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UK Free Spaces Newswire Archive

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Whatever they say, squatting will stay - update from Netherlands

23-06-2011 18:42

Whatever they say, squatting will stay. Overview of resistance to the squatting ban in the Netherlands. Brief history of squatting in the Netherlands and current legal position as well as updates on actions that took place from October through November 2010. Text from a flyer from the Netherlands printed in December 2010, just left the text as info for those interested in heading to Amsterdam for the action days on July 2nd to 5th.

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T'Other Stage Wants You !

22-06-2011 17:38

T'OTHER STAGE IS RETURNING TO SHEFFIELD PRIDE ON SATURDAY 16TH JULY 2011.

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We Rebel With Our Dancing And Singing (June 15th)

21-06-2011 15:11

Dancing...
(a personal account of what happened on June 15th at Syntagma sq in Athens)

Today, in Syntagma Square, the people have exceeded themselves. Facing the violence of the MAT [=riot police force], of tear gas and molotov cocktails, they responded with drums, dancing and singing.

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Undying spirit - the words of Brian Haw from March 2008

19-06-2011 19:36

Audio
Brian Haw, the British campaigner for peace who refused to be silenced, set up camp outside Parliament in 2001 -- and stayed there for 10 years.

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Poster/flyer for July's OARC film screening

18-06-2011 15:13

Who are these people that call themselves hackers? Those that believe that technology exists to be appropriated and subverted for whatever purpose? Those who oppose corporate control over inventions? If you part with good money for something, is it not yours to do what you will with it? Not according to the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Sony and their ilk…

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Glos Guerilla Gardening meet-up

15-06-2011 16:49

I've been talking to lots of people interested in starting some form of guerilla gardening group in gloucestershire, and I'm sure there are many more of you out there...

So lets get gardening!

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Stand Up, Be Counted, Slut Walk

13-06-2011 08:45

This past weekend, I popped my protest cherry by marching alongside women of all ages, races and religions at London’s Slut Walk. It’s an event and subject I feel strongly about and the day itself made me even more passionate about it. There were women in that 5000+ strong crowd who had been victims of rape themselves, there were men who marched along to show their support. It felt good to crowd the streets of London, make the traffic stop and and draw attention to the heinous culture of victim blaming that goes on world wide.

As we stormed the London streets on Saturday, a defining moment for me was when we walked past a group of builders. They downed tools and just stared at us, open mouthed. No cat calls, no wolf whistles, no smarmy comments – they read the signs, they shut up. I’m sure for many women there it was the first time we’ve managed to walk past a building site and not had our anatomy dissected by men who are often older than us, probably with daughters our age.

This is what I think gets misunderstood. There’s a difference between someone paying you a compliment and someone wolf whistling or saying ‘nice tits’. I have had men say to me in the street ‘you look nice today’ and been bowled over by the fact they seem to have manners. It’s such a rarity. The majority of the time, I get hissed at, whistled at (you know, like you would an animal), told I have nice tits, nice legs, told I should wear my skirt a little shorter, told how nice my ass looks. When your first comment to me is sexual, how am I to know you’ll just leave it at a comment? What may be an innocent comment to you, I have no choice but to take a a possible threat.

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Strathclyde police step up repression and target anti-rape event organisers

12-06-2011 15:25

Police evidence gathering team in George Sq on Saturday
The Glasgow Defence Campaign has received the following report from a Scottish Socialist Youth supporter.

Organisers of an anti sexual violence demonstration in Glasgow city centre on Saturday 4 June are facing possible charges after Strathclyde Police reported two individuals to the Procurator Fiscal for what they claim was an 'unauthorised' march. This follows a huge police operation which was mounted on the day of the 'Slutwalk', which saw around 200 mostly young people taking part in a completely peaceful march against rape and victim blaming, in light of recent comments by various Tory politicians on the matter.

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Greece: Democracy is born in the squares

12-06-2011 11:53

There may be no better proof of the rupture that is brought about by the “movement of the squares” other than its open, participatory, directly democratic way of organising and functioning. Within a single week it has given birth to a political culture of a different type, one that literally overcomes all known models of organising and struggle to date.

