Netherlands: Conversation with filmmaker João Romão on Dutch squats

By: krate - June 11th, 2012  Filed under: Interviews
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By Our man in Amsterdam
A new documentary on the squatters’ movement by João Romão, a Portuguese economist and activist living in Amsterdam, has just been released. Squatted Freedom, a one-hour limited-budget film, combines archival footage and interviews with current and former squatters to examine the history and politics of the movement as well as the wave of recent, violent evictions of squats in Amsterdam.

Squatted Freedom is a fascinating film. The story of the squatters’ movement, past and present, is both captivating and inspiring. Violent confrontations between police and squatters have been taking place since the 1980s and continue into the present. Squatted Freedom reaches its climax during an intense standoff and eventual confrontation between squatters and riot police attempting to evict a prominent Amsterdam squat, a scene which Romão and his colleagues were lucky enough to capture on film. [Read More]

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New York City: An interview with Rob Robinson from Picture the Homeless and Take Back the Land Movement

By: xxx - January 2nd, 2012  Filed under: Interviews
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Published in “Brisbane From Below” n°1 (Brisbane, 2011).

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you became involved with Picture the Homeless?

No problem. I became involved with Picture the Homeless after spending 10 months in a NYC shelter. I was advocating within that shelter for better maintenance conditions, adherence to rules and better food. The director advised me to take my work to a higher level and I joined something called the New York City Coalition for the Continuum of Care (NYCCCoC). This group makes up 33% of the vote on how some 60-80 million USD are spent on homeless services. Picture the Homeless had access to the email list of (NYCCCoC) and I started to receive emails about the work they were doing. I showed up at a housing meeting in November 2006, liked what I heard and became a member. [Read More]

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Ontario (Canada): An Interview with John from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

By: xxx - January 2nd, 2012  Filed under: Interviews
OCAP_logo

Published in “Brisbane From Below” n°1 (Brisbane, 2011).

Justice, Dignity, Resistance: An Interview with John from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you became involved with OCAP?

I was a worker at a factory in Ontario in the 1980s and, after being made unemployed, I helped form a union of the unemployed. In 1990, this organization helped out in the campaign that led to the formation of OCAP. [Read More]

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Grenoble, France: Interview with ex-400 Couverts squatters

By: liberation - January 29th, 2006  Filed under: Interviews

“Les 400 couverts” was a five houses squatted street in grenoble, france. It was a place i used to enjoy a lot, and i felt like interviewing its squatters in order to make people know about it. When we actually made this interview, they were about to be evicted so it was a bit particular : barricades in the whole street and houses, dozens of people around waiting for the cops to come, but in a relaxed atmosphere and while having daily plans such has building a hut in a tree, learning how to climb on a house, collective readings of the Road Protest movement in the UK. In a pub, xavier and I asked questions to julie and alain, and to aude the day after. The three of them used to live or organize activities in Les 400 couverts. The interview is very long as the discussion was very long and interesting, i already cut large parts, didn’t feel like cutting more. Thanx loads to nico and his friends who helped for the translation. Les 400 Couverts, and another squat that was very close, “La Kanaille”, have been kicked out one week after we made this interview, on august, 2nd, 2005, with at least 250 cops, who needed about 4 hours to evict everyone from the roofs and other places… Then there was a spontaneous demo into town. This was a moving and angry end… but it’s not finished and there are still squats and many plans in grenoble.

NB : In les 400 couverts, more than 30 people used to live and/or organise activities, so these three people only express their own point of views…

[Read More]

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New York City: Interview with Steven from the ABC No Rio

By: liberation - February 29th, 2000  Filed under: Interviews
The ABC NO RIO has been one of the most famous squats in New York City, located in the lower east side.
For further informations about the ABC and about New York please visit their homepage at http://www.abcnorio.org!

Can you give me a general overview of the squatting situation in New York in the past thirty years? Squattting, rent-strikes, communtiy gardens …

I only have knowledge of the NYC scene for the past 15 years, predominately of the Lower East Side. Although I’m sure there were squats in the sixties and seventies I’ve never met any person who participated. Rent was cheap (relatively) back then, and the dereliction and abandonment that characterized many urban areas in America was just beginning.
(For further info on this process, which we call “Spatial Deconcentration” I refer you to article of same name by Yolanda Ward; if you do internet search on Yolanda Ward you’ll find it.) [Read More]

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Balearic Islands (Spain): Some news from Mallorca

By: liberation - December 18th, 1999  Filed under: Interviews

Last Sunday I made a little and very short interview with someone from a squatted house in Palma de Mallorca – I ‘ve heard already, that Mallorca has a quite good antifascist movement and so I wasn’t so wondered to meet a squatter from there.

?: Hello! What is the situation with the squats in Mallorca? How many squats are there?!

!: At the moment we have two squatted houses in Mallorca. They are both in Palma, the biggest city on the island.

?: How long do the houses exist? Or is it just for a day or so like here in Berlin?

!: No – Although squatting is completely illegal, the one house exists over 4 years and the other one for 3 1/2 years. The police is very quite at the moment, they don’t want to get in trouble with us.

?: How old are the people living in the squats?

!: Hmm. Strange question! They are from about 18 to … 31, I think.

?: And what kind of people are living in the squats?

!: Well I think it is like here (in Berlin). But we are organising a lot of stuff. Very important is the antifascist stuff we are working on. Sure we are organising parties and concerts. The other house was organizing a while ago a kind of street party. In addition we have a public kitchen with vegan meals.

?: You have also car sites in Mallorca, where people live in caravans or waggons?!

!: No, I’ve heard about this. It’s not very common in Spain. Nobody knows car sites. I never was on one myself.

?: How are the contacts to other squats / to other political actions on the land (in spain)

!: We have good contacts to other squats. If you’re organizing concerts like we do, you’ll need a lot of contacts.

 

 

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