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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
Type the text here Last Thursday a fairly promising opening night was held for what is being called and what may well become ‘The Hackney Social Centre’. Free food and drink, from decent soup of to a range of really nice sandwiches (both meat and veggie), was served all evening in the bar, and Trainsquatting – a Czech activist film - was shown in a really nice cinema room. There was also a free-shop clothes rail with – pretty timely considering the cold. The building seems to have plenty of space and some really brilliant original features. However it is in disrepair in most ways, and none of the rooms are yet ready to be made public.
The opening itself was very much an ‘in scene’ event, predominantly subcultural and punk. There were definitely a couple of locals about, but it was mainly well attended due to the high number of anarchists, punks and squatters in Hackney. This is not necessarily a bad thing – and it should be remembered that this was a hasty opening cos the bailiffs have already tried to evict the replace several times. It is good to see so many people ready to help each other out at short notice, a culture of solidarity – even if it is limited to certain small groups.
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
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 The Labour Party has steamed ahead with its national identity scheme and anyone concerned about threats to our freedom from an increasingly authoritarian state should be worried by the Identity Cards Act, which has been passed with little change from what the government wanted, in spite of all the 'write to your MP' lobbying by No2ID and optimistic hopes of House of Lords amendments.
The so-called electronic identity, eID, is just one part of European and American efforts to impose national identity schemes across the western world. Bush has already pushed this through the US Senate as an enhanced driving license known as RealID, tacked on to a military spending bill that was unlikely to get voted down in the middle of a war, and is demanding biometric passports for non-visa entry to the country. This side of the atlantic, European paranoia about borders is helping to drive EU-wide developments of passports, ID cards and databases.
In Britain, Labour is determined to get national ID in place for most of us within the next few years by creating a National Identity Register that you'll be added to when you apply for or renew a passport. This is now planned for sometime between 2009-2012 depending how much the full roll-out is delayed for political and technical reasons. Identity and Passport Service offices ('interrogation centres') for in-person applications, vetting and biometric scanning have already opened in some parts of the country. Even if you don't hold a passport, and 80% of us already do, only one more act of parliament is needed to force ID registration on everyone over 16 years old. |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
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 As part of the IWW’s fightback against NBS bosses the IWW has set itself the ambitious task of bringing more people on board to the Save Our National Blood Service campaign.
Wobblies aim to bring the number of public supporters of the campaign to over a thousand by the end of the week, by signing up hundreds of new campaign participants on the social networking site facebook and through increasing the volume of campaign emails, public stalls and public visibility.
“This is an ambitious drive, but we think we can do it!” comments campaign activist and wobbly Joe Rutherford.
“We need to build momentum for our big assault in January. It’s crucial to the campaign so we are devoting a lot of time to this objective.” Joe continues. |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
 In May this year, a few anarchists and other anti-capitalists based in Reading opened the squatted Common Ground Community Garden to the public for the first time, receiving support from all sides of their community, breaking an injunction & defying an eviction side by side with other local people. It has been one of the most positive experiences comrades have had in terms of working towards the sort of world we might want to live in, and finding so many people in their community who now understand better what Anarchy is about (and what local councils are like!).
Creating a space like a community garden allows normally atomised people to get together socially and chat, in itself a good thing. However, because of the way the space has been created, it also means much of that conversation focuses on the politics involved. Reading is already a highly developed town, with an economy centred on the retail/consumer and high-technology sectors. In addition to this, development is rampant with new shopping centres, posh offices and luxury hotels and apartments seemingly appearing every day. |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
 The Common Ground Community Garden in Reading's Katesgrove district had its official opening as planned on the 20.05.2007. Reading Borough Council in its infinite wisdom had two days earlier served an injunction on "persons unknown" in a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to stop the opening. Why RBC waited until the last moment when the site (a derelict former Women's Information Centre) had been squatted for months is anybody's guess.
Since January, Mr and Ms Persons Unknown, their friends, neighbours and local activists have worked hard to transform a piece of unused wasteground into a magnificant garden for all to enjoy.
The opening was a great success. Two gents in a Polish-registered vehicle (presumably employed by RBC) kept an eye on the proceedings, but didn't seem to do much - they weren't even taking photos, let alone trying to stop anyone entering the site. Despite the competition from some minor footy game, there was a steady influx of visitors throughout the day. Attractions included much beer, excellent conversation, BBQ, plenty of food, an excellent party atmosphere and some first-rate live acoustic music.
Contact:
katesgrovegarden[at]yahoo.co.uk |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
 On 21st February armed police invaded the zapatista community of Bolon Ajaw, firing their guns. Villagers, got hold of large sticks to try and defend their village. The police retreated, leaving two woman beaten with rifle butts. The Mexican government want's to evict the people from this village to build up a tourist industry around nearby waterfalls.
“The comrades of the village knew since 30th January that the government had a plan to order the forces of public security into the village, they had threatened that they would invade the village on 20th February to evict the people…...”
This is part of a new wave of attacks acted out by government and paramillitary forces against the local zapatista villages in Chiapas. |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
The reclamation of “social space”, whether in terms of common ground for a community or for one’s own household, has been a clarion call of the oppressed throughout history. Squatting, expropriation, reclamation (whatever the appropriate term) dates to the imposition of private property rights itself and the struggle for free access to basic resources. Indeed, most industrialised cultures still harbour a traditional belief in “squatter’s rights”, whether it is recognised in law or not. In England such sentiments stretch as far back as the injustice felt by landless peasants towards massive land relocations following the Norman Conquest.
Industrialisation, however, meant fundamental changes in the nature and purpose of this struggle. Throughout the 1800’s major cities in Britain were subject to campaigns to preserve public space. This time the demands were no longer based on peasant claims to fuel or hunting rights. Rather, there was a desire to save free land as a space to socialise and for fun and games. Working class people were anxious to preserve a social sphere away from the miserable conditions of work in the factories and the oppressive environment of the city. In the 1820’s hundreds rioted in Loughton to prevent a landowner felling trees in Epping Forest; On Wanstead Flats in 1871, thousands of working people pulled down enclosure fences after the Earl of Cowley enclosed 20 acres of wasteland; And on Leyton Marches, on the 1st August 1892, three thousand people organised through the Leyton Lammas Lands Defence Committee to pull down railings unpopularly erected around common land. |
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