Category: North West England

Squatters Estate Agents Opens In London

As part of the Space Is The Place – Side Stepping The Property Ladder series of events taking place in various London autonomous spaces over the weekend of the 11th and 12th April, a squatters estate agents has been set up.

The squatters estate agents is based at a new squatted venue in Bowl Court, Shoreditch and opens Saturday at 10am. A display shows a number of empty properties around London along with details about their location, history and suitability for squatting. The properties range for abandoned houses and flats, to pubs, shops and even government buildings. Some would suit small residential squats and others grand large scale housing communities, squat cafes, freeshops or social centres.

During the weekend you’ll have the opportunity to meet up with others in need of housing and go out as a group to put the empties of London back into good use. Before the end of the weekend you could have yourself and your friends a new home.

The display boards will also be made available at other autonomous spaces over the weekend and beyond.

It’s not to late to contribute to the project. Please submit your own empties lists ASAP to the.rampart AT gmail DOT com

———-

Over the last three weeks people have been preparing an abandoned warehouse in Shoreditch (London) to host events over the weekend of the days of action for squats and autonomous spaces. This week, artists have been transforming the place for an exhibition themed around land use, gentrification, housing and reclaiming space. The building opens on Saturday at 10am with a program of films, discussion and skill sharing till 7pm and again on Sunday. The space will also be hosting a freeshop and squatters estate agency.

The four storey building had been deliberately left empty for years even though the planning authorities won’t allow it to be demolished. Instead of using using/renting or selling the building, the owners have instead totally gutted the inside to deter squatters, stairs removed, floorboards pulled up, pipework yanked out and toilets smashed. As if that wasn’t bad enough they have left the building open to the elements with smashed windows and a bloody great hole torn out of the roof. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the developers are waiting for the building to fall into disrepair enough to justify its demolition.

Despite all the damage it was considered worth squatting anyway, partly due to the symbolic value of occupying and renovating a building that the owners are leaving empty while they wait for it to fall apart, but also because it has most of the attributes we wanted and is very conveniently located.

Right on the edge of the city of London, the squat is overshadowed by a massive new 700 million pound development site pushing out into Shoreditch. A huge glistening glass tower block is the first of many that will be built here, transforming the area completely. The warehouse stands alone with earth movers parked in the open area between it and the construction trains and tower blocks, an almost exact real life replica of the image used on the April2008 website.

The squat is located in Bowl Court which is up Plough Court next to the junction of Great Eastern Street and Shoreditch High Street.

—

What next in London?

After this last weekends decentralised actions for squats and autonomous spaces we’ll be having a followup event at the new Bowl Court social centre. It will be a chance to hear about what went on in other cities in the UK and elsewhere in the world. There will be videos and slide shows of actions and exhibitions of photos and artwork. The squatter estate agents will also have been updated and open for business again.

More importantly it will be a chance for people from different spaces to get together (everyone was too busy during the days of action themselves) and discuss some of the issues raised. Part of the aim of the days of action was to bring autonomous spaces together and create interconnections for better collaboration and mutual support in the future. Of the various social centres in London, three are close to eviction within the coming weeks (the wominspace is due to be evicted this wednesday 16th). How do we move forward together in defending the autonomy we create? How do we extend the links between existing social struggles and our autonomous spaces? What roles can and should these spaces be playing in producing radical social change?

Please invite your friends.

London wide autonomous spaces network meeting and a meal.
Saturday 19th April from 2pm at the Bowl Court Squat off Plough Yard, off Shoreditch High Street

—

News from Londons autonomous spaces…

New squats; more meetings; eviction alert; Brad Will revisited; days of action followup; the film they tried to ban; 56a Infoshop and more… With the days of action for autonomous spaces now behind us it’s time to look forward. Taken from the rampART mailing list, this is a round up of news and events relating to London’s social centres. Get involved.

>> Bowl Court Squat

Three weeks since we entered the abandoned warehouse on Bowl Court, we opened on Saturday with not only the esentials like floorboards, stairs, running water and flushing toilets but also an art exhibition, cinema, squatters estate agents and a ping pong table. If you didn’t get down there you can find photos on indymedia or come down next saturday to see for yourself and hear more about the days of action (see below).

>> Meetings meetings meetings

With the new Bowl Court space open in Shoreditch we’ve decided to alternate rampART monday organising meetings between the venues. Next monday, (21st April), the meeting will be at Rampart Street. Events proposals for either space should be made at a Monday meeting. However it seems we just can’t get enough of meetings and we’re having a house
meeting at Bowl Court tonight (Tues 15th, 7pm) to discuss and decide practical issues relating to the use of the space.

