On the 19th January 2013, homeless activists and their allies squatted an empty building in the 7th district of Budapest. The squatters demanded the institutionalization of a right to housing and an extensive system of social housing instead of punitive measures and overcrowded shelters. The activists were arrested and now face misdemeanor charges because of disobeying police instructions.
[Read More]
Budapest: Thirty housing rights activists arrested
Budapest: Report from AK57
See also:
http://www.abb.hardcore.lt/archive/abb19/19_squatting_ak57.htm
http://squat.net/en/news/centrum_budapest081104.html
http://squat.net/en/news/budapest061005.html
Report from Squatting in Budapest with AK57
Already over half a year ago the first attempt of political squatting in Budapest since years started. Even though the house was evicted after only 2 weeks and this without any big resistance from the inhabitants (surely due to their lack of experience) we feel that it was a very important step. Also some of the squatters got “infected” by the spirit of communal living & acting, so they went on with a legal house/center project: AK 57. We hope that this project will go on and others (also new squats) will emerge. (ABB)
FISH exhibition project
Hello good afternoon
Last weeks, in Budapest, a group of people has established a community to organize the exhibition called FISH. This exhibition is going to take place in many cities and villages all over the world in the same time. We have already got in contact with squats and art communities in Scotland, Greek, Germany, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Slovakia and Italy.It is something like an underground movement. This exhibition is going to be organized everywhere from the energy of the local people. We would like to clearly disintegrate every destructive and nihilist elements. We do not like the consequences of the materialist capitalist world either. But instead of destroying we would like to create (sorry for being demagogue).
New Squat in Budapest
On Friday, 30th October squatters occupied Centrum, formerly the Uttoro Aruhaz (?pioneer shopping mall?), a vast former supermarket in the centre of Budapest. Teams of people connected water and power, built kitchens and loungerooms, and redecorated walls that were covered in 1980s porn with art, posters, and slogans in Hungarian, English, Spanish and Italian. An exhibition of found objects from the space includes transparencies of communist propaganda and ancient safety messages. Days of cleaning were followed by evenings of intense discussion. Within a week the space was converted into an infoshop, cafe, cinema, gallery, freeshop, library and residence. The building has been here since the end of the 19th century and was a supermarket from that time until 2001, since then it has been empty. Budapest squatters are, in part, campaigning for their right to housing. There are many abandoned buildings in Budapest and 30,000 people are homeless; with winter approaching the lack of housing is life-threatening. In addition the squatters are working to create a social and cultural space and a place to organise established projects such as food not bombs, indymedia, and other cultural and political collectives. Centrum squat opened its doors to the public on Sunday, 7 November with a cafe, music performance, and screening of films about squatting and the history of Budapest as well as exhibitions about the building and other vacant properties. With a warm reception from neighbours and the community the occupiers had high hopes of staying in the space. Many representatives of mainstream and independent media were invited to the opening and the squatters made the nightly news and front-page news in both major Budapest newspapers with very positive stories about the opening of a much needed cultural centre.
