Den Haag: December 6th, demonstration. The City Belongs To Us! De Vloek Will Not Go!

By: fawda - November 9th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

On Saturday December 6, a demonstration will take place against the approved plans of the city of The Hague to evict social centre De Vloek, and for the preservation of squatted social centres in general.

The city of The Hague wants to evict and demolish De Vloek in January 2015 to make room for a sailing center. There is already enough space for sport sailing in the harbor, but De Vloek must nevertheless step aside for the latest prestigious real estate project which nobody is looking forward to.

Even though the plan to build a sailing center for the rich
was not defeated in the city council, our campaign is still not over. The city promised to look for a replacement space for us, but the question remains whether this will happen or whether this space will be affordable. A unique quality of social centres is that financial pressure on projects and initiatives is low, allowing for more freedom for development; freedom that is difficult to find anywhere else. But our struggle extends beyond the preservation of De Vloek. [Read More]

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Peterborough: Police say squatters of residential will not be charged as thought they were tenants…

By: dolph-l - November 8th, 2014  Filed under: News

Intruders smashed their way into the home of 101-year-old Peterborough woman – just hours after police had evicted a group of migrant squatters. A rear door had been kicked in and the intruders had switched on the heating, food had been cooked and a window opened at the detached house in Granville Street. [Read More]

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Hampstead, London: Squatters kicked out after two-day Bartrams Convent siege

By: dolph-l - November 5th, 2014  Filed under: News

Squatters were forced to leave a vacant former convent next to the Royal Free Hospital following a two-day siege by a private security company hired by the building’s owner.A crew of guards from VPS security firm accompanied by two vans, purportedly containing dogs, swooped on Bartrams Convent Hostel, in Rowland Hill Street, Belsize Park, last Thursday. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: 66 apartments squatted

By: fawda - November 4th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Last Sunday a group of enthusiastic young people squatted 66 apartments on the Rijswijkstraat in Amsterdam. The flat was part of the failed New-West project which entailed some Housing Cooperations on the hight of their money-grabbing, privatized, Neo-Liberal Cocaine high, just before the financial crisis hit in 2009 and they were forced to cancel the project. As a result of this the flats where left to rot, until even the anti-squat where moved out.
Last Sunday a group of either recently, or almost evicted squatters decided that it was enough, and a group of ninety rode out to reclaim the space for the common interest. Since then the police has given no notice of eviction, but De Key (the official owner) has made a report to the authorities of “squatting”. A thing of note is that yesterday, a couple of people from the city came by pretending to give a fuck about our “health and safety” (yeah….). For the rest now, no news.

Cheerful greets & Squatting Will Stay!

update 04/11/2014 – 18:35 Only hours after the posting of this message we received letter for a court date……coming Friday.

Update 5/11/14 – the squat was today evicted by order of the mayor [Read More]

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London: Giggles Nursery evicted last week

By: dolph-l - November 3rd, 2014  Filed under: News

Giggles Nursery in Grove Green Road, Leytonstone, closed last year and a group of four squatters have been living there since the end of May. The squatters were evicted via court order by Waltham Forest council last Wednesday and the authority will clean up the premises today. The Guardian spoke to one squatter, known as Rob, who was still at the property on Friday to gather together his belongings. [Read More]

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London: Frestonia Squatters Who Declared Independence from the UK in 1977

By: dolph-l - November 1st, 2014  Filed under: essay, Interviews

From Vice Magazine by Harry Sword

In 1977, squatters on Freston Road, Notting Hill, in London, declared independence from the British state. Facing eviction by the Greater London Council (GLC), the community figured the best way to evade the constraints imposed on them was to just free themselves of those constraints altogether. So they lobbied the UN and established a 1.8-acre microstate-“The Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia”-complete with its own postage stamps, visas, and passports. [Read More]

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Madrid: Anarchist squat La Gatonera evicted

By: dolph-l - November 1st, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

In the early morning of October 27th, 2014, the squatted social centre La Gatonera in Madrid was evicted. We send strength to the comrades; nothing is finished.

Below is their communiqué (translation from Contra Info) from the day of eviction:

The State orders, the Press targets and the police evicts La Gatonera: this is how this story begins once again, that far from being a novelty, ends up being a suspicious routine. A disgusting routine that, by force of repression and fear, gradually makes an entire movement and a whole history of anarchist struggle get accustomed to having this sensation, which has become way too normalized, in its interior. The importance of so many generations that have striven, each one for years, to demonstrate that another life is possible, that there is an option outside the system in which we live, that they target us because we no longer want to be part of their miseries and because we seek to be able to manage our lives. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Understanding and resisting the corporatisation of the university

By: fawda - November 1st, 2014  Filed under: News

Two months ago the former Common Room of the Spinhuis was squatted. We see our action and presence in the Spinhuis as an act of resistance against the top-down run university. A university that is increasingly run by managers in a corporate manner, focusing on efficiency and output. Anything that does not directly lead to diplomas or a higher spot on the international rankings, is seen as a waste of time and money. We want to have an evening of discussion in our space, the day before the verdict of the university’s court-case against us.

We will first have several speakers providing a bit of background behind the neoliberalisation of higher education in the last decades. For instance, the financialization of the university (in particular the UvA) after the university took over the management of real estate from the Dutch state. Afterwards there will be space for discussion on what we can do about it. [Read More]

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