Two new radical spaces in Cork

by Paul Baynes Fri Jul 22, 2005 20:47

This is great news. There is a group in Dublin, Seomra Spraoi, trying to get a similar project off the ground, but it is in the earlier stages.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70829&search_text=seomra%20spraoi

It is both encouraging and draining to hear that you spent 18 months searching for a space. It is encouraging because your committment eventually bore fruit, and this should spur the Seomra Spraoi collective on if things are getting frustrating. But the prospect of such a long search is a draining one.

It is always great to hear about a similar project getting itself going. I recently came across details of a similar project in the UK which came to a successful end.

The Nursery Social Centre Collective in Birmingham took over a building for 6 months. This was a squatted building which had been left abandoned. The collective took over the space and used it as a Fair Trade cafe, as a space for showing films, and a meeting and workshop space. They also set up a community garden nearby.

They resisted three eviction attempts, and eventually voluntarily relinquished use of the space on condition that the space did not remain empty. The collective agreed to leave the space after it was arranged that it would be taken over by RITE Project, a group working with young people who are excluded from the education system.

The collective included children and homeless people, and succeeded because they were able to gain support from the local community. This shows how squatting actions can have a definite positive effect. Quite apart from the valuable use made of the squatted space, if it wasn't for the collective's use of the social centre, the building would have remained empty. It has now been made available for formal use because of this action.

More info on Birmingham squat:
http://stuffit.org/nursery/?CLmNursery_Autonomous_Social_Centre_Calender=6

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305873.html

by eeekkkk Sat Jul 23, 2005 03:57

The parents dissappeared into hard work and an economic depression (80's) but the kidz kept the hall going for months with boxing pool runing indoor soccer until one night it just turned into all out war between the big boys and the small boys and the local community groups heads came and shut it down

by eeekkkkk Sat Jul 23, 2005 04:02

This town (town) is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place (town) is coming like a ghost town
Bands won't play no more
Too much fighting on the dance floor

(A-la-la ...)

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang as the music played in any boomtown

This town (town) is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place (town) is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry

(A-la-la ...)

This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town

by Paul Baynes Mon Jul 25, 2005 21:23

Those were certainly Special days...

by dunk Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:33 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

the CAZ got a new lick of paint but heres pictures from a few weeks back
we had a little sing song from a few of the local girls who were in the barracka bookshop, you can hear their song soon enough

barracka books

CAZ cork autonomous zone

caz singers

by dunk Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:37

KAZ photos : kilkenny autonomous zone
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68486&topic=artsandmedia#comment104585

life of buildings- occuping grey zones
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=65045&search_text=kaz#comment107557