An introduction to Plan B: written as part of the radical routes membership process.

Our Plan B rose from the ashes of the failed Plan B which emerged during the 2007 G8 protests in Germany. Although the attempt to shift the anti-G8 protests away from the fields of Rostock and towards the streets of Berlin never materialised, many of us, inspired by Berlin's radical community, left with the intention of starting the slow process of (re)radicalising Manchester, by, among other things, starting a housing co-op.

Two years down the line, Manchester's very own Plan B is beginning to take shape.

The membership of Plan B has expanded to include other members of a very close friendship group. Between the six of us we are involved in community gardening projects, social centre projects, ethical housing, environmental community work, action medics, climate camp, detainee support, radical reading and publishing projects and activist training and capacity building programmes. We are also all involved heavily with the No-Border network and together helped revive Manchester No Borders back in 2007. Through No Borders politics and actions we have found strong political cohesion allowing our friendships and the project to develop rapidly.

We want Plan B to be a concrete example of how people can co-operate to produce a common future. As well as being an example of how things could be, we also hope that by controlling our own living space we can help to encourage other projects working towards radical change. We hope to have meeting spaces for anti-capitalist groups, a radical library and storage space to facilitate wider organising. With this project we intend to create and leave behind (maybe, one day) a space with a strong anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist ethos which will inspire future co-op members. As well as supporting the wider radical community in Manchester we hope Plan B will be a supportive space for all it's members. “Burn out” is a serious problem that affects many within our community and co-operative living can help to share the burdens of living in an often frustrating and alienating world.

Away from the spectacular nature of the Plan B against the G8, we hope our very own Plan B will show how we can collectively challenge exploitative power relations in our everyday lives.