brighton.squat.net

Squatters have been revealed as some of the most vulnerable of all homeless people by research published as the Government consultation into criminalisation of squatting comes to an end.

The research reveals that squatters are more likely than other homeless people to suffer from a range of disadvantages, from mental and physical ill health to learning disabilities to drug and alcohol dependency.

Squatting: a homelessness issue was undertaken by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University on behalf of homelessness charity Crisis. The report draws on analysis from a range of previous research into homelessness and squatting.

The research concludes that criminalising squatters will criminalise a very vulnerable group of people and that far from being a criminal justice issue, squatting should be treated as a welfare and housing issue.

The research comes after a campaign from Crisis against criminalisation of squatting, and a letter, backed by Crisis, that has provoked a strong exchange of views between the government and housing legal experts. Crisis has also produced the Daily Rant to highlight misconceptions around squatting.

Taken from http://www.crisis.org.uk/news.php/302/true-plight-of-squatters-exposed-by-research

Rhizomatic#1 is about a squatted art and community space that took place in Brighton in January 2001. It was organised by an anarchist collective called SPOR, which developed from the original Spiral Tribe founders with a focus of providing active spaces of freedom within local communities, based on the thought that “without somewhere to be free then freedom is nothing more than an abstract idea”. They base their activities on a method of action that draws inspiration from Hakim Bey’s concept of ‘temporary autonomous zones’ and from a Deleuzian notion of the rhizome which they put into action. They consciously organise a network that does not attempt to maintain a permanent political presence but which rather appears at indeterminate intervals, inspired by the mushroom which fruits intermittently on the basis on an ongoing mycelium. Their experiments inspire and spread this network of ideas, people, connections and actions.

Link

Via SQUASH

The government’s consultation on the proposed criminalisation of squatting is currently taking place. The consultation is supposed to allow the government to formally take public opinion and suggestions into account.

Here we have provided resources for you to understand it and quickly submit an email response to the government. The deadline is the 5th October 2011.

The full consultation asks a set of 22 questions. We have picked out the four most relevant questions to those who oppose the proposals and provided them in the form below.

Fill in your details along with any answers you would like to give (none are required). Then submit the form to send it straight to the government. You may also add a message to introduce yourself and your thoughts.

We will not use any of this information for any purpose other than to submit your response.

If you would like to submit a more detailed response, we have provided notes (on the SQUASH site) on the full set of questions to give wider context.

That this House notes research by Crisis showing that 39 per cent. of single homeless people have squatted; acknowledges that conditions in squats are often horrendous; further notes that homeless people who squat are among the most vulnerable in society, with 37 per cent. having mental health problems and 20 per cent. being dependent on alcohol; and calls on the Government to ensure that any reform of the law on squatting does not penalise vulnerable homeless people and to focus on tackling the root cause of the problem by ensuring that no homeless person is forced to squat.

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/2114

Dear Mr Weatherley,

We, the occupiers of the previously unused property at 29 Western Road, would like to invite you to the social centre we have created for a cup of tea and a friendly chat. We have free hot drinks and cake for anyone who wants it, comfy seats and meeting space for groups who need it. We have established a safe space with a free shop and library, with clothes, books and DVDs for people to take or borrow. If you were to visit, I’m sure we could find you a fetching hat or perhaps a much needed book on the class divisions of our society.

For a large part of your political career, you have held the criminalization of squatting to be a cause that you passionately believe in. Parliament is currently putting through legislation that will act as the first steps towards the criminalization of squatting. This will essentially result in the criminalization of people who are homeless in the midst of a housing and financial crisis, and who must resort to occupying empty and unused buildings simply in order to have a roof over their heads. It will also criminalise people like us, who have chosen to create a free cultural and community resource in a previously unused building, showing that you and the current government prioritises the financial interests of wealthy property owners before those of the homeless and disadvantaged. Official statistics state that, outside of London, Brighton has the highest number of rough sleepers, and yet according to a BBC article published in 27th February 2011 there are 3655 empty homes in Brighton and Hove. This ridiculous situation is only going to get worse if your unjust anti-squatting legislation is passed.

Your party’s “Big Society” was an idea flawed from the outset, and as the ruthless Conservative cuts are ravaging public services, this vision has completely failed to emerge. We are a group of people attempting to create community involvement from the bottom up, in a way which counters the short sighted views of the Conservative party. We would like to invite you to visit the social centre and see the efforts we have made, so that we may prove to you that our society is bigger than yours.

We are being taken to Brighton County Court on Friday, July 29th at 12.30pm in an attempt to evict us from this property, but until then – and hopefully for a long time after – we will be open to the public Monday-Saturday, 11am-7pm. Why not pop in some time and we can discuss this matter further?

Yours sincerely,
The Occupiers of the Wildkatz Social Centre
wildkatzsocialcentre AT hotmail.co.uk

“Government” consultation on squatting opens…
(via indymedia)

The folks at the Ministry of Justice have today launched their ‘consultation’ document about new laws how to ‘deal with’ squatters. It asks for the views of “anyone affected by squatters or [who] has experience of using the current law or procedures to get them evicted.” They don’t seem too interested in what the squatters have to say.

Links…
MOJ press release: http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/features/feature130711a.htm
Consultation webpage:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/dealing-with-squatters.htm
Consultation document (pdf): http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/consultations/options-dealing-with-squatting.pdf

I’m not sure if it will have any effect at all, but it might be worth responding with some stories about positive squatting experiences, to add a bit of balance. The worst they can do is ignore them.

On the 5th of july 11 squats were evicted in Amsterdam. In front of the Schijnheilig, a squated political/cultural freespace, people resisted the eviction by putting up barricades and blocking the streets. The police cleared the streets with extreme violence and then mass-arrested up to 150 people.

Everyone that was identified has been released. Some that have been accused of violent disorder have courtcases coming up, more information on that as it comes in.

Right now 8 of our friends have been transferred to foreign detention centres because they refused to identify themselves. There they can be kept for up to one and a half year.

We want our friends to be released NOW.

The 5th of july solidaritynetwork website is here to gather and centralise all information about our friends in prison and to report about all solidarity actions that happen.

http://5thofjulysoli.noblogs.org

An abandoned shop front in Churchill Square, Brighton’s biggest shopping centre, has been occupied in solidarity with striking public sector workers.
The building had been empty since August 2010 and the occupiers are already making repairs in order to rescue the building from dilapidation.
The space will be used to form links between the striking public sector workers and other members of the public who are affected by the government’s public sector cuts, such as students, benefits claimants and private sector workers.
Starting June 30th, the day of the strikes, the space will be open in the daytime and used as a place for people opposed to the cuts in general to meet one another, drink tea, and find out about anti-cuts actions.
At 6pm everyday there will be an Anti-Cuts Forum, a public meeting open to all to participate. From 8pm until the space closes at night there will be film screenings and acoustic music.
Drugs such as Alcohol, Nicotine and Ketamine are strictly forbidden in the space, along with all forms of oppressive behaviour such as Racism, Sexism and Homophobia.
The space is non-party political and is open to anyone opposed to the government’s public sector cuts is welcome to the space at 29 Western Rd, Brighton, on the corner of Churchill square.
All enquiries to 07563696458.

PM wants to make house squatting a criminal offence

As part of an ongoing radical history project and in response to the ridiculous proposals to criminalise squatting (go tories go!), using space five is devoted to a brief and incomplete history of squatting in brighton, uk. This is a special version with reduced size fotos, so as to lessen the file size (still more than 8mg). Download from Northern Indymedia.