Rumours of our Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated!

As you may be aware, our plans to host a temporary community cafe run on anarchist principles in Bristol this weekend, have been scarpered after Avon & Somerset Police decided to raid Everything Is Not OK Cafe on Friday morning; evicting the building and arresting the five occupiers.

Plans were afoot to host a temporary community cafe run on anarchist principles in Bristol this weekend. On Wednesday night a crew of people entered the unused Preview Bar on Fairfax Street near Broadmead and secured the premises: Everything Is Not OK Cafe was born!

They were shocked to discover a disused building ripe with potential. Thursday saw a flurry of work as people involved in the project began tidying up the space in order to open it up to the public on Friday for talks, discussions, films and art related to the current political climate.

When the owners of the property turned up they discovered that they were unable to enter the building. They called the Police who arrived, and after threatening to arrest people outside for not displaying a Section 6, told the owners that those inside where completely within their legal rights to occupy the building.

Security kept a constant presence outside the building. More Police turned up eventually but it was merely the local beat cop – PC Steven Bell – who was trying to play the “nice cop” routine, which we saw right through as always. He took particular exception to the banner hung outside which read: “Open to everybody (except cops).”

Another visit by the owner led to a rather interesting discussion where the possibility of a license to stay was talked about in-depth between the owner and one of the occupiers. The owner agreed to return in the morning to discuss the arrangement further.

Believing that we were safe, having made our presence aware to both the Police and the owner, we settled down for the night and started making plans for the weekend. Around five people remained in the building over night.

At around 12:30AM Police – some in full riot gear – entered the premises through several doors at once. They arrested everybody inside the building claiming to arrest them on charges of “abstraction” (theft of electricity), despite any evidence to the contrary. This was clearly not about who’s paying the bills.

Estimates put the number of officers on the scene at around 60 with roughly 20 in riot gear. There were seven Police vans parked around the building. Passer-bys and supporters were criminalised when they attempted to investigate.

One member of the collective managed to meet the owner on the scene at around 1AM where he discovered that the eviction was apparently the work of Avon & Somerset Police, and the Police alone. The owner was still keen to discuss a formal agreement with the former occupiers. Some members of the collective met up with the owner Friday to further discuss the plans.

All five people were taken to Trinity Road Police Station where they were kept over night and interviewed in the morning. The last of the arrestees were released around 5PM after spending over 12 hours in police custody! There were no charges, and people were bailed to return in January/February to face possible charges of abstraction and criminal damage.

The future of the project is up in the air at the moment though rumours of our demise have been greatly exaggerated! We are still planning on carrying on with Everything Is Not OK Cafe at some point in the future (possibly early next year)! But in what form or location is unsure as of yet, please keep your ears peeled for more information!

xoxo
Cut The Crap Crew

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What to do with all the food…?

Just have to eat it I guess!

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Everything’s Not OK Cafe postponed for now

From our Twitter:

Got raided Thursday night. 5 nicked, all no commented, no-one charged. We’ve had to postpone for this weekend though. Stay tuned…

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Herb walk still on! at create centre 10:45 Sunday 16th!

Contact number: 07904120415

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Sunday 16 Dec at 4pm : Derrick Jensen Discussion

Civilisation, especially industrial civilisation is wreaking havoc all over the planet with climate change, soil depletion, water draw down,polluted rivers, deforestation, vacuumed oceans. 200 species a day are going extinct. Industrial civilisation is not compatible with life on Earth. It is  psychopathic and will kill every thing on the planet unless it is stopped.

Time is short, the hour is late.

Techno – fixes and pop environmentalism are not going to save the day.Now is the time for a real resistance movement to save the planet.

This is a central theme in the work of  deep green anarcho-primitivist writer Derrick Jensen. His work also covers such wide ranging subjects as child abuse, rape, patriarchy, racism, education, prisons,surveillance, violence, war, religion and an anti- science perspective. These he argues, are all pathologies of civilisation and are not intrinsically human behaviours.