Even if the issue of its procedures is incomplete, it comes up again and again and comprises the most important legacy already left to the political and social life of the country. This does not mean there are no issues with disorganisation, inefficiency, delays. Taking into account however the explosive rhythm of its development, the lack of previous experience on the side of those who created it, along with the need to compile, step by step, heterogeneous and different opinions of all participants through open procedures, all this is to be expected. Even if time-consuming, its procedures are flexible and are altered by the day; they are self-criticised, adjusted according to mistakes, comments and suggestions deriving from them being tested in practice.

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Fire Extinguishers and Fire Starters: Anarchist interventions in the #Spanish Revolution

12-06-2011 09:48

Barcelona, Spring 2011: Chronology of An Unexpected Event

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Big Sexy Festy Party

09-06-2011 22:44

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Only one week to go to our annual fantastic free festival in aid of London’s homeless and Shelter from the Storm North London brilliant and brave volunteer run nightshelter...!!!!We have an excellent, and we mean TRIPLE excellent party production up our sleeves for you this year...

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Finland: Solidarity actions for Satama, migrants and anarchist prisoners

08-06-2011 11:49

Communiqué claiming numerous incendiary attacks and planted bomb in solidarity to Social Centre Satama and Roma migrants in Helsinki, Finland and anarchist prisoners worldwide.

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BarnCamp: Tech activism gathering next weekend.

03-06-2011 16:23

Brought to you by HacktionLab, BarnCamp 2011 will be three days of workshops on topics ranging from renewable energy to foraging for food to citizen journalism to using free software for activism, up to four nights of camping, open space sessions, evening entertainment, great food on a beautiful farm co-op high in the Wye Valley.

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Private/Public Space and Too Many Rules

01-06-2011 20:55

Following on from our previous Private/Public space projects which have focussed on the gentrification of London and the erosion of civil liberties that that entails, the Space Hijackers headed out to the Truman Brewery complex on Brick Lane to enforce the rules that are implicit, and perhaps not so implicit in such places. Stopping people from drinking, smoking, talking, loitering, laughing and even reading our sign!

 

East London is a massive building site with regeneration projects, the olympics, the encroachment of the city and more changing the face of our city. As Anna Minton pointed out in her fantastic book Ground Control, these redevelopment projects, often look positive on the face, but the net result is private corporations wrestling control of our cities from the people. The poor and disadvantaged are pushed out and regeneration often means moving in a new class of people. Public land is reduced and private shopping/living/working spaces are built withprivate police (link to canary wharf security) ensuring that only certain 'welcome' people are allowed to pass through without hassle. This, as you can probably imagine, is something we oppose.

The Truman Brewery Complex just off Brick Lane is a haven for cool and alternative east-end hipsters. With record shops, fixed wheel bicycle shops, galleries, eco & small designer fashion retail and bars it buzzes with creative energy. Walking in from brick lane market you can barely tell where one starts and the other finishes, the beautiful youth litter the streets in both areas drinking from cans and checking each other out.

As they say themselves "The Old Truman Brewery, East London's revolutionary arts and media quarter, is home to a hive of creative businesses as well as exclusively independent shops, galleries, markets, bars and restaurants. For fifteen years the Old Truman Brewery has been regenerating its ten acres of vacant and derelict buildings into spectacular office, retail, leisure and event spaces. The finely tuned mix of business and leisure has created an environment unique in London, making the Old Truman Brewery ;
a destination in its own right."

Alas it also borders one of London's poorest areas, so to keep the relaxed guilt free atmosphere, 24 hour security vigilantly patrol the entrances and spaces. The homeless, poor and troublemakers are kept out, bags are searched, people sitting on the wrong part of the pavement are moved on, only food and drink bought at high price on the premises is allowed to be consumed, and the hipster haven is preserved.

We thought it was high time that the exclusivity and hypocrisy of this 'revolutionary arts and media quarter" was a little more revealed. So with our new easily portable signs (unlike the beast we used to wheel around) in hand we set off to help the security keep the area safe and secure for everyone...

