Black Cat Centre evicted and reoccupied! Come on down!

Yesterday saw the much loved Black Cat Occupied social centre evicted, with a 17 strong solidarity demo outside. Despite the eviction being a sucess, new squatting activists have moved in -

Following the eviction of the Black cat Centre yesterday, the building has been re-squatted. Local activists and residents, acting in solidarity with the recentley evicted Black Cat squatters last night squatted the building again, and intend to continue operating it as The Black Cat Socail Centre. Speaking to Bath Activist Network last night, one of the new squatters, a resident of Oldfield Park, said 'The work that the original Black cat squatters put into the social centre was so insiring, and such a benefit to the community that we felt that we had to act, and re-open the social centre to the community for as long as possible'.
This latest development means that owners Cabot will have to re-instigate court proceedings to evict the new squatters. The occupiers last night said that, as with the last occupiers, they were keen to enter into a rent paying agreement with Cabot in order to keep the space in community use for as long as possible.

The new squatters intend to have the Black Cat, with all of its previous uses and events running by Friday morning.

For more information, or for an interview with the new squatters, call 07794774938

Action Stations - come and stop the Black Cat eviction - Weds 16th Dec - 11am

We've just received our eviction notice. The bailiffs are due around at 11am on this Wednesday, the 16th December.

After a really sucessful few months, the owners have decided to try and evict the Black Cat social centre - but the occupiers have decided not to go quietly. In the 3 months that it has been operating, the black cat has been home to dance classes, open days, a library, a cafe, film nights, a freeshop, a massive benefit gig raising hundreds for local causes and more - we are not going to let that go to waste because of corporate greed.

We desperately need people to help with resisting the eviction, either to be in the house and be difficult to remove, or to film the bailiffs to ensure compliance with the law, or to protest in solidarity outside. This being Bath's only autonomous social space, it's important for us to send a message to the authorities and landowners that they can't just sweep us aside.

The Social Centre Collective can be contacted at BathSocialCentre@Googlemail.com, or on 07794 774 938

We are planning a peaceful solidarity demo outside the building, as well as resistance inside. We have almost unlimited crash space, so come on down and help save a space that has become valued by local residents, activists or otherwise.

You can find us at -

The Black Cat Centre

7-10 Kelso Place, upper bristol rd, Bath

Please distribute this message widely.

In By A Whisker! - Benefit Gig at the Black Cat Centre, Bath - Friday 20th Nov.

Friday 20th November, doors open at 7.30 - Should be a great night!
Acts -
*Tracy Curtis - protest folk
* Comso - Anarcho folk/one drunk and his guitar
* Robb Johnson and the irregulars - folsky/punky/rock
* Plus more acts tba

The proceeds will be split between Bath Activist Network, Bath Bomb news sheet and Bath CWU. Entry is a suggested donation of £3/4, but free entry with a CWU card and no-one will be turned away for lack of funds.

There will be a cheap/suggested donation bar and cheap food on offer.
The gig is being held at the Black Cat Centre, which can be found at -

Kelso Court
7-10 Kelso court
Upper Bristol Rd
Bath

The Black Cat Centre is a squatted social centre, offering not-for-profit, community space based on mutual aid, not corporate greed.

Other upcoming events include -

*Friday 13th Nov - from 7 - Free film night - we have a decent selection of films, to be decided on the night.

*Saturday the 21st of Nov - Open day including bike repair workshop, gym sessions, recycling/wallet making workshops, guided tours of the building, freeshop, dinner, squatting Q&A sessions, art workshops and more. The evening will be a night of comedy featuring a stand up and the brilliant 'yes men' film.

See y'all there!

Support Bath Posties! - what you can do

On Thursday and Friday of this week, hundreds of thousands of Posties are taking strike action all over the country. Despite demonization from right wing rags like the Daily Mail, the posties are taking the last option left to them. The Royal Mail, and their 'shareholders' (the government) are intent on pushing through a program of job cuts, pay cuts, service cuts and privatization which will send the postal service the same way as the failed railways, energy companies and all other privatized resources, which now cost us more, deliver worse service, and worse working conditions than when they were publicly owned. If the posties lose this strike, it will mean more than just job losses and pay cuts. We will see more, if not all of our post offices closing down, we will receive a less frequent postal service, and with a profit driven company controlling the post, you can bet stamp prices and delivery charges will go through the roof.

