Tag Sydney

Black Rose Books on hiatus, Loophole lynched by landlord

Sydney’s Black Rose Books has closed down after six years at Enmore Road in Newtown. In a post on their website, the collective announced:

After 6 years at 22 Enmore Rd in Newtown, Black Rose Books has once again been moved into storage awaiting it’s next reincarnation. We expect this web address will disappear sometime later this year.

Refer to Jura Books for Anarchist Literature
Peoples’ Kitchen is starting up again on Wednesdays at Dustmonster

Thanks to all those who have been involved over the past 6 years (and the past 30 years!!). There is no collective to be contacted anymore so please direct any questions to Jura books.

Love & Rage

And there you have it.

In other news, Loophole in Melbourne looks set to lose its venue. The fate of Barricade Books, housed at Loophole since they left the Melbourne Anarchist Club, is unknown. The “non-denominational, intergenerational, non-hierarchical, not-for-profit, wheelchair accessible” venue must be vacated by June 11, 2012.

This leaves Jura Books and the Melbourne Anarchist Club as the only permanent anarchist spaces in Australia. Correct us if we’re wrong in the comments.

 

 

Sources: Black Rose and Loophole

Mutiny #64

Mutiny #64 has hit the streets and internet and is available for download.

Sydney anarchist squat evicted

According to a post on Sydney Indymedia, an attempt at starting a new anarchist-run squat has been thwarted by NSW riot police.

Ideally the building could have been transformed into an open social centre, and we could have publicly announced our presence immediately with banners hanging down from the roof, celebrated with an opening party, created a public free shop, communal kitchen and free school. Unfortunately, due to Australia’s draconian trespass laws, and the lack of militant resistance, squatters have no legal rights. Any squat that publicly announces itself or is discovered by security or police, must generally prepare for an immediate eviction. Police have the right to evict, arrest and charge anyone squatting an abandoned building without even consulting with the owner.

Source: Sydney Indymedia via disaccords

Occupy Sydney by Ash

I have been involved in the Occupy Sydney camp, and along with a significant portion of my friends, have been extremely dissatisfied with the media coverage. To make it worse, the ‘individual’ (and I use the term loosely, perhaps I should say ‘socialist party’) spokespeople representing the movement have done a mostly terrible job of it. This is my attempt to bring forward some very important details that have been lacking.

 

Culture of entitlement

First amongst the common criticisms of the movement has been that we are spoilt brats, demanding iPhones and laptops while we are supported by the hard working taxpayer. The Daily Telegraph even went so far as to fabricate a list of demands that we supposedly made for port-a-loos, free parking, electricity and WiFi for our protest. Whilst we were sleeping without shelter under police restrictions, being denied access to public toilets, and fined when we went to find a discrete tree, and charging our phones from a solar panel that we had brought to the protest. We are demanding one thing, and that is the right to live, and to do things for ourselves.The reason we hadn’t already hired a port-a-loo was that the police had told us they would confiscate it if we tried, they attempted to confiscate our solar panel also, but it was rescued. Where the true culture of entitlement can be found of course is amongst the targets of our occupation (the banks) and those trying to shut us down (politicians and police). We are not alone in being criticised by people who could more accurately direct their vitriol towards themselves. On the back of a huge scandal where UK MPs claimed thousands upon thousands of pounds for hotels, furniture, rugs and toasters, the same MPs are criticising mostly poor black males who stole things such as a bottle of water and a loaf of bread. The very thing we are protesting against is this culture of entitlement that exists amongst the elite of our society. Even the powerhouse of the Australian economy, mining, is born of the sense of entitlement that our generation appears to have to the limited and finite resources on this planet. And what are we asking for? Just that the authorities tolerate a hundred or so citizens occupying a few dozen square metres of their own city.