The Freedom Shop is an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

infoshop Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer ...

which distributes books and information, based in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand. It operates on a

non profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

basis, injecting any income back into the project. The shop has been based in different locations and mainly sells books on

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, indigenous rights,

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and a range of activist issues. It also carries patches, badges, clothing and music.

History

The Freedom Shop was established on May 1, 1995. It was based on upper Cuba Street in

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the Wellington Central, central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and ...

, in a building formerly occupied by the

NORML The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Ac ...

shop. NORML initially kept up with the rent. The shop was operated by volunteers, and any earnings were reinvested in the business. The shop sold books, magazines, pamphlets, leaflets, T-shirts, patches, records, and stickers. In the 2000s, plans for the construction of the

Wellington Inner City Bypass The Wellington Inner City Bypass is a westbound one-way road varying from two to four lanes largely at ground level in central Wellington, New Zealand, part of New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, and was fully opened in March 2007. T ...

meant that the Freedom Shop would be evicted. However, the plans were bitterly contested. When security guards employed by

Transit NZ Transit New Zealand (Māori language, Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand The Crown, Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% ...

broke into the shop and changed the locks, 50 activists broke in and briefly re-opened it. The Freedom Shop moved into a more prominent location in the Cake Shop (a community

internet cafe The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

in mid Cuba St). When the Cake Shop closed in 2005, the Freedom Shop relocated to Oblong (a community

) in Te Aro's left bank arcade. Oblong closed in early 2009, and The Freedom Shop reverted to running stalls at public events. However, for the last few years the Freedom Shop has a home in a corner of the Newtown Opportunity for Animals Co-op Shop in Riddiford St,

Newtown, Wellington The suburb of Newtown lies in the southern part of Wellington in New Zealand. It lies east of Vogeltown, between Mount Cook and Berhampore. The main thoroughfares of Newtown are Riddiford St, leading from Mount Cook to Berhampore and Mel ...

Publications

In 2014, the collective published the first issue of a periodical called ''AARGH!'' as the Aotearoa Anarchist Review. Issue ten was published in April 2019.

Affiliations

The collective maintains close links with Aotearoa

Indymedia The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seat ...

and local radical groups such as the 128 Community Centre.

References

External links

The Freedom Shop

Aotearoa Indymedia
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