Les Oiseaux de la tempête (also known as "Les Oizos") is a collective
based in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine. It opens and manages political,social, and cultural spaces where self-management and non-commercial
exchanges are practiced. Their main space, "l'Atelier," is likely to be
put up for sale. This is an opportunity for the collective to evolve and
explore new areas, particularly by moving away from private ownership. A
look back at the role of the community center and the current
challenges. Since the inauguration of its first premises in 2017, the
Oiseaux de la tempête community center has developed numerous
activities: for several years now, the "P'tit Local" has hosted a food
distribution, a community canteen, a computer workshop, and more every week.
Over time, the desire and need for access to a larger space have become
apparent. Members then made a second location available to the
association: a former factory! After a series of participatory projects,
this large space, which is uniquely called "the Workshop," was converted
and adapted to the needs of the association. Since its inauguration in
2021, numerous events and activities have been held there, enabling the
association to grow: a bookstore, a thrift store, community education
workshops, bicycle repair and DIY workshops, concerts, shows, galas, and
conferences, both physical and non-physical, were held in this space. It
was also in this space that the 1st UCL Congress was held in August 2021.
A tool for struggles
In 2017, the Alternative Libertaire group in Fougères actively
participated in the creation of the social center. The idea was to
directly experiment with self-management, both in the organization's
operations and in its activities.
Another important aspect was the political use of spaces that would not
depend on any other organization or the goodwill of an institution.
Completely independent and financially autonomous, the Oizos are not
tied to any structure that could exert pressure on what is discussed
there. From this perspective, it is a success.
But above all, in a city where political activity was then relatively
sparse and concentrated in the hands of institutional left-wing parties,
the social center enabled the emergence of regular events aligned with
current struggles in several ways.
First, by opening a previously non-existent space, it allowed several
dozen people to familiarize themselves with self-management practices,
even though some were very distant from them. This physically present
meeting space was also made available to existing struggle collectives
and allowed individuals to create new ones by organizing around shared
struggles. For example, it was within the community center that the
Fougères Feminist Group was created, as well as an active LGBT group
that, among other things, is organizing a Pride parade in Fougères in
2025 for the third consecutive year, a situation that did not previously
exist.
The "P'tit local" of the Oiseaux de la tempête (Storm Birds), located at
14 rue de la Pinterie in Fougères.
The Kurdish community of Fougères was also able to benefit from the
material and logistical support of the Oizos to gather and organize
several local demonstrations following the attack in Paris in December
2022. In another area, during the 2023 pensions movement, the Oizos
network complemented the union's efforts, mobilizing dozens of people
for the demonstrations and providing equipment to facilitate blockades.
Other activist movements also find a space at the Oizos that would be
much more difficult to find elsewhere: the anti-ableist movement, the
local branch of the Earth Uprisings, and of course the local UCL group,
which took over from Alternative Libertaire and most of whose members
are active in the community center. While it owes much to the local
community, the community center has found its place in the Fougères
activist community.
The Challenge of Preserving the Workshop
Today, the collective faces a new challenge: finding ways to maintain
the use of the Workshop, the largest of the premises at its disposal.
The owners, who had graciously made it available to the association, are
forced to sell it and want to give the association the option of buying
it back at a favorable price. For the Oizos, this is no small challenge:
they need to raise at least EUR100,000. But far from admitting defeat,
the Oizos are rising to the challenge. A General Meeting in September
launched the fundraising effort. After an initial phase, a second
General Meeting in January confirmed the desire to keep the site by an
overwhelming majority.
Above all, all members, aware of the potential risks of relying on
physical owners, wish not only to buy the property but also to remove it
from real estate speculation, while guaranteeing its sustainable
collective use. With this in mind, the association has reached out to
existing networks in this area, notably CLIP.
To raise funds, the association remains true to its values and its goal
of independence: grants and bank loans are not considered. It can
therefore rely solely on the support of anyone willing to back this
project, which can take various forms: donations via the Hello Asso
platform, pledges of activist loans (the amount and duration of which
are determined by the lender), voluntary support contributions... and,
of course, public events will be organized until June, the next
milestone in this ambitious project! To your kind heart, and long live
self-management!
UCL Fougères
To support the project:
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/csaf/collectes/objectif-atelier.
To contribute to the association: contact the treasury at
treso@oizos.fr; you can set up regular transfers. This is very useful
because it allows Oizos to plan for the long term and increase their
savings and repayment capacity.
CLIP? What's that?
The Collective for the Liberation of Private Real Estate (CLIP) is a
network currently composed of thirteen collective spaces based on the
model of residential or community-based ownership. These spaces, located
throughout France, share a common goal: to escape the real estate market
and reduce their dependence on money and paid work.
To this end, the CLIP proposes a specific legal framework: the
acquisition of the space is carried out by a "landlord" association
created specifically for this purpose, itself composed of two members:
the CLIP on the one hand, and the collective or user association on the
other. The statutes of the landowner association guarantee user
ownership, meaning the user association's full capacity to make
decisions in and for the space. The permanence of the CLIP within the
landowner association ensures the sustainability of the space, even if
the user association were to vacate it: it would then be a matter of
finding a new collective to occupy it.
The CLIP operates on a federal model: it is composed of members of the
various user collectives, as well as a few supporters. It meets in a
General Assembly twice a year and is organized through committees and
working groups. Each space joining the network is required to
participate in these various bodies. For each member venue or venue in
the process of being integrated, at least two contact persons are
appointed. They oversee the legal process and participate in the owner
association's general meetings on behalf of CLIP.
For more information: clip.ouvaton.org.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Fougeres-Les-Oiseaux-passent-un-nouveau-cap
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