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Wapping Autonomy Centre (also known as The Anarchist Centre) was a social centre set up in a rented former warehouse space in the Wapping area of London Docklands from late 1981 to 1982. The project was initially funded by money raised by the benefit single "Persons Unknown/Bloody Revolutions", as well as benefit gigs by Crass and The Poison Girls and other bands and events.

Most of those involved with the project were anarchists who participated in protests and direct action against targets such as vivisection laboratories, the meat industry and the policies of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. During its short life, the Autonomy Centre became an important focal point for the anarchist-punk movement in the UK and Europe. Anarcho-punk bands - such as Crass, Zounds and Flux of Pink Indians - played live at the building and a large, informal anarchist support network grew up in partnership with other communities in London.

Unfortunately, the centre's open door policy also attracted a large number of drug users, petty criminals and unwanted police attention. These factors, combined with problems finding the monthly rent, ultimately led to its closure. Many of those involved with the centre went on to become active at the Centro Iberico, a squatted project with similar aims and ethos in west London.

Workers

• London Autonomists
• Vince Stevenson
• William 'Bill' Corbett
• Charlotte Baggins
• Martin Wright
• Dave Couch
• Ronan Bennett
• Iris Mills
• Fabian Tompsett
• Andy Martin
• Terry Watson
• John Soares
• Dagenham Pete
• Mark Ripper
• Foci
• Rachel
• 'Scarecrow'
• Kill Your Pet Puppy Collective

Bands

• DIRT
• Rudimentary Peni
• Part I
• Primal Hate
• Luz y Fuerza
• The Sinyx
• Anthrax
• Conflict
• Crass (under the name 'Shaved Women')
• The Apostles
• Cold War
• What Is Oil?
• Twelve Cubic Feet
• The S Haters
• The Boiled Eggs
• 86-Mix
• Flack
• Assassins of Hope
• Rachel's Pilchards
• Hagar the Womb
• Burnt Thighs

and many more whose names have become immersed in the mists of time. Apart from live concerts there were book fairs, fanzine conventions, discussion groups, films, debates and political

External links

• 'Autonomy Centres, Riots and the Big Rammy by Andy Martin

See also

• Roseberry Avenue Autonomy Centre
• Centro Iberico
• Social center