Tag Archives: community co-op

Kebele General Meeting on 7th March

The Kebele General Meeting takes place every 2-3 months at the social centre. If you come to/use Kebele you are welcome at this meeting!

Monday 7th March, 6.30pm prompt start, at Kebele social centre. Meetings last upto 2 hours.

kebelecommcoopKebele General Meetings are an opportunity for the wider Kebele community and users of the building/facilities to come together to hold the Co-op to account, find out more about Kebele, discuss any urgent and/or relevant issues, and volunteer to help with ongoing matters (cleaning, maintenance, cafes, outreach etc) and at any upcoming events. So the Agenda may include:

– recent decisions by the Community Co-op, any new proposals, and get an update on Kebele’s finances.
– any urgent matters relating to Kebele, be they practical (the loo is leaking!) or political.
– review any recent events at Kebele, and discuss any forthcoming events that need wider involvement/support to ensure they happen.
– there is sometimes a political discussion for a part of the meeting.

The actual Agenda is posted on the wall in the Kebele cafe – where you can add items, and emailed out to our volunteers list. There is usually cake and/or snacks, and hot drinks, available.

General meetings are facilitated (not chaired) by a volunteer, and any decisions are made via consensus decision-making practices (see here for info).

Find out more about Kebele – read OurStory and other pages on this website.

Note that the Kebele social centre is formally owned & managed by Kebele Community Co-op.  So get involved….new volunteers wishing to become Co-Op members are always welcome!!!

 

The Sunday Social and Vegan Cafe

Yum Yum! Kebele’s weekly Sunday Social vegan cafe features a set vegan meal cooked up by volunteers, and served up about 6.30pm…until we run out!

Kebele_20logo_pinkSMRunning virtually every Sunday for more than 20 years, the Sunday Social and Vegan Cafe sums up the essence of Kebele social centre – DIY, healthy food, politics and community. Read OurStory for the full rundown on those 20 years! Cafe proceeds help Kebele stay open, alive & kicking!

Vegan Cafe
Each week from around 3pm a team of volunteers prepares and cooks a set vegan meal for about 50 people. The ingredients come from donations, local shops & markets, local food projects, and we bulk buy some ingredients from the Essential Trading Co-op.

Dinner one Sunday in the spring...
Dinner one Sunday in the spring…

We start serving by 6.30pm…until it runs out, which depends on how early people come! We ask for a donation of approx £2.50 for starter & main, and £1 for puddings. Hot/cold drinks available for 50p. We do not turn people away who are skint – please just say so and you’ll be fed. Perhaps you can contribute in some other way?

We always welcome new volunteers to help cook for the cafe, and to wash up & clean up after. If you’d like to get involved then speak to one of the cooks or the host, or ask for a Co-op member.

Sunday Social
Sometimes before, but usually around 7.30pm after dinner, there may be a film; sometimes a talk or discussion; and sometimes music. There may also be campaign or project group meetings upstairs. There’s always plenty of people to chat with, socialise & network. You can also check out Kebele’s free library (borrow a book!) and Info Shop (buy a book, pamphlet or CD!), use the free wi-fi, plus there’s loadsa free info on local campaigns & events. We stay open until around 9.30pm.

kebelecommcoopKebele social centre is available for use by local groups, projects & campaigns. We have various sized meeting rooms plus the kitchen and cafe. Read the details here and get in touch!

Maintenance Workday – come and join in the fun

Another workday on Tuesday 26th January. Anytime from 9.30am

All welcome – you don’t have to be good at DIY.
Finish painting to hallway.
Fill cracks to new plasterboard wall. Fill other areas.
Fix timber surround to window opening and re-fix screen.
Sand filler to blue wall , paint with white to form base coat for new purple wall.
Complete clear of accessible toilet.
Wear old clothes!

Rooms and Facilities Available at Kebele social centre

Keb_welcome_newOur Social Centre includes various rooms/spaces that are available to be used by individuals & groups/campaigns. Typical uses include meetings & workshops & talks; benefit cafes; film nights; gatherings; small parties (birthdays, handfastings); banner making; and so on. Facilities available at Kebele include the kitchen & cooking equipment, cafe/event space for upto 50 people seated/more if standing, individual rooms holding from 6 to 45 people, film projector & screen, internet access.

Whilst each request for room use is considered separately, there are some basic criteria to bear in mind, for example – your event should be not-for-profit (or at least a benefit!); it shouldn’t contravene any of Kebele’s Principles; it shouldn’t cause a nuisance to our neighbours.

