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]

Tags: , , ,

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]

Tags: , ,

Lewes (UK): Sussex squat project

By: sisulscz - May 3rd, 2013  Filed under: News

This week for Mayday a group of squatters opened a community centre in Lewes as part of the ‘Stop the G8’ anti-capitalism movement. The centre has an organic, locally grown, donations based vegetable shop, a comfy tea room, a well stocked free shop, and a sunny garden.

Everyday workshops are being held on things such as Fracking and extreme energy, Combe Haven defenders, stop the G8, Hunt sabbing etc.
[Read More]

Tags: ,

London, May 12th: NO Evictions! Campaigning and Protest in the Context of the Housing Crisis

By: Rosa - May 2nd, 2013  Filed under: News

Today, many people are facing eviction because of the unfair welfare changes which will force people into debt and arrears. How can we campaign to keep people in their homes? Join us for an afternoon of housing related discussion, international skill sharing, developing ideas for creative protest action and networking!

Speakers are housing activists from Berlin and Barcelona, Isabel Counihan-Sanchez from the Counihan campaign, a solicitor and the Branch Chair of Unite Housing workers Paul Kershaw, a former anti-poll tax activist.
[Read More]
Tags: , ,

Basildon (UK): Dale Farm Protestor Awarded Damages For Police Detention

By: Rosa - April 26th, 2013  Filed under: News
A supporter of families at Dale Farm who was arrested during the forced eviction in 2011 has been awarded damages this week. Lu Smith, one of many arrested during the eviction, has settled her claim for damages against Essex Police. She was arrested at Dale Farm on 19 October 2011 while there as an activist protesting against the eviction of Travellers from the estate. Police said she was obstructing a bailiff – a minor offence for which the maximum penalty is a fine. Once Smith was already under arrest, and after she had been lifted and carried to a police vehicle, she was handcuffed despite already being in police custody and having shown no resistance. Smith was held in a police van and thereafter a larger police vehicle referred to as a “prison bus” for five hours. Her handcuffs remained on throughout the full period in the van and she was denied access to toilet facilities as well as water. Eventually, she and other protestors were forced to urinate on the floor of the van with no privacy and while in handcuffs.
Tags: , ,

Brighton: Statement At Adjournment of the Trial

By: sisulscz - April 24th, 2013  Filed under: News

Today the squatting trial in Brighton was adjourned until the 24th May as it ran out of time due to extreme faffing.

Two squatters had already had the case against them thrown out of court when the magistrates realised the prosecution hadn’t actually presented any evidence that they lived in the building. And the case against the third squatter looks pretty flimsy.

One of the freed defendants, said:
[Read More]

Tags: , ,

London, UK: Communiqué to the owners of Colorama: We will resist any attempt to make us homeless. We will resist any attempt to further gentrify this area.

By: Rosa - April 22nd, 2013  Filed under: News

jayesh patel,

you’ve been acting on behalf of flamingo holdings limited (a property development company based out of the cayman islands).
you’ve asked that we vacate these premises after a possession order was issued and claim granted on march 20th by lambeth county court. you’ve told us you don’t want to waste money on bailiffs and that we should not act like “savage animals”.

for us, this is not a matter for civilized dialogue and action. this is about political and social struggle.

[Read More]

Tags: , ,

UK: Damned Lies and No Useful Statistics – The Criminalisation of Squatting in England and Wales

By: Rosa - April 22nd, 2013  Filed under: News

To tie in with the courtcase starting Monday in Brighton, when three squatters are going on trial under s144 and will not be pleading guilty, here’s some analysis of the criminalisation of squatting in England and Wales..

In 2012, as we all know, new offence of squatting in a residential building was created by the Government, following a moral panic in the media whipped up by a few right-wing politicians. After a rushed consultation, a last-minute clause was added to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) which meant that it was never properly discussed in the House of Commons. The bill was then pushed through the House of Lords at midnight. Section144 criminalises trespass in a residential building with up to 6 months in prison and/or £5000 fine. Previous campaigns to criminalise squatting in the late 1970s and mid 1990s had failed, unfortunately this time it partially succeeded.

[Read More]

Tags: , ,

Bristol, UK: Solidarity benefit for Greek autonomous spaces

By: Rosa - April 11th, 2013  Filed under: News

In Greece a social and ideological war is  being conducted, with global consequences for the current economic and political governance model. The state has pulled off the mask of neo-liberalism. Now It Nazi salutes and cannibalizes; it attacks basic social and labor rights, represses violently any form of resistance, as only these totalitarian methods that will guarantee its survival. Currently the anti-authoritarian community receives regular brutal attacks from both the State and Fascists. Anarchists are portrayed as terrorists, many of whom face heavy prison penalties. Their spaces are being violently evicted and their infrastructures and means of communication; (printing presses, radio stations) destroyed. Social centres within neighbourhoods with many immigrants, act as bulwarks against the Neo-Nazi’s and their murderous practices, where reactionaries are motivated by a fascist paramilitary organization / political party which holds 18 parliamentary seats; Golden Dawn.

[Read More]

Tags: , ,

UK: Basildon Council orders Dale Farm families to pay for their own eviction

By: Rosa - April 11th, 2013  Filed under: News

In October 2011, Basildon Council violently evicted 83 families from land they owned (at Dale Farm) because they did not have planning permission. Now, Basildon Council has told families who have virtually nothing left that they must pay £4.3 million for the cost of the eviction!

Many of the families had lived in Basildon for over 10 years: their children were born in the borough, attend the local school and were the first generation in the community to learn to read and write. The bulldozers turned this once thriving and close-knit community into a virtual wasteland, creating deep troughs and huge banks of earth to make it uninhabitable.

[Read More]

Tags: , , ,

London, UK : Open skillshare: Sat 6 April, 2pm – Taking creative action against high rents and rip-off letting agent fees

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

Are you a private renter?

Do you want to take action against high rents and rip-off letting agent fees?

Saturday 6 April, 2.00-5.30pm – skillshare: come and find out how to get involved

Unite Community Centre, St George’s Town Hall (basement), 236 Cable Street, London E1 0BL (map) – 2 mins from Shadwell station. (Please let us know if you’re a wheelchair user.)

We’re holding a skillshare for anyone, with any level of experience of protests and campaigns. We’ll be exploring what makes creative protest action, and why we might choose to do it. We’ll come up with ideas for action we could take as part of a day of action on 27 April, and work out what it would take to carry out these actions.
Tags: , ,

London,UK : SOL evicted – Eileen House sealed off from the public again

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

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.

[Read More]

Tags: , , ,