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ASBO, The Last Days

Tash | 03.03.2008 00:44 | Free Spaces | Social Struggles

After many meetings and planning, in August 2005, a number of concerned individuals took direct action to squat a large house / block of flats. The place had been empty for the previous seven years and was in a great state of dis-repair.






















ASBO, The Last Days

After many meetings and planning, in August 2005, a number of concerned individuals took direct action to squat a large house / block of flats. The place had been empty for the previous seven years and was in a great state of dis-repair.

The local community, as first a little apprehensive at the arrival of these folks, were soon bought round to seeing the occupation as really positive. As it was so derelict, it was an obvious eyesore in their midst. Additionally is had become a crack den and a haunt for prostitution. There isn't a community centre for some distance around in this area of Radford, and thus involving the community in such a self-help project was a great way so get folks involved in some proper DIY provision. Living above the shop, so to speak, enabled the building to not only be looked after, but with a steady stream of helping hands, providing lots of activity for the resource centre it became.

The council were there in the first week with a notice to quit. The officers were not interested in the fact that it had been empty for so long. They didn't care. Well that's obvious innit!

Check out these links, and be inspired by time and trouble and effort people put into the project.

 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321108.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321800.html

The council has a dim view of squatters! They are all wasters. We proved them wrong. All squatters are not the same these were different to the councils expectations. The place had activity going on most of the time, hell, the council even added it to the list of community centres, as if it was provision that they were making for the community. Cheeky bastards :-) The chief executive of Nottingham City Council [at the time] Gordon Mitchell, dropped by for a cup of tea and a custard cream, to see for himself.

 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/334933.html

I was so impressed by the range of activity people could arrange. Support for critical mass, bike fixing, free food kitchen to refugee and asylum assistance. Far to numerous to list the activities.

BUT NOW LOOK WHAT HAS HAPPENED.!!

Because of some bad people that ended up taking over, violently attacking people that tried to stand up to them, the whole project has collapsed. People drifted away being intimidated and at some fear.

There was then an attempt to re-squat the squat, a valiant attempt. But this again was made untenable by the violent activity of only a couple of people that remained there. People being physically attacked and intimidated. The asylum and refugee project that was also housed there was then subjected to numerous break-ins and much damage done to the building, so that they couldn't remain.

I want readers of this post to be under no doubt about what I think about the whole issue. This was a community project. Not just a squat for a few people to live in. This project was maintained by committed people as a service for many. The many taking advantage of what it had to offer. If you look at some of the pictures of the party's held there, and look at the other good works done there, you get the idea of the many hundreds who it was thought would help stand up for it.

We should mostly be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. Not to stand up against the intimidation of just a couple of people, hundreds have stood aside and watched this happen.

Call yourselves a community ..... Pah!

The very idea that just the immediate people involved could / should do this by themselves, as some risk I might add, while all just looked on and watched all this happen. It is simply not good enough.

The place is now at the treat of imminent eviction. Good riddance you might say. But, imagine the next time someone wants to open a squat / social centre. This is the reputation that you now have, established in the councils mind. Further, so much for self-policing and sorting our own problems, without reference to 'them'. We now rely on state help, to clean up the shit that we've left, in more ways than one.

I am cross about it all. I so hope you are to.


*****


ASBO Centre
33 -35 Burns Street
Radford
Nottingham

Burns St Squatting Project :: The Progress
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321108.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321569.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321800.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/10/325852.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/02/333538.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/334766.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/334933.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/08/348126.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/08/348147.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/08/349130.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/09/350659.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/09/351063.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/12/358766.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/05/370032.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/05/370053.html

Spray Art at the ASBO - Pictures
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/02/333538.html

ASBO Squat : New Deal for Community [NDC] Magazine Item
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/334766.html

Nottingham A Squatting 'Slide Show' [to a show tune :-)]
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/349130.html

New Mural Wall Painting at the ASBO in Radford
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/11/355849.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/11/356420.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/11/356995.html

Tash
- e-mail: tash@indymedia.org

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

I agree

03.03.2008 01:08

I agree. Its a shame it had to end like this. We are all responsible for letting it get to this.. Hopefully we as a squatting community will be able to learn from these experiences and move forward with a new idea of how we might deal with a situation like this in future...

WP


and another thing .....

03.03.2008 02:03

for those who need a better role-model, I think you should check out this link:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,3815919-103684,00.html

I think this shows just how far we have fallen short.

I met Eric once or twice. I would have been embarrassed by what he most likely would have said to us now ......

Tash


Bloody well done for highlighting this tash ....

03.03.2008 02:29

and to indymedia for carrying this story.

Yes i so agree. The whole thing makes me feel sick. I suppose your in touch with Pete and Miriam. They have just added another posting on the demise of the projects there.

Sankofa Foundation in Crisis
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/392814.html

I'm simply speechless. as you say, next to people like Eric Mattocks, we are shit!!

