[matilda] Guiding Principles.

[gavin at cyber-rights.net]

This is good. Nice work, Ben.

This piece would be something to maybe stick up as a poster by the 
entrances and in the 'social' room, I think.

I've been looking up every mole reference I could find, from the 
various radical thinkers who've made use of the image since Marx 
first nabbed it from Shakespeare. I was thinking of doing a bit of 
art in the reading/library room and working a few of those quotes 
into it. I'll come up with a bit of general text which could work 
into thsi below myself, cos the quotes on their own would be a bit 
too oblique.

As for guiding principles, I think we either adopt the PGA 
hallmarks or not. Other than that, we've been working out practical 
structures for how things will get done, and these (because they're 
formed by consensus) will naturaly embody the principles which we 
have in mind for this place. So, that leaves us with stating the 
more abstract stuff. As we've kind of formed out of the G8 group, 
which itself was quite a broad church, we might be better off going 
with something quite general, about grassroots activism and 
building a multiplicity of alternatives...which kind of embodies 
the broadness of political perspectives we have amongst us, and 
lets us just go and get on with doing practical stuff and get the 
space moving instead.


- Gavin.


On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:43:53 -0700 Benjamin Major 
<complexitybenjamin at hotmail.com> wrote:
>When we are finally able to gather together in order to come up
>with out guilding principles for the Matilda centre, I would like 
>our
>first step to perhaps be ;   -Do we start with the PGA hallmarks? 
>Do
>we deconstruct and analyze and argue the PGA hallmarks and either
>leave them unchanged or revise them to meet our own consensus, or 
>to
>meet our own local concerns...   -Do we build from a clean slate 
>and
>construct our own ideas, coming to an understanding amongst 
>ourselves
>why we feel we have to have a social space in Sheffield at this 
>point
>in time and the methods and towards what ends we wish to work.  
>-Either way, perhaps we could keep reflecting on what we have got 
>so
>far, refining these principles, and comparing them with the 
>hallmarks
>which took so many thousands of participants so many days to come 
>to
>an agreement on, realising it is going to be a long and gradual
>process.   Anyway, people who attended the meeting on Monday will
>have already seen a copy of this- I post it here so that others 
get
>to have a look too. It's a mostly pinched piece which just offers
>some starting ground. I believe that there is a hundred good 
>reasons
>why a social centre should exist in Sheffield. I want this piece 
to
>be ripped to pieces. Someone responded with good reason that this
>piece should not be referred to as a communique. It does kind of 
>make
>it sound like something coming from a closed and sheltered group 
>to an
>'outside' world. But communication is a two way process- once we 
>have
>got a cafe, an art studio, and a hacklab and all the other things, 

>an
>even harder part comes- the dialogue which convinces everyone else 

>why
>this is a good idea.   Please do rip it apart- I'm still a 
>relatively
>recent-comer and I need to be shown where my mistakes are.    
>
>	M.A.T.I.L.D.A, the new Sheffield Social Centre  
>
>	A new social centre is currently emerging in Sheffield, for YOU 
to
>use! This social centre, named M.A.T.I.L.D.A (or Massive 
>Alternative
>Terrain for Insurrection, Love and Direct Action) is now open for
>meetings, forums, film showings, parties etc… The space will also
>host a regular café social, will house artists studios, and 
>contains
>it’s very own hacklab. It is a political space for use by 
community
>groups and activists who are unable to afford the high rent 
charged
>by commercial venues. 
>
>	All around us public space is disappearing. Instead we are forced
>into the corporate ‘space,’ if you could call it such, where the 
>only
>options are working or shopping and our entertainment comes only 
in
>packaged, branded, inherently unsocial bars and multiplexes. But 
we
>are fighting back. All around the world social centres are created 

>so
>that activists and community groups can have space to organise 
>events
>in a democratic way. 
>
>	Now there is a social centre in Sheffield, in a building that lay
>largely abandoned for years. We aim to make this space a _working
>alternative_ to the everyday system of violence, war, fear,
>capitalism. It will be a community centre that is autonomous from
>state control and challenges the system of property relations 
which
>keeps us broke and enslaved to unscrupulous landlords… 
>
>	Our social centre makes use of self-managed space through
>autonomous, consensus based decision making. The sorts of 
>activities
>we envisage using the social centre for are information sharing, 
>free
>/ cheap cultural space, libraries, multimedia resources, meetings 
/
>forums, and the occasional party! Providing not-for-profit 
services
>such as food (by donation), internet resources, and a friendly,
>caring environment to people increasingly disenfranchised by the
>stripping of the welfare state is prioritised. 
>
>	Another aim of a social centre is to create a space that is free 
>of
>racism, sexism and homophobia and any other prejudice. In order to 

>do
>this it is important that the space is free of state control, and 
>that
>we organise in a way which respects autonomous movements, 
>multiplicity
>of means towards a common end, and also establishes real links 
with
>communities. We live in a precarious time where fear of our own
>neighbours is spread throughout our communities by the 
stranglehold
>the government, corporations and the mainstream media have on our
>consciousness. We exist as a space where this fear is dissipated 
>and
>instead our differences are turned into possibilities, and 
everyone
>who wishes to participate and engage with our space, providing 
they
>observe our ground rules (see below) can do so without the fear of
>harassment. 
>
>	In all, we exist to demonstrate the capacity of people to 
organise
>themselves outside of the systems of state and market which
>increasingly control our lives. By providing our own social and
>political spaces we are empowered to express our marginalised 
>views,
>develop civic courage, and take democratic control of our own
>communities. 
>
>	Drop round to check out the hacklab, enjoy one of our regular 
café
>and social nights, or just to have a chat and a sit down.



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