We’re also organising a London wide autonomous spaces network meeting for next saturday, see below for details.

>> Eviction Alert

The Wominspace (womynspace.blogspot.com) has been turned down an appeal and bailiffs are due to evict tommorow at 10.20am (Wed 16th). They are requesting people come down for breakfast at 9:30am to offer support.

The squat is by the canal at 4a Corbridge Crescent, E2 near Mare Street. Nearest tube, Bethnal Green.

>> Popular Uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico, 2006.

April 18 at 8pm

Please join us at the Bowl Court Squat on Friday, for a screening of the film “Brad, One More Night at the Barricades” (55 min). Brazilian filmmaker and media activist Miguel will be on hand to discuss his documentary tribute to a fallen friend and will also show another one of his films.

When Mexican paramilitary forces shot Brad Will (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Will) in the chest, killing him, his camera fell from his hands. But it didn’t stop recording. It continued moving from hand to hand, telling Brad’s story, as well as the story of the movement of movements that he was a part of. From the squats of New York to the forests of Oregon, from the anti-globalization protests in Seattle, Prague, Quebec to the popular uprising in Oaxaca, Brad’s camera paints us a picture of what his life was about, and what so many of his friends continue to struggle for.

Donations will go to help Miguel continue his tour. DVDs will also be on sale.

Venue: Bowl Court off Plough Yard, off Shoreditch High Street

>> Days of Action Followup

Saturday 19th from 2pm

After this last weekends decentralised actions for squats and autonomous spaces we’ll be having a followup event at the new Bowl Court social centre. It will be a chance to hear about what went on in other cities in the UK and elsewhere in the world. There will be videos and slide shows of actions and exhibitions of photos and artwork. The squatter estate agents will also have been updated and open for business again. Additionally there will be a london wide autonomous spaces network meeting and a meal. Doors open 2pm . More details on indymedia.

Venue: Bowl Court off Plough Yard, off Shoreditch High Street

>> The Film They Tried to Ban – On the Verge

Monday 21st at 7pm

Police have intervened across the country to censor ‘On the Verge’ an independent documentary about the Smash EDO campaign to shut down the Brighton’s weapons manufacturer EDO MBM. So far establishments in Southampton, Chichester, Bath and Oxford as well as Brighton have come under police pressure to cancel film showings. In Brighton police intervened to prevent a showing at the Duke of York’s Cinema, just one
hour prior to the scheduled premiere.

Cos lots of folk missed it’s first London screening at Housemans (couldn’t fit any more in) there’s another chance to see this important movie at LARC next Monday.

Venue is 62 Fieldgate Street, nearest tubes Aldgate East and Whitechapel

>> Keep Informed

Those of you south of the river may be especially interested to know that the 56a Infoshop (www.56a.org.uk) have started doing an irregular email newsletter to let you know what’s been happening and what’s going to happen at the Infoshop as well as bits and pieces from elsewhere. If you would like to recieve their newsletter then send an
email to : 56ainfoshop-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

———-

Building now in hand for the weekend of events in Birmingham – for timetable see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/20387

We have now occupied the building for this weekend’s events – so people are needed down there tonight and tomorrow morning to prepare for the demo and weekend workshops…

The building is the former Kingfield Heath stationer’s offices and warehouse, between Bradford Street and Warwick Street in Digbeth (on the 50 bus route and very near the Spotted Dog pub). It’s an absolutely enormous building, we are only using a small fraction of the space within it. The “main entrance” is on Bradford St, but the entrance that we are using is the one on Warwick St – about 50 yards up from the Spotted Dog, on the right side of the road. Hopefully by tomorrow morning we will have the “Free Space Brum” banner to advertise it from the outside.

No electricity or water as yet but hopefully these will be sorted tomorrow (and the landlord of the Spotted Dog, has kindly offered us the use of his pub kitchen for water, and possibly also cooking).

Bring down anything you want to make the place look nice – posters, candles, coloured fabric, cushions, mattresses, etc. We already have chairs and tables which were already in the building.

The space will be open to the public tomorrow morning to prepare for the demo outside the Council House at 2pm.

For any more info, directions from the city centre, or if you are there and no one seems to be there to let you in, please call the social centre phone on 07527580190…

freespacebrum@riseup.net
http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/birmingham_social_centre

—

Last weekend a temporary autonomous space was opened up in the centre of Birmingham in response to a Europe-wide call out for actions to defend squats and free space (see http://april2008.squat.net/).

