One last burst of light and heat
The Square Occupied Social Centre was formally dissolved in the aftermath of a 4-hour garden barbecue. About thirty people, including most of those who had had a sustained relationship with the space, had come together to decide the term of the resistance that had begun on the Friday. Sadly - or perhaps it was for the best - it very quickly became clear that there simply wasn't the energy to go on.
People's reasons differed. The most significant and widespread was exhaustion - physical, emotional and political. People were just tired, and wanted a summer in the sun, not barricaded into a building. Others felt the social centre had drawn to its natural conclusion given the limits that had been placed upon it, and wanted summer for reflection and reformulation of the project. Still others were concerned that the symbolic weekend of resistance, which burnt so brightly, would be diluted by days and weeks of events for events' sake. What everyone with a long-term engagement agreed upon was that this game was up.
The space has now been passed on to a handful of residents who wished to remain and a few people who wanted to continue to run the place as a political and cultural venue. But the Square, which was the network of friends and comrades that ran and maintained that building for 5 months, has now ceased to be. The people involved will be meeting at 3pm on Sunday the 9th of July at The Swan, Cosmo Place, off Southampton Row to consider the Square's history and its legacy - and specifically to begin a reassessment of the social centre project at this stage and to consider our future role as a collective within that project.
To that end, all those who have been involved are invited to write critical texts on the Square, exploring the extent of and reasons for its failures and successes, with an explicit focus on helping all of us learn the lessons of the five months of activity we have just shared, and perhaps share those lessons further afield, too.
In conclusion, it should be emphasised what a glorious explosion the weekend of the resistance was. Quite apart from the official events - the well-attended resistance in the morning of the Friday and the remarkable 8 hour gig on Saturday, attended by hundreds of kids - what was most remarkable was our emotional fragility as we all began to sense that we were approaching a profound ending. This building has been sustenance for us, a place to socialise with like-minded people, a place in which to play, to party and conspire. That it was ending - for all of its flaws and tensions - made a lot of us take stock of what was being lost: and it was more than we had thought.
Something has passed from central London into our hearts. The red and black will not fly over Russell Square much longer but we carry them in exile, and we will have another building in due course.
Just another minor ending,
The Ex-Occupation Committee of The Square.
People's reasons differed. The most significant and widespread was exhaustion - physical, emotional and political. People were just tired, and wanted a summer in the sun, not barricaded into a building. Others felt the social centre had drawn to its natural conclusion given the limits that had been placed upon it, and wanted summer for reflection and reformulation of the project. Still others were concerned that the symbolic weekend of resistance, which burnt so brightly, would be diluted by days and weeks of events for events' sake. What everyone with a long-term engagement agreed upon was that this game was up.
The space has now been passed on to a handful of residents who wished to remain and a few people who wanted to continue to run the place as a political and cultural venue. But the Square, which was the network of friends and comrades that ran and maintained that building for 5 months, has now ceased to be. The people involved will be meeting at 3pm on Sunday the 9th of July at The Swan, Cosmo Place, off Southampton Row to consider the Square's history and its legacy - and specifically to begin a reassessment of the social centre project at this stage and to consider our future role as a collective within that project.
To that end, all those who have been involved are invited to write critical texts on the Square, exploring the extent of and reasons for its failures and successes, with an explicit focus on helping all of us learn the lessons of the five months of activity we have just shared, and perhaps share those lessons further afield, too.
In conclusion, it should be emphasised what a glorious explosion the weekend of the resistance was. Quite apart from the official events - the well-attended resistance in the morning of the Friday and the remarkable 8 hour gig on Saturday, attended by hundreds of kids - what was most remarkable was our emotional fragility as we all began to sense that we were approaching a profound ending. This building has been sustenance for us, a place to socialise with like-minded people, a place in which to play, to party and conspire. That it was ending - for all of its flaws and tensions - made a lot of us take stock of what was being lost: and it was more than we had thought.
