Eviction of the Silver Squat
Sheffield IMC | 01.02.2005 23:16 | Free Spaces | Repression | Sheffield
The Silver Squat, which was located in an old silversmiths building near Sheffield train station, was finally evicted on Monday 24th January. The court case for the eviction took place the previous week. To mark the ending of the squat, a farewell gig was hosted there the night before. By One O'clock on the Monday the gates were open and the baliffs were in. It is not clear what the land will be used for, but there is a high probability that it will be redeveloped in to more 'lifestyle' flats.
Silver Squat Eviction Imminent | Photos from the Silver Squat
silver squat artwork
The potential of the Silver Squat could have been enormous. Once the squat was secured last September a lot of hard work went into to getting it ready to open as Sheffield's only autonomous punk venue - a stage was built, the venue decorated, the bar area sorted out and the gigs started and more were booked. But the ambitions didn't stop here. In one of the other large empty buildings a skate park was constructed and living areas sorted, film nights were going to roll and a workshop on planning for the G8 summit in the UK took place before Christmas. Before the eviction, work had just started on the kitchen. Amidst the rapid redevelopment of Sheffield, the existing lack of small venues for grass roots music and radical gatherings in the centre, this was just the kind of space that was needed - a space that people could have free access to - to get together, hang out, plot, scheme, inspire, create and to rock - and all on our own terms.
Sheffield IMC
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Squatting and profiteering - which is better?
02.02.2005 01:14
... The 'Gateway development' is probably sowed up by now. The property developers civrcling overhead have more than likely secured their deals, and the money's been made... and it's all as transparent as b**lsh*t.
Plus, of course, someone will still be raking in the rent on some central office space (and the council will be happy with what they've got....)
But... well, I wonder? I wonder - if we made a little spreadsheet. If we had access to how much profit is going to be raked away from the gateway development? If we knew how much unearned income will fall into the pockets of the investors and the shareholders and the heavies?
And if we then set this against how much it would have cost to get ourselves a gateway to the city that wasn't some corporate McLandscape. but something with soul? How much it would have cost to keep the 'squat'?
"Ah, but without the profit motive, the developers wouldn't have come in!"
Hmm. These lies about why we need private developers are starting to get tiresome.
If we look all the way to South America, we'll see that Chavez has just nationalised the oil industry, and is pouring the resulting billions into the desperately poor areas of Venezuela. Education, sanitation, building work... rather than the pockets of the already obscenely rich.
It ain't actually all that difficult when you think about it. So let's hope in the near future we'll see a day where the gateway to our city will say something about the people who live here, not about the absentee landlords and shareholders living in Spain and elsewhere who're squeezing every penny from the city they can get.
(Shit! During the day I think I'm a nice liberal. When night comes, this filthy radical crawls outa the woodwork...!)
Dan
e-mail:
dan@aktivix.org