KLINIKA: ANTICOMMERCIAL CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CENTRE IN PRAGUE

How Did It All Begin?
The building of former lung clinic (hence the name “Klinika“) in Žižkov district, which was abandoned, unused and left to decay, was taken over by a group of squatters and activists on 29th of November 2014 in order to create “Autonomous cultural and social centre Klinika“. All the trash was cleaned out and the first neighbourhood event („Neighbourhood Afternoon“ on the 3rd December) was organized. But after just 10 days, on 9th of December, the building was evicted by the police. On the 13th of December big demonstration took place (about 1000 people) but after its end police corpses forced everyone to leave the place, several people were injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Since then, we were stuck in endless cycle of meetings with city and state offices. After more than a month, we refused to keep waiting for the bureaucracy to make a move and on 24th of January “Day for Klinika“ was organised – it started with another demonstration and continued with benefit concerts, screenings etc. all over Czech republic and Slovakia. The attendance was amazing which proved that people were still interested in the project and that all the effort was meaningful. We have gained support not only from the media but also from Žižkov locals, Czech public figures and organisations. Thanks to this support we won a public tender for the rent-free use of the building and since 2nd March we’ve been back in Klinika.

What Are We Doing in Klinika?
We as the Klinika collective try to keep the programme as diverse as we can while still putting great emphasis on our principles – we present Klinika as anticapitalist, antiauthorian, and, above all, safe space. During the two and half months we have been there Klinika hosted countless lectures (including university lectures), workshops, readings, discussions, film screenings, concerts, photo exhibitions, and also a theatre performance of Aslido (theatre of people without home). The biggest event so far was Prague Anarchist Bookfair attended by more than 300 people.
But we feel the necessity of being more than just a cultural centre – a community place, where people can meet, do gardening, read in our library and infoshop, bring/take things in freeshop, come with their children (as there is children club every Wednesday) etc. Klinika also functions as a platform for meetings of other antiauthorian collectives and individuals.