An abandoned warehouse on Warwick St. in Digbeth was the venue of three days of workshops, talks and discussion on diverse themes: from the struggles of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, to the Disability Rights Movement in the UK; from 12v power workshops, to ‘seed bombs’ and guerilla gardening; from public sector workplace organising, to bicycle repair. Hot food was served each day with music in the evening and spontaeous sculpture and painting popping up around the building throughout.

The impetus for this event happening was not from any single group, agenda or campaign, but a collaboration between different groups and individuals. The emphasis throughout was to encourage such collaboration and to promote a general ‘lets do it ourselves’ ethos. In retrospect it was a uniquely supportive synthesis of different needs, issues, traditions and innovations.

Whilst the space was timed to co-incide with the Europe-wide call out, the weekend highlighted a number of specific issues in Birmingham over accessible social housing, privitisation of public space and the gentrification of Digbeth.

For example, one group active in creating the space, the Disabled Activist Network, are currently campaigning in Brum on the issues of accessible social housing and the planned closure of day centres across the city, to be replaced by privatised ‘services’. Members of that network felt strongly that they should not be campaigning to ‘save’ day centres given their reliance on the medical, ‘paternalistic’ model of dis/ability. Rather, the argument went, we should be campaigning for their replacement by something more along the social centres model. In synthesising these views, the freespace collective decided that while campaigning and working in the long term for an accessible and inclusive social centre, we could also respond to the call out and put on a temporary social centre for the weekend as a project to focus on.

We considered many buildings and open sites across the city of Birmingham, with various criteria in mind. We wanted easy public transport links, accessibility and a fairly central location. The groundswell of opposition to the Council’s gentrification of Digbeth meant we quickly gravitated to Digbeth, despite the issues that might give us in terms of fulfilling some of our criteria, in particular finding a building in good nick. Given the problems gentrification is already causing the area, with music venues being intimidated by a very few of the inhabitants – abetted by Birmingham City Council – of the jerry-built yuppy flats they erect next door, we felt a responsibility to the area to try and add weight and texture to the exisiting campaign to ‘Keep Digbeth Vibrant’. Council plans might be construed as insulting to the people of Digbeth, as they give the impression Digbeth is a run down, empty black hole of post-industrial misery, in dire need of rescuing by our ever so uncorrupt council and their friends in the construction industry. Digbeth, while not without an element of post-industrial misery is a vibrant community, and surely under no illusions about ‘development’. The word means that which causes something to unfold; growth, and so let us be under no illusions that what is going on is ‘development’. It is gentrification, the process of replacing the poor working community, replaced by exclusive ‘luxury’ flats that turn out to be crap build anyway. Social cleansing. Not just a question of competing ‘lifestyles’, this process is inherently political.

Links were made with the Keep Digbeth Vibrant/Noisy community and their support for the temporary autonomous zone cannot be over-valued. A website on the issue is http://www.keepdigbethvibrant.co.uk/

Of the weekend, one participant commented:

“It was a fantastic experience. It felt like a genuine, unmediated gathering of human beings – something which is quite alien in a culture where most, if not all, of our daily interactions with fellow sentient beings are via state or commercial mechanisms. It was a time and place where skills were learned and taught, ideas were exchanged, faces massaged, friends made, and much fun had.

“The support of the pub just down the road was invaluable – giving us access to toilets and clean water – and demonstrated that what we were doing was not about having a loud party or congratulating ourselves on how ultra-radical we are, but about supporting a cause that means something to the local community, as well as participating in a movement that spans the continent.

“It showed that we, the ordinary people of the world, have the power to create something worthwhile just by working together, even as our capitalist rulers try so hard to convince us that we don’t.

“In our own small way, we have proved them wrong.

“Now we have to do it again. Again and again, except bigger, better and with more involvement from a wider range of people. The powers that rule our lives can do so only as long as enough of the population believes that they are indispensable. By taking direct action such as this, by letting it grow and letting it be seen – especially by people who would not currently consider themselves ‘radical’ – we can show that this is not so.

“No snowflake ever feels it is responsible for the avalanche, but get enough of them together and they are literally unstoppable.”

There was no shortage of imagination and enterprise for autonomy. Plans were discussed to create an eco-friendy compost toilet in the building, to decrease our reliance on our friendly local pub. Unfortunately we did not have time to sort out all of the practicalities but we will be planning towards having compost toilets in our next space.

