Tag Archives: community co-op

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