Malcolm X stares out at the West Philly neighborhood, eyes fiery with passion even in a mural on the side of this abandoned house at 49th and Hazel up for sheriff’s auction.

This house, nicknamed "By Any Means Necessary," was hoped to be the birthplace of a new community center, though one very different from the YMCA. This house would have been filled with tool-sharing programs and free stores, where you just drop off donations and pick up what you need. It would have had radical libraries and free computer access open to all with no library cards required. There would be a huge communal kitchen in which to cook free meals for the community every week. Darkrooms, carpentry spaces, silk screening, welding: This house adorned with the Malcolm X mural would have housed a new radical communal community center run by a group of anarchists.

But that didn’t happen because the anarchists got outbid at a sheriff’s auction by an investor.

They’re still looking for a space in West Philly, however, and their plans have sparked a controversy about the anarchists’ role in gentrifying the neighborhood.

The move was initially prompted when Derailer, the anarchist radical space now, outgrew its building. " When we have events, we have to move the furniture out onto the sidewalk and move it back in when we’re done," says Dave Onion, one of the anarchist activists.

James Nasti, also an anarchist activist, feels that once they actually own the space for the community center, instead of renting as they do now for the Derailer space, they can become more a part of the larger community. According to him, the current landlord places restrictions on what they can do to promote the space. "We can’t spread flyers around in the neighborhood for events we plan. Basically, he doesn’t want the neighborhood involved, and that’s the antithesis of what we’re trying to create here."

Harmony, another activist, says, "We’re trying to have a free space, which is hard when you’re working in a market system. We need to have more public activities that are not focused on buying things in neighborhoods that are being gobbled up and turned into dehumanizing capitalist stores."

Anarchists point to the 40th Street revitalization plan that the University of Pennsylvania has for the same area of West Philly they are looking in, as an example of that process. And they say with Penn eyeing the same houses as they are, that it’s only going to get harder to find a new space.

"Property owners can tell what’s happening, and they’re feeling the houses getting more valuable. I know people who bought houses for $2,000 at a sheriff’s sale, but now there’s nothing for less than $10,000-$15,000," Onion says.

University of Pennsylvania has formed a partnership with the University of the Sciences and Fannie Mae, a government-created mortgage lender, to purchase rental housing and renovate the buildings. According to Penn, this plan will "preserve moderate rental housing" by buying property from absentee landlords, who as a rule do not maintain the structures as well as community members would.

"This program is designed to make sure there are affordable rental choices for people who don’t want to buy homes, or can’t afford to, because it’s important that there be rental options for a whole range of folks who want to come to University City," says Penn representative Phyllis Holtzman.

Yvonne Haskins, a representative of Fannie Mae, says that the partnership is not even interested in buying single family homes like the ones the anarchists are looking to buy, and instead are focused on properties of 10 units or more.

"On the gentrification question that is being raised, I think [it is a] hard case to prove when you consider our objectives are to buy occupied buildings and conduct moderate rehabilitation that will not displace or spike rents to displace the existing tenants," she says.

But Nasti, one of the anarchists, calls it "apartheid." "They make slight renovations and set a fixed rent rate of $550 a month. They’re buying property, not making any new supply, and making profit off that. My friend on 43rd Street has a one bedroom and pays $350 a month." Penn’s plans would fix rent for a one bedroom at $550 a month.

Laura McTighe, another of the anarchists, says that getting a community center might slow the university. " If there is a strong neighborhood presence and a strong space bringing people together, it will offer a more organic means of fighting the gentrification plans."

Some argue, however, that what this group of predominately white anarchists is trying to do is the same old gentrification game.

"I think it’s ultimately good, but I just wish black folks would do the same thing," says Emerge, a black community activist. "I mean, if they’re squatting, it’s cool, but if they’re buying the houses, it’s just kind of the same thing, them coming in and buying up space."

White anarchists, activists and radicals have lived in the West Philly neighborhood, which is predominately black, since the 1960s so it is, as Onion says, "nothing new." A land trust, the Life Center Association (LCA), made up of different radical/progressives, including a large number of anarchists, owns a communal performance/meeting space called the A-Space, a food co-op and five group houses in West Philly.

But many people in West Philly question what kind of community is being created, and how much a part of it the original residents are going to be.

State Representative James Roebuck, who also lives in West Philly, says that the area is a very diverse and welcoming community, but that it would be important for the anarchists to engage in dialogue with their neighbors about their plans. "There would be a concern to [a] degree if they have not reached out to the community, and welcomed community participation and input in their activities," he says.

"Gentrification is a touchy thing because regardless of what we, a mostly white radical community, regardless of what we’re doing, all that is needed to start the ball rolling is our white skin," Nasti explains. "The artists and radicals move into a neighborhood and the white faces make it safer for others to follow."

Still, these activists feel that they can help to create something that the West Philadelphia community can benefit from and use. And even though they won’t be setting up shop in "By Any Means Necessary," they are definitely looking for a place to start building.

"I want this space to function as a catalyst for revolutionary social change,"Onion says, "where people who are attracted to radical ideas can go there and get plugged in."