Events began on the Friday morning with a banner making workshop, with prepared banners displayed. People were also still focussed on clearing up the space and trying to work out if there was any possibility of mains electricity or running water. On discovering the existing mains supply was unworkable, the planned 12 volt lights and a sound system were set up running from leisure batteries ( which are similar to car batteries but far better suited to power domestic appliances).The batteries can be charged by solar panels or wind turbine, showing that you don’t need mains electricity, being an unsustainable and wasteful source. This time around we cheated by charging the batteries down at the pub! But we will try and get hold of some solar panels for next time.

Unfortunately the anti-gentrification demo called for 2pm outside the Council House was something of a wash out, with a low turnout, perhaps a lesson in taking on too much. While the ‘Stop selling Off Our City’ banner was hung on the social centre’s exterior, more banners were put up inside throught the course of the day.

Friday night’s open mic session included a variety of songs about class, Birmingham, war and neo-colonialism from different singers, interspersed with poetry and musical improvisation The fun continued well into the night. Urban exploration occured, guided tours of the enormous building we found ourselves in being offered, and there were some frankly astonishing moments of physical comedy available which I won’t go into too much detail, but imagine Buster Keaton in that Chaplin film where he gets caught up in the machine and you get the idea. It really was that good.

Saturday dawned, and after further work on the building and a breakfast, workshops began at 11am with a discussion of social centres, and numbers continued swelling. Bicycology arrived with their wonderful bike maintainance workshop, complete with infostand, participants sharing and learning thier maintainance skills. The Birmingham man who was involved in bike maintainance workshops in the run up to the West Midlands Climate Camp Neighborhood was particularly impressed with the skills, knowledge and teaching ability of the women from bicycology. Thanks to them for coming along.

After a very well recieved lunch – compliments to the chef – there was an exiting and engaging talk on the Zapatista movement by an artist and activist of Mexico, now resident in the UK. The talk covered amongst other things the history of the Zapatista rebellion, outlining the key goals of their resistance: control over land, direct political representation and the right to protect their language and culture. Broader themes were touched upon too, such as globalisation. After this there was an introduction to the Local Exchange Trading Scheme, or LETS as it operates in Birmingham, given by one of their key administrative workers.

The second afternoon session was taken up by two workshops. 12volt electricity, co-facilitated by three different people, began with a theoretical discussion, looking at the basics of electricity in non-technical language employing metaphor to get across the key concepts, as well as the engineering involved in setting up 12volt systems. This was followed by a hands-on practical session, getting people used to measuring voltages, wiring up lights and a look at the 12volt sound system. Workshop two was a talk on dis/ability rights; the concepts and the movement were covered in a way which participants reported opened their eyes to new ideas about the politics of ‘disability’.

After dinner, the poi/fire spinning workshop/demonstration took place, which certainly looked good from where I was standing. Made the place come alive and was a welcome ‘spectacle’ to those not directly participating.

On Sunday the highly anticipated permaculture/transition towns workshop proved to be an engaging, radical and politicised discussion of the issues. Key points were about the nature of permaculture, it’s history and relevance today, how it has changed as a concept and how we practice it everyday. There was a vision excercise in imagining what a permacultured post-transition world might be experientially from the moment we wake up. What will our homes look like, our breakfasts, the world outside our homes? On transition towns, after the basics were intoduced, key questions were how do we ensure the transition movement remains out of the hands of local business elites, and is non-hierarchical?

Sunday afternoon was taken up with two practical workshops and one discussion. While the stencil making conrtibuted to the ongoing spontaneous arts occuring througout the event, decorating the building, guerilla gardening consisted of making ‘seedbombs’, a radical ‘no dig’ approach to the practice. This labour intensive workshop was interrupted for around an hour by the talk on the forthcoming public sector strikes, and the state of industrial activism in the public sector in the city, which was a productive and certainly informative discussion. For those intersted in following up, there is a union organised rally in Victoria Square, Brum City Centre on Thursday 24th April, 12noon to coincide with a strike over pay cuts.

The ‘What next?’ discussion rounded off the event, discussing the next steps for brumfreespace, on Sunday evening after dinner. Anky, one participant said “The food was wonderful, thanx to “Food not Bombs”…really inspired my cooking, we got the water & lighting and sounds sorted really well I thought, we have so much energy and creativity amongst us!”