Tim


sniff

03.03.2008 10:23

gosh!
im looking through these pics, i cant even place where it is in the asbo, its such a tip! its actually very heartbreaking.

its good to post this on indymedia. but is there anything that we can do practically now or in the near future?

elsa


Sankofa is down but will not be out

03.03.2008 17:41

Thanks to Tash and Indymedia for highlighting what has been going on around us for the last few months. Our first break in last summer on the morning of the Refugee Council surgery for children was heart breaking. Now we have just been waiting to see how bad it will become. We have patched and mended. Worked late into the night trying to get it kind of sorted for the following day. I am forever grateful and appreciative of the refugee support in mending and tidying.
Make no mistake. No matter about the official eviction. We have been withstanding intimidation and bullying for months. I watched from nearby as two local young people and residents of the house kicked at out door one night. Apparently my observations are not independent. Ripping out the hot water tank this week and allowing or not caring about the hundreds of gallons of water that have filled the cellar flooding into the rooms above leaves us speachless. Thanks to those who are supporting, but how can we let people do this to all of us???????

miriam
mail e-mail: miriam@sankofafoundation.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.sankofafoundation.org.uk


Listing as a community centre

03.03.2008 17:51

After much searching a did find a copy of the listing of ASBO as a community centre and have still got a copy if you want to copy it and add it to these pics.

miriam


Council should have funded ASBO& not deliberately destroy community centres!

03.03.2008 19:51

Council should have funded ASBO& we should have more solidarity. Last major long lasting activist squat that was key in the noel st baths campaign 8 years ago was the Forest Lodge"collective" at top of forest rec where council were or are planning a monster pool on top of loved trees,bowling green& the grade 2 Lodge.
It was a major mover in keeping Rainbow centre going & helped move it on to being Sumac.
When council finally evicted it, after we had maintained it for 8 years or so they smashed the toilets & windows deliberately & have since kept it empty & flooded though nicely painted.
Like ASBO it was often abused in its role as a "free social service"& no one except myself & afew others was able to turn up to try & stop the eviction.

I was getting false charges from political parts of the Met police when people tried to deal with this& helping nspcc,professional journalists,activists stop paedophilia & abuse still happening. We really need to show more solidarity & comms, recently I mentioned to afew ex ASBOers I know a group of vgood polish workers interested in living there, but got no reply.

Many others paying bills etc, worst thing is drugs, cheap beer, smack etc encouraged into poor-radical communities to divide & weed can encourage activists to sit on their ass like at forest lodge.Did this happen at ASBO??
Alot of dosh etc was wasted on that, I have had serious death attempt when squatting by ignorant people who thought I was a weed dealer.

Yes put the photo of the b"""""ds up!!!basic imperative. ASBO the ASBO destroyers. How about with pics of any known verified dodgy agent provateurs+ any coppers who violently start riots at demo's,any dodgy politicians,fash etc on same page, put em up! They all need ASBOing!!!

Then lets democratise the council,every council & free the world with libertarian municipalism & free cooperatives!

Green syndicalist-Robin Ludd


fires raging at night

06.03.2008 00:52

Every night at dusk the same group gather at the back of the ASBO. Skulking about in the dark, fetching and carrying out furniture and books for burning in the yard at the back. One night this week the local residents came out onto the street when the noise of something exploding on the fire went off like a bomb and lit up the streets on all sides so brightly that lights were bouncing off the walls opposite Tennyson Street, behind the ASBO. Two residents of the squat, one neighbouring young man and his friend, build and watch the fire. No environmentalists these chaps!

The bicycle worskhop is now emptied and the metal all sold off for scrap. At night all the lights are on in the place and it would look magnificent if it wasnt so horribly sad. Its like observing everything decending into chaos. Its unbelievable that we are all just watching this happen.

neighbour


No surprises

07.03.2008 11:51

It breaks my heart to see the reports and photos of the ASBO on this site, at its best it was a wonderful place both for its residents and all those who used the space. To those calling for names and photos of the two people who, it seems, are blamed exclusively for what has happened I would like to say that in my view the project could not have gone any other way. For some time the ASBO and all its residents and friends have been caught up in infighting and accusations from Nottingham's 'activist community' and the space was never able to live up to its potential because of this. Those people who allowed their personal differences to get in the way of all the good things that the ASBO stood for should be ashamed of themselves, I believe it is thanks to these people more than anyone that the centre has declined in the way it has. A democratic, anarchist project like ASBO can only succeed if there is a wide range of people and ideas to bring it to life and this became an impossibility thanks to the pariah status the ASBO had gained in many people's minds. All of this began long before many of the events mentioned in recent articles here.

Please don't call for anyone's blood, that is not what the ASBO project was supposed to be about. It was supposed to be about community and the community has let the place down just as the residents, past and present, have let their community down either by their actions or by inaction. I hope this will not end the idea of a squatted community project in Nottingham, but it is enough for me not to want to be involved with activism in the city any more.

