Calais (France): Summer of evictions reaps devastation

Calais_Beer_house_eviction

As we come towards the end of the summer no borders are counting there losses, every shelter has been raided, trashed, evicted on multiple occasions, leaving many of the migrants on the streets without tents or sleeping bags. Added to this, the rain and the cold are sapping any remaining energy, and many are sick.

The project no borders have been most involved with, that had become a shelter for the most venerable woman, children, elderly and injured people in small house called Victor Hugo or often by the migrants the woman’s house. This project has gone through many changes from being a social centre on the first floor enabling many migrants to cook their own meals to kitchen for activist groups round Europe.

Unfortunately with the massive pressure put on the space by the police evictions, the rules decided by the women of the house aren’t being respected, as there are many men coming with no other place to go leading to a desperate situation. [Read More]

Barcelona: Communiqué of the Kasa de la Muntanya squat about dismantled CCTV camera

Kasa_de_la_Muntanya_Barcelona

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. by Edward Everett Hale

In words of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, “kill the exception to confirm the rule”, and so, keep the smooth functioning of the system. The new society of control is here. It is not us who have discovered it, we’ve just suffered it, as everyone else.

A few days ago, the group Stop Control detected a police CCTV camera in the Esperança hospital looking at us, at the Kasa de la Muntanya squat. This group has made a step forward and has decided to go where this vigilance, dominance and espionage device was located. They rendered it useless and, not considering it enough, they made their action public. [Read More]

Girona (CAT): Mas Castelló evicted

Today, Wednesday 16th October, at 6am, while police officers tried to break down the front door to the house, others climbed a ladder and broke a window to the dining room. They held us in a room while they searched the house. The “Brigada de Información” (Political Police) have seized material (fanzines, a computer, mobile phones, tools…). A person got hit at their head while trying to protect their dog from the police.

We counted more than 10 vans of riot police.

Six people have been subpoenaed to make statements in Figueras on 11th November, accused, according to the court papers, of Usurpation and possibly Sedition.

http://torresmasaltashancaido.espivblogs.net/

Calais: CMS callout to come and crack buildings

Winter is coming, shelter is a priority in Calais. The police have evicted and destroyed almost our shelter – buildings, camps, tents – in the past weeks.

There are empty buildings all over Calais town. We need people to come and open and secure them! We need people with skills and energy to join and support our resistance to this border.

Calais Migrant Solidarity have squatted a social centre, as it gets colder, more and more people are trying to sleep in it. Whilst we try to keep it a safe space for vulnerable people and people working on the ground, it’s getting over filled.

October 19th: European Day of Action for Housing

Housing for people, not for profit!

We are confronted with a brutal European austerity regime which continues to transform our livelihoods into financial assets for global speculation, which violates the universal right to housing every day, which destroys democracy at all levels and has no socially acceptable solution for the crisis of capitalism. Not only since the crisis it is the poor and excluded who get hit by this system especially hard: un- and underemployed, homeless, precarious workers, immigrants, Roma, students, single mums, and everybody who is not willing to fit into a capitalist mode of reproduction. This group is now becoming the majority of society.

How the capitalist systems plays out in the diverse housing markets in Europe might be different, but the underlying logic of neoliberal politics, privatization and financialization of our homes is the same.
This is why we aim to stand up, to unite our struggles and to broaden our movements. We will not let us be divided by neoliberal politics.

Join our struggle on October 19th!

Ham­bach fo­rest (Germany): New forest under direct threat of eviction

10/10/2013 Ham­ba­cher Forst – For the se­cond time in one month the po­li­ce has been at­ta­cking the camp. Guar­ded by riot cops a fly­ing squat of RWE wor­kers equip­ped with chain­saws and a bull­do­zer en­t­e­red the pro­test site. Wi­thout ques­tio­ning the order that had been given to them they pus­hed for­ward the de­struc­tion of the pla­net we‘re all li­ving on, hel­ping to erase one of the ol­dest fo­rests in Eu­ro­pe. The huge bull­do­zer just squee­zed ever­y­thing in front of it: young trees, an­thills and wasp’s nests as well as rare blue shi­ning mushrooms which have been growing on some bar­ri­ca­des were de­s­troy­ed by this huge tech­no­lo­gi­cal mons­ter. Ever­y­thing re­sis­ting was chop­ped to pie­ces. They left not­hing but an aisle of de­struc­tion be­hind. [Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Call for decentralised action for the first anniversary of ZAD evictions

Unedited translation of Press Release from the ZAD:

19 October 2013: Protest anniversary of evictions. 14H instead Brittany, Nantes

The signatories of this statement calling for a big event October 19, 2013 at 14H, instead Bertagne in Nantes.This is part of the first anniversary against evictions last fall, the failed operation to demolish the ZAD called “Caesar” to those hard-housed occupying the space LU various places since then.

