London Action Resource Centre

The London Action Resource Centre (LARC) is an anarchist infoshop and self-managed social centre situated in Whitechapel, in the East End of London. Previously a school and a synagogue, it was purchased in 1999. It hosts meetings and events from various groups and is part of the UK Social Centre Network.

History

The building was constructed 1866–7 as a mission house and infants’ school, keeping this usage until around 1918.^[1] It then housed the Louise Michel International Modern School, organised by Jewish anarchists. It also hosted the New Worker's Friend (Arbeter Fraynd) Club and the East London Anarchist Group. It was then converted into a synagogue in 1925.^[2] After World War II, the building was used in the rag trade before falling into dereliction.

LARC was purchased in the autumn of 1999 by people active in Reclaim the Streets, just after the Carnival against Capitalism which occurred on 18 June 1999. It was rebuilt over three years.^[3] The Guardian described it in 2005 as "a hub of the new anarchist movement."^[4]

It has been used for events and as a meeting place by various groups, including the Radical Librarians Collective, Queeruption and Indymedia in London.^[5]^[6] It was originally known as the Fieldgate Action Resource Centre. LARC is part of the UK Social Centre Network, alongside other projects which were set up around the same time, like the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, and also the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford.^[5]^[7] On its own website, the project states it is "a cooperatively owned and run building dedicated to the furthering of social justice and environmental issues, locally, nationally and globally. We believe this is done through direct action, refusing to be a spectator or waiting for someone else to do it for us. It is about taking back power and realising our potential to bring about change. This is an anti-capitalist, non-hierarchical space."^[8]

In April 2022, the LARC was raided by the Metropolitan Police during protests by Just Stop Oil.^[9]

References

Notes

^ "Two curiosities on the London Hospital estate in Whitechapel". Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
^ "62 Fieldgate Street: yesterday, today and tomorrow". Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
^ "London Action Resource Centre". What's This Place? Stories from Radical Social Centres in the UK and Ireland. LARC. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
^ Sebestyen, Anna (19 November 2005), "Tony Mahoney", Guardian, archived from the original on 5 March 2016, retrieved 7 November 2015
^ ^a ^b Katzeff; Steen; Hoogenhuijze, eds. (2014). The City Is Ours: Squatting and Autonomous Movements in Europe from the 1970s to the Present. PM Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-60486-683-4.
^ Quinn, Katherine; Bates, Jo (28 August 2019). "Everyday activism: Challenging neoliberalism for radical library workers in English higher education". In Lyn, Tett; Mary, Hamilton (eds.). Resisting Neoliberalism in Education: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-4473-5006-4.
^ Chatterton, Paul (March 2006). ""Give up Activism" and Change the World in Unknown Ways: Or, Learning to Walk with Others on Uncommon Ground". Antipode. 38 (2): 259–281. Bibcode:2006Antip..38..259C. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8330.2006.00579.x.
^ "About Us". LARC. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
^ "Just Stop Oil protesters scale fuel tanker in west London to block M4 access". The Guardian. 14 April 2022.