Eviction of VORTEX Stopped
Jan 26 2007
update: Vortex Social Centre Resistance
From 8.30am around 70-80 people, the majority local residents, turned out to support the resistance to the threatened eviction of the Vortex Occupied Social Centre. The owner, Richard Midda, a well known thug and property developer threatened to use force to evict the occupiers if they did not leave by 9.00am.
locals turn out in force to support the ocupation of Vortex
But like the saying goes "they make plans we make history"! After seeing such a response, composed of all age ranges and faced with no fewer than 15 film and video cameras the police intervened and thereby starting a debate on the finer points of law. With the cops in the middle of this legal debate a decision was made to send one person from the Social centre and the owner, midda, to Stoke Newington Police station where independent legal advise is now being sort.
This is current as of 9.50am.
This occupation has its roots in both the trajectory of occupations from the Radical Dairy (Stoke Newington) in 2002 and the subsequent spaces (Occupied Social Centre - Kentish Town,Ex-Grandbanks - Tufnell Park, Institute of Autonomy - Bloomsbury, The Square - Bloomsbury), BUT also in last years occupation of "Francesca's Cafe" on Broadway Market - Hackney and Daslton theatre in Dalston.
It shows that radical political interventions in the form of occupied social centres can resonate with pre-exisiting social tensions and antoganisms, especially around gentrification and "community" issues and activate people to self-organise and take some control on how their environment(and quality of life) are shaped.
If your in the area come down, we have now occupied both sides of the pavement due to numbers.
one of the Vortex Anarchists
UPDATE:5.00pm Looks like the bailiffs got sent packing and this may take longer than they thought
update: Vortex Social Centre Resistance
e-mail: occupiedsocialcentre@hushmail.com
Homepage: http://www.londonsocialcentre.org.uk
Address: 139-141 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16
Jan 29 2007
#1
Jan 29 2007
#2
..
Jan 29 2007
#3
Saturday night at the Vortex turned into a post-eviction party with some 400 people coming through the door and enjoying what was a very eclectic mix of jazz - old crass stalwarts doing their post apocalyptic ginsberg experimental jazz blues, smooth modernists doing their incredible coltrane tributes and a shaking local pj harvey doing her acoustic blues thing.
The atmosphere was joyous and celebratory with a lot of enthusiasm generated locally about the place. (At the pre-eviction emergency meeting of the 70 people who came only about 10 were "activists" (and they were from the area!).
Interesting thing about the Vortex is there are 4 generations of anarchists working on the place, who while not always agreeing, are pulling together to make the place what it is.
Another is a community action group (Church Street Community Action group - CSCAG) has been set up, primarily to fight against more chainstores taking over church street, but with the potential to evolve into a very potent hackney-wide political force.
If anyone wants to get involved in that meetings are every Thursday 7.30pm.
Cheers to all those that put the time and energy into the place, looking good for the future.
Jan 29 2007
#4
and i thought you hated jazz. 
Congrats to everyone involved. Is there any idea how long it will be before the owner is able to make another move?
Jan 29 2007
#5
I DO!!!
It took several cans of stella and a few stiff vodkas to get me toe-tapping.
We're in court on thursday to get clarification in law as to whether a private bailiff company can execute an eviciton (we say only court appointed bailiffs with an eviction warrant can, they say they can).
If we win that judgment any time betweeen 2 weeks and 6 weeks before the court bailiffs make an appearance, if we successfully resist that, another 2 to 6 weeks after that.
If we don't win the judgment then they can come any time, although with a big police presense (which can take up to 3 weeks to organise).
Jan 29 2007
#6
glad saturday went well, shame i couldn't make it.
Jan 29 2007
#7
Congratulations and well done!
Jan 29 2007
#8
We got the news you were still there on saturday - there was a lot going on this weekend - fucking wicked.
This looks like it could be very interesting indeed. You know how to to reach if you need me 
ATB,T
Jan 29 2007
#9
Brillint, well done to all of you.
Jan 31 2007
#10
Local Residents and "us" have collected over 800 signatures in 3 days (!) supporting the occupation of the vortex and its current use as a social centre.
Jan 31 2007
#11
raw wrote:
Local Residents and "us" have collected over 800 signatures in 3 days (!) supporting the occupation of the vortex and its current use as a social centre.
Are city council meetings public?
Feb 1 2007
#12
x357997 wrote:
Are city council meetings public?
There's no London city council, but borough council meetings I believe are, mostly at least anyway.
Feb 1 2007
#13
do they have the authority to grant the house to those who are using it right now, or atleast some symbolic gesture to say they support them?
Feb 1 2007
#14
x357997 wrote:
do they have the authority to grant the house to those who are using it right now, or atleast some symbolic gesture to say they support them?
First bit - only if they owned it, which they don't. They would never do that anyway though, governments don't go around handing private property over to anarchists. They wouldn't do the second bit either, because the councillors wouldn't support this at all - the councillors are all (or almost entirely) from the 3 major capitalist parties.
Feb 1 2007
#15
If it's the same as a normal council (I know London Boroughs do have some differences), it's by default open, but they can close it at any time if they want to.
