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London Queer Social Centre opens in squatted Joy store, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton

Cheesypoof said:
This discussion would be intriguing...

'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.'
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Went along tonight but arrived too late for this discussion - their were alot of people there for it - I think they had only expected a few but it filled the whole shop and they sensibly decided not to let latecomers in - it did look very intense and serious.

I hung about to meet people afterwards to try and get some idea of what was going on and it did sound very interesting.

I glad they are using the space to do something. All the squatters I met seemed very pleasant, reasonable, responsible people. Police sound like right arseholes. Why are they criminalising them - and acting illegally?

There is some really interesting stuff coming up over the next couple of weeks - I hope to go along to a few things, laughter yoga sounds good - http://houseofbrag.wordpress.com/
 
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editor said:
Are you speaking on their behalf?
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Did the photographer ask their permission to take their photo?

I haven't been down to the squat but I'd be shocked if they didn't have the rule that permission needs to be granted before snapping individuals faces.
 
DrRingDing said:
Did the photographer ask their permission to take their photo?
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The photographer doesn't need to, but I'd imagine he'd respect any requests coming from the people concerned. I certainly would. They've certainly seen the photos on B Buzz because they thanked us for the support.

FYI, that the cops have been busy outside the squat have an arsenal of photos of every person that's strayed within 100 metres of the place.
 
editor said:
The photographer doesn't need to, but I'd imagine he'd respect any requests coming from the people concerned. I certainly would. They've certainly seen the photos on B Buzz because they thanked us for the support.

FYI, that the cops have been busy outside the squat have an arsenal of photos of every person that's strayed within 100 metres of the place.
Click to expand...

This is more than purely legal. You do an astounding job at search engine optimisation. If you Google "queer social centre" what comes up?

Why do you think being associated with this project could cause problems?
 
DrRingDing said:
Think about it.
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Not really interested, thanks.

As far as I know the people behind the squat have no issues with the photo being online so that's the end of the matter (not that anyone in those pictures is known to be associated with the squat anyway. They're just people stood/sat lawfully in the street.).
 
DrRingDing said:
Did the photographer ask their permission to take their photo?

I haven't been down to the squat but I'd be shocked if they didn't have the rule that permission needs to be granted before snapping individuals faces.
Click to expand...

editor said:
The photographer doesn't need to, but I'd imagine he'd respect any requests coming from the people concerned. I certainly would. They've certainly seen the photos on B Buzz because they thanked us for the support.

FYI, that the cops have been busy outside the squat have an arsenal of photos of every person that's strayed within 100 metres of the place.
Click to expand...

The squatters have alot of rules posted in the window about expected behaviour inside the centre including not taking photos of anyone inside there without permission.

Not sure what you are saying DrRingDing - but I'd be proud to be in those photos if I'd been there. Queer and proudly squatting in Brixton - what's to hide? I'll bring it to their attention when I visit there tomorrow.
 
friendofdorothy said:
Not sure what you are saying DrRingDing - but I'd be proud to be in those photos if I'd been there. Queer and proudly squatting in Brixton - what's to hide?
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1. Doing projects like this is incredibly time consuming. You have to wangle and juggle various bits of your life. One thing people may do is blag their boss that they're ill etc. What would happen, for example if their boss spotted them happily chinwagging outside a squat when they're meant to be elsewhere?

2. We may think squatting is justifiable. Does your boss? Do your colleagues?

3. Do you know if all of these people are out? Do you have the right to out others?

4. Police, why add to their evidence? Why help them more?

It really is common courtesy to very easily blur or cover the people's faces in question.
 
DrRingDing said:
So, taking photos of them outside is perfectly OK? No issue there at all?
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You appear to be the only person having a problem with it seeing as the squatters have raised no complaint.

There can be circumstances where taking photos can be problematic but this is not one of them, given that they show nothing more than people acting perfectly lawfully in the street.

Of course, if you'd actually been to the place, you'd see how ridiculous your point is here. The police were in attendance for a long time, hassling the squatters at will - and, of course, the street is already covered with CCTV.

I'm hoping to pop in tomorrow and see if there's anything I can do to help. How about you?
 
So, completely ignore my points. Refuse to think about the issue and just carry on regardless.

You can do better than this.
 
DrRingDing said:
What would happen, for example if their boss spotted them happily chinwagging outside a squat when they're meant to be elsewhere?
Click to expand...
Is there a time stamp on the photos? Why, no there's not, so there goes that strained 'point'.
Has anyone complained or asked for their photos to be blurred? Why no they haven't.
Are they aware of the photos? I'd certainly think so.
Will you be going down to offer your help? No it doesn't look that way.
You can do better than this.
 
DrRingDing said:
Did the photographer ask their permission to take their photo?
I haven't been down to the squat but I'd be shocked if they didn't have the rule that permission needs to be granted before snapping individuals faces.
Click to expand...
Obviously by responding I am just prolonging the issue, but:
1. The squat had not opened yet - I had gone down there following the comments on Twitter from Brixton Blog about Joy being squatted and the police being outside.

2. The scene was clearly not hostile. Just people milling around waiting for the squat to open having heard about it on the grapevine.

3. I went down there in the evening in case they were able to show the advertised films about gay squats in Berlin and Philadelphia (which they weren't due to the power being off). I mentioned to one of the organisers that I had put photos on Urban, and he didn't ask for then to be censored or removed.

What exactly is the issue? Is it because it was a Queer squat and people outside should not be photographed in case assumptions were made about their sexuality?

Or is it because it was a squat and the police might be able to somehow use the photos in evidence?

BTW I am not a photographer and I use a cheap old Kodak camera and software. What software can be used to blob out faces?.

I must say if the faces were blobbed out the scene would look much more sinister. Not a summer day out - more Brixton gulag. But then maybe its one of those glass half full/half empty things. On this occasion I'm half full and you're half empty.
 
CH1 said:
I must say if the faces were blobbed out the scene would look much more sinister. Not a summer day out - more Brixton gulag. But then maybe its one of those glass half full/half empty things. On this occasion I'm half full and you're half empty.
Click to expand...
There's a link from their own blog to the B Buzz article showing the photos. I think that settles the issue.
 
CH1 said:
Obviously by responding I am just prolonging the issue, but:
1. The squat had not opened yet - I had gone down there following the comments on Twitter from Brixton Blog about Joy being squatted and the police being outside.

2. The scene was clearly not hostile. Just people milling around waiting for the squat to open having heard about it on the grapevine.

3. I went down there in the evening in case they were able to show the advertised films about gay squats in Berlin and Philadelphia (which they weren't due to the power being off). I mentioned to one of the organisers that I had put photos on Urban, and he didn't ask for then to be censored or removed.

What exactly is the issue? Is it because it was a Queer squat and people outside should not be photographed in case assumptions were made about their sexuality?

Or is it because it was a squat and the police might be able to somehow use the photos in evidence?

BTW I am not a photographer and I use a cheap old Kodak camera and software. What software can be used to blob out faces?.

I must say if the faces were blobbed out the scene would look much more sinister. Not a summer day out - more Brixton gulag. But then maybe its one of those glass half full/half empty things. On this occasion I'm half full and you're half empty.
Click to expand...
I think you did a good job.
I think the police have photos of us all anyway - nowhere in Brixton is free of CCTV
 
They are having some sort of sober Queer dance tonight anyone going?
I will be popping in for a short visit on my way to the Albert, as I'm not planning on staying sober tonight.
 
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