Stone Soup Celebrates its Opening

The community center in Worcester, Stone Soup/Olla Popular, holds a kick-off celebration on January 27th, 2007 with the solidarity of several regional and international groups.

After several years of hard work, social movements and community groups finally have their own space. And it is permanent. And it is autonomous, communally controlled.

The night of the kickoff celebration began with a community dinner in the style of stone soup, where several people brought something to eat and all ate a delicious and diverse meal. Lucelia de Jesus began the music with Latin folk tunes of justice, followed by folksinger Lydia Fortune and AfroDZak, who mixed positive Hip Hop with messages of social change and trumpet and poetry.

With full rooms and halls, we presented the banner from the Unemployed Worker Movement of (MTD) La Mantanza, Argentina – “El Mismo Fuego/The Same Fire” – and read a letter from a Brazilian ecological group, Ciclovida. This solidarity transmitted the feeling that we are not alone in this struggle, that there are communities getting organized, reclaiming spaces for collective purposes, and searching for justice.

More than 150 people came despite the cold, people of all ages, and the night included several self-organized activities for youth and kids (dance-dance-revolution, tile painting, others). Music followed by various local artists, a soulful and moving singer from Fall River, Cedric Josey, and a powerful revolutionary Hip Hop group, Foundation Movement.

El espacio ya está llenando, hay: _–un taller comunitaria de bicicletas “Earn-A-Bike” –una organización de pesas/os y ex-presas/os luchando por trabajo digno “EPOCA” –nuestro grupo de jovenes “Casa Tóxicos/Proyecto Raices de Worcester” –una biblioteca radical, una cocina comunitaria con “Comida no Bombas” –un espacio educacional que va a ser una escuela libre –y un espacio abierto por la comunidad y grupos activistas.

The space already houses:

• A community bike shop/program, Earn-A-Bike
• The office of EPOCA – Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement working for dignified work and fair employement
• An environmental justice group, Worcester Roots Project and their youth program, Toxic Soil Buster Coooperative
• A radical lending library
• A community kitchen used by Food Not Bombs and others
• An educational space that will become the very democratic Stone Soup School
• And, of course, the community center space open for neighbors and activist groups

We recognize and appreciate the solidarity and participation from all the movements in this region and in the South in this celebration, because, after all, it is THE SAME FIRE!

More photos (y este artículo en español)