Hackney, London: Check out 195 Mare Street

By: dolph-l - September 13th, 2013  Filed under: News

Everyone woke up super enthusiastic this morning ready to start the day. Downstairs free shop area looks almost unrecognisable – its suddenly viable again how much space there really is. We’ve going to have a great area to do some workshops while we continue to work on the rest of the building. [Read More]

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Hackney, London, UK: 195 Mare Street squatted

By: Rosa - August 25th, 2013  Filed under: News

Only a few days here at 195 and its clear that we seem to be attracting attention from people passing by.  I guess its a mix of seeing us grinding hard in the front garden, reading our signs on the gates and quite simply not be able to walk past such a big and beautiful building without noticing it. 195 Mare street really does stand out on the main road. It has been extremely refreshing to speak with people all from different journeys. So far we have received only a positive response from the local community. Sharing ideas feels wonderful and exciting and its always fun showing people the awesome space that we now have for use.  We are beginning to visualize what this place is going to evolve into.

[Read More]

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London: Roma Solidarity

By: sisulscz - July 20th, 2013  Filed under: News

In picture: rubber-cloved police smirk as they chase away Roma in a dawn raid on 19 July against the Marble Arch encampment in London’s high-class Park Lane district, assisted by immigration officers and staff from the Romanian Embassy. Some seventy people, including children, had been sleeping in the open under blankets and plasic.
[Read More]

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UK: Brixton squatters fight back against eviction

By: Rosa - July 17th, 2013  Filed under: News

Yesterday morning, Lambeth Council, the National Eviction Team and dozens of cops evicted 75 people from their homes in Rushcroft Road, Brixton. After 32 years, Lambeth Council has now decided to sell off the properties to estate agent giant and notorious tax dodger Foxtons. Fuelled by anger at the increasing gentrification of Brixton alongside Lambeth councils continuous failure to provide affordable housing, squatters, residents and locals put up a strong fight against the evictions.

A very excellent eyewitness account of yesterdays events can be found here.

And a Vice magazine article with some good pic’s here.

[Read More]

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London: Stop evicting Brixton!

By: dolph-l - July 13th, 2013  Filed under: News

Rushcroft Road Eviction – this Monday 15th July.
Join the people of the Rushcroft Road to stop Lambeth evicting Brixton.

We are 75 people living in 6 blocks of residential flats in central Brixton who are facing eviction from our homes. Most of us have occupied and squatted the building for decades. One person has been here for 32 years. Generations of families have grown up here.

Lambeth council have let these buildings go into a state of disrepair. We have made these buildings into our homes.

brixkitt

Now there are significant profits to be made they will renovate the buildings and sell them off. In doing so they are destroying a community with deep roots in Brixton. This is part of a wider trend in and around London boroughs where councils socially cleanse, motivated solely by money, pushing out those who have been for many years. [Read More]

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London,UK : Please come to Grow Heathrow

By: Rosa - July 9th, 2013  Filed under: News

We will give more updates as soon as we can, but the short story is that we urgently need people to come to site to help us plan. We’ve just heard that we lost our appeal in the UK’s second-highest court so the landowner now has a live possession order. We don’t know the landowner’s plans, so we don’t know whether or when he will apply for a warrant from the County Court for bailiffs, and beyond then whether or when he might hire bailiffs.

Grow Heathrow at Court

[Read More]

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London, UK: Made Possible by Squatting Call-out for Submissions

By: Rosa - July 4th, 2013  Filed under: News

Made Possible by Squatting seeks submissions for an exhibition in September 2013 and an on-line archive that celebrate how squatting has positively affected the lives of individuals & communities in London.

Against the back-drop of the criminalisation of squatting Made Possible by Squatting is looking for work that depicts or embodies a particular chosen experience, movement, space or place in relation to squatting.

The story you choose to tell could be your own, or a history you want to investigate and share.

It could be current or historic – a huge chapter in the life of a community, or a tiny forgotten moment in time, extraordinary or quite ordinary.

