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 
e-mail:
I agree
03.03.2008 01:08
WP
and another thing .....
03.03.2008 02:03
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
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
I'm simply speechless. as you say, next to people like Eric Mattocks, we are shit!!
Tim
sniff
03.03.2008 10:23
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
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
e-mail:
miriam@sankofafoundation.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.sankofafoundation.org.uk
Listing as a community centre
03.03.2008 17:51
miriam
Council should have funded ASBO& not deliberately destroy community centres!
03.03.2008 19:51
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
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
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
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
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
&&&
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.
Squatter
Our steps
13.03.2008 10:28
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
Anon
Police Community Support Officer Blog Entry on Squatting
25.03.2008 20:25
Police Community Support Officer Blog : Squatting page at:
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:
because it helps provide the antidote to this PCSO's viperous attack
Tash