the picket Liverpool

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 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/liverpool/2004/01/283865.html

Just a quick comment about the threatened closure of 'The Peoples Centre' and 'the picket' - I do not wish for these places to close down - but I think the people who have been running these since it opened have not exactly treated their friends or potential supporters very well. The 'Peoples Centre' or Trade Union and Unemployment Centre' was dominated by a arshole called Kevin Coyne who alienated and pissed off anyone genuine who wanted to get involved in the place - the anarchist were banned from the place very early on, on made up grounds, later on the 'Troops out movement' were also banned - the centre had a number of orange lodge supporters.
The Picket was largely the same - ran by people who weren't not in the slightest friendly or helpful to those wanting to put gigs on the place, or even support the place. forcing you to take their staff and they would take a percentage of pay for themselves, and generally not being at all helpful - I know loads of people who refused to even put gigs on their again.
Both projects were set up by ordinary people during the miners strike wanting an active and vibrant project to challenge Thatcher and the ruling class - instead the careerists moved in and imposed control and banned anyone who disagreed with them.
Anyway I think people should support the fight to keep them open and it can not go back to what it was before and those involved should remember why they were there and who their friends are.
Tom

I'll never forget the occasion I stepped in to help at The Picket Venue as sound engineer when their in-house guy was unavailable. When my invoice was still unpaid after three months I paid a visit to the office. My pre-agreed fee was apparrently £10 more than they were prepared to pay. See you in the small claims court, I was told with a smirk. Several Years later, I've still not been paid. Good luck guys.

In reply to Tom and Mike,

I share some your experiences, views and also your anger in many ways. I think the fact the place is closing is reflection of turning its back on the people in who's name it was set up for, ie 'us' the working class in terms of both 'community and unemployed'. Also the centre has been betrayed by its class enemy after supporting it, Capital of Culture. The former MTUCURC is a vestige of working class Liverpool and surely in our collective defeat what better way of sealing it than to build some expensive luxury 'yuppie' flats on our former 'Trade Union' centre however we feel it meets our needs, it is absolutely 'symbolic'. We're losing yet another meeting place in the city centre.

When are we going to learn from these tough lessons, we working class set things up, do the hard work collectively for some middle class suits and ties to push us aside, take control and suck our organisations dry, it happened with an organisation I was founder member of in 1992 called 'Communities Against Poverty', where is it now, fancy expensive offices in the city's business district. Last time I went there for some help with housing campaigning back in 1999, no reply to my telephone calls, no information sent out that I requested.

Here's a letter I sent to the People's Centre accompanying payment for room hire, no reply received and none expected I suppose.


1/12/2003

I would like to voice our opposition to the closure of the former Merseyside Trade Union and Community Unemployed Resource Centre now The People’s Centre. I have attended countless meetings and events in the main building, been on courses throughout the 1990’s and a regular social user of the bar and venue since the late 1980’s. I’ve also had music training at the centre, organised fund raising rock concerts at the Flying Picket venue in the 1990’s.

I’m not without criticism of the way centre is managed incidently. When I was unemployed in 1995 and made an enquiry in person at the MTUCURC and was told there was “nothing here for us” by someone who was the unemployed contact at the centre. I also I refer to the manner in which so called security staff have entirely unprovoked intimidated my friends on at least two occasions in the Picket bar/venue earlier this year. On one occasion it was a friends band, the band were from out of town. The treatment myself and friend also received while having a quiet social drink in the mostly empty bar on a Tuesday evening has made me, him and many other friends decline visiting the bar. Did I complain? No, as the bar manager could clearly see what was occurring at the time, two of us quietly seated while three security guards stood surrounding us it was nothing short of unprovoked abuse, we figured this to be the new policy of the bar/venue, ie to dissuade ‘local’ casual drinkers in favour of the wealthier middle class ‘suits and ties’.

I firmly believe the loss of MTUCURC now The People’s Centre, along with the Flying Picket venue is a great ‘symbolic’ loss to the working class of Liverpool – yet another kick in the pants. The excellent service provided by the staff of the welfare centre is a great loss and will be missed by my friend who, like me, no longer feels welcome in the Picket bar.

However it is entirely a component of the class and social clensing of Liverpool City Centre which has been central in the Objective One project and which increased in the run up for the bidding of ‘Culture of Capitalism’ and will intensify as a result of the ‘CofC’ title now granted to Liverpool. I note how The People’s Centre is covered in numerous CofC stickers. The loss of the Irish centre in the late 1990’s, central hall and other ‘affordable’ meeting places and venues for the working class of Liverpool is one of the most serious and extreme developments here in Liverpool. The proposal to ‘privatise’ the city centre streets will further exclude ‘us’ the working class from our city centre. Recently the City Council revoked the licenses of Big Issue sellers probably to test public opinion before the streets are handed over to ‘private’ corporate interests with their hired ‘private’ thugs (err security guards). The gentrification of Liverpool City Centre has been rapid in the 1990’s and the final nail in the coffin will be the privatisation of our city centre streets, this will ban eating in the street; no street performances without permission, “NO DEMONSTRATIONS WITHOUT PERMISSION” The Council are quoted as saying they need this to "exclude the riff-raff".

I would urge the centre’s staff to organise a principled “FIGHT BACK” campaign, not to beg for mercy and crumbs from the very people who are to blame for the current predicament of the centre and our entire city, i.e. the Lib-Dem led city council and allies particularly in private business. Such a battle is long overdue and many would wholeheartedly support it.

Yours in solidarity

Kai Andersen