The format is completely open – works can be sculptural, photographic, print based, archive materials, workshops, performance, digital, video, audio, temporary or permanent…

[Read More]
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House of Brag Address Announced for the London Queer Social Centre: June 22 – July 6

By: dolph-l - June 21st, 2013  Filed under: News

OUR NEW HOME!

We’re really happy to tell you that the new home for the London Queer Social Centre is …..

63 Sancroft Street, London SE11 5UG – in an abandoned pub called The Duchy Arms. Here’s a map.

We’ve been working away at making it nice, and we think you’ll like it. It’s wheelchair-accessible (though without adapted toilets unfortunately), and has space for all the events we have planned, plus a nice outside area for smoking. We open on Saturday. Be sure to check our full programme of events, and come by and see us. [Read More]

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London: Day of the Stormtrooper

By: sisulscz - June 11th, 2013  Filed under: News

On the 11th of June, 10am, on the day of the G8 protests Riot Police surrounded the squatted Beak Street Convergance Space, kettling many of the days protesters before they even got out of bed. Some estimates put the number of occupants at 200. That is 200 people who were prevented from attending the G8 demonstrating, and excercising their right to protest. The excuse that was given; they were searching for articles likely to cause criminal damage on the march. Although there has been vandalism in the past we must ask, why could they not have searched people on their way out? A crowbar or a hammer is not going to cause any damage sitting in a squat. For many, it was clear that the massive police presence had one aim: to shut down the organisation of the G8 march and prevent them from protesting.
[Read More]

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London: Stop G8 Social Centre Now Open

By: dolph-l - June 8th, 2013  Filed under: News

Come on down and join us to reclaim an empty building in the heart of London’s West End, and turn it into a vibrant social centre for talks, films, food, socialising, information and action. The address is:

40 Beak Street, Soho, W1F 9RQ.

Just off Regent street, in between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus tube stations. (It’s also right in the centre of the #J11 carnival against capitalism map.)

There is room for people to stay, but please bring your own sleeping bags and bedding. Also note this is NOT a party space (gigs during the week will take place in separate venues), and please respect the safer spaces policy which you can read here.

The building is brilliant but, having been neglected and left empty, it needs some work to make it into a great space for the week. We are right now hard at work repairing, cleaning, and making stuff beautiful. Come along and join in. Also here is a list of stuff we need:

Cordless Drill

Furniture (all kinds)

Carpet / tiles

Sawdust

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The London Queer Social Centre Opening Day

By: dolph-l - June 7th, 2013  Filed under: News

BRAG IS BACK!

We found another beautiful, empty and lonely-looking building. Ze told us to bring all our queer friends and come party with hir forever. We said we’d do 2 weeks, and ze said fine I guess that’ll do.

We’ll tell you where ze is nearer the time obvs.

We’re running from June 22nd to July 6th as an alternative to Pride London, an event that has become increasingly alienating and depoliticised as it has become larger, feeding on funds from ugly banks and corporations.

We run everything for free, spend as little money as possible and make things back from donations.

There’s going to be a full schedule of events coming up over the next couple of weeks, including more instalments of the intersectionality series, queer cinema, street parties, queering anarchism, queers in squatting, Bash Back! street patrols, poetry and a queer literary salon. More things to be confirmed and full programme coming soon. [Read More]

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Callout for South London Eviction Resistance, Tuesday 28/5/13

By: Rosa - May 27th, 2013  Filed under: News
Patmos Lodge, a squat of 2+years with 100 residents due for eviction this Tuesday morning

 

Patmos Lodge, a large former old peoples home in the Oval/Kennington area of South London, has been squatted for over two years by an ever-changing group of around 100 people. After a long legal battle the squat is now up for eviction this Tuesday 28/5/13. Who knows how long it will lay empty before being turned into more fucking yuppie flats?The residents are a loosely affiliated collection of crews and individuals, with differing political stances (or lack-thereof) and ideas about how an eviction attempt should be handled. Some wish to walk out and not make a fuss, some are actively against any resistance, and some would like to keep and defend their home. Many residents are vulnerable: children, older people, cats, dogs and plenty of people with nowhere else to go and at risk of having to sleep rough.

[Read More]

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