Friern Barnet Library Saved
– handover
ceremony
on Tuesday 12 Noon
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
Handover of keys
from the squatters to the licencees and red ribbon reopening
12.00 midday,
Tuesday 5 February 2013
CONTACTS: Phoenix 07769 791387
On
Tuesday 5th February, at midday, exactly five months since the occupation began,
the community will take possession of the Friern Barnet Library. The local
community – represented by the trustees of the library - are on the verge of
agreeing a two-year lease with Barnet Council (LBB) to run the library with some
funding.
At the ceremony, squatters and supporters of the Occupy
movement, who have been keeping the building open and enabling the local
community to run a book lending service and community centre in the building,
will hand it over to the trustees of the newly formed Friern Barnet Community
Library (FBCL). They have now received a licence from LBB to be in the library
for two weeks with the promise of renewal of the licence if necessary to
negotiate a lease and other matters (eg, who pays the utilities, insurance, and
ongoing future repairs). LBB has shown a willingness to amend the licence to
their satisfaction.
“This is a triumph for the local community,” said,
one of the trustees of the new community library. “Our library was closed in
April. And we were told the building would be ‘marketed’. Now we have our
library back, with council financial support. We achieved this through constant
campaigning, lobbying, and building a broad alliance including squatters,
activists, supporters of the Occupy movement, local residents and library
campaign groups.
Mike Gee, local activist said, “I do not fully
understand this volte-face [by the council] but on the face of it, it’s
wonderful. However, we must not forget, this protest is not just about FBL, one
library, it is also about the creeping move to a totalitarian state, the
irrational, unjust and draconian cuts to vital public services and job losses
that are undermining the very way we live, think and breathe. The anecdote is to
wake up, open our minds, eyes and hearts and pledge continuing involvement and
support to the Occupy Movement. Solidarity!”
Roger Tichbourne, Local
Blogger, Barnet Eye, said, “We should all remember that the council is our
council. We are all part owners and stakeholders. What has happened in Friern
is a massive victory because it has shown the whole community opposes these anti
social policies and unethical policies. It is up to each and every one of us to
do everything in our power to resist the forces of ignorance and greed. We
haven't got what we want, but we've got a community that stands
together.”
Housing and Squatting activist, Phoenix, stated: “This
campaign definitely shows the success of direct action and squatting. This is a
seed of change. The whole country will soon be facing 80% of the rest of the
cuts. They can take some inspiration from this direct action. We have
collectively helped to save this library from being sold off for development and
bulldozed. We would like to see more arrangements between owners of the 1.4
million empty buildings in the UK and squatter/ homeless and community groups,
rather than the criminalisation being carried out by this government under the
new law. A law we feel strongly is unjust, undemocratic and
arbitry."
“We want to make it clear that, the activists support the
National Libraries Campaign and that putting in place a paid librarian is a
priority. I believe consensus has been reached with the community on this point.
As it stands, the funding offered by the council does not cover a full time
librarian, but as the two year lease is negotiated and plans go forward, this
will be kept at the front of the conversation. The activists would like to say
that we are strongly opposed to austerity and all the cuts, especially to the
library service. We are also heavily opposed to criminalising the
homeless/squatters. The extreme right of the conservative party is seeking to
make squatting non-residential building also illegal. This, if it was
successful, would affect all our rights to protest by occupying/squatting space,
and would make successful community squat occupations such as the library
campaign ILLEGAL, thus further removing our rights to shelter and
protest.”
Come and celebrate with us, as the keys
are officially handed over, from Occupy to the new Friern
Barnet Community Library
At Friern Barnet Library building
Friern Barnet Road, N11 3DR
Tuesday 5 February 2013
12 midday
Come and join us afterwards too, for
party nibbles and soft drinks!
Party and music afterwards all day and
evening as thanks, appreciation and support to Occupy for securing the building
and giving the community back their fantastic library space
IF YOU
CAN HELP WITH FOOD/SOFT DRINKS/DECORATIONS/GENERAL
PLEASE CONTACT Anne Storey
avstorey@virginmedia.com
NOTES:
The Friern
Barnet Community Library (Ltd) has been legally incorporated in the last
fortnight in response to the opportunity to negotiate a lease with the
council.
The library was closed by the Council in April 2012. Community
activist squatters reopened it on 3rd September, as a campaign to
save the library and also as a protest against the new criminalisation of
the
homeless and squatters by the LASPO Act 2012 (enacted on 1 September). NB
squatting in non residential buildings is still legal.
For more on the
threat to squatters rights by criminalising Commercial squatting.:
http://phoenixrainbow23.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/urgent-raise-awareness-of-early-attempt.html
The
Squatters Action For Secure Homes have just launched a campaign and rapidly
growing petition to repeal the LASPO Act 2012.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44597 please sign
and support.
It was the Direct Action by the squatting community and
supporters of Occupy on Sept 5th 2012 that re-ignited the campaign to keep the
library open. Despite a two year campaign LBB had refused to negotiate. However
at the second Possession hearing on Dec18th, Judge Pearl ordered that LBB should
try and negotiate some form of licence to keep the library open, in order to
protect the rights of the protesters under Articles 10 and 11 of the Human
Rights Act and to preserve 'proportionality' between the rights of the
protesters and the rights of the council.
It was this Direct Action
combined with the placing of the building on the register as a community asset
by local residents that in the end forced the council to negotiate. The
supporters of Occupy also acted as caretakers looking after the building and
enabling a wide variety of events to take place in co-operation with the local
community. They helped to strengthen the bonds emerging between different
sections of the community so that at the meeting on Jan 29th many residents from
different local groups stepped forward to thank the squatters and occupiers for
their crucial help. One local resident Maureen Ivens, Chairwoman of the Save
Friern Barnet Library group, said of all the different groups that had come
together "We are here as one".
Occupy London is against the cuts and
continues to support the National LIbraries Campaign and the local community in
their determination to install a professional librarian. This action by the
local community in no way replaces or diminishes the responsibility of the
council and government to carry out its responsibilities under the 1964
Libraries Act. However as a result of all the work done by an alliance of
local residents, squatters, occupiers and legal advisers, the The Friern Barnet
Community Library (Ltd) trustees will be handed over the keys by the council for
a temporary licence allowing then to keep the Friern Barnet library building
open until a full two year lease is signed by both parties.
Volunteers:
In order to run the library
efficiently once the Occupiers leave, we will need at least 50 volunteers. If
you want to be involved:
1) Let us know if you would like to volunteer
for a particular slot/time.
2) Or if you are interested in helping in the
library and would like to be added to the 'library bank'. (The library bank is a
list of local people who can be contacted at short notice to cover the rota or
help with specific tasks) *
Send us your name and email and we will
include you on the list. Please forward this email to anyone who you think might
be interested.
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