kind of late but.. the house of brag social centre that was in brixton is closed

and has been since july. sorry to see all your emails and messages asking where we are etc. hope you all had great summers.

HoB x

This evening: Queering disability/trans (&queer) healthcare access/tango

6pm Queering Disability – fun & interactive workshop by queer comrades from Disabled People Against Cuts

8pm Trans (& queer) healthcare access – discussion & action planning around how we get pissed around by doctors and gate keepers. We’ll talk about what barriers and problems queer/non-het & trans/gender non conforming people face in the health care system, rant unashamedly about our experiences, plan support and ideas on how to help each other in the future. Second half of the discussion will be closed and for trans people only. Discussion will be pretty informal and open to the suggestions of those who turn up.

8pm Queer tango workshop

9.30pm Dinner & film screening

Slightly delayed but much needed apology.

We’d like to apologise again for Sunday night’s breach of the safer spaces policy during a performance piece by artist Jakamo. Due to a huge over sight on our part there was lack of communication about the nature of the piece which several of the crew would have objected to happening, had we known.

It’s against our politics and personal values to tolerate racism, cultural appropriation, transmisogyny and femmephobia. We also believe there should have been a previous warning for nudity. We are deeply sorry these things happened in a performance we arranged. We’d also like to thank the members of our crew who were able to speak out immediately after the performance and offer people a separate space for self care and validation.

This has prompted a long overdue re-evaluation of how we communicate and interact as a collective to ensure that marginalised voices aren’t overlooked and similar fuck ups don’t happen.

SO EVENT! MUCH ACTIVITY!

Today at Brag we have confirmed a bunch more events – YAY!

Wednesday 9th :

2pm
Electrical workshop for women and non binary people. Walpole will be teaching basic safety when doing electrics and stuff that may crop up in squats. And no men interfering – nice.

4pm
Computer security workshop (open to all genders). This will be for mobiles and laptops. Only bring laptops fully charged as we don’t have electricity. But bringing one isn’t necessary.

5pm
(Also Thursday & Friday – times to be decided) Martial Arts for all self-identifying women and also genderqueer/trans/non-binary people who feel they have a connection to women’s communities. Please bring comfortable practical clothing.

Friday 11th :

3pm
Radical History Walk with Carolyn – walk about Brixton and learn the amazing legacy of Olive Morris.

Check out the full programme for everything else going on those days and the rest xoxox

Update on evening events

FRIDAY (that’s tonight!)

19:00 Informal Discussion on experiences of drugs and sobriety in queer spaces.

21:00 Delicious vegan dinner

22:00 Choose Your Own Adventure: queer sober dance party! CYOA is a queer+LGBT dance party for people who want a night out without alcohol/intoxicants – welcoming people of all genders & sexualities, all bodies & characters, and (because of no alcohol) all ages!
Femme pop, glittery electro, shouty riot grrrl songs &c. Robyn. Janelle Monáe. Le Tigre. Rihanna. Ladytron. Huggy Bear. MIA. Au Pairs. Kenickie. Katy B. 2NE1. Angel Haze. &so on.
https://www.facebook.com/events/903415053017742/

SATURDAY (that’s tomorrow)

We’re hoping to open at midday as planned for creative activities, zine library, pop-out hair & makeup salon and workshops. The evening’s gig has been changed to an acoustic jam session/open mic due to technical and ACAB issues. Bring an instrument and join us anytime from 8pm. Also for anyone who hasn’t visited the social centre yet WE HAVE A PIANO! So if you can play the piano you should definitely come over.

SUNDAY

Daytime events to run as planned! Also as part of the performance art evening we’ll be showing the three short films about queer squatting that we were unable to screen on opening night – Sass Squat, The Battle of Tutenhaus and Colorama 2.

Quick Important Update

The Bragsters have been working round the clock to get the space ready for tonight’s first event @7pm: Squatters Legal and Practical Workshop with dinner & queer squatting documentaries from 9pm.

Tonight’s programme is pretty relevant as the new space has been under constant police surveillance and our comrades have been subject to intimidation and this morning we had one of our crew arrested. The show of solidarity from fellow squatters, queer & trans peeps, local activists and the community of Brixton has been incredible.

We still need ongoing support as our electricity and water have been cut off and the cops are trying their best to make everything much harder since they can’t find any legit legal reason to shut us down. We are grateful for spare hands coming round to help clean, build and adapt the space to wheelchair users’ needs.

Luuurve & rAAAAge xoxo

LQSC 2014 LOCATION (and request for help)!

Friends, followers, Brags: we are beyond delighted to announce the location of our next Queer Social Centre will be

432 COLDHARBOUR LANE, BRIXTON, SW9!

Brag is back where queer & radical squatting in London began – where the Brixton Fairies opened their squatted Gay Community Centre in 1974, where Olive Morris fought the police and cracked squats for black families, where squatted women’s centres offered space for feminist activism and refuge to women and kids fleeing domestic violence, where the squatted Sabaar Bookshop hosted Black Panthers meetings and the anarchist 121 Centre put on Queeruption, where whole streets and blocks of flats were reclaimed and turned into homes and community spaces.

