In defence of the Dannenröder forest, Germany, 2020, Ella found themselves landed in pre-trial prison, having faced a brutal eviction. What differentiated their case was that without giving any personal details to the authorities, for 1 and half years they remained anonymous throughout prosecution. Beyond the state’s violation of ecocide, the torment of intended social control via identification was brought to the fore. Ella presents their memoir ‘Imprisonment is for Burning’, for discussion in relation to the many other social-ecological struggles that interconnect us, and for the ecosystems that interdepend with us.
This 101 session will introduce some frameworks to help us think through how we can embrace conflict as a force that can generate positive change. Why can conflict be so scary, and how can we reduce the fear around it?
All welcome, with a particular welcome to groups who want to improve the way they relate to conflict. We will organise a follow up session if folks are keen!
Conflict Club is a peer organised group for exploring and learning skills to help navigate and support conflict. We’ve been meeting up since autumn 2022, we have had a break during the start of this year but are keen to make more of our ideas happen including a regular space! For now, join https://chat.whatsapp.com/KgdzYhxs917AXxLI6Iw1Xo for announce updates
Every first Sunday 12-3pm, monthly visa and workers’ rights drop-in hosted by the Pan-African Workers’ Association. If you have questions about anything from your CoS to your contract (or anything else!), then come down! Child-friendly space. Light refreshments provided
Yoga Drop-in every Monday 5-6.30 pm at BASE. No fee but we kindly ask for a donation. Bring your mat and other props if you need. “First come, first served” as the space is limited.
This is a free monthly vinyl Djing workshop with Frolic at BASE community centre in Easton. The intention is to encourage a more diverse and democratic DJ culture, by allowing those people who are underrepresented to come and have a go, make the space theirs and dethrone the superstar DJ. Everyone is welcome, but you are especially welcome if you are a refugee, LGBQT+, a person of colour, a woman or working class. This event is suitable for 14+. If you come along, expect to learn what the different parts of the DJ set-up do, how to handle records on and off the turntable, how to beat-match and mix on vinyl. No prior experience required.
Join Base Cafe Collective and learn how to make seitan, a versatile vegan meat replacement! We’ll make a couple of different recipes and provide you with some others to try at home. All proceeds go to base, sign up here: https://forms.gle/HT7iqxMXUoWmDAPX8
Get information about DIY HRT, harm reduction while self-medicating and free injection supplies at our bi-monthly drop-ins. We are open from 6-8pm every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. Contact us: hello@dandeliondiy.com Website: dandeliondiy.com Instagram: @dandliondiy
Accessibility: 🌼🌼 Dandelion takes place on the ground floor of BASE. The ground floor is on a split level divided by two steps, with two separate step-free entrances. 🌼🌼 The accessible toilet is on the ground floor with step-free access through the back entrance of the building. It has grab bars on both sides and plenty of room to manouevre a wheelchair, but no alarm cord. 🌼🌼 Dandelion can sometimes be noisy and busy. Arrive earlier if you would like to avoid this. We have fidget toys and we will always offer you a private chat in a quieter room upstairs (up one flight of steps). 🌼🌼 Please contact us if you have any accessibility needs and we will try our best to arrange a solution. 🌼🌼
On Sunday 17th March a gourmet menu was served up to around 30 people at BASE social centre in Bristol for the regular sunday evening vegan meal: foraged wild garlic pesto, homemade hummus and coleslaw, thai curry soup, baked potatoes, banana cheesecake with raspberry coulis and raw chocolate. This was followed by a talk about Operation Adream and the case of imprisoned anarchist Toby Shone. An engaged and animated discussion followed about the implications of the broadening of the extremism definition for anarchists in UK and abroad; the failed attempt by Operation Adream to apply terrorist legislation to a suspected administrator of anarchist website and paper publication 325.nostate.net; how to deal with a Schedule 7 border stop; the extra-legal police state powers of the probation service and the various political policing quangos such as the National Security Division; the importance of recognising that we are in the middle of a 4th and 5th Industrial Revolution similar in scale and brutality to the First Industrial Revolution and acting accordingly; and finally a passionate reminder of our strength and power as anarchists with an inspiring and powerful lineage going back hundreds of years. The State attacked 325 (and other anarchists and rioters in UK and around the world) precisely because this is one of those historical moments where our anarchist ideas and praxis can have enormous impact due to the social collapse.
They took down 325 because it is one of the few internationalist anarchist projects focusing it’s critique on the technological civilisation, the technological singularity and 4IR and 5IR; and because counter-information is a thorn in the side of the system, preventing it from controlling the narrative. The organising collective of the evening would like to thank everyone for such a thoughtful and stimulating discussion, for signing cards to Toby and to BASE for providing the space and support. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. You can keep up to date with news of Toby on brightonabc.org.uk and you can write to him at: Toby Shone A7645EP, HMP Garth, Ulnes Walton Lane, Leyland, PR26 8NE. Please keep writing even if you don’t get a reply.
The prison are under orders to try to isolate Toby from “perceived support” by telling him that he has no mail. Please drop us an email at forestcase@riseup.net letting us know you have written so even if he doesn’t get it, he knows people are still writing.
Our passion for freedom is stronger than their prisons! Some anarchists
