Grassroots and Gardens
Photo: Sædís Harpa Stefánsdóttir
If you walk downtown by Hallgrímskirkja and take a stroll down Vitastígur, you may see a yellow house surrounded by a white picket fence. In the yard is a garden and about half a dozen bikes in various stages of repair. This is Andrými, and if you choose to go inside, you will be asked to remove your shoes and someone will offer you a cup of coffee. A box of nametags sits to your right, and pins indicating gendered pronouns are mixed in with them.
Andspyrna, the anarchist library, is to the right of the foyer, housing shelves filled with history and philosophy books and novels. The kitchen is to the left, and further inside is a large workroom with desks and chairs. A door in this room leads to the Free Shop, which has racks of clothes and tables of blankets. A sign on the door says “Take what you want” with a heart drawn below the words.
Directly in front of the front door are two staircases, one leading upstairs, the other down. The downstairs staircase will take you to the basement where plants are grown and bikes are repaired in the bike shop. The upstairs staircase will take you to the top level where the main office, the meeting room, and the kids’ playroom are. Throughout the house, pride flags hang from the rafters, posters and notices adorn the walls. Some notify the reader about what consent is, while others inform the reader about various support groups and events. All of these parts come together to form a whole message: you are welcome here, no matter who you are.
Background and history
The space is run by a group of people interested in grassroots organizing. They acquired the house in 2018, but they were active long before that in other locations. The group started meeting out of a private kitchen in 2016. “He had a people’s kitchen where once a week he opened his house for people to cook together and eat together collectively,” Christina Milcher, one of Andrými’s organizers, explains. “It was especially open to immigrants and refugees as a way to have a kind of exchange to introduce them more into society.” People used these kitchens to organize and plan events. Eventually they noticed they needed a space that was bigger and more available than a private kitchen. They briefly squatted in an empty office space in the JL Húsið on Hringbraut for a few months before the building was turned into a hostel. In 2017, they moved downtown into the top floor of Iðnó. “We were only open once or twice a week because we were sharing the space,” Christina says.
Then in 2018, they noticed that the old kindergarten on Vitastígur was empty, so they got in touch with the city. “We did not have a formal agreement with the city when we moved in at first,” Christina says. It took almost a year for the city council to approve them renting the place, but eventually the city council agreed to let them stay. “Once the project was running and quite successful already, lots of events going on, it was hard for them to say ‘no, you have to move out.’”
Photo: Sædís Harpa Stefánsdóttir
What it’s all about
Andrými is a radical space for anyone who wants to organize. They have a few guidelines, which are purposely vague to welcome as many people as possible. “It’s for anyone who wants to have any kind of events or organizing according to these topics, which could be anything, really,” Christina says. “It’s very important that it’s non-commercial, so we do not allow any paid events.” In addition, the organization insists upon not endorsing any political party. “Otherwise, it’s basically like anything else.”
Andrými’s mission is to provide a space for grassroots and non-governmental organizations to plan and host events. It is a welcoming space for those who have none, particularly refugees. It serves to help the cause of intersectionality and help join the fight against all kinds of oppression. Fundamentally, it is an institution that works to oppose alienation through building community and culture. They receive funding through donations and fundraisers tied to their events.
Solidarity with marginalized groups
The group focuses on showing solidarity with oppressed and marginalized groups, hence the name tags. “We are trying to have name tags with pronouns,” Christina says, pointing to the one she has affixed to her sweater.
“Most things are in English,” she says. “That’s because a lot of the organizers are immigrants.” Andrými is co-run by immigrants and Icelandic people. “We also had a lot of events in support of refugees, so it is for marginalized people in society,” Christina says. “Refugee groups themselves have used this house to organize. For example during protests in 2019, having a place to have a coffee and talk about the next steps really helped them.
While the refugees were organizing, other groups donated blankets, coffee, and medicine to fight the cold and accompanying sickness. “People knew they could bring the stuff they donated here and it would be given to refugees or brought to the protests. It’s really useful to have a home base for any kind of organizing.”
Photo: Sædís Harpa Stefánsdóttir
Workshops and events
Beyond the events, they have a bike workshop and a free supermarket which are open during the week. The bike shop is open on Mondays and is designed as a means to educate people about repairing their bicycles. “The idea is that you have somebody who knows how to repair bikes show other people how to repair bikes. And those people show other people, and the knowledge spreads,” Christina says. “It’s really useful because a lot of times it’s super expensive to get it repaired, and a lot of times all you need is a specific tool to do one really simple thing.”
The free supermarket runs every day from 18:00-19:30, and they have free food such as bread and produce that people can take. Some of the produce comes from the garden. The group hopes to be able to have a peoples’ kitchen again in the future.
If you want to donate to Andrými, here is their information:
kt: 421216-0100,
bank account: 0133-26-012275.
Coffee and tea are also accepted. Check out their website at andrymi.org for more information.