In mid-July, 2012, patrols of the carabinieri appeared at the residences of two inhabitants of the Villa Vegan Squat in Milano, to deliver “closure of the investigation” papers related to the occupation of the Squat. The Villa Vegan is an anarchist vegan space that has existed for the past 14 years, serving as a venue for countless events, benefit concerts, mobilizations and ongoing debates and dialogues over many aspects of antiauthoritarian struggle and resistance. The space and its inhabitants have supported feminist and anticapitalist struggles, animal and earth liberation, prison abolition, opposition to the CIE (detention centers for immigrants), anti-civilization movements, and resistance to all forms of repression. The Villa has also operated as an DIY community resource with a bicycle workshop, rehearsal space and recording room, and served as a locus for other forms of underground and non-market cultural production.
For 14 years this place has been the crossroads for many comrades from all over the world, and its walls have reverberated with the energy of all those who have passed through or stayed a while, exchanging political experiences, sharing affection, and building affinity on an international level. In short, the making of politics.
The Villa also serves as a home for many animals rescued from the horrors of factory farming or abusive ownership: dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, that after a life imprisoned and enslaved now live free in the garden of the Villa alongside people who consider them friends and comrades, not property to be controlled or exploited.
From reading the papers of the inquiry we learned that the complaint comes from Mari Laura, the director of the “Settore Demanio e Patrimonio” (Sector of the State Property and Estate) of the city of Milano, as a first measure preceding a future eviction: “The city asks that, after a prior identification of the squatters, all the appropriate measures are used to remove the squatters from the building, in order to realize as soon as possible the public interests by using it according to the destination given it.”
An investigation has been carried out by the Digos (the political police) of Milano, including surveillance of the gates of the Villa in order to record the entrances and exits, and the invasion of the grounds of the villa by two agents of the local police, in order to record the license plates of the cars and so identify four of the inhabitants of the house, who were later served with the complaints.
Moreover the charge of occupation, there is also a hilarious aggravating circumstance for “deterioration of the state of the places”, for the construction of a wood oven, from which we actually have taken out many outlaw pizzas!
It is clear the city wants to evict the Villa, and so we must begin immediately to mobilize against the eviction and repression. If they think that we’ll let them quietly take this liberated space in order to build the umpteenth concrete monster, result of the building speculation, they are indeed mistaken. We are ready to resist until the end to prevent not only the seizure of these grounds, but the destruction of all we have built here. It is not only the four walls we must protect, but our experiences of affinity, of everyday struggle against a repressive social order, of communal life not driven by profit and material greed. In the face of choking urbanization, we are ready to defend every tree on this land and the freedom of the animals that have found sanctuary here.
And so we invite comrades from everywhere to join us immediately in our resistance to the city of Milano, and, in case of an actual eviction, to in the days just after mobilize a forceful and durable response.
NO EVICTION WITHOUT A RESPONSE!
The way to freedom lies in the ruins of the cities!
Villa Vegan Occupata
Via Litta Modignani 66
Milano Italy
villavegansquat [at] inventati [dot] org
http://villavegansquat.noblogs.org/
if you have something to say…
Settore Demanio e Patrimonio, Via larga 12– 20122 MILANO, IV piano
Settore Demanio e Patrimonio, stanza 491, 493 ,495
Responsabile: Mari Laura, tel. 02.884.53175 – 02.884.53176
laura [dot] mari [at] comune [dot] milano [dot] it
