Abbenay Letters of Support

Abbenay Letters of Support
Why	Convincing a landlord to let a squatter Hackerspace continue!
Where	Abbenay Hackspace
Who	Hellekin, Nick Farr
More Info
Tags	Letters, Abbenay

Hellekin's Letter of Support

From: "Hellekin O. Wolf (/tmp/lab)" <hellekin@hackerspaces.org>
To: Fredrik Winberg <fredrik.winberg@cementa.se>
Subject: [hackerspaces] In Support of Abbenay HackSpace
Organization: http://hackerspaces.org/

Dear Sir,

I'm aware that one of your premises in Stockholm is being squatted by a group called AK4, of Anarchist affiliation. Although that may sound antagonist to your principles and ethics, or even paradoxical, I urge you to consider the following arguments in support of their action.

Abbenay HackSpace is a HackerSpace[1], an ad-hoc, associative, civil & public laboratory where advanced techniques and off-bounds concepts are researched and transformed into technologies, where people join forces, resources and brain-power to explore issues that would otherwise be ignored for the lack of immediate (or obvious) profitability or the lack of mainstream attention.

Such research and development includes electronic devices, next-generation tools and software, self-fabrication workshops, etc. Recent examples include robotic self-replicating builders, operational drones, pollution monitoring solutions, even advanced pattern knitting that could benefit from your Biteam 3D printing technology.

Although their methods are questionable, please consider what benefits you and your fellow citizens could enjoy from having such a dedicated team of goofy researchers in your capital city. Beyond the obvious press coverage from the place being squatted, you would be surprised of how productive and ingenious these people can be, and how shaking and beneficial such an endeavor can be for the local community.

Hackerspaces fill the gap and setup bridges between academic knowledge and corporate research, between the scientist and the artist, between engineers and the public. They can help discover new talents and seed innovation.

Many successful hackerspace venues abound around the world, such as the Metalab[2] in Vienna, the C-Base[3] in Berlin, HacDC[4] in Washington DC or /tmp/lab[5] in Paris. They attract highly skilled people in many technology or art-related fields, as well as a public audience eager to learn about technology. Workshops are held regularly in such places, and open to anyone, from kids to retired people, to share know-how and techno-savvy culture with the community. From computer programming to electronic devices soldering, from machine design to space exploration, hackerspaces help the people catch up with technological acceleration and lead the way towards a comprehensive and open society.

Please, mister Winberg, give the Abbenay HackSpace a chance to demonstrate what kind of talents the Swedish hacker community can deploy with an adequate venue and focus. Hackers are dedicated people, they respond to a creative impulse and a drive to seek and build knowledge. Hereby you can make history by granting them a space for a couple of years: this is an island of another way through the world, that won't harm anyone but give a chance to see things differently.

I thank you, mister Winberg, for your attention and generosity,

hk

[1] http://hackerspaces.org/ [2] http://metalab.at/ [3] http://www.c-base.org/ [4] http://hacdc.org/ [5] http://www.tmplab.org/