Something has passed from central London into our hearts. The red and black will not fly over Russell Square much longer but we carry them in exile, and we will have another building in due course.
Just another minor ending,
The Ex-Occupation Committee of The Square.
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:-(
30.06.2006 16:37
Tumble Weed
Another place another time
01.07.2006 11:11
a ram part
WELL DONE OR RAW
02.07.2006 05:05
"they stole our land, they stole our freedom, they kill our children, they rape our daughters. we will never stop resisting day or night, come rain or high water"
quotes of the day
'you know what resistance is when you don't notice the weather'
'winter, autumn, spring, summer... a time to prepare and dream, a time to sow, a time to water, a time to harvest. life is a circle.it makes sense. otherwise you die or you eat your food from a plastik package from the supermarket.be the change you want to see'
'there is a country in the north of the world where you can't resist in the winter because it's too cold, you can't organise in the autumn because it rains all the time, you can't 'resist' in the spring because there are too many cops at May Day, you can't struggle in the summer because it's nicer to take a break from 'it all' under the summer sun, basically, there is no hurry, they benefit from a healthy neoliberal expoitative economy and make their choices. that is their 'alternative'. i just wish they would be honest and stop pretending. they watch their own films and read their own leaflets but don't feel them. its a game, an adolecence part time trip in fringe mainstream culture. it's enterteinment. there is no strategy, but then they want to be taken seriously. why? because they cleaned cups and sweep the floor? for making cups of tea to each other, sell beer, join mailing lists and read and write emails? do they ever get the feeling they are being cheated? that country is sweaden, of course'
'somethings better change'
'no justice, no peace - of mind'
kro-pot-kin
kro-pot-kin sounds a little bitter
02.07.2006 10:44
And why would we want anyone to take us seriously? As it happens the only positive response we really want is that of history, and we will continue to move, to criticise, to grow in understanding until we as a group, a network, a milieu are capable of generating that response.
Who cares what the scene thinks? Numbers never mattered anyway, we only thought they did (and after J18 it's easy to understand why...) More particularly, your embittered denunciation of us as lifestylers (for that is what your post amounts to) really only amounts to an inverted judgment on your own self-sacrifice. I know many people who through mortgages, families, even through history (long residence etc) are trapped or wish to remain in their geographical communities with 9-5 jobs etc. Most of them realise the attraction of an itinerant, drifting life in the anarchist milieu, and don't begrudge it to those who can achieve it. Especially when it is clear to them at every stage that these people are their comrades, and will support them in their own struggles without questions or prevarications.
Remind me why we should hold an empty, useless building for months when it is summer outside? Remind me why one more experiment in form oughtn't to be put to sleep when it's run its course?
But you don't have any answers, only a knee-jerk reaction to the word 'squat'. Maybe one day we can call each other comrade but I doubt it will be soon.
involved
reply to Chiara
03.07.2006 19:07
jugs
Hey Chiara -
04.07.2006 13:58
There is much more to be said that should not be aired publically. I hope you have the gall to come to the meeting this sunday to put forward your craven theses - we can be more open then.
involved
Aka...
04.07.2006 21:43
Dear 'involved', it would be nice to know who you are, besides being a spiteful little shit. I do not think your comment deserves an answer.
Dear 'jugs', you are in a better cathegory than 'involved'- not that it takes much to be better than that! I guess I can guess who you are but I may be wrong. I did try to attend last dissolving meeting, I was late as usual because busy with other work. Sorry. When you do political work you will see how little time you have left for other political work, meetings etc. And little time for bickering too.
Chiara
Involve . . .
04.07.2006 23:12
I think it is a shame that people have given up on a place that was threatened with eviction, and then didn't even get evicted. It seem like even when we win, we still lose.
Jon
jon_the_id
Chiara -
05.07.2006 08:54
I regret the above post but I can't quite bring myself to repudiate it. See you in a week?
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