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<DIV class=RTE>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 ;</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>-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...</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>-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.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>-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.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>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.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>Please do rip it apart- I'm still a relatively recent-comer and I need to be shown where my mistakes are.</DIV>
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<P>M.A.T.I.L.D.A, the new Sheffield Social Centre </P>
<P></B>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>Now there is a social centre in Sheffield, in a building that lay largely abandoned for years. We aim to make this space a <I>working alternative</I> 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…</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P></FONT></DIV>
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