NEW SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTRE IN BIRMINGHAM

24.11.2008
A new social cen­tre is devel­op­ing near Birm­ing­ham City Cen­tre. Please come and get involved.

JUSTICE NOT CRISIS have moved on from their squat­ted Cllr John Lines home­less vil­lage, http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21744
into the Fire­bird pub, on the local Ben­more estate.

24.11.2008
A new social cen­tre is devel­op­ing near Birm­ing­ham City Cen­tre. Please come and get involved.

JUSTICE NOT CRISIS have moved on from their squat­ted Cllr John Lines home­less vil­lage, http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21744
into the Fire­bird pub, on the local Ben­more estate.

The protest has become much more than a hous­ing demon­stra­tion. “Its a response to the lack of youth pro­vi­sion, com­mu­ni­ty pro­vi­sion and the lack of com­mu­nal spaces for peo­ple to meet with­out the need to spend mon­ey.”

Since enter­ing the pub the group has been clean­ing up, inside and out, mak­ing it safe and secure. There is a cosy com­mu­ni­ty space and the young peo­ple from the local area have been giv­en their own space to do their own thing. They’ve brought in their own pool table and a sofa. They have also dec­o­rat­ed the entrance dur­ing a grafit­ti work­shop.

Free advice on debt, ben­e­fits and hous­ing is being offered to local res­i­dents, a fire­place has been built from recy­cled mate­ri­als found on-site and a library has been start­ed.

The begin­nings of a Social Cen­tre are emerg­ing from the ini­tial Jus­tice Not Cri­sis protest and the col­lab­o­ra­tion between the dif­fer­ent groups involved. For more infor­ma­tion on Social Cen­tres go to; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_centre

We are still in the process of fix­ing up the space and any­one is wel­come to come down and get involved.

Some of us will be at the film screen­ing this Thurs­day at The Spot­ted Dog in Dig­beth at 7.30pm, show­ing and talk­ing about we’ve been up to.

For more info;
http://www.justicenotcrisis.wordpress.com

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Pre­vi­ous updates (since last report):

THE JOHN LINES HOMELESS VILLAGE FINDS NEW LOCATION

Novem­ber 9, 2008
Fol­low­ing the grant­i­ng of an evic­tion by Birmingham’s coun­ty court The Coun­cil­lor john Lines Home­less Vil­lage has moved to a new site.

Fol­low­ing our live inter­view on BBC1’s The Pol­i­tics Show cam­paign­ers form JUSTICE NOT CRISIS moved tents and belong­ings to a new site just 50m away. The old site has been cleaned up and the remain­ing few things will be removed tomor­row (Mon­day) before the bailiffs turn up SO NO BIG CLEAN UP EXPENSE coun­cil­lor Lines.

The site is at the start for the Per­shore Road (city end). Park­ing is avail­able in Bal­sall Heath Road. Click here for a map.

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HOUSING DEMO MOVES TO A THIRD SITE

Post­ed on Novem­ber 12, 2008
Hav­ing moves to a new site just yards from the orig­i­nal site we have now been told to move again. We didn’t want to cost the coun­cil any mon­ey be refus­ing and mak­ing the coun­cil pay for a bailiff so we have left the site.
Our new loca­tion is at the old Fire­bird Pub in Belle­vue. We have cho­sen this site as the build­ing has been emp­ty for years, is van­dalised dai­ly and is an eye­sore. The land could be used for social hous­ing, com­mu­ni­ty facil­i­ties, a busi­ness that could pro­vide jobs, etc but the own­ers have left it emp­ty and falling down.

Belle­vue is almost oppo­site the old camps and can be reached by bus­es: 61,62, & 63 Bris­tol Road, 45 &47 Per­hore Road or the 8A & 8C.

Click here for a map.

See top of sto­ry for more info.

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JNC CAMPAIGNER STABBED IN THROAT