And a final perspective:

“One of the greatest strengths of the weekend was the diversity of people that it welcomed. This was the first time I had ever been involved in occupying a space, and it gave me the opportunity to get together with so many different people – to meet new people that I hadn’t met before, and to celebrate the new friends that I had made since becoming involved in Freespace Brum in January. It’s fair to say that each person who visited had particular interests, and the opportunity to listen, learn and discuss the various interests in a free social space that wasn’t just interested in taking your money was really valuable. And it was fun too! We took an empty building and for a few days we gave it colour, life, music and community. In return, it gave us fun, celebration, education and the determination to bring something more permanent to Birmingham. Well done to everybody involved in setting it up and thanks to everybody who visited, promoted it and helped out. Particular thanks must to go to the amazing people from the Spotted Dog pub, all the speakers who gave their time to hold workshops (I managed to get to the LETS and Zapatista talks, both fantastic) and everybody who travelled from out of town to help us. Love to all, and here’s to the future.”

More photos

—

The next meeting of Freespace Brum will be at 7pm this Wednesday 23rd April, at the Spotted Dog Alcester St.

———-

Announcing The New Squat: Location (Nottingham)

The new squat, which has been occupied as part of the weekend of action for free culture and autonomous spaces has so far been successfully taken. Please come along, we really need people to help clear the space and make it one of our own! So where is it? The building is known as the Old County Hall, 23 High Pavement, Nottingham City, NG1. It is the building straight opposite the Galleries of Justice. For general info or directions, please ring us on 075 3449 6679. For a map see: http://tinyurl.com/5wld5k

We hope to see you there soon!

For more photos see http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396162.html
———-
Bristolians take part in International homelessness/squatters action day

A vacant city centre building, the Little Theatre in Colston Street, was occupied this morning by homeless Bristolians as part of a co-ordinated day of action round the world.

Hundreds of thousands of square feet of vacant property stands idle in the city whilst Bristol’s housing register listed over 20,000 people and rising when it was scrapped last year. Whilst most people don’t want to live in property not originally built as housing any roof over your head is better than none. The absurdity of fast rising homelessness figures whilst large buildings lie empty, sometimes for years, has not escaped the notice of Bristol’s homeless people.

The government has also decided to drop proposals in the last budget to scrap business rate relief for vacant properties. Many owners of the largest vacant properties in the city will continue to pay little or no tax on their empty buildings and have no incentive to let them. Police and Fire Brigade both recognise these increasing numbers of ‘voids’ create fire hazards, ‘crack houses’ and attract other crime.

Last year’s Northern Rock crisis and increasing banking jitters should only serve to remind people how, by handing responsibility for economic decisions over to the private sector, Gordon Brown has left one of the most important responsibilities of government to a failing market. The council’s appalling new ‘choice based lettings’ scheme, introduced this year, which relies on the disabled, poor, mentally ill and elderly to ‘house themselves’ has effectively scrapped their statutory responsibility over the last 60 years to house the most vulnerable in society.

The occupation will continue over the next few days with public events and will continue beyond to remind the council, public, Shelter and other agencies that homeless people will continue to assert their right to house themselves where the government has failed. Bristol squatters believe the council and homeless charities have shrugged off the desperate plight of tens of thousands of homeless people in the city because they have little economic clout.

Contacts

For more info call: Sven on 07786 166477, Miriam on 07964 292775, Jake on 07910 077111 or others on 07528 953230 or 07591 631230.

Links

With the Broadmead Expansion and its spillover into St Pauls and Old Market that is displacing our local communities, the time is now to take matters into our own hands and reclaim our public spaces.
REPAIR NOT REDEVELOP – Yuppie flats are not part of a sustainable future and are pushing social housing out of the city centre. Resist the displacement of local people and join the parade!
http://www.bristol.indymedia.org/article/688145
http://april2008.squat.net/index.php/category/english/l…ef/en

http://www.squatbristol.org.uk

———-

AUDACIOUS SPACE CINEMA
@ opposite Primark on the Headrow (21-27) in the city centre at the old housing advice centre, Leeds
07526 261061

Presents… a weekend of radical documentaries

Occupy, resist, squat!

Friday 11TH APRIL 2008

7 – 8pm European autonomous Spaces Part I

Direct Action against Apathy shorts on ‘autonomous spaces’. DAAA made some documentaries back in 2005 about European autonomous spaces. Here we feature three of them: Barcelona, our very own A-spire from Leeds and a secret location!

