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.
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 squatting project that started up with so many good intentions ....... now looks like this! I think it is even worse than what was moved into, in the first place. As you will have seen from previous post, there is also significant internal damage. pipes & hot water tanks ripped out, thus widespread water damage.
Eviction has now been completed, but lights continue to burn. Sytex put up all around.
Finished... The End!!
Good riddance you might say. But, imagine the next time someone wants to open a squat / social centre. This is the reputation that squatters 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 remain cross about it all. I so hope you are to.
*****
End of the Road for ASBO [feature]
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/392994.html ASBO, The Last Days
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/392793.html 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 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/392793.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 ____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email:
tash@indymedia.org Member of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
e-mail:
smell the coffee
06.04.2008 18:17
We could have restrained & kicked them out, then what?. Prison is sometimes a good idea as long as its justified & their is some constructive training & penance involved. What do we do if we chuck them out & they keep coming back violently, personally I don't like kneecapping people.
Apparently there have been media articles about this saying the place was taken over by whining bad boys, we can point people to this.Also ASBO would have been unlikely to have got into this situation if it had proper council funding like other useful community centres.
So one of the turned bad n'sour did 2 years of work at ASBO, thats nothing, theres thousands who've been doing this for decades & don't make a big thing about it. Idiots who scapegoat assylum seekers for housing problems, wake up!& stop whining theres many including myself whov'e been homeless for years without benefits or income doing voluntary work. It was bad & unecessary, but it was rarely under immediate death threats & torture.
Yes we should be allowed our own homes sustainably on etc, don't be a scapegoating whiner, thought you were smarter than that, even if you sometimes get scapegoated its not wise.
Council bailiffs should have turned off the lights inside, if they left them on, Eon should bills them for it
green syndicalist
parasites trash another building
07.04.2008 23:32
again