London: The March for Homes

By: fawda - February 1st, 2015  Filed under: News

Good Morning Comrades and friends all…

And what a morning song of delight do I sing…What a ‘turnout’ by Londoners yesterday, on what was after all a very cold and in every sense a real winters day, but it didn’t stop thousands of us taking to the streets to demand homes for all those in need 35 years after the Thatcher government made the push to turn the nation into a land full of homeowners and of course as we now know with disastrous consequences for (no exaggeration) millions.

Two legs one from the South and the other from East London merged on and over Tower Bridge creating the massive march, the biggest on housing ever seen in London for many a year.

I joined the south London leg with my comrades from the Love Activists (London) and the Bohemians the occupying crews at the 12 Bar in Soho and on our second day in defence and in defiance of the court IPO, we still hold the Bar and what a joy that is to behold, for the people and by the people, power to the people! [Read More]

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London: Meeting the Protesters Squatting Soho’s Doomed 12-Bar Club

By: dolph-l - January 25th, 2015  Filed under: Interviews

London’s venues are dying a grisly death. There are high-speed rails to build and cultural institutions to be redeveloped into luxury flats that nobody’s going to live in, and it’s the city’s nightlife that’s been selected to pay the price. Madam Jojo’s, The Joiners Arms, The Intrepid Fox and Vibe Bar – among a raft of others – have all already been forced to serve their last pints and shut up shop.

Last week, after an 18-month battle with the Crossrail project, the The 12 Bar Club on Soho’s Denmark Street closed down, too. The venue has been moved to a new location in Islington, so at least it’s still alive in one sense. But the story is the same here as it was when the Southbank Centre suggested moving the nearby 40-year-old skatepark from the “undercroft” to another spot just down the river; the Tin Pan Alley location was steeped in a history that’s a little harder to relocate.

On Tuesday, a group of protesters calling themselves The Bohemians started squatting the Grade II listed building, both in a bid to save it from demolition and to inspire others to unite to save Soho. After reading their manifesto – “Without culture, society cannot exist” – I walked in for a chat. [Read More]

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