The Freedom Shop is the name of an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

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 ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. It operates on a

non profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

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 movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

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 central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

, 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. Acc ...

shop. To begin with, NORML continued to pay the rent. The shop was run by volunteers and any profits were ploughed back into the venture. 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 State Highway 1, and was fully opened in March 2007. The bypass extends north-west ...

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: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

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 system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

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 Melrose ...

Publications

In 2014, the collective published the first issue of a periodical called ''AARGH!'' as the Aoteroa 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 Seatt ...

and local radical groups such as the 128 Community Centre.

References

External links

The Freedom Shop

Aotearoa Indymedia
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