After 6 amazing weeks of self-organisation, hosting events and supporting communities, Self-organised London was evicted last night by High Court Bailiffs and Cops. At 4am in the morning, they stormed Eileen House, kicking in the front door of our social centre and causing mayhem. Luckily, we were well prepared; no one got arrested and we got our personal things and most of the social centre equipment out of the building. Just a short reminder: Once Boris Johnson finally (!!!) takes a decision, Eileen House is likely to be demolished. The planning application envisages the construction of a 41-storey biggie with 335 flats, NONE of them socially rented, not even 20% of them shared ownership. While SOL was trying to provide a space for the public, for the communities of the Elephant, for London activists, Eileen House is now sealed off and inaccessible to the public, awaiting its demolition.
Another building in perfect condition that is rather left empty for those who have plenty than put to good use for those who have none. To us, it shows once more that the law and state authorities uphold an unjust and absurd system, to the benefit of corporate profit, to the disadvantage of the people.
The collectives and individuals who set up SOL are now taking a break, to organise our homes, to regain our strength. Whatever we decide to do in the future, what networks we form, what projects we start, let’s keep self-organising, let’s keep resisting, let’s keep squatting!
A big, massive and warm thank you to all of you, all of the groups and invididuals that made SOL a vibrant and buzzing hub of activities. Thanks for coming along, for donating stuff, for enjoying the view from the roof, for showing support and love. We could not have done this without you.
SOLidarity!
29/03/2013
Squatting Eileen House against gentrification: Re-organisation of SOL!
Self-organised London has now squatted Eileen House for five weeks, turning it into a vibrant social centre for the Elephant’s communities and London activists. Over the past weeks, we’ve hade numerous events from infonights, film screenings, skillshares, dance lessons and language exchange to benefit parties, music jams/open mics, punk gigs and people’s kitchen. We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all locals, activists, Londoners and squatters who come into Eileen House, and have made SOL a beautiful space of community organisation, mutual aid and activism.
Although a claim for possession has been issued against us by the High Court, we have not been evicted yet and will continue to provide a public social space in Eileen House. We have now decided to restructure our organisation to adapt it to all the different dynamics of the past weeks. The two collectives who have primarily run the space, the Unrooted Crew (norootscrew.wordpress.com) and the Library Street Collective (librarystreetlondon.wordpress.com), will pull out of their responsibilities as main organisers. Instead, ALL the individuals, groups and collectives who have physically and politically used the space will from now on constitue one SOL collective, replacing the multi-crew structure. Everyone is welcome to join in running SOL, everyone is welcome to organise events and activities! Please get in contact by email (selforganisedlondon [at] riseup [dot] net), phone (07874304848) or come to our open meetings on Mondays, 8pm! To keep updated on latest event event bookings and SOL news keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook .
FIGHT GENTRIFICATION – RECLAIM REGENERATION
Come and join us! SOLidarity!
28/02/2013
Yet again, the law has served the interests of corporate business: The High Court issued an order of possession for Eileen House. It might result in bailiffs turning up anytime from today afternoon: we’ll have a legal update then. But we insist: at a time when welfare and benefits are cut by the government, thousands of properties stand empty, and community and public spaces are sold off for private profit, squatting is more than legitimate!
The past week has shown what a forceful impact squatters, activists and residents can have against gentrification. Our wide range of events and activities covered people’s kitchen, film-screenings, talks and discussions on housing and welfare cuts, an anti-gentrification walk, a Latin American night, live music events, and much more. Instead of being an empty and neglecte space on a main road, Eileen House is now buzzing with activity! A big thanks to all of the many locals and Londoners who attended our events in huge numbers, every day! Do continue to visit us, to suggest events, to support us in solidarity!
Whatever will happen in the next days, we will try to uphold our spirit of community, of action, and of resistance! Fight Gentrification – Reclaim Regeneration – For a Self-organised London
{WE ARE STILL HAVING OUR PEOPLE’S KITCHEN, by LSL, AS EVERY THURSDAY…Bring positive energy + banners’ material maybe + thought of staying around if needed. After food, experience sharing from housing struggle campaigns in UK & elsewhere, watching inspiring videos, etc. }
26/02/2013
Last Friday, we were served papers: a claim for possession issued by the High Court, against the occupiers of Eileen House. For us, it is not only a questions of reclaiming empty spaces for people who can make use of it, with or without any resources – e.g. by setting up a self-organised social space. Much more, we think it is also our fundamental right to protest against rip-off housing, gentrification and corporate profits! We are squatting Eileen House for political reasons: we oppose Oakmayne Properties’ megalomanic plans for a 41-storey biggie on Newington Causeway!
Our court date is on Wednesday, 27th of February, at 3pm @ High Court, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand
Please come for support and show your solidarity!
20/02/2013
Today is a day of many firsts, it marks the foundation of SOL (Self-Organised London) a group dedicated towards anti-gentrification, equal rights and protesting against government cuts. We’re currently in the process of ‘re-claiming’ Eileen House, in Southwark and today we’ve launched this website as an initial manifesto and eventual portal for news, events and information about our forthcoming social centre.
The site is still under heavy development, but already you can learn about SOL and our plans by navigating through the top header to the perscribed links. We’ll be shifting to a dedicated server this week, but we’ve already secured our domain name: www.selforganisedlondon.org and if you bookmark that, you’ll move to the new server right along with us.
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook & Twitter as well, for daily updates.
Source : http://www.olympusrpg.com/selforganisedlondon/