Evictions on ZAD

October 16, 2012 in the morning, the state kicked off the Caesar operation to remove and destroy the places occupied the ZAD of Notre Dame des Landes in opposition to the airport project.

At 10:30 on the field with his troops, the prefect of the Loire-Atlantique said that the operation was completed successfully and that the military occupation of the ZAD would last “a few days” to complete the destruction of homes. Given the resistance that is organized and developed, taking many forms there and everywhere, facing external solidarity ZAD who provided logistical, political and moral support, these “few days” have become months .. . ZAD is always busy! [Read More]

London: The Bohemia Community Project

We are a collective of community activists, who successfully helped to save the Friern Barnet Community Library.

We have occupied the closed Bohemia Pub Building (762-764 High Rd, Finchley, N12 9QH, Nearest tube: Woodside Park).

We are setting up a community centre project to boost the campaign aimed at reopening it as a community centre/pub.

Videos:

Bohemia occupied community centre pub 1
Good news Bohemia occupied community centre pub 2
Bohemia cabaret: 12piano and band

[Read More]

Bristol: Kebele social centre is 18 years young

What started as a squatted empty building in the autumn of 1995, has turned into an 18 year (and counting) experimental project putting anarchist ideas and practices into action on a daily basis. Much to the disgust of Kebele’s many detractors over the years, who wont be coming to the 18th birthday bash! (Update – Kebele’s big birthday bash benefit gig on 5th October raised over £2000 for the social centre, thanx to all who came!)
[Read More]

Utrecht (The Netherlands): Illegal arrests at the Boelesteinlaan.

This morning the police were at the door of a squat in Zuilen. As always, they hadn’t heard of housepeace. Read on and shiver.

Half a year ago a house was squatted on the Boelesteinlaan in Utrecht.

One day the police came to search the house for a criminal (also called a “squatter”). They started asking people for their identity cards. Because you aren’t legally required to identify yourself in your own home this was rejected by the occupants. The police were friendly and accepting to this decision as always… They told the occupants that “we will see what we will do with your house”. Some days later the eviction letter arrived. [Read More]

Hackney, London: Builders force entry to damage 195 Mare Street – help needed

Today at approximately 10:05 a.m. as two of us were returning from scavenging fruit and vegetables a group of about a dozen builders forced entry into the social center.  They then proceeded to affix a notice board to the wall declaring that the building was a construction site. We notified them that the property was legally occupied in accordance with the 1977 Criminal Law Act and that they had committed an offence by breaking into the building while it so occupied. Apparently unconcerned that their conduct was illegal, they proceeded to begin gutting the building while we were inside it. They also proceeded to disconnect the buildings water, by cutting the pipe connecting to the water main.

The builders were employed by CS Solutions and their supervisor was Jim Casey, the same man who had similarly threatened us weeks ago.  No planning permission has been granted for any work to be done on the building; despite this and despite the building’s listed status they proceeded in doing significant damage to the downstairs. [Read More]

Amsterdam (The Netherlands): October 2013 at Joe’s Garage

Joes_Garage_October_2013_

As a squatted social center, how do we communicate to the outside world? Where do you find us on-line and where do you NOT find us? We are not here to provide passive intelligence to state intelligence agencies, or to make their task easier. Making ourselves visible on a website hosted by a radical and political server is a first necessary step. Being able to reach other activists and squatters, not only the ones based in the Netherlands, is something we would not want to miss. In the will to be an open space for political initiatives, we want to reach further than the neighbourhood, further than a city and its squatting scene.

Being a squat and having a squat scene active and visible on decent platforms may have some importance in these times of repression. Reading about houses being squatted and evicted is one thing, being able to find each other, not only on-line, knowing which are our public events has its importance to strengthen us all. [Read More]