Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Skill-share and Free Shop in Next to Nowhere (Liverpool Social Centre)

Emma Pooka | 23.01.2008 23:06 | Free Spaces | Liverpool

On Sunday 13th January we held a free shop and skill-share day at Next to Nowhere ( http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/home.htm). The idea was for people to come in and engage in whatever creative or practical skills they knew, to look at what others were doing and have a go, and to re-use, recycle or modify second hand items for free.

The background to this is the idea that many basic, practical skills are commandeered by educational institutions and culturally gendered by schools and the media, keeping us reliant on mass consumerism for all our daily needs, from food and clothing to plumbing and furniture. Contrary to what craft or CDT lessons at school may have led us to believe, taking back ownership of those skills isn’t about what you can do if you’re hard-working, diligent, give it all your time and effort and take a professional attitude. It’s about what you can do if you’re busy, short of cash, have little or no experience and less natural aptitude, but you’re willing to give it a go. It’s about getting together with other interested people, talking to each other and learning from each other. It’s about not paying ridiculous prices for things that are really quite cheap and simple to make if you know someone who knows how. It’s about discovering that you’re not as helpless as you’ve been led to believe, that women can weld, that men can sew, and that none of us have to be passive consumers, reliant on fashions dictated by images designed to make us feel worthless. Skill-sharing is a form of empowerment.

The first event began with an informal format: tables set up for a variety of activities, with a children’s area and Free Shop at one end. People arrived, with or without equipment, and either set themselves up to demonstrate their skills or had a look at what others were doing. Formal workshops may be considered for the next event, but in general we found people simply helped each other to have a go when they showed an interest.

Skills shared and used included woodwork, machine sewing, clay modelling, web design/message-board management and bicycle maintenance, and amongst the projects people worked on were a sandwich board (for outside the centre), curtains, clothes, banners, sculptures and photographic portfolios. Next time, with the gas cooker and kitchen units installed, we hope to add vegan cookery to the skills list, possibly with wild/foraged food.

The Free shop was a success, with a sewing machine and blender donated to centre, many clothes, books and games claimed and some scrap material used in the skill-sharing. Reactions to the day were positive and more are planned, to be arranged on a monthly basis. These will be publicised on the Next to Nowhere calendar ( http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/calendar/month.php), and you are invited to seize the means of your production and bring them down to Next to Nowhere, along with any items you would like to pass on for free. Skills and equipment are not compulsory – you are also welcome to just bring yourself and an interest in learning something new.

If you are interested in attending, or in running a workshop on an unusual skill, please either e-mail me ( purplepooka@blueyonder.co.uk), sign up for the Liverpool Social Centre newsletter ( https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liverpoolscnewsletter) or keep an eye on the Next to Nowhere calendar ( http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/calendar/month.php) for announcements on skill-sharing events.

Emma Pooka
- e-mail: purplepooka@blueyonder.co.uk

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech