The Autonomous Cafe & Bookshop is re-opening this Wednesday at 88 Hardinge Street, Shadwell. It will continue to provide liberated coffee and food on a pay-what-you-can basis, and serve as a warm bank for the increasing numbers of people unable to access heating. Doors will open from 2pm, and there will be an open mic from 6pm onward, with all funds raised shared among those working at the cafe, and used to contribute to the project. “People are fucking dying. In times of crisis, environmental, economic or otherwise, there’s a choice to be made. We reject the servile passivity which brought us to this point. We hope you’ll join us in doing the same, in expressing your own solidarity and resilience. Our aims haven’t changed, we’re continuing to create safe and accessible spaces for everyone interested in autonomous practices, we’re educating and organising ourselves and others, and we’re doing so with a very clear focus on contributing to the Autonomous Winter Shelters. If nothing else we’re still serving the best coffee in the neighbourhood.”

The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) is in place and forecasts are slated to reach lows of -10 in parts of the UK. Suffering seems an inevitability, amid a backdrop of inflation and soaring energy costs, with reports from posties of pensioners receiving deliveries in full winter gear for fear of turning on the heating; the inadequacies of ’emergency protocols’ are blatant.

The Autonomous Shelter Network, having faced eviction from the Waterloo location two weeks ago, after staging a series of protests outside the Royal Courts of Injustice as well as the property itself, relocated the former residents of 121 Westminster Bridge Road to another property in the network. So it seems resistance is also an inevitability. The Autonomous Shelter Network is actively searching for volunteers and material donations, with a special emphasis on heaters and bedding as new buildings are opened and people continue to be housed. The public, homeless people, and the media can visit the cafe or make queries and requests via email to: MeetTheAutonomy@Proton.Me