Justice?

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Justice? was a 1990s direct action group, based in Brighton, England. It campaigned against the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and set up SchNEWS.

Courthouse[edit]

In 1994, the Justice? organisation held a number of meetings and debates in their squatted building (a former courthouse).[1] Justice? was a deliberately loosely co-ordinated organisation formed around a community of people with differing and sometimes substantially conflicting political positions.[2] Some of its more overt political actions were authored by the groups' collective persona Jo Makepeace. It campaigned against a bill in the British Parliament which was later to become the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.[3]

Squatters Estate Agency[edit]

Justice? received mainstream media attention in 1996 (including coverage on the BBC Newsnight program) when they launched their "Squatters Estate Agency."[4]

The group also organised two direct action conferences and ran a community allotment in Moulsecoomb.[5]

SchNEWS[edit]

SchNEWS, the newsletter of the organisation, was founded at the Courthouse and read out at places in Brighton including the New Kensington pub.[6] It continued until September 2014.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dee, E.T.C. (December 2014). "The Ebb and Flow of Resistance: Analysis of the Squatters' Movement and Squatted Social Centres in Brighton". Sociological Research Online. 19 (4): 96–112. doi:10.5153/sro.3502. S2CID 147386741.
  2. ^ "About Justice?". Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  3. ^ McKay, George (17 June 1996). Senseless acts of beauty : culture of resistance since the sixties. Verso. p. 175. ISBN 1859840280.
  4. ^ Serpis, Almudena (6 January 2012). "Europe's empty houses drive new wave of squatting activism". The Ecologist. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Justice? Two Years". SCHNEWS. Archived from the original on 8 February 2004. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  6. ^ Goodey, Jan; Purssell, Richard (29 July 2011). "SchNEWS: how road protesters, ravers and GM activists fought back with direct action tabloid". The Ecologist. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.