Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Westbourne 'Mental' Hospital squatted in Brighton/Hove- ooooh, the irony!

chimp23 | 25.10.2006 02:52 | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | South Coast

A couple of weeks ago a large contingent of Brighton squatters got together and occupied a large disused 'mental' hospital. The occupation was ostensibly to provide a roof over the steadily growing number of people fed up and disillusioned with the non-choice offered under the rule of Capital, in the housing sphere as in every other sphere under this systematic death forced upon us; the opportunity will also, however, be used to demonstrate alternative ways of organising day to day, in the here and now, the praxis of the theory, which will take the shape of whatever those organising see fit and within whatever parameters they deem to be appropriate- or in other words, get down there and do something!

Ooooh, the beautiful poetic irony of it! The inmates have taken over the asylum!

Yet again in a post-modern, post-dadaist, post-situationist manifestation of the ridiculous, we (the criminals, the anarchists, the reprobates and those others 'crazy' and fortunate enough to transcend the current social order) have inadvertently (or not perhaps?) put ourselves exactly where those who try and pull our strings would love to 'officially' put us, except that this time we are the doctors and the patients, the screws and the inmates. We hold our own keys, and the only reason that we still hold them in our hands is to dangle them, tauntingly, in the faces of those who would love to snatch them back and put them to their 'original and proper' use.

And so, whilst we,some of the squatters of Brighton, have this opportunity to all live and thrive under the same roof for a while, we intend to further extend the living of our praxis: to move yet further away from those armchair activists (and indeed activists of any sort) who, unknowingly and with all the good intention in the world (and isn't that just the bitch of it?), cause so much damage to our daily struggle, our unceasing attack upon the system and its institutions which cause all to wither and die.

So, bring forth the clowns (and no, don't worry, not the clown army -good attempt, but mere distraction), the workshops, the study groups, film nights and parties, and, therefore of course, the inevitable meetings, arguments, fights, police harassment and Special Branch infiltration. But the rough with the smooth is the basis and beauty of chaos, and we welcome it all with open arms.

But, this can't just be done by us. We aren't in the busyness of putting on shows. The dichotomy of the watcher/watched is but one manifestation of control, of the logic of our enemy. We will be creating some opportunities, but the biggest opportunity is there already- the space and the time, which in turn create vast potential and endless possibilities.

The final ingredient is you. If you live in the area and would like to use the space for anything you feel would be constructive on any level whatsoever, then please turn up and ask. There is an open meeting every evening at 8:30 in the Dining Room (otherwise known as Del's Mirror Room), West Wing, Ground Floor to discuss any relevant topics. All are invited if they wish to take part, or simply to see non-hierarchical decision making in process).

And so- to the stirring of creative juices, may a tsunami of poetic possibilities sweep away those levees of apathy which guard the increasingly vulnerable foundations of our foe. And so- to the cultural barricades my sisters and my brothers, to the attack with ideas in hand and love and rage in head and heart.

To get there:- From Brighton, Churchill Square: head down Western Rd to Palmeira Sq, Hove, then keep heading toward Worthing, down Church St, past the cathedral of Tesco's on your left, past the next traffic lights onto New Church Rd, then down to the next set of traffic lights and the squat is there on the corner of New Church Rd and Westbourne Villas- Westborne Hospital- look for the skull and crossbones flying from the second floor.

Also, look out for timetabled events on Indymedia, in the Cowley Club and flyposted and flyered around town.

love n rage
tHE uRBAN iNCITEMENT pROJECT, the 325 Collective (representing several other groups involved in the project)

chimp23
- e-mail: chimp23@hush.ai
- Homepage: http://325collective@hush.com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. whether tis nobler in the mind to take up armchairs — the armchair struggle paininthearse
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech