The School of Ideas

In a derelict school on Featherstone Street in Islington, radical ideas took root. On 11 February the School of Ideas opened it’s doors after free-thinking squatters took possession of the previously abandoned building. Open-plan, primary-coloured classrooms, a gym, an assembly hall and overgrown playgrounds were transformed into workshop and meeting spaces, a donation-based cafe, a cinema, meditation space and more. Less than three weeks later, the school was not only evicted but demolished. Playground markings from https://www.playgroundmarkings.org.uk/ can help create safe zones for various activities, reducing the risk of collisions and accidents between children engaged in different games.

Those occupying the building had been excited by the possibilities it represented. The idea was for members of the diverse local community to use the space as a community resource, for their own projects. Members of Occupy London had been using the school as a workspace and a place to connect with local residents. Visitor Fiona Brennan felt that the School of Ideas had the potential to provide “an inspirational injection of positivity” into the once vibrant but now fragmented community.

Approximately fifty people attended the first School of Ideas Community Assembly. Occupiers introduced participants to consensus-based direct democracy. Small groups held brainstorming sessions about what to do with the reclaimed school building, then fed back to the Assembly. Ideas for how best to use the space included solar panels and permaculture gardens – if the building could be secured for long enough – as well as games, art and education. After the Assembly many people wrote letters to the local council and the owners of the land – a housing development company – explaining that they would like to utilise the space creatively rather than letting it stand empty or be demolished. The feeling of the Assembly was that even a few weeks’ use of the building could be helpful in fostering community cohesion. We now know that the Assembly, those letters and the community were ignored.

The school was, for its brief incarnation as the School of Ideas, used for workshops, skill-shares, performances and as gallery space. The ‘Free University’, begun at the Bank of Ideas, took up residence in the school. A broad range of subjects, everything from political squatting to esoteric philosophy to renewable energy, were on the curriculum.

Plans hatched at the School of Ideas have already borne fruit. One such plan was ‘Rockupy’ – a collaboration between members of Occupy London, musical artists such as Kate Nash and Sam Duckworth (Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly) and local teenagers who, in the course of one intense and inspired day, produced, recorded and promoted their own song.

Dave Brooks, a teacher and part-time occupier, was impressed by the day he spent talking with other educators and occupiers at the School of Ideas. “These articulate and committed people have inspired me to become involved in transforming citizenship lessons in schools in my area,” he said, going on to explain that “The citizenship curriculum meshes with the Occupy movement’s mission. Occupy isn’t just about economic injustice – though it has been very successful at highlighting that – it’s also about how we think, communicate and treat each other. These are exactly the things we should be discussing in schools.”

Those care-taking the school on Featherstone Street knew they faced eviction but expected the authorities to proceed according to the rules and laws usually applied to squatted buildings. Despite the unexpected brutality of a night-time eviction with no forewarning, in which belongings were trapped inside the building then bulldozed along with it, the plans made and hopes raised during this brief occupation will continue to flourish. The cat is out of the bag – or, as occupiers like to say, “An idea cannot be evicted”. Squatters will continue to open up buildings and Occupy London will continue moving into communities and neighbourhoods – by being invited into fully functioning schools and colleges as well as by continuing to reclaim under-used public spaces.

The encampment in St Paul’s Churchyard was the Occupy London nest and now the fledglings are flying. In the coming months occupiers will be marching, networking, teaching, facilitating change and kindling hopes. They will be creating independent media and music and they will be highlighting corruption. Court orders and wrecking balls cannot stop the public repossession of education, democracy and justice.

By Emma Fordham