[pagan-magik] Fwd: [G8SouthEast] New Social Centre Opening

[Adrian Harris]

Hi,
maybe pay them a vist sometime?
A

>Institute For Autonomy :: For a life of dignity without capitalism
>
>76-78 Gower Street, London WC1
>Opening Saturday 19th March ­ 7pm til 1am
>Café :: films :: music :: info-shop :: kids space
>
>The Institute for Autonomy is a newly occupied social centre in central
London. Created in a disused university building in a city where house &
rent prices continue to climb far out of the reach of the majority, it has
lain empty and forgotten for over 5 years.
>
>The Institute for Autonomy aims to be an open space for daily development
towards autonomy. We are a collective of people of different backgrounds
and experiences: some of us have participated in similar projects, some of
us are students; none of us can find a place in this society to live our
lives with dignity.
>
>We believe capitalist society is based on the principles of greed, egoism,
individualism and competition - and like it or not, we are all part of this
machine. 
>
>In these modern times our fantastical means of communication drive us
apart. We are losing the art of society: first we lost our local bakeries
to the supermarkets, and with them our local communities (and our health) ­
now, we rush home from work and, with a frantic series of keystrokes
destroy one more opportunity to free ourselves from the prison of
efficiency. We are becoming robots at the service of money and fake dreams.
>
>It’s vital for us to create space where a different reality can be
experienced, where new paths can be walked, along which can emerge common
action, interest and identity amongst people. We organize both the space
and our work in open assemblies where, in a rejection of this society where
our ‘superiors’ tell us what to do, we practice horizontal and direct
democracy. When ideas are discussed openly, we are recreated as real actors
in our lives - we use our differences to make any idea a better idea. We
aim to create a self-organised space where people aren’t judged by their
ability to consume or to produce; where really human discussion and action
can take place.
>
>It is more and more clear how unsustainable capitalism is. The scream of
nature is louder than ever; animals are facing extinction all over the
world; and we are facing a bleak, uncertain future. Wars, wars against
wars, wars against our food, wars against the environment, and wars against
those who seek to resist.
>
>We believe the process towards autonomy will not protect us from the
current situation, but will create a path within the capitalist world which
will help us to learn, reflect and develop real relationships between human
beings based on solidarity, honesty, respect, initiative and dignity. 
>
>We think it is necessary to create and experience moments of autonomy and
freedom in our daily lives, in order that we have the tools to begin posing
serious alternatives to capitalism and start creating a new world in the
shell of the old.
>
>We hold an open meeting every Monday at 8pm to discuss our progress, and
for new projects and events to be proposed.
>
>
>Infoshop and Library 
>
>We have set up an infoshop where people can come and pick up leaflets and
literature on radical events, thought, movements and struggles. You can
find out about squatting, the Zapatistas, the history of Anarchism and 
>environmentalism. Lots of groups have left their literature, and books and
pamphlets are for sale at pretty much cost price. There is also a library
for people to read in the building, while enjoying a cup of coffee

contributions of books are welcomed!
>
>Art Project: Printing Workshop/ design / banner making.
>
>We will be having weekly screen-printing workshops starting on Sunday 20th
March, where people will be encouraged to make their own designs and print
on different materials, including T-shirts. Instead of expensive corporate
logos we can have our own say on our clothes, and recycle old clothes by
making them a lot more interesting. Workshops will welcome artistic people
as well as those with no artistic background because it’s very easy to
practice anti-copyright by just cutting and pasting any design off the web
or anywhere else - so you don’t need talent, just ideas and energy. Anyone
wanting to make their designs on the computer (photoshop or illustrator)
can be given design support, and then they can print the designs they have
made on the computer to the screen and then onto the t-shirt/jacket. We can
print colorful posters and leaflets as well if people are committed to
consistent printing and a bit of hard work.
>
>Precarity/Info-Sharing 
>>From 6pm ­ Fortnightly on Tuesdays, starting 15th March
>CALLING ALL
. WAGE SLAVES, INSECURE TEMPS, WORK REFUSERS, EXPLOITED
MIGRANTS, NO HOME / SQUATTED HOME / RENTED HOME.
>Maybe your boss decided not to pay you, maybe you are getting evicted,
maybe your benefit claim is being refused, maybe you have an urgent problem
or just a feeling that life could be better if we work to change it
together
 Come for food and coffee, and to talk about insecurity in our
lives and how we can take action together to solve them. Come to share
information, advice and to meet people.
>
>For the last few months in London a group has been meeting and discussing
their precarious situations and lives. Increasingly we are balanced on a
cliff edge: we have no job security, no state benefit, no guaranteed
shelter, food: all aspects of life in this system are unstable. 
>
>That is the aim of the powerful - that we will do as we are told,
constantly controlled by the fear that we will end up homeless and hungry.
We want to build an alternative, build our own security, by knowing we will
have the support of each other.
>
>Solidarity Kitchen
>We are an all-volunteer, not-for-profit cooking collective.  We seek to
provide cheap, vegan and organic meals as an alternative to the
pesticide-ridden, genetically modified and expensive supermarket produce
and in opposition to the rampant exploitation of animals and the environment.
>
>We are currently open 3 lunchtimes a week at the Gower Street location.
The Kitchen will be open between the hours of 12 and 3 pm, the same time as
the Cafeteria Rebelde, which serves organic coffee in direct solidarity
with the autonomous Zapatista communities of Chiapas in Mexico. The
Infoshop will also be open, providing radical reading material. So come
down, try the food, meet new friends or volunteer to help to place our
health back into our own hands. 
>
>We are also available to be approached to cook for political events,
demonstrations and direct actions that we feel affinity for.
>
>Cafeteria Rebelde
>In 1983, the EZLN the Zapatista Army of National Liberation was formed in
the mountains of Chiapas in order to combat the crushing poverty of the
regions indigenous communities. The EZLN has worked closely with the
communities in order to build a new society from the bottom up where the
Maya people can organise autonomously. After more then 20 year the
Zapatista are practising a level of autonomy they never dream of,
autonomous education and health care are a concrete project now in their
territories. They also organise themselves in co-operative and create
direct solidarity networks to sell their coffee avoiding market constrains.
>
>Our project aims to support autonomous communities in resistance in
Chiapas and also to undermine the rules of the neo-liberal market.
>The cafeteria will be open during events in the “Institute for Autonomy” .
>