SquatMeet09: Bristol, UK - A personal report
Squatmeet09, a meeting of UK squatters and people involved in autonomous spaces, took place over the weekend of 13th - 15th March. Hosted by Bristol Space Invaders who squatted what the Bristol Evening Post referred to as ‘a huge multi-million pound Grade II-listed mansion house in Bristol’, the meet-up attracted over 50 people from across the UK, with some visitors from Amsterdam and even the US.
What emerged from the day-long meeting on Saturday was a commitment to sharing resources to support new squatted spaces across the country. An agreement made to set up a network of people willing to travel to places most in need of people and expertise.
Skill-sharing was also high on the agenda. A number of practical workshops were held during the weekend but the main meeting was also concerned with the distribution of skills as a vital component in collectivising strategies and as a means of preventing the emergence of hierarchies. The so called ‘heroism of the front line’, when people who first break a squat are deferred to in terms of sleeping spaces and use of resources, was seen to be directly related to their skills and to contribute to the reproduction of dominant power structures.
This issue was seen as related to, but not exclusively confined to, the division of labour by gender where certain vital practical skills become the province of men purely because the dominant culture is still oriented to gender based education. But the meeting agreed that, while gender remains a factor, the need for sharing of expertise in general remains a high priority.
The subject of gender was, inevitably, introduced in connection with the issue of safer spaces and the problems of maintaining an open door policy. Several examples were given of squatted social centres that failed because of the presence of drug users and it was pointed out that chaotic spaces automatically become exclusive because ‘when things get rough, it is the women that leave’. This is a sensitive issue because policing squatted spaces is not only difficult but at odds with what the social centres movement, at least, is trying to achieve. Any ‘door policy’ risks a charge of exclusivity and also risks alienating people who believe that any form of proscription contravenes our commitment to inclusivity and immediately creates a privileged elite who are solely responsible for interpretation of the policy. A suggestion was made that spaces could hold specific ‘open door’ events and that documents along the lines of mission statements or constitutions, setting out the purpose of the space, should be produced and circulated. Another proposition (referred to as ’self-run asylums’) was for a segregationist policy where groups of drug users (or others) uninterested in the politics of autonomous spaces but needing a space could be helped to open buildings but, in essence, this amounts to the deliberate creation of ghettos.
The meeting was in broad agreement with the idea to draft a call-out for a day of action in defence of autonomous spaces, following the success of the event in 2008. A discussion/draft document was produced to be circulated internationally, proposing a day of action for early Autumn, 2009. In light of the current ‘crisis’, it was recognised that by focusing attention on ‘housing for all’ we have an unprecedented opportunity to reach the disaffected middle class as well as precarious workers and council tenants.
The call-out was seen as a move towards becoming a pro-active force for change in a time of uncertainty . The meeting was also useful in enabling networking and socialising to take place with others in the squatting movement. The whole weekend provided a very positive and productive environment for skill-sharing, solidarity, and progress with taking the movement forward.
From two people who attended the meeting in Bristol.
Posted on March 20th, 2009 under Bristol • Tags: autonomous spaces, Social Centres, Squat. • 
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