But radical politics and community organising in Brixton isn’t just a thing of the past. Several people involved with Brag this year have lived and worked and partied and done art and activism in Brixton in recent years. We’re also excited to get involved and show solidarity with stuff happening here right now like Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth, the campaign to Save Brixton College, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, the Ritzy Cinema workers’ strike for the living wage, anti-gentrification activists, fellow squatters and queers and queer squatters…

The building we’re occupying was previously a shop – it’s big, and bursting with potential, but we need your help to get it ready for opening day on Wednesday. Cleaning, carpentry, plumbing, electrics, art & design skills all welcome! As an incentive & a thankyou to anyone who wants to help out tomorrow (Sunday) we’ll be cooking a massive free vegan breakfast at midday so come down, tap on the window, get fed and get involved.

London Queer Social Centre 2014 Programme

Here is the programme of events for 2014′s Queer Social Centre. Some things are awaiting further info and are subject to change, but this is basically how the weeks are gonna run…

Location: 432 COLDHARBOUR LANE, BRIXTON.

Closed Days – we will be closed on Mondays & Tuesdays to give the live-in crew a break.

Food – dinner will be served Weds-Fri both weeks, at 9.30pm. There will be drinks & snacks available every day. Food will be mostly – if not entirely – vegan.

Dry Days – like last year, we will have four ‘dry’ days – Thursday & Friday both weeks. On these days we will not be serving alcohol, and we ask people to please not bring alcohol or other intoxicants into the space or turn up under the influence. There’re some things to read on sobriety & radical/queer spaces here and here. Do contact us if you have any further questions.

Wednesday 2nd July BAKING & ENTERING [2pm – midnight]

2pm Unwanted household goods donation event! Bring us yr spare plates, cutlery, cups, cooking equipment, bedding, food for dinner, etc.

7pm Squatting workshop – Squatters Legal Network share practical skills and legal knowledge, essential for all squatters & wannabe-squatters.

9.30pm Dinner & short films

Sass Squat (Sasha Wortzel, 2009) A portrait of an all-queer squat in West Philadelphia. This piece examines the significance of reclaiming underutilized space through the exploration of a unique living space and the people who call it home

Battle of Tutenhaus (Juliet Bashore, 1991) Tutenhaus, the “House of Queers”, a squat in 1980s East Berlin, survived attacks from neo-nazis but was violently evicted by the West German police after reunification.

Colorama 2 (Kahm Fiaa Enck, 2013) a group of strangers inhabit an empty photo printing lab in South London. part of an unwinding spiral of explorations within spaces thought abandoned, their journey together is one of stuttered re-awakenings and collective desires amidst the discards of a dying world

Thursday 3rd July SEX & RELATIONSHIPS [2pm-midnight] [DRY DAY]

2pm Monstrous makeup workshop by Oozing Gloop

4pm Laughter yoga

6pm Knowledge is Power: Sex Ed 101 – sex educator Lilith aims to re-imagine sexual education as something useful, empowering and fun, and seeks to arm their fellow queers with the info and skills to frolic both safely and sensually.

7.15pm Can’t Fuck, Won’t Fuck: a discussion on the limits of sex-positivity – Have you ever felt left out or alienated by sex-positivity and the way it plays out in your interpersonal relationships or in the spaces where you hang out? Have you ever felt pressure to feel/perform desire, to be (or be seen to be) sexually active, to have relationships or date people, to do non-monogamy (or to do it in a specific way), to have fulfilling/pleasurable sex or to have certain kinds of sex? Do you feel like sex-positivity often ignores the reality of living in a racist, ableist, cissexist, hetero-patriarchal rape culture? Have you ever felt like consent shouldn’t be framed in terms of sexiness? Does your queer community fail to make space for people on the asexual and aromantic spectrums?

When most of the queer spaces we have access to are explicitly sex-positive and/or centred around hooking up, talking about sex-negative or sex-critical feelings can often make us feel like kill-joys pissing on everyone else’s sexually liberated parade. This discussion aims to provide a safer space in which to talk about the above questions. We will also be exploring ways in which our queer communities can be more inclusive of those who can’t fuck, won’t fuck, don’t fuck, or who chose to only fuck some of the time.

In order to create as safe a space as possible, we ask that people arrive on time and do not join the discussion once it has begun. Please arrive at 7:15 for a 7:30 start.

The session is open to queer people of all genders or none. Sex-posi people welcome!

This discussion is being facilitated by the writers of the zine FUCKED: on being sexually dysfunctional in sex-positive queer scenes. Contact us: sexcritical@gmail.com
9.30pm Dinner & film screening

D.E.B.S. (Angela Robinson, 2004)

Recruited by the U.S. government for their unique ability to lie, cheat and fight, Amy, Max, Janet and Dominique join an underground academy of secret agents known as D.E.B.S. But when Amy falls for criminal mastermind Lucy Diamond, chaos erupts and the D.E.B.S. loyalty is put to the test…

Friday 4th July ADVENTURE TIME [2pm – 3am] [DRY DAY]

7pm Workshop/discussion tbc

9.30pm Dinner

Saturday 5th July CRAFTS & SKILLS [midday – 3am]

All day zine fair, radical library, arts & crafts activities.

1pm Radical practical self-defence

3pm Queers with gears – bike mechanics workshop

4pm Radical education workshop

5pm Queering computers with Autonomous Tech Fetish

8pm Acoustic / open mic performances, rumoured to feature SOME members of The Dykeness and Screaming Toenail with re-imagined performances for a 12volt ACAB set-up

Sunday 6th July BOOKS ETC [midday – midnight]

All day zine fair, radical library, arts & crafts activities

3pm Interactive drama workshop: The Homophobe in the Head. Have you ever acted in a way that was not as a totally Out and Proud Queer? Were there voices in your head stopping you? Whose voices were they? How did they get there? How do we get rid of them? This exciting interactive session uses Augusto Boal’s Cop in the Head exercise adapted for our own special Pride Celebrations. Fun, engaging and enlightening interactive drama from Queer Drama Head, John Hoggett (Alias Mz Vanilla)

4pm Queer sci-fi appreciation discussion

6pm Queer Literary Salon – bring yr favourite poems, short stories, essays, etc. to read out loud in our safe & sexy candle-lit salon

8pm Performance art, poetry, music & cabaret night

Wednesday 9th July QUEER THE SYSTEM [2pm – midnight]

2pm Women and non binary electrical workshop. It will teach basic safety when doing electrics and stuff that may crop up in squats.

4pm Computer security workshop (open to all genders). This will be for mobiles and laptops. Only bring laptops fully charged as we don’t have electricity. But bringing one isn’t necessary.

5pm (Also Thursday & Friday – times to be decided) Martial Arts for all self-identifying women and also genderqueer/trans/non-binary people who feel they have a connection to women’s communities. Please bring comfortable practical clothing.

7pm Panel & group discussion with Stonewall Housing, Queers Against the Cuts, Sex Workers Open University and House of Brag. How can we cope with capitalism, poverty & ‘austerity’? How can we stay safe and support each other through confrontations with cops, immigration officials & the ‘justice’ system? How can we centre the most marginalised of our community and fight for inclusive radical change?

9.30pm Dinner & film screening

Born In Flames(Lizzie Borden, 1983)

Police have been puzzled in the last week by what they describe as well-organized bands of 15 to 20 women on bicycles attacking men on the street… After a peaceful socialist revolution fails to bring an end to oppression and violence against women, feminist radicals organise to fight back.

Thursday 10th July BODIES & ACCESSABILITIES [2pm – midnight] [DRY DAY]

4pm Laughter yoga

6pm Queering Disability – fun & interactive workshop by queer comrades from Disabled People Against Cuts

8pm Trans & queer healthcare access – discussion & action planning

8pm Queer tango workshop

9.30pm Dinner & film screening

FILM TBA

Friday 11th July HISTORIES & FUTURES [2pm – midnight] [DRY DAY]

All day art space with activities to prepare for Saturday’s MONSTROUS PRIDE event – make a mask, a playlist, some angry stickers, a monster costume, a highly flammable effigy of David Cameron, all of the above

3pm Radical History Walk with Carolyn, walk about Brixton and learn the amazing legacy of Olive Morris.

6pm Know Your Protest Rights – workshop on protest law & police powers

8pm Queer Activisms Past & Future – discussion with members of HoB, Behind Bars, UK Black Pride, ACT UP London & more

9.30pm Dinner

Saturday 12th July MONSTROUS PRIDE – keep your eyes, ears & tentacle-feelers peeled for more info.

posters and flyers

hi friends,

we have some gorgeous flyer and poster designs for the social centre! please feel free to share them online, print them out, give them to people, stick them up in yr front windows, take them to yr local squats/shops/venues/bars/libraries/community centres etc and ask to put them up. thanks & love!

let’s have a caucus

Attention, comrades! We’re thinking that it would be a very nice and useful thing to hold caucuses for the duration of the social centre. Especially, we hope, over delicious dinner foods!

A caucus would be a closed meeting for people belonging to particular groups, talking about particular issues that affect them. So for example there could be caucuses for people of colour, for trans* people, for sex workers, for disabled people… you name it.

Want to hold a caucus on a particular day? Shoot us an email at house.of.brag@gmail.com. Of course, it’ll also be totally possible to just organise one on the day!

xoxo