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Located in the heart of the Black community, 365 Brixton Centre has remained active for the last 25 years and has also been the destination for a plethora of local visiting dignitaries, academics and activists from global icon Muhammad Ali to Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Mathai. The Centre has hosted many local and national campaigns on anti-racism, asylum, deaths in police custody and immigration.
Tellingly, 365 is also one of the last remaining Black community spaces yet to be sold to developers, but if the local authority gets its way this could be about to change. The press statement from the I-Am-365-Brixton-Centre Campaign explains:
“As it wages a relentless war of gentrification against the Black Community, Lambeth Council now wants to close down the 365 Brixton Community Centre and sell the building to developers. 365 Centre has been organising in the Black, refugee and migrant communities for the last 25 years. Many human rights campaigns have been established from the Centre. The Centre is a service hub for migrant communities and people looking for advice, support and assistance around housing, health, employment, immigration and other social issues. It is also a hub for the Black activist and Pan Afrikanist community in London.”
Nevertheless, Lambeth Council demonstrated their intent by pursuing an interim possession order for the building. However, this was defeated in court on 24th October 2016 and the campaign is asking the community to come out and its support for the next round at 10am on Monday 14thNovember at Lambeth County Court.
Unfortunately, the case of 365 is far from unique. The report by the Ubele Initiative in association with the charity Locality, A Place To Call Home highlights that 25% % community assets been lost and are under threat (1) and this state of affairs seems to show little sign of abating.
The Ubele report cites several factors contributing to the loss of community including a lack of capacity for organisations to adapt to changing local demographics or changing local authority funding priorities.
Yet, another, perhaps largely unacknowledged factor is community fragmentation. In many cases buildings came at the height community activism and campaigning, as well as the back drop of social upheavals and uprisings. It be convincingly argued that for many years these levels have been in decline but more recent times have seen an upturn with initiatives like the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament, the reparations march and other social activism particularly around deaths in custody.
The current challenge is whether this perceived revival can be translated into a successful campaign. The I-Am-365-Brixton-Centre Campaign provides such an opportunity, offering various ways to support:
· Facebook: “365 Brixton Community Centre” or “I AM 365 BRIXTON CENTRE”.
· Crowdfunding donation to the 365 campaign at GOFUNDME.COM (I AM 365 Brixton Centre)
· Attend court 10am, 14 Nov 2016, Lambeth County Court, Cleaver St, London SE11 4DZ, near Kennington Station.
· Attend public meetings, rallies or events.
· For more information: Email – centre365@yahoo.com. Call 07958 660 061
(1) Yvonne Field, Karl Murray and Dr. Diane Chilangwa Farmer (2015) A Place To Call Home. http://www.ubele.org/assets/a-place-to-call-home-full-report.pdf.
So tonight we ask the question:
Can we save 365?
1. Why are so many community buildings been lost are under threat?
2. Have organisations refused to change with the times?
3. Is the community too fragmented to mount successful campaigns?
4. Has there been a resurgence in activism in recent years?
5. Have organisers embraced social media in an effective way?
Our very special guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Guide To Excellence.
Sis. Affiong L. Affiong: Sis. Affiong’s political life began as a student activist at while gaining Political Science and law degrees. Her activism led to her arrest and incarceration with other student leaders in 1984 by the then the military government for challenging and mobilising mass support against the regime’s attempt to coerce and ban the vibrant and independent student union movement. Forced into exile, Affiong relocated to London in 1990 where she organised as a frontline campaigner in the UK based pro-democracy movement against military dictatorship in Afrika and the struggle to return Nigeria and other Afrikan nations to democratic rule in the 90’s. She worked within the Black community in London as a grassroots campaigner and national advocate on immigration, reparations, race relations and amnesty for unregistered migrants.
Other roles Sis. Affiong has undertaken include head the Afrika Secretariat of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition and is a leading activist and organiser of the Afrikan Liberation Support Campaign (ALISC). She is also co-founder of Moyo wa Taifa, a Pan Afrikan Women’s Network created to establish links between Afrikan women on the Continent and in the Diaspora, Affiong is Executive Director of the Moyo Pan Afrikan Solidarity Centre, based in Accra and London and West Afrikan Ambassador for the UNIA-ACL, appointed by 10th President General The Hon. Senghor Jawara Baye.
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