Horror arrives at London Evening Standard by the pen of Matt Watts, supposedly a journalist, a posh and naive pawn, for whose neoliberal minds for whom it is difficult to understand the meaning of gentrification and class struggle.
<< A group of “five stars squatters” has taken over a historic office block just yards from Buckingham Palace. Activists who have entered the former HQ of the Institute of Directors at 123 Pall Mall today vowed to stay “as long as they can”. The six-storey, multimillion-pound office block is 700 yards from Buckingham Palace. The squatters moved in last week and have renamed it as the Instutute of Dissidents.
<<At least 40 squatters are hosting workshop, film screenings and soup kitchen for homeless in the “radical space”.
He said he spoke with a member of the Autonomous Nation of Anarchists and Libertarians (ANAL) and the activists.
“We are not just lefties and hippies, we are very much upmarket squatters now too” with irony.
“The building was empty so why can’t we use it? We are respecting the interior. There will be no graffiti, no drug taking”.
“We want to make an statement that buildings worth millions of pounds are standing empty in the heart of this city where people cannot afford to live and are desperate for housing”.
The activists have used their occupation to launch an attack to the Institute of Directors, claiming it is interested “only in the needs of the rich”.
Designed by Scottish architect Alexander Peebles, and built in the 1880 with the money from the explotation of the old colonies. A boring building whose only remarkable feature is “big”. The Institute, which represents company directors, handed back the lease on the building and left it last year after an expansion at their new headquarters down road, next to the epicenter of corruption, the City.
A possible message was received from the Capitalists:
“we vacated this building six months ago, but there is a chance there are some old Frederick Hayek or Adams Smith books left behind so they can learn how to rob as we do” .
Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians. Joint Statement.
It is well known that behind the face of a politician lies the logo of a corporation. For this reason that the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians (A.N.A.L.) and Squatter and Homeless Autonomy (S.H.A.) have occupied 123 Pall Mall, which was formerly the Institute of Directors.
The Institute, now a few buildings down the road, functions as a lobby group for business leaders and CEO’s who wish to “exercise influence in all areas of social and economic policy”. Zero-hour contracts, lower taxes in such a way that inevitably benefits the wealthy, and the erasure of workers’ rights are at the centre of the Institutes monetarist ideology. Their website states it plainly.
The building has been renamed the Institute of Dissidents. Dissidents are squatters, rioters, grass-roots journalists, community activists. In our age of mass exploitation and state violence, dissidents are those who resist the hierarchy summarised so crudely by this building’s previous owners.
A.N.A.L and S.H.A have opened the building as a radical space used to network anti-capitalist groups and individuals. In particular, we will host Know Your Rights, internet security and squatting workshops, screen the green anarchist documentary EndCiv, and use the cooking facilities in the building for the benefit of local street homeless people.
In their work ‘An Introduction to Civil War’, the radical collective Tiqqun revokes the lie of government. The State does not mean order, but the continuation of civil war: the rich are waging war against the poor, fascists against immigrant and black communities, PCSOs and their byelaws against squatters and other homeless people.
The opening up of squats and other autonomous zones, such as this at 123 Pall Mall, blows a strike in favour of the oppressed. A.N.A.L. and S.H.A welcome you to the Institute of Dissidents.
LINKS:
Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians A.N.A.L.
Statement published on Occupy London blog: http://occupylondon.org.uk/autonomous-nation-of-anarchist-libertarians-a-n-a-l/
Published by Pablo Heraklio, la Tarcoteca.
Spanish version:
LA TARCOTECA Contrainfo: UK: Los nuevos vecinos de la Reina son Anarquista “5-estrellas”
