the Audacious Space free cafe & info-shop - Leeds City Centre 11-12 April

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 full program of film screenings is below:

Friday

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

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.

This really was an audacious space- reclaiming the old housing advice centre and giving out advice on squatting, autonomous spaces, alternative housing advice and anti-gentrification info.
It was the most open squat i've ever seen- having the doors wide open on a busy saturday right in the middle of the city centre... loads of people coming in for advice on squatting, to read some of the info, watch a film or just sit and drink tea.
The best thing i've seen in a long time...!

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@gmail.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!