8-9pm – Rob Newman
Live from the 2007 Camp for Climate Action, we have Rob Newman’s hilarious and political sharp stand up on oil, war and direct action.

Saturday 12TH APRIL 2008

2 – 3pm European autonomous Spaces Part II
Back with 3 more shorts from Direct Action against Apathy: Nottingham (Sumac Centre), Christiania and Amsterdam

3 – 4 pm Boom – the sound of eviction
Story of gentrification and resistance from downtown san Francisco

4 – 5 pm Those who dance
Inspiring story of resistance from Rossport in Ireland where a community is taking on the massive multinational Shell to stop them building an oil pipeline.

5 – 5.30pm The story of Joe Hill
Story of legendary itinerant, folk hero Joe Hill – a key agitator and wobbly (IWW) organiser

5.30 – 6pm Hands of our homes
Short documentaries abot communities resisting privatisation and PFIs from around the UK

6 – 7.30pm The Take
Story of workers in Argentina who occupy their factory after the 2001 economic crash.

7.30 – 9pm Dockers
Story of amazing 1994 Liverpool dockers strike whose struggle spread around the world.

AUDACIOUS SPACE COLLECTIVE
leedssquat@googlemail.com

The space was taken without too much fuss last night, and opened its doors to the public about 3pm today. On going in, it was obvious that a lot of effort had gone into preparing the infoshop and beautifying the inside. There was free coffee and snacks, some people were watching a film and some were handing out literature on the pavement outside.

For anyone who doesn’t know the area, The Headrow is right in the very centre of town. The council vacated this building (it used to be the housing advice centre) so they could sell it on to be another exclusive boutique; the housing office was moved to somewhere further out of town and harder for people to access.

Perhaps they were prescient when they chose to write in their display, “The Housing Advice Centre Is Changing.” It certainly has. If you go in now, you’ll learn all about how to squat and take control of your own housing problems!

Come and pop in if you have a chance.

—

The Audacious Space cafe is now shut as of early Sunday evening, but everyone is anxious to maintain the momentum of this weekend, so there will be a meeting for people interested in what to do next on Wednesday this week at 7pm to discuss ideas, and have a bit of an Audacious Debrief.

Call the usual number (07526261061) or email leedssquat@googlemail.com for location. It will be particularly good if people who didn’t help in putting on the space, but came down and liked what they saw, came along to see how to get more involved.

And a MASSIVE MASSIVE WELL DONE to everyone who put on and came down to and participated in this amazing event! Let’s keep the momentum going!

———-

Day of Action for Squatting and Autonomous Spaces, Brighton, 12/04/08.

A video of pixies reclaiming the public space of Brighton with some banner dropping. To our surprise the pigs didn’t show up. The weather was great. The day went well.

Video Squat Level – video/mpeg 13M
< a href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2008/04//396394.mpg">Video Squat Level – video/mpeg 13M

The day had started with some tree climbing. After few hours the first banner was dropped. The bender was then erected on the Level and the food acquired from skips was displayed on the table to be eaten for free by the members of public. The second banner was dropped an hour later. The crowd gathered and there was some guitar playing to follow by the after-party. The day went well.

I went home before the start of the party… please add your own accounts of the day/night.

———-

MESHO, The 16-page tabloid spoof paper about squatting, homelessness and autonomous spaces is out!

Apeing the METRO masthead, watch out if you see what looks like a METRO on a tube train or bus – it might be a MESHO

Look out for MESHO in all the squatted/autonomous spaces opened up this weekend in cities across Britain.

Allegedly the paper nearly didn’t happen because three separate printers pulled out at the last minute fearing a legal comeback – or claiming they didn’t have insurance. One excused themselves because they print METRO, before another finally obliged at the last minute.

What does MESHO mean? Well it looks like METRO but is an anagram of HOMES. So there.

Download MESHO on pdf (16 page, tabloid size, 4.7mb) at www.schnews.org.uk/satire/pdf/mesho.pdf

———-

On the night of Friday 11th April offices of Angel Group [Leeds] came under attack. This was part of the days of action in support of squats and autonomous spaces.

Angel group make their money by providing poor quality housing for asylum seekers, profitting from vulnerable people and racist asylum laws.

This company were targetted as part of the days of action in support of squats and autonomous spaces because housing is a right, not a means to make profit. This company are known to exploit their position of providing housing to vulnerable people who are not in a position to complain, getting away with providing substandard accomodation.

