I’m moving to Easton next month, I can’t bloody wait! Hanging out on St Mark’s Road, sipping chai at the newly opened Thali, sifting through the spicy wonders of the marvellous Sweet Mart and joining the revolution at the Kebele Centre. Right on! Wikipedia say: ‘A kebele is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia, similar to ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. It is part of a woreda, or district, itself part of a zone, grouped into ethno-linguistic regional zones (kililoch) that comprise the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.’

The name is also used for a long-standing anarchist social centre in Easton that has been around since 1995. This Kebele is a community cooperative, run by volunteers for people who are looking for an alternative social space with no one supposedly ‘running the show.’ Pop down for a cup of tea (no milk) and you will meet the friendliest bunch of guys. Visit the centre on a Saturday morning or Sunday early evening, and you can expect a delicious vegan meal prepared and cooked by the volunteers for a small donation. Heck, you can even cook the meal yourself if you get down there early enough! Pop in on a Wednesday afternoon (if you don’t have to work) and get your bike maintained and repaired, or of course, if you have the skills, you could volunteer to be the bike maintainer!

I approached the Kebele centre last year for a personal fundraising project. I had an idea of presenting a vegan feast (I am not vegan myself, but I could be converted for one night) and showing a film, and it was a lot of fun. The cinema consists of a dusty room and old sofas, with a large white sheet and a projector crammed inside. It’s cosy! It’s also a library, so if you fancy knocking back some anarchist thought or Russian literature, then get yourself down there at the weekend, or borrow a book. For free! That reminds me, I still have Hegemony or Survival by Chomsky and Richard’s Bicycle Book. I don’t think I will have an outstanding library fee for that?

www.kebelecoop.org

Lizzie Woodall