No Fate But What We Make

There has been a seismic shift somewhere. A pebble has become dislodged, throwing huge rock faces into freefall. Tectonic plates are grinding, groaning as they move towards new destinies. The way the dice will fall is completely uncertain.

After lots of talk, most of it typed and hurriedly read between getting on with our real lives, we have been told that the leaving date still stands. 'Proceed' is the message from the top. Get out. So this leaves us in a bit of a jam. We have a factory full of stuff, a gleaming factory i might add, and 9 people with no where to go. And that's just our place. Including the other warehouses there is a total of 23 people being displaced. All with mountains of stuff strewn across the massive spaces we have gotten so used to calling home.

We have 15 days until that date. And in between now and then we have a small matter of Glastonbury festival to contend with. Some of us are building and running venues. Others are project managing areas. All of us are going. And working on many other projects in between. It's masochistic in its ridiculousness. No one is making steps to move just yet - as we have nowhere to go. It's almost hilarious. Except that it's not.

I am frozen by the immensity of all we have to do. I should set to and start packing, except that I can't. The urgency still isn't there. Why? Maybe it will take a gang of shadowy, suited figures to be looming. There remains a small part of me that suspects it will come to nothing. Will it even seem real when we are lifting boxes? Will it take glimpsing another security firm wandering around the yard, sitting on our decks-chairs, to fully absorb the loss of our home of three years?

On Not Leaving

To whom it may concern,

We are residents at *****************, ******************* and ***************

We came to know these buildings in the capacity of London Caretakers. The original premise, our function, was to protect them from any intruders and potential squatters - a role which we have endeavoured to uphold. Since moving in 2 and a half years ago, our community and professions have developed in ways we never imagined possible. Living in such a space has facilitated a progression for us all. The plentitude of space combined with an incredibly close-knit community of artists and creatives has led to great things.

It is amazing just how many projects and initiatives have been launched from this community. We have set builders from many of the most prominent UK festivals in our fold, a Friends of The Earth events officer lives here, as do the events team from the Youth Sports Trust, a member of the Bow Arts Trust. Others are writers, editors, musicians, producers, artists, designers, jewellers, film-makers and performance artists. This area is a hub, our HQ. Without it, yes our art would have continued, but with it - it has exploded. We have made a success of the way we live and what we do.

The news that we have to move out imminently has come as a massive blow. Not only is this our home but many of us use it as our place of work. We have made the best practical use of the buildings possible; picking up where the previous owners left off. We have developed the workshop, beefed up the recording studio, built a jewellery workshop and craft corner. We have housed exhibitions, poetry nights, lectures, tournaments. We would like to invite you to come and see for yourselves. We are not merely security guards, employees of London caretakers, we are upstanding members of the Bow community and the East London artists corner.

We are fully aware that our primary role is one of security. We understand that we live here fore-mostly as caretakers. And this position has been - and is - important to us all. We take this role seriously and it is one which we can be trusted to maintain. We all want to stress that the moment the owners want to develop the building we will leave. But we appeal to you now to let us remain in our creative hub, our home, until that time comes.

Come and visit and see what we are all about.

Yours, with thanks,

The Sugar House Gang.

Sugar House Gang

Dreams have been coming true left, right and centre for the people of Bow. This small and unlikely pocket of young creatives who have infested a dark corner of industrial East London have been allowed (somehow - thanks to a great loophole in the fabric of The Way Things Are) the freedom to do as they please, have been bestowed space and time and each other. And the results are simply wonderful to see.

But with the onset of another year came news that we may have to relocate. Will we won't we? Does this mean the Sugar House Chapter closes or can we replicate, or develop, the community we have created elsewhere?

Answers on a postcard please.

The End Of Our Home Is Nigh...

OK. So we discovered last Monday that the building we call home, the Sugar Factory which has been pimped beyond recognition and houses a deviant and incessant repertoire of rolling parties, has been repossessed by the eminently popular and rabid maintainer of morals and business sense that is the Royal Bank Of Scotland.

A couple of cronies came round, handed my housemate a thick wadge of typed declarations, asked him who, what, why, where, when and were promptly thrown out after a flat refusal by said mate to tell them anything. It was conducted very courteously by both parties fortunately - the last thing they want to do is alienate us and force us into a Section 6 situation.

So this throws us into rather a puzzling quandary.

The economy's fucked, so no one will be doing any developing anytime soon. And RBS will have the same needs as our former landlords regarding building protection...won't they? Fricking hope so or it's all over kids, it's ALL over.

Sick

Oh My God.

I take it all back. Having just seen this footage of the police pushing Ian Tomlinson to the floor, I have re-evaluated what I think of the London MET.

I had previously given them the benefit of the doubt but this video makes me feel physically sick.

Bullies, massive baton wielding, frightening, gutless bullies. The police need policing - in a riot situation they think they can do no wrong and are free to terrorize innocent, peaceful people. It's terrifying that people like this officer are supposed to be the guardians of law and order.

Backlash

Well. Everyone's up in arms about the G20 police aggression. Looking at it from the inside out and the feeling is that it's old news. Already forgotten. News only lasts a day.

'What a difference a day made, 24 little hours' croons Dinah Washington.

From where I'm sitting things are a little different: I now know just how many people are with me on this - am reassured by how many faces I recognized in the Climate Camp - the place which represented my views and my person the most accurately. There is a community, a scattered community of people who are passionate about living a sustainable existence and the ones I know are young and clever and proactive.

It's heartening. I feel hearted by the G20 protests - I may be in the minority here though.

April Fools

Financial Fools Day is here.

Obama is in our city, the bankers are all in jeans. My boss doesn't want me to go to the protest but luckily I'm going anyway.

At work I have been mainly persuading people not to believe the hype and convincing them they won't get blown up, arrested, involved in a riot, attacked. The only danger for them is that their precarious status quo may just be toppled - forcing them into an embarrassing acknowledgment that Capitalism is shit. God forbid.

Going to the frontline at midday. Will send word.