Anon


The current residents are total twats

07.03.2008 19:15

The two current residents of the ex-ASBO, J and A, are aggressive anti-social twats with no interest in political squatting (or any positive social activism). All their neighbours hate them and want them out. Thier attitude to the attempted re-squatting of the building (violent intimidation) says it all. It's a shame that we didn't stand up to them properly and sort them out - we should be able to tackle antisocial violence in our own community, rather than rely on the cops to tackle it (no doubt the police will be getting involved at the building soon).

Hopefully we'll never have to see those two idiots ever again; if we do, we should be *robust* in tackling them.

BJP


2 sides of story

09.03.2008 18:08

The Asbo squat has been given notice to depart which expired on the 27th of feb in which terms were negotiable, and which that there is no immediate threat to the eviction.

its a fitting END to a hard worked and a sometimes loved project in the city of Nottingham,This project was maintained by COMMITTED people as a service for many. The many taking ADVANTAGE of what it had to offer. For some time the ASBO and all its residents and friends have been caught up in infighting and accusations from Nottingham's activist community' and the space was never able to live up to its potential because of this. I believe it is thanks to these people more than anyone that the centre has declined in the way it has. Its a shame it had to end like this. We are all responsible for letting it get to this. A democratic, anarchist project like ASBO can only succeed if there is a wide range of people and ideas to bring it to life and this became an impossibility thanks to the pariah status the ASBO had gained in many people's minds. All of this began long before many of the events mentioned. The others moved out & kept loads of other voluntary community centre open. Anyway now we have better places in Nottingham. Shame on Nottingham city homes for not giving the funds when it was doing so much good for sometimes the roughest area in Nottingham. just because of some bad people that ended up taking over, the whole project has collapsed. People drifted away and there was then an attempt to re-squat the squat, a valiant attempt. But this again was made untenable by only a couple of people that remained there. People being intimidated. The very idea that just the immediate people involved could / should do this by themselves, as some risk I might add, This is the reputation that you now have, established in the councils mind. Further, so much for self-policing and sorting our own problems, without reference to 'them'. We now rely on state help, to clean up the shit that we've left, in more ways than one.

while we all just looked on and watched all this happen. Hopefully we as a squatting community will be able to learn from these experiences and move forward with a new idea of how we might deal with a situation like this in future. Many others paying bills etc, worst thing is drugs, cheap beer, smack etc is encouraged into poor-radical communities, to divide & weed can encourage activists to sit on their ass, that is not what the ASBO project was. It was supposed to be about community and the community has let the place down just as the residents, past and present, have let their community down either by their actions or by inaction. I hope this will not end the idea of a squatted community project in Nottingham. Every night at dusk the same group gather at the back of the ASBO. Skulking about in the dark, fetching and carrying out furniture and books for burning in the yard at the back. No environmentalists these chaps!

if a tree falls on a mime in the woods

does anyone care

P.s No need for the name calling,

Empty homes = homes for the homeless not for the rich and arrogant
First in, last out
Those in control control others, people who have no control only have themselves to blame, those in control blame others.

Observer


ashamed

13.03.2008 00:04

i've squatted for fucking years. i thought it was about building things and communities. but i feel so ashamed now, look, nottingham , london, and many others. we've stood up to the councils and thugs in the past, trying to make places uninhabitable. but fucking now look, people are wrecking places for them. just scum. i think i go leave this fucking country, other places have more respect for each other and commuity. sooooo depressed.

&&&

thieving parasitic squat leeches trash rampART social centre

Over the weekend one of the rampART collective caught friends of the neighboring squatters stealing the lead of the roof. Confronted, they justified their action by saying that the place was going to be evicted in a week anyway. Of course that's not actually true, there is no date yet for an eviction and who's is to say that an eviction attempt would succeed. It could have been months before the rampART was finally closed.

 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/393402.html

Squatter


Our steps

13.03.2008 10:28

It so strange, looking at these photos again, and seeing our steps - the little ones that have a steadying handle, outside the ASBO Community kitchen.

There they are, in several of the photos.

Looks as if they have been used too.

Funny thing is, that they were in my locked office , (until someone put their boot up against it)which was inside the locked building.

We had used them to fix the curtains. Now in these photos they are outside.

Funny that.

miriam


Where's the solidarity?

14.03.2008 22:33

Everybody moans about the injustice of it all and how it shouldn't have been allowed to deteriorate..but when organised action needed to be taken to do something about it, who was there? Who actually stepped forward within this so called "movement" and decided to do something? It's all great to go round holding green banners and standing on a soapbox about ethics, but when it comes to actually being really proactive people would rather point fingers.

Anon


Police Community Support Officer Blog Entry on Squatting

25.03.2008 20:25

If you want to see what the under-informed think of squatting as an activity, please check out:

Police Community Support Officer Blog : Squatting page at:
 http://policecommunitysupportofficer.blogspot.com/2007/11/squatters.html

However, for those of us that thought that squatting should be thought of as an activity of those engaged in social concerns, please check out the 'London Squatter's' Comment at:  http://tinyurl.com/2wq8kn

because it helps provide the antidote to this PCSO's viperous attack

Tash