Free Spaces
Autonomous and free spaces news.
Scarborough Climate Action Network opens community resource centre.
22-04-2009 16:21
They aim to provide a central point for people in the local area to find out how they can make positive changes to their environment, as well as providing an autonomous space for people to use the internet, meet like-minded people and get directly involved with the newly burgeoning Scarborough activist networks.
Nottingham Gaza solidarity occupation violently evicted
01-02-2009 23:05
Students who had been occupying a lecture theatre at the University of Nottingham have branded university authorites a "national disgrace" after they were violently evicted by university security. Around 10 security staff used force to remove the occupants into the snow outside. Students were forced to wait in the cold and only alowed in one by one to pick up their belongings. They were forced to give ID in order to be allowed entry.
The occupation of B62 in the Law and Social Science Building at the University of Notttingham was today violently evicted by university security. The occupation which has been taking place since Wednesday is in solidarity with the people of Gaza and is one of a wave of university occupations which have taken place across the UK following the recent Israeli assault against Gaza. Although the occupiers have been clear throughout that they had no intention of disrupting other students' education, the university had refused to follow the lead of Kings College in London and negotiate with the occupying students.
Previous Feature: Nottingham university occupied in solidarity with Gaza
Newswire: Eviction video & post occupation statement from Nottingham Uni | Nottingham University Gaza solidarity occupation violently evicted 1 | 2 | Nottingham Gaza solidarity occupation violently evicted | Nottingham University Authorities: A National Disgrace
Recent Gaza Demonstrations: Nottingham Gaza Emergency Protest 1 | 2 | Gaza Public Meeting at Bobbers Mill Community Centre | Nottingham Gaza Protest 'candle-lit' Vigil 1 | 2 | Nottingham Gaza Protest March Through Nottingham to Market Sq 1 | 2 | Nottingham University Students Occupation in Solidarity with Gaza 1 | 2 | Gaza support protest at Nottingham BBC | Tash's 'Collected' actions Piccys 2009
Links: Books not Bombs | Occupation Nottingham | UK Occupations | Notts Palestine newswire
Anarchist centre opens in St Ann's
09-12-2008 17:49
Sunday saw the opening event of a new centre for anarchist education and culture in St Ann's. The Sparrows' Nest, named after local anarchist publication The Nottingham Sparrow, hosts a large collection of material on anarchist theory, local struggles and workers' struggles. The Sparrows' Nest is largely the work of local Anarchist Federation members and was inspired by a squatted infoshop in Ljubliana and similar projects in Carrara, Italy.
At the opening a selection of pamphlets and books were on display in four sections: The Classics (of anarchism), Neither Left or Right (referring to anarchism's opposition to fascism and the authoritarian left), Work (workers' struggles and the struggle against work) and Anarchy and Action in Nottingham. People were also able to watch films and browse the extensive library.
Newswire: The Sparrows' Nest - A centre for anarchist education and culture | Sparrows' Nest Anarchist Library & Archive, St Anns : opening event | Rebel bulletin The Nottingham Sparrow - March 2008 - No.3 | 'Rebel' bulletin - The Nottingham Sparrow - May 2007 - no.2 | New 'rebel' bulletin - The Nottingham Sparrow - March 2007 - no.1
What, No Prices?
01-12-2008 22:01
Community centres under fire
28-11-2008 15:44
The past few months have seen a number of bad news stories for Nottingham's community centres. The Chase Neighbourhood Centre in St Anns has made 30 staff redundant and is rumoured to be on the brink of closure, whilst there are reports that Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC) are looking to sell Radford's historic Tennyson Hall youth and community centre. The Chase Centre is in need of local support.
It has been suggested that with the credit crunch hitting Nottingham, local authorities may drastically cut funding for community centres and other community projects. This underlines the need for autonomous community centres, such as the Sumac Centre in Forest Fields, which continues to develop.
Newswire: Chase Centre Latest - - Please Help | Sumac Skill share goes massive! | What is the future of NDC owned Tennyson Hall? Questions need raising. | Chase Neighbourhood Centre Project Closing
Previous Feature: End of the Road for ASBO
Links: Sumac Centre | NDC Nottingham | Nottingham City Council community centres
Freedom not Fear
11-10-2008 03:47
11th of October saw the first worldwide protests against surveillance measures such as the collection of all telecommunications data, the surveillance of air travellers and the biometric registration of citizens. In at least 15 countries citizens demanded a cutback on surveillance, a moratorium on new surveillance powers and an independent evaluation of existing surveillance powers.
In Liverpool, political campaigns came together to hold stalls in the city centre and distribute leaflets. Police riot vans surrounded and intimidated them, but surrounding crowds helped intervene to block the police and defend the stalls.