The front of the Angel group offices were redecorated, slogans painted, and locks glued. 12 company vehicles were attacked with paint stripper, spray paint, and had their tyres slashed.

This should send a message to Angel that their racist business will not be tolerated.

———-

SPACE INVADED!

Manchester Space Invaders landed on Thursday night…. Dodgy TV kicked off the weekend with films about squatting (including the OK cafe) and a tribute to Free party stalward Charlie.. This was followed by a late night opening at the new social centre. Intrepid Invaders then took to the skies for a night of audacious banner hanging around the city to promote the weekend and No Borders….

Friday night was the opening bands night at the squat, with everything from punk to folk, via electro randomness. This was a fundraiser for the Basement Social Centre; which lives on through the collective despite being temporarily shut down.

On Saturday the Manchester space invaders took to the streets to reclaim some ‘public’ spaces…The family funday was a success despite being somewhat overshadowed by the corporate presence of the Manchester swimathon in Cathedral Gardens. The space invaders supported the teenagers who are constantly moved on and targeted by police for assembling in ‘public’ spaces. With a range of music, from bike soundsystems to a folk and samba band, we hung out in the sunshine with the I bike MCR art parade. We made banners, painted faces, did tai qi..and were entertained by a magician!

In the evening, up to 200 squatters and No Borders activists held an unauthorised demonstration in the city centre. Accompanied by a samba band and two soundsystems mounted on bike trailers, they marched from Victoria Station into the Northern Quarter, along Market Street and Kings Street, through Spinningfields into Castlefield.

The event, called by the group Manchester No Borders, called for the defence of squatted spaces and the freedom of movement for all. Squats and autonomous spaces face a hard time from the authorities. Yet, for many people, especially some migrant communities, they are the only alternative to homelessness.

The demonstration highlighted the ridiculousness of hundreds of houses standing empty, while many of us face extortionate rents, mortgage repayments or eviction threats.

At the end of the march in Castlefield, the protesters succeeded in taking symbolic action against the redevelopment of the area, occupying an old pub and having a celebration of autonomous spaces. The redevelopment of Jackson’s Wharf into a block of flats was recently fought off by local opposition; but in many parts of the city the battle has been less successful.

After the demonstration some space invaders took off to a party in an old furniture warehouse in Ardwick, but this was sadly busted by the police and shut down after a couple of hours..

—

Pictures and report by Manchester No Borders of the FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT and DEFEND AUTONOMOUS SPACES demonstration on Saturday, April 12th (see www.april-12.blogspot.com).

Last Saturday evening, up to 200 squatters and supporters followed our call for an unauthorised demonstration in the city centre. We were accompanied by a samba band (Rhythms of Resistance) and two soundsystems mounted on bike trailers. With the cops not bothering to show up, we marched undisturbed from Victoria Station into the Northern Quarter, along Market Street and Kings Street , through Spinningfields into Castlefield.

The demo in itself was already a great success! We carried three big banners reading ‘Freedom of Movement for all – defend autonomous spaces’, ‘No Borders, No Nations – against migration management’, and ‘Occupy – Resist’. There was a banner drop along the route, hundreds of spoof ‘Mesho’ newspapers were given out, and it was great to see a hundred people sprint down Kings Street past all the posh shops.

But as someone said, this was not just a demonstration. In Castlefields, we succeeded in collectively occupying Jackson ‘s Wharf, an old pub that was the focus of a successful local campaign against redevelopment. Up to a hundred squatters entered the abandoned building, hanging banners from its balcony and opening bottles of cava that No Borders had provided! Even the cops seemed happy to see an old pub being brought back to life for a couple of hours.

And let’s not forget that the events in Manchester coincided with dozens of building occupations, protests and street parties across Europe, in cities as diverse as London, Amsterdam, Vienna and Prague. Worldwide, tens of thousands attended.

Our actions have clearly shown the ridiculousness of having hundreds of houses stand empty, while social and community centres are being shut down and individuals face extortionate rents, mortgage repayments or eviction threats. With sky-high rents forcing the poor to the margins, the creeping privatisation of public space, and a council willing to close down vital community services and simultaneously sell off swathes of the city centre to luxury property developers and retailers, there has seldom been a time when fighting for autonomous spaces in Manchester has been more important.

We need to recognise borders where they appear. The restrictions created by capitalist social relations and the property system abolishes common ground, segregates according to wealth and ownership, and in doing so throws up borders all around us. Control of the movement and association of people – whether at the micro-level of our inner cities or the macro level of international migration is a global issue that must be challenged.