Dressed in black we set up first at the entrance facing Spitalfields Market. We popped up our banners and immediately started keeping the space safer.

 

 

 

"Oi you, no photography!"
"No Running, Slow down"
"Did you buy that drink on the premesis? You'll have to finish it here"
"I'm sorry, no phonecalls in this area, please hang up"
"No cycling! walk that machine"
"Do you have a job? can you afford to shop here?"
"No questions please"
"Move along please, nothing to see"
"No reading our sign sir!"

 

Before long we were joined by the regular security, obviously eager to help us out. 

"Who do you work for? What are you doing, this is private property, you can't do this here". 
"We're just making the area safe and secure, we're here to help"
"Do you work for the council?"
"We're just concerned that the wrong types might get through, and intend to keep this area safe"
"I'm calling my boss"


'The boss' arrived, and to be fair to him was a clever chap. I think he realised we were looking for a rise, so he simply turned around and said that if we moved 1m away, so we weren't in front of the door he was more than happy for us to continue. 
"I've been asking my boss for ages to make me some signs, like these. I can see it's very tongue in cheek, personally I really like what you're up to, I'm not sure about the No OAPs though, my gran wouldn't like that"

 

As always our issue is usually with the people who design, build and own such spaces rather than the people who are paid to work there. However we soon realised that there was a greater audience to be had at the main Brick Lane entrance.

 

Moving around we set up camp again to a much more receptive audience. The guard at the entrance had obviously been briefed to leave us alone, and so we were free to harass and berate the public for walking too slowly, running, smoking, drinking, holding hands, kissing, loitering, not shopping, asking questions, taking our photograph and more. Even the pretent police who turned up enjoyed the rigid law obiding.

 

Lots of people 'got' what we were up to, and started deliberately dancing, singing, smoking and taking pictures to break the rules. We had people join us in telling off the passers by, and lots of discussion about private/public space and regeneration. Some people took a little longer than others to realise the game, and so cigarettes we're put out, drinks put down and conversations stopped before they read to the bottom of our sign and smiled.

Next stops The Westfield CentreThe Olympic VillageOne New ChangeSt Martin's Court_Yard and Cardinal Place

 

 

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#Flotilla to Gaza: Commemorating Our Martyrs and Preparing to Sail Again

31-05-2011 13:52

One year ago today, six ships carrying nearly 700 human rights defenders, met at sea to commence the last leg of our voyage to Gaza to break Israel’s brutal stranglehold on 1.5 million Palestinians. A few hours later the Israeli military launched a full-scale assault on our civilian convoy, killing nine of our colleagues and injuring over 50 others.

Despite widespread condemnation and an UN-commissioned investigation that found Israel’s acts unlawful, possibly amounting to war crimes, Israel has yet to be held accountable. Families of the victims killed on the Mavi Marmara await justice and millions of Palestinians continue to demand their human rights respected.

In the wake of continued government inaction to stop Israel’s human rights abuses, we, members of global civil society representing dozens of national coalitions and international organizations will launch next month Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human.

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Mass Seedbombing - Brighton Mound

30-05-2011 10:08

Seed-bombers gather at Brighton's Mound
More than 20 guerilla gardeners seedbombed the community garden they were evicted from recently in a show of defiance and creativity

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Spanish Revolution at London

24-05-2011 14:22

Hundreds of people attended a rally and demonstration over the last week in Belgrave Square, opposite the Spanish Embassy in London, in support of‘Democracia Real Ya’ (‘Real Democracy Now’). Numbers peaked on Saturday 21st May at 8pm with around 700 people in attendance.

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Sheffield Social Centre: Why? What? Where?

24-05-2011 11:35

Audio
Attached is a recording of a meeting held at the Sheffield Anarchist Book Fair on 21st May 2011 titled, Sheffield Social Centre: Why? What? Where?

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A shout from Spain

23-05-2011 16:22

Life in the camp in Sol, Madrid: self-management, solidarity and direct action.
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