Dissent Accomodation in Edinburgh

international | anti-capitalism | news report Tuesday June 28, 2005 16:32 by soundmigration - dissent

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according to the Dissent Edinburgh Accommodation Group finding accomadation has been hard but at least something is sorted that folks can choose to be part of.....

First published now on indymedia.ie

Statement from the Dissent Edinburgh Accommodation Group - June 28
2005.

We are writing this to prepare people for the accommodation situation
in
Edinburgh. We want to encourage people to travel here to take part in
the
actions and Edinburgh convergence, but also to circulate this
information as
widely as possible.

People in Edinburgh have, for several months, been trying to find a
space
suitable for G8 protesters to sleep, meet, eat, converge, plan, party,
and
self-organise. Our initial aim was to hire a building large enough to
accommodate many people as well as providing meeting and social space.
Our
mandate from the network was to find a place we could manage and
organise
ourselves, and to provide legal sleeping space for those who needed it.

However, after 2 spaces fell through, we found it impossible in
Edinburgh, a
city with few empty large industrial spaces (where most such spaces
have
been turned into luxury apartments), and high property prices, to rent
a
building for such a short period of time.

Having made a commitment to provide legal space for those travelling to
Edinburgh, we then made a proposal to the council: to give us an empty
building or piece of land, which we would provide infrastructure and
equipment for and manage ourselves. The council refused, as they want
to
concentrate all the protesters in one place – Hunter’s Hall Park,
surrounding the Jack Kane centre. As we were left with no other option
we
approached the council for a Dissent space within their site. We have
managed finally to get that space where we can have a kitchen, info
point,
computers for general use, films and a kids’ space. There will be a
circle
of marquees for meeting and socialising, with a communal space in the
middle.

For many of us, it is a new experience to work with the council and to
ask
them for something. Our experience and political preference lies in
taking
spaces ourselves and in self-organisation, rather than in lobbying or
making
demands of the state. We realised that this would be a huge
compromise, but
we felt and still feel that we have made a commitment to provide legal
accommodation, and have no other choice.

The problem is that we have no control over the layout and management
of the
council campsite. The site has security, in the form of a large fence,
security guards and CCTV cameras. We have been told that police will
not be
inside the campsite, but there will be a police liaison officer in the
council office outside. Also, people will have to pay £5 for the week
to
stay on the campsite. This is obviously not a situation we would
choose and
we have tried to explain to the council that this level of control will
be
considered repressive and unacceptable to many people, but with no
success.
We do not know whether the campsite is designed to repress us, or if
the
security and cameras are just a symptom of the society of control that
we
live in, that the council impose without thinking.

We understand that many people will not be able to accept this
situation and
will not wish to stay in this place. However we have also made a
political
choice to be at the council site and we are putting a lot of effort
into
creating a zone there. It will not be a space in which we can have
control
over our perimeter, but we can choose how we organise inside and
respond to
situations together. We are going ahead, because we feel it is crucial
that
we have a presence in Edinburgh, both for the actions and
demonstrations,
and for communication with the other demonstrators.

Now that we are in this situation we see the potential to reach out to
the
other movements who will be at the campsite. We want to create a
self-organised space within the site and provide a kitchen and communal
space. We feel this is necessary or there will be no potential for
non-hierarchical decision making structures, to facilitate solidarity
in the
face of repression and help to create collective action against the G8.
Dissent and anti–authoritarian movements in general, need to reach out
and
explain our ideas and actions. If we cannot organise in these
conditions,
which mirror those of our society we have little hope of changing our
world.

Also the Jack Kane community centre will hopefully help us break down
the
barriers between the protesters and local people; they are sympathetic
and
have already shown us solidarity, opening their space for our use. The
campsite was created without consultation with the locals, in a working
class area and they are losing the use of their park without getting
anything back.

On Thursday 30th June Dissent will be holding a welcome meeting in the
convergence centre at 6pm (which is located at Teviot Student’s Union,
University of Edinburgh, Bristo Square), and a discussion of the
accommodation situation and what collective action we should take would
be
welcomed. On Friday July 1st, at the first spokes councils (10am-12pm &
4-6
pm), also in the convergence centre, we hope to raise these issues,
consult
everyone and decide on the options together. If after reading this
information, you are sure you don’t want to go to the council space,
please
still come to the spokes council and we can solve the problems
together.

This is a warning, an explanation and a call out. For the moment this
is our
ONLY accommodation in Edinburgh. We need help to set this place up… set
up
will be on Thursday the 30th. Even if you are staying in Glasgow or
Stirling
please come and work for this one day! Especially we need people who
can
help with putting up marquees.

We also need help with any useful equipment – tarpaulin, wood, tools,
info,
films to show – everything or anything you can bring.

The site is Jack Kane Centre, Hunter Hall Park, Niddrie Mains street,
Craigmillar. You can take bus 2, 30, 32. Call if you can help or need
directions 07963720402…