Reports: | 1 | 2 |Callouts with background: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
The Library House
28-09-2008 02:02
Very near Myatts Fields and not far from Laughborough Junction station, the Library House stands right behind Minet Library (and it looks like it used to be part of the library services but left empty?).
It is run by a group of local south londoners that are currently fixing it up and already dreaming and preparing events. It aims to be an open house for the local community, and right now lots of work is going on, specially to sort out the electricity.
Derbyshire Opencast Mine Squatters: Eviction Imminent
23-07-2008 20:57
On Friday July 18 UK Coal were granted a possession order for the Squatted farmhouse on the planned Lodge House open cast coal mine site near Smalley in Derbyshire. It is anticipated that an eviction is imminent, particularly as the climbing team used against road protesters has been seen around the site.
On Tuesday June 18, climate campaigners from ‘Leave it in the Ground’ occupied the UK Coal’s Lodge House site in Derbyshire by barricading themselves in a disused farm building and taken to the trees on the site of the open cast mine. Under the cover of darkness activists secured themselves in the Prospect Farm building, on the site which is about to be devastated by huge machines. and claimed squatter’s rights.
Newswire: Police try and enter Bodge House | Pictures from the Bodge House opencast - 13/07/08 | Bodge House - Eviction Alert! | Eviction gets go ahead - Bodge House | Call out for help at Shipley Bodge Site | Ongoing Open Cast Coal Mine Occupation, Derbyshire - update from court | Activists disrupt work at site of opencast coal mine | Leave it in the Ground… in Court and a protest | Shipley Bodge squatted coal site recieves papers
Previous features: Coal On Hold - Derbyshire Coal Mine Site Occupied | Campaigners Trespass on Proposed Coal Mine Site
Links: Leave It In The Ground | Campaign Blog | Derby Earth First | No Opencast! article in Do or Die | UK Coal | Notts Indymedia Ecology topic page
Teachers Occupation Defends Wembley Sports Ground From Privatisation
17-07-2008 20:52
Breaking News: Wembley Sports Ground Re-Occupied. Support Needed | Grass Roots Alliance for Social Spaces (GRASS) Call Out | Eviction Postponed for Wembley Sports Ground; New Threats.
The Wembley 'Tent City' Occupation located on Wembley Park Sports Ground, was opposed to the plans for a privatised Wembley Park Academy school to be built on one of the few remaining green areas accessible to the local community for sports training. The campaign is in keeping with the wave of resistance [more] to new school academies up and down the country. The Wembley Ark Academy is an American and British educational charity sponsored and run by a group of millionaire merchant bankers and currency speculators, led by french/swiss and multimillionaire Arpad Busson. The Ark Academy is estimated to cost around £30 million of public money yet it would be privately run.
The re-establishment of the 'Tent City' started on the 30th of June, following last year's permanent occupation of the site that lasted six months, and which saw tree houses being built. The site was then only vacated when the protestors won a year’s extension on the lease. Wembley teachers and their local supporters argue that after more than two years of campaigning to keep the community sports grounds out of the private sector, they are now not going to give in without a fight, as the building of the planned Wembley Academy is part of Brent council's drive to privatise schools, turning education into a profit making business instead of a basic human right beyond the 'logic' of the market.
On Tuesday 15th July Brent Council representatives sought a court order for the immediate eviction of the site, but by the afternoon around 50 local people had turned up to show support, and the eviction didn't take place. On Wednesday 16th, teachers and local people continued the occupation despite renewed threats of forced eviction and possible arrests. They took permanent positions on the roofs of the building next to the sports grounds, with at least one protestor locking on to the main mast. By then it was generally expected that the final eviction attempt would happen soon and 'by surprise, probably in the early morning, and so they renewed their call for urgent solidarity and for people to go up there and show their support. On the early morning of Friday 18th, the teachers and their supporters' expectations came true when specialised bailiffs turned up at 6.30am and finally removed the last protestor resisting on the roof, who had the support of the crowd that had gathered at the site's gate [Report and Video]
Reports and Photos of the Occupation: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Protestors Video Interviews and Coverage: 1 | 2
Mill Road Social Centre - the story so far...
12-07-2008 19:32
Update:The Mill Road Social Centre was evicted the night after Tesco were rejected again.
Most of know what happened since, but let’s start in the beginning. On Tuesday night 20 May 2008, the building that formerly housed Wilco's automotive parts, and that had been standing empty for over a year, was squatted. This is the selfsame building where Tesco plans to open a controversial Express store. More about that later.
The aim of the squat was to turn the building into a much needed social centre, a focal point for the local Romsey (and Cambridge) community. It should be pointed out that the social centre is not connected to the No Mill Road Tesco campaign.
Since it opened, the centre has hosted numerous events, from women's roller derby to tango lessons, graffiti workshops, an art exhibition, open mic nights and acoustic gigs.
