice bed made out of cushions.
I've got a duvet that doesn't get pissed on.
Doesn't get wet in the rain.
If I say to you, there's a building there, mate, with all that in it,
where are you going to go? You're going to come here,
and when you come here, you know what you're going to experience?
You're going to experience just what you experience at home.
Everything that a home provides,
my squats provide as well.
But Chris's home is under threat.
The owners are determined to get the squatters out.
So they've gone to the courts to seek an eviction notice.
As the sun dips, Mikey's party has drawn a crowd.
And he's spreading the word about his Community Action Network.
What do you make of it?
Gives them something to do
rather than just loiter about on the street.
I think bringing people together and celebrating the fact
that we can come together outside of the system,
that is the community, essentially.
# But regardless, you're only 18, you're a bit naive
# And you've never been searched by the police. #
Young people of Manchester, they don't have a voice,
and they're not organised. And, you know,
the people who are supposed to be acting as their voice
are just consistently letting them down.
And until the government get off their arse,
stop killing people in the street, stop persecuting the poorest,
the most vulnerable, the youngest people in this country,
the people that actually want to train,
go to university and put taxes back into the state,
instead of supporting them, you're putting them out here.
No-one's happy round here.
Fuck all to do.
What is going on?
We're the sixth richest nation in the world, yet our social security,
our state, is a load of crap.
It is what it is, isn't it? You can't moan at it.
The young people of Manchester have had enough, and, you know,
we're all about linking together and helping each other,
because we're not getting any fucking help.
We've got to get together, and we've got to do it ourselves.
I don't exactly want to sit here putting my face to shame.
It's just how it is.
You're lucky if you get a fiver or something like that.
Any spare change, please?
I've got no change.
I'm a land pirate, and I've just stole your building.
If you want it back, you take me to court, go get it back.
This is the resistance.
This is the last stand.
Do you think you could cope with living on the street?
No. It'd do me in. Do me in mentally.
What does your dad say?
I'm Jimmy. My son's Jimmy.
My dad's Jimmy.
You can send me to jail all you want, you know.
Jail's... Jail's like, it's more comfortable than this.
There's the man who fights for people's rights.