We should fight to create spaces in Manchester not simply as bases of resistance or celebration (though we hope they can provide this), but to encourage a departure from the systems that control us. For centuries, people have migrated across borders and have occupied spaces to live in as a way to take control of their own lives. They choose to leave their own pasts, in an effort to claim autonomy over their future lives.

The demonstration on Saturday was a celebration of this….Thank you to everyone who participated!

———-


Squatted Community Garden Reopened in Reading as Part of Days of Action!

On Sat 12th April, actions took place across the world in defence of squats and free spaces. In Reading, anti-capitalists managed to re-open Common Ground squatted community garden for the day, with a community BBQ and music show, despite a year of struggle with the authorities for control of the space.

Over the last two weeks local activists have been busy quietly tidying up the garden, building new furniture and fixing a new lock on the gate ready for re-opening. However, a few days ago, RBC changed the locks and re-secured the gate with barricades. No worries though…

For starters, publicity has been circulating for the last month, not only detailing the planned re-opening, but also explaining a ‘Plan B’ for if the authorities sucessfully stopped the opening. RGA declared that, if stopped, the entire event would relocate to space right outside the Council building, police station and courts, reclaiming it from their authority (and their privatisation plans…)

Happily though, this proved unnecessary. On Saturday, activists from RGA were at Common Ground at 7am, doing work to prepare for opening time. Come 1pm, as people began to arrive, the fence came down and moved aside to create a large (unblockable!) entrance to the garden!

Over the course of the day, many people came through the garden, from local neighbours expressing their support to anarchist comrades from other parts of the country. Local downpours were dealt with (ok, gazeebos had to be bought) and as the day went on to get brighter and drier, more and more people arrived. Everybody relaxed and enjoyed a free BBQ untill evening fell and musicians began to arrive. From 6pm onwards, a diverse crowd of family and friends, neighbours and punks, gathered around for a drink (or two in a few cases!) and showed their appreciation for the acoustic tunes and positive messages plied by PJ & Gaby, Neil Sutherland, Kelly Kemp, Clayton Blizzard and Sam Russo. Finally, a few sober comrades tidied the whole place up and the crowd drifted off into the night, before the fence was re-attached, securing the garden, and several tired but chuffed anarchists went off the bed.

Just to mention, this is only one persons opinion but in many ways this was the most successful event held in Common Ground yet. Ok, a few neighbours complained when a couple of visiting hippies started their drumming, but this was quickly dealt with and at least one of those neighbours was later seen dancing on her balcony to PJ & Gaby. Aside from that, this was the first event held at the garden which was completely left alone by the authorites. Previous events have happened despite interference (such as injunctions, evictions attempts and hired security guards) but this was the first time they simply stayed away. Over the last year the activists involved have proved to the council that they wont be stopped and that attempts at criminalising the project achieve nothing except wasting a lot of money. Clearly, Saturday was a major victory, with the council giving up.

Keeping the garden open everyday may prove impossible due to the size of the organising collective and the lack of permanent occupation making it easy for RBC to simply re-secure the gate each time it is opened. However, the probability of a community garden being created legally nearby as a result of this project means RGA have proved direct-action gets the goods and a fair few neighbours have expressed an interest in getting involved in this local anti-capitalist organisation for further projects.

Cheers to all involved for a good day and solidarity to all the others around the world who participated in the days of action!

Notes for the editor or the ‘really really interested’….

*The garden, originally created by local squatter, neighbours and anti-capitalists ‘RGA’ (Reading Grassroots Action), sits on Reading Borough Council (RBC) owned land which had been left a derelict junkyard for at least five years previously. Through donations and recycling, the garden was created almost for free and organised through regular directly-democratic meetings. Despite RBC gaining an eviction order for the squatters and an injunction banning the garden being opened, it was opened in May 2007 with over 200 people passing through over the day and was then opened everyday and enjoyed by many diverse members of the community over the summer. The garden was finally closed down and the squatters evicted (after two previous evictions were seen off by local protest) in October. Shortly after, three activists were arrested attempting to reopen the garden and the garden has again been left derelict by RBC for five months.

katesgrovegarden(AT)yahoo.co.uk
http://www.rgacollective.org.uk

———-
Amsterdam RTS photos – more info about what happened over the seas at links below
==========

Announcements about other events taking place over the days of action in London & elsewhere, here

International round-up on Indymedia and most up-to-date, the main webpage for the weekend.