 

Jensen is a prolific and emotionally compelling American author who is considered mandatory reading for those fighting for planetary and social justice. Through piercing analysis, witty and elegant prose, Jensen has been hailed as the philosopher/ poet of the deep green ecology movement and an “original voice of sanity in a chaotic world” (Howard Zinn)

Jensen is the author of over 15 books of which End Game is his most famous. We will  have a look at some of the premises of End Game as a basis of the discussion.  Any one with additional knowledge of Jensen’s work is most welcome so we can draw on a wider perspective.

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Wish list!

Hay guys!

For all you lovely folk that want to help the cafe, but maybe don’t know how, we are currently needing a few things that you might just have lying around or are capable of helping us with. Like……

-Forks and bowls

-Herbs and spices

-Mugs and cups

-All food donations are welcome, we are running a vegan cafe but some of us go by the saying ‘get a grip its from a skip’. We are also going to spending money on stuff like grains, pulses and vegetables so if you would like to give us some of that i’m sure a free meal will be in order for all ya’ll nice folks!

– Finally, a van and driver for Friday morning to move some food around, this wont take long and petrol can be covered x

If you have any of the things above or stuff we haven’t thought of yet please leave a comment or email us at  cutthecrap@riseup.net

Thanks guys! your soo awesome!

Cut the crap crew xx

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Taiji sunday evening.

Taiji is a Chinese art for relaxation, health and self defence. It 
offers many benefits from improving the nervous and immune systems
to promoting balance and stability in both physical and spiritual 
terms. The slow movements of the taiji form alongside the "internal 
energy work" of chi kung are widely understood and recommended to 
relieve stress and bring about increased body and energy awareness, 
which in turn has implications for our daily interactions with all 
around us. By practicing such a meditative art, we can stay solid 
in ourselves in the face of the hectic, fast paced world that 
surrounds us. 

Practices such as taiji also enable us to take responsibilty 
for our own health and reject dependency on capitalist "health"
industries and medical "experts". It's not just about waving 
your arms about and taiji, from a political perspective, can 
surely be a part of taking back control of our bodies and our
lives. Translating as "supreme ultimate fist", taiji is also 
an extremely effective form of self defence and this cannot 
be separated from the health aspects of the art, as the two 
are part of the same whole. We see this clearly exemplified 
in both the slow, flowing movements and in the fast, 
explosive movements of the taiji form. 

 Each and every movement has implications, and applications, 
for both health and for fighting. The same mindset used for 
meditation is used for "no mind", or reflexive,fighting.
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Self Defence Training for the revolution. 16th december 3pm

Self defence training. 
This will be an introduction to learning how to arm yourself with 
the skills, muscle memory and mindset to effectively deal with 
attackers or oppressors.

The session will gave an overview of the theory and practice of 
real self defence, taking aspects of various fighting styles. 
 It will be suitable for absolute beginners, welcoming, 
supportive, non competitive and lots of fun! While we encourage
full participation, anyone can opt out of any activity they 
choose and there is lots to be gained from watching as well.
Equally, this is not for macho guys who just want to show 
off or throw their weight around!

We hope to build confidence, promote awareness and conflict
avoidance, and contribute to sustaining and protecting 
ourselves and community, as well as improving fighting ability.
 When it comes to a fight, we believe in fighting to win, 
so our practice of self defence is a reflection of our
wider struggle.

If you are coming to the session and have a gum shield, please
bring it, along with comfortable clothing and trainers. 
We will have gum shields on the day for sale for a few quid. 
If self defence training is something you are interested in 
doing more regularly speak to one of us on the day.

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Leaflets for the Everything’s Not OK Café

Front of double-sided leaflets for the project. Click image for PDF to distribute.

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More posters

Click on image for PDF to distribute (poster for other cities)

Click on image for PDF to distribute cryptic message.

More posters on there way!

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