We do not formally charge for the use of spaces & facilities, but we do ask for ‘suggested donations’ to cover wear & tear, utility bills, maintenance etc. Room Users have 2 options in covering costs – firstly ‘pay as you go’ room use for each single event; secondly taking on ‘User group’ status which means in return for space/facility use you provide a labour contribution of running at least one Sunday night cafe and carrying out one clean of Kebele every 3 months.

For full details of facilities available, the suggested donations for use, some basic rules, and our safer spaces agreement, please read/complete/print off the Room Users Agreement:
Kebele-room_user_agreement (open office format)
Kebele-room_user_agreement (pdf)

For any & all queries please speak to a Co-op member or email kebelesocialcentre[at]riseup.net

Kebele’s 20th birthday bash at The Plough – 18th December

hisisitsmall

OH MY GOSH!!! Kebele is 20!!!

Yes! Here it is, the 20th anniversary bash for Kebele social centre, the living anarchist experiment in Easton. It’s gonna be at The Plough pub in Easton (see Plough’s FB event), scene of many a benefit put on by and for campaigns & issues linked to and supported by Kebele.

Kebele20logoCome celebrate 20 years of anarchist organisation and resistance.
Proud of what we got? Hell yeah!!! So raise a glass and a fist for your local anarchist social centre! Dance like it’s 1995!
“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution!” It is on!

Friday 18th December, 8pm til late at the Plough, Easton. Don’t be late, cos it’s gonna be rammed! All proceed to the dancefloor, all proceeds to Kebele social centre. £5 donation. Keep Kebele kicking!

Here’s a little mood setting and a taste of what’s going on:
Regime:
regimesound.bandcamp.com/releases
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFIScwWa9zc

MC Amalgam:
soundcloud.com/downtown_digital/la-bull…
myspace.com/amalgamone/music/songs

Mr Speaka with DFrost:
soundcloud.com/dj-sam-rawbeats
www.mixcloud.com/samuelrroberts9/

Plus DJs playing all sorts from hip hop and ragga to soul and cheese, with a few drops of dub and roots via the jungle!
GITSURFER; BLACK RAINBOW; THE POINTLESS SISTERS; SUN MONKEY; DUB MARK
(PS: Sorry but Dub Revolution are NOT playing)

What’s Kebele all about? Read ‘OurStory’ here.

Nov/Fest – 6th weekend – mixing people, food, anarchy and alcohol

Welcome to the final full weekend of our NovemberFest (FB event), which includes a typically anarchic mix of work & play, and rounds off on Monday with a serious look at the impact of alcohol on both anarchist activity and on wider society.

The main weekend event sees Kebele hosting the 6-monthly UK Social Centres Network Gathering – see here and here for more info. We anticipate activists from at least 6 other UK social centres joining us for some in-depth discussions across Saturday & Sunday. Please note the building will be closed to anyone not attending the Gathering between the hours of 8am-6.30pm on Saturday 28th, and 8am-5pm on Sunday 29th.

s-c-partyFrom 6.30pm on Saturday 28th we’ll be putting the Social into the social centre with a party for  Gathering attendees, along with loadsa local activists & friends. Come down for some acoustic folk acts followed by some notorious (and mysterious) local DJ’s. Entry is by a suggested donation of £3 and early arrivals will be able to eat up any dinner leftover from the Gathering’s evening meal. Continue reading Nov/Fest – 6th weekend – mixing people, food, anarchy and alcohol →

Kebele – this is Ourstory

We’ve been banging on for a while now about our NovemberFest, celebrating our 20th anniversary, so here is OurStory…

Kebele is based at 14 Robertson Rd, Easton, Bristol BS5 6JY, and since 1995 has provided space for the development of anarchist & radical ideas and activities, community campaigns, and international solidarity.

Kebele means “community place” or “neighbourhood” in Amharic, an Ethiopian language. The term refers to localised community institutions, which dealt with their own needs & concerns, such as justice, health and community democracy.  During the revolution in Grenada in 1979, Rastafarians involved in the struggle used the term “kebele” to refer to the community centres in each neighbourhood from which, in theory at least, the revolution was based. In 1983, the USA invaded the tiny island of Grenada to crush the rebellion.

The founders of Kebele were inspired by these meanings of the word, and current members are too.

The Squat and Kebele Kulture Projekt (KKP)
Kebele_frontKebele started as an empty building that was squatted in autumn 1995 to provide housing for four homeless activists. It quickly mutated into something bigger out of a need to defy the owners (a bank) and authorities seeking to evict them, and inspired by European social spaces there was a desire to create a self-managed space for local individuals, campaigns & projects. Continue reading Kebele – this is Ourstory →