So, what can you do to help? Firstly, pop a sign up in your window letting your postie know that you support him or her, secondly, pop down to the picket line. The Bath picket line will be going on for most of the morning and will be at the Manvers street entrance to the depot (between the cop shop and the church - urgh!). BAN are sending a few people down at 7.30, so why not come along and give your support. Experience on the picket lines has taught us that strikers don't want lefty newspapers and leaflets, they want coffee and cake, so that is what BAN will be bringing! Any food, drink or solidarity donations that you could bring down to the picket line would most likely go down well, and show the posties that we are on their side.

With workers going out on strike over pay cuts, privatization and redundancies in many different industries (refinery workers, lecturers, firefighters, posties to council workers and bin ment to name a few), all 3 major parties promising cuts in public services and the BNP promising the banning of our trade unions, it is time to pick sides do we stand united with other workers in a fight for jobs, respect and decent working conditions, or do we let the forces of government, fascism and capitalism steamroller our rights?

Bath Freeshop listening post

As part of the Bath Freeshop, some local activists have been running a 'listening post' asking members of the public 'how does capitalism affect you?'. The following link will show you some of the many responses from the public - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlbKyIeeng

The Bath Freeshop is a local initiative aimed at promoting the ideas of recycling, sustainability, and a world based on co-operation, not greed. The idea is simple, bring down something that you don't want (or don't) and take away something that you do. The freeshop can be found at the Black Cat Centre (email bathsocialcentre@gmail.com for directions), or opposite Holland & Barrett on Stall street on the second saturday of each month between 12-3.

New social centre in Bath! Come and get involved!

Bath Activist Network are proud to announce the opening of a new, and yet unnamed occupied social centre in the heart of Bath. The building is massive, and in pretty good nick, but we need help before we open the doors, so come and get involved at the beginning of an exiting new social centre with loads of potential. In particular, we need people who are up for coming along and helping get the place ready for opening, and to run activities once the place is open – cleaners, painters, electricians, artists, minor hole in roof menders, artists, musicians, radicals, dreamers, schemers, your mates and assorted malcontents are all welcome! We already have several initiatives in the pipeline, such as a freeshop, infoshop, radical library, salsa, café, workshops, activist self defence sessions, squat games and more – and we are up for anyone with ideas or skills to share to come and contribute to the space. The social centre is being run as a counter-capitalist initiative, run by consensus, and giving a living example of how we can create a world based on solidarity, mutual aid and co-operation, not greed and authority. To get involved in any way, big or small, contact us at bathsocialcentre@gmail.com (we are not freely giving out the address at the moment, so email us for directions) We are slowly gathering the stuff we need to complete the space, but our wish list includes (but is not limited to) – *Chairs *Tables *Sofas *Kitchen stuff *Paint *banners *decorations *Any unwanted stuff for the freeshop *Any books, pamphlets or leaflets for the library This is a really great space, and an exciting opportunity to build something brilliant in Bath, so come down and get involved from the beginning. Cheers Bath Activist Massive x (A)
BAN x e-mail: bathsocialcentre@gmail.com

Direct action stations! - Government green lights Bathampton park and ride!

The Government office of the South west have denied a public enquiry into the concreting of bathampton Meadows, meaning the councils original green (ha ha) light for the project still stands. It also looks like the Rapid transit route ,which ploughs through a nature reserve and dozens of back gardens (aquired by compulsory purchase orders - forcing the garden owners to hand over the land) has got the go ahead. The meadows are home to bats, foxes, badgers, herons and cormorants, not to mention being a beautiful green space right on our doorstep, and not forgetting the fact that concreting over important floodplains has led to tradgedy elsewhere (including the massive floods in Gloustershire a couple of years back). This decision is pretty bad news, but it is what we expected from greedy and corrupt politicians. The battle is not over, but now we are fighting on more familiar territory - direct action and protest. There will hopefully be a public meeting very soon involving BAN and other groups opposed to the plans, so lets start dreaming up some crazy schemes to save the meadows now! As is often the case, appealing to the good side of politicians has failed (largely due to politicians not having a good side), so now it is up to the enraged population of Bath, who put ecology and community before profit to jam a spanner in the works of this stupid and ecocidal scheme once and for all!