Bloomsbury Social Centre
Address | 53 Gordon Square, London |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°31′28″N 0°07′47″W / 051.524333°N 000.129667°W |
Construction | |
Opened | 23 November 2011 |
Closed | 22 December 2011 |
Architect | Charles Holden |
Tenants | |
School of Oriental and African Studies | |
Website | |
bloomsburysocialcentre |
Bloomsbury Social Centre was an impromptu squat and social centre in Bloomsbury, London, which was squatted as a self-managed social centre by students in affiliation with Occupy London, and the global Occupy movement. It was formed on 23 November 2011, and evicted on 22 December, lasting a total of 30 days.[1] It occupied 53 Gordon Square,[2] a historic six-storey Georgian Grade II-listed building, renovated by famous British architect, Charles Holden, the principal architect of nearby Senate House.[3] 53 Gordon Square is now part of the Doctoral School.[4]
Occupation[edit]
The self-managed social centre was squatted by University of London students as an act protesting political issues of the day, including cuts to the national budget by the incumbent Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government, the tripling of university tuition fee contribution caps in England and Wales, the wars in the Middle East,[vague] and, more generally, free market capitalism, the political right-wing, and neo-liberalism.[citation needed]
Activities[edit]
The occupiers aimed to make Bloomsbury Social Centre an open-access space for the local community. Spare rooms could be booked online for unspecified use.[citation needed] The space was used for open and closed events by book clubs, university societies, artists, musicians, actors, and students. It served as a space for meetings, discussions, drama and music rehearsals, art projects, and group work sessions.[citation needed] They also routinely organized nightly films ("Usually communist, always beautiful" - the last week included Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Germany in Autumn and an unspecified film of Beckett's Endgame[5]), open forum discussions, English and foreign language classes, international cuisine cooking classes, bicycle workshops and other less-frequent events, all of which were free. They set up a small museum on the first floor, called the Museum of Neo-Liberalism, chronicling its rise and fall. An open-access library was set up on the fourth floor, with a focus on radical left-wing literature. The public were encouraged to read and work there.[6]
Eviction[edit]
The building was leased by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) from the University of London. [7] SOAS responded to the occupation of the building by acquiring a possession order. Five occupiers were evicted by bailiffs around 6 a.m. on 22 December 2011.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Eviction". Bloomsbury Social Centre. Wordpress. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ "Bloomsbury Social Centre evicted". Freedom Press. 22 December 2011. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ "Bloomsbury Social Centre". Wordpress. 9 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
- ^ https://www.soas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/Estates-Strategy-2023-2028.pdf
- ^ https://bloomsburysocialcentre.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/this-week-at-the-bloomsbury-social-centre-2/
- ^ Finchett-Maddock, Lucy (12 October 2017). Protest, Property and the Commons: Performances of Law and Resistance. Routledge. ISBN 9781138570450.
- ^ https://bloomsburysocialcentre.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/our-response-to-soas-managements-eviction-threat/
- ^ Tickle, Louise (9 January 2012). "Student Protesters get evicted by universities". Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2013.