Feb 1 2007
#16
John. wrote:
They wouldn't do the second bit either, because the councillors wouldn't support this at all - the councillors are all (or almost entirely) from the 3 major capitalist parties.
not to mention councillors are often petit-bourgeoisie/small landlords themselves
Feb 1 2007
#17
I guess im just getting used to my local hippy gov....Could you storm their meeting demanding it stay open with those sexy signatures you have?
Feb 2 2007
#18
This is in this week's Time Out. The article seems relatively supportive, but quotes one local as saying it has "minimal local support" or something.
Feb 2 2007
#19
this is all very interesting indeed.
Then again before the Instutute For Autonomy and Russel Sq there has generally been pretty good support for the centres.
800 signatures tho... well done.
Let us know how it goes today.
Feb 2 2007
#20
UPDATE:
We were supposed to be in court today, not thursday, to clarify the legal status of the private bailiff company.
In an amazing climb down, the property developers solicitors wrote to us and said they wouldn't be challenging our application against the bailiffs (in essense we were right all along) but have instead applied to the high court directly for an eviction warrant. This is unfortunate as high court bailiffs can come to evict us at any time without warning and with a heavy police presense. They don't have to give us advance written notice and the likelyhood of effective resistance is slim (see Broadway market eviction)
As of yesterday we are now on eviction alert. The No Borders benefit will go ahead as planned, as will the cafe/cinema night tonight, but as of monday we can't guarantee any event.
In another climb down Starbucks have stated that although they were looking at 139-141 church street as a potential site for their coffee chain they aren't any more. This has yet to be officially confirmed but we'd like to think it was us what changed their mind.
Re: the petition. Around 1200 signatures and rising. To be honest i'm confused as to the purpose and reasons of petitions other than testing local support. One of the local action group people is picking up filled sheets daily and the idea is to send copies off to interested parties (whoever they may be).
This weekends events:
Friday 2nd February
CINEMA AND CAFE NIGHT - 7.30pm til 11pm
Hot and tasty food, with drinks, good company and the latest (anti-copyright) film showing. All welcome.
http://www.londonsocialcentre.org.uk/
Saturday 3rd February
NO BORDERS BENEFIT NIGHT - 6pm til 2am
6:30 pm onwards - be short films, cafe, workshops, and banner making
7:00 pm -workshop on visiting and supporting detainees starts at 7.00pm - come if you want to get involved.
8.00 pm - films (noborders demo against Harmondsworth and Colnbrook last year and more), ex-detainees speaking, open discussion.
9.30 pm onwards benefit night, including David Rovics (political singer and songwriter), 52 Commercial Road (progressive rock), par(ticular) electronic live set + others TBC
The first part of the evening is free for all, the second donations £ 5 / 3, free for refugees . All money raised goes to support people in detention.
website: http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/
noborders detainee support network: detaineesupport@risup.net
Vortex Social Centre
139-141 Stoke Newington Church Street
N16 0UH
map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=533113&Y=186502&A=Y&Z=1
PS for all you media whores we got 'squat of the week' 
in time out and the latest hackney gazette ran a lovely piece about the place, including huge photo.
Feb 2 2007
#21
Quote:
PS for all you media whores we got 'squat of the week' Cheesy grin in time out and the latest hackney gazette ran a lovely piece about the place, including huge photo.
haha, yeah, a friend told me about that!
Feb 2 2007
#22
coffeemachine wrote:
for all you media whores we got 'squat of the week'
The media has it's uses, you're coming around. The squat looks lovely with all those flags. Shame about crass showing up
Feb 2 2007
#23
you know crass used to own the place? (didn't they?)
Feb 2 2007
#24
i thnk crass frequented it and put on a lot of nights there, but i dunno if they actually owned the place.
Feb 2 2007
#25
Pretty sure they never owned it.
Feb 2 2007
#26
I seem to remember Mr Rimband having something to do with it. He was certainly the spokesman for the place in the local press when the landlord got rid of the jazz club from there originally: http://www.n16mag.com/issue22/p9i22.htm
I had also heard he had some financial involvement in it, but that may well be just a rumour.
Feb 2 2007
#27
coffeemachine wrote:
52 Commercial Road
brilliant band and i think they're 'post rock' whatever that is.
Feb 2 2007
#28
shades of slint, hints of mogwai, but without vocals, which you'd imagine would attract the strokey-beard record bag types but instead they have a devoted swoony-girl following.
Rimbaud and his crew were mainstays at the original vortex (the bass player was the chef there apparently), may have had some financial imput but that was only after the vortex's presense was at stake and they were trying to keep the place open(the rumours that elton john put up some money to keep the place open makes amusing folklore).
Penny came up to me after the opening night gave me a big hug and said that's the most people he's ever seen in the vortex.
Kinda made the night.
Feb 2 2007
#29
can't believe Mr Ratter was there. What random times.
Feb 2 2007
#30
Not random times mate, anarchist organisation outreach times.
He, along with eve libertine, were the original people supporting the occupation of the vortex last december. He's been a regular at meetings, promised to play on the opening night, and true to his word did a storming set with his Last Amendment.
As i said elsewhere we've got 4 generations of anarchists working on this place.
Something weird and special is definitely going on...