From Qilombo

In January of 2014, the Holdout temporarily closed its doors to do some serious cleaning. Now that the space has gone through several transitions, it’s time to reopen as a radical social center that supports community in struggle–with new energy and a new name.

From the Kimbundu word kilombo, the original quilombos were maroon societies founded by African people in Brazil and throughout South America between the 16th and 19th centuries. Most inhabitants of the quilombos were Africans escaping the trans-atlantic slave trade, but included indigenous people from local regions and other marginalized people fleeing European colonization. These autonomous zones provided land, shelter, and safety for those fighting to protect themselves from colonial enslavement and genocide. Resistance meant survival.

In this spirit of inter-communal solidarity, we invite you to join us in struggle! The Qilombo community social center is a place of intersection for Anarchists, other revolutionaries for liberation and folks from our neighborhood.

We have meeting and event space, a bookstore, a bike workshop, a free store, a pool table, a printing studio, and free use computers. A mutual-aid food distribution that offers free, nutritious groceries every Sunday. The HEPPAC collective that provides a needle exchangeFriday mornings. We also host regularly occurring skillshares in Swahili and Chinese Martial Arts, an Anarchist/Autonomous Person of Color reading group, the Educate to Liberate workshop series, a prisoner letter writing night, and more! We are seeking new volunteers and new proposals for workshops and events, hit us up! These events are open to the public and are free or donation based.

Our bookstore specializes in radical books that are relevant to our communities. We have an excellent selection of books on African liberation, Anarchism, revolutionary movements, critical theory, a choice selection of zines, and some excellent fiction. Come by and read a book, or buy one that you’d like to take home.

We offer instruction on basic bike maintenance and repair. If you need help fixing up your bike or are interested in building one yourself, stop by the bike workshop.

As we begin this new stage of struggle, we are asking for the support of comrades from all over the world by becoming Friends of Qilombo and making a one time or recurring donation.

If you have any questions, would like to be added to our announcement list, or would like to host a class, meeting or an event, please email info@qilombo.org

In Solidarity,

Qilombo