Radical Ffestiniog
The north Wales town of Blaenau Ffestiniog was once the slate capital of the world. Now, it is pioneering grassroots alternatives to the devastation of post-industrial capitalism.
![](https://images.jacobinmag.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/08/02155019/GettyImages-1331314259-filter.jpg)
Mountains of slate create the landscape near the disused Maenofferen Slate Quarry on July 29, 2021 in Blaenau Ffestiniog (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)
The first thing you notice about Blaenau Ffestiniog is the slate. The two-up two-down houses that line the narrow streets blend into the mountains directly behind them, which are covered in mounds and mounds of thin, grey sheets of cast-off stone. For every tonne of useable slate that was produced in the area, about ten […]