Rotterdam: Call to occupy Tweebosbuurt!

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

Tweebosbuurt is a neighborhood in the Afrikaanderwijk district, which is mostly inhabited by descendants of migrants from North-Africa, and situated in the South of Rotterdam, nearby the city center. There are four blocks of small buildings surrounding public parks and gardens. This disctrict has been gentrified for years already, mostly due to the highly increasing rent in the rest of Rotterdam which is leading students and white yuppies to settle in, and then to reclaim pacification of one of the last alive neighborhood of the city.

The city council has decided to take this issue seriously. The next step for the gentrification of Afrikaanderwijk is the demolition of the totality of Tweebosbuurt. We’re speaking here about 600 houses and shops, almost 25 000m2. 535 of these are ruled by Vestia, a private social renter which is mandated by the city council of Rotterdam to make this giant “social plan” a reality. Vestia is paid 24M euros only for the eviction itself, not including the price of the demolition and reconstruction.
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Manchester: Winter Shelter

By: sisulscz - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

In Manchester, a squatted winter shelter has been set up for the Xmas period. Organising on Facebook under the name ‘Manchester Winter Shelter’ the project is now on its second building having lost the first one in court on Tuesday (17th) but that’s not stopping them!
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Brighton: As council seals arches, where do the people go?

By: sisulscz - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: News

On Thursday 12th and Friday 13th several arches and shelters above Madeira Drive, at Black Rock, spaces which had housed a community of people over the summer were sealed off with metal grilles — the question has to be where are those people now? [UPDATE the grilles were taken down again a week later]

This summer I was really shocked by the number of homeless people in Brighton. It was much higher than it used to be. Despite a controversial official survey which said numbers had dropped by half, the evidence from my own eyes was that I saw many more homeless people on my way into town than in previous years. There are also many people living in the parks and on the beach. There have been encampments all over town, for example Hove Lawns. Now it’s getting colder, the camps are disappearing and so are the people. Where have they gone? Each person sleeping rough has their own reasons for doing so, maybe some have chosen to move on because of the weather, but what about the others?
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Athens: Statement by the Koukaki Squat Community

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

We may have fallen, but we’ve fallen on their heads.

Statement of the squatters and comrades who defended Matrozou 45 and escaped from the MAT, OPKE, and EKAM police forces of repression. While facing a police raid, we were informed to the fate of the other houses in our squatted community.

We immediately barricaded the house and entered conflict with the forces of repression. Furniture, electrical appliances, boilers, paint, fire extinguishers, everything and anything in the house fell upon their heads. They responded by shooting and injuring us with plastic bullets as well as with stun grenades thrown directly into our home. We shouted “Here we live, here is our home, here we will die!”—”Fuck your development and Airbnb.” [Read More]

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Athens: Solidarity call with the Koukaki Squat Community

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

The state’s spectacular repression made another show this morning with the eviction of three living spaces, squats of housing and struggle, those of the Koukaki Squat Community (*). Armed to the teeth state guards, using all their gadgets, broke down doors, shot tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets into the houses and the bodies of those living inside, in order to “return the buildings to their rightful owners”, in other words, to the desert of private ownership and capitalism. During the operation, they even tortured and arrested neighbours who dared question their all mightiness.

The message carried out by the bastard torturers and murderers, those bodyguards of fat cats and their politicians, was one of sweeping state terrorism against the social body.

The Koukaki squat community 3 years ago, opened up a space that kept growing, for the needs of the struggle for social self organization, against capitalist and state oppression. The community has defended its ground combatively whenever this was called for. This morning’s battle returned a bit of the violence to its institutional beares, proving in deed that the only lost battle is the one not fought for. [Read More]

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Athens: Evictions in Marousi and Koukaki

By: fawda - December 17th, 2019  Filed under: News

Today in the early morning hours, Villa Kouvelos in Marousi (northern part of Athens) was evicted by a strong state anti-terrorist police force.
The empty and dilapidated building was squatted by anarchists in April 2010 and quickly developed into a nationally known social center, providing the district with concerts, lectures, discussions, political events, etc.
The villa has also been the target of attacks by right-wing groups such as the Golden Dawn. In the north of Athens, Villa Kouvelos was an institution and its eviction is a catastrophe for the neighborhood in cultural terms alone, leaving behind – similar to the eviction of the Villa Zografou – a socio-cultural desert. As far as is known, there is also no special reason for the eviction, there are no plans to use the building or sell the land. The eviction is therefore a purely populist act. [Read More]

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Finland: New squat Kattila under threat of eviction

By: fawda - December 15th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

A small, cozy wooden house was squatted on 13 December in kivihaka, Helsinki, Finland on the corner of roads Hämeenlinnanväylä (E12) and Hakamäentie.

We all need space to live and be in. Space to sleep, cook, meet each other, perform mutual projects, study and develop ourselves, organize events, create new and to have fun. These kinds of spaces are not distributed fairly in hierarchically organized society. When some let their “owned” buildings sit empty, others are without communal spaces or even homes. Besides this, there are numerous places that are not safe if you’re something else than a white cis-hetero male or even open at all for poor people. This feels unfair and pisses us off. Something must be done! [Read More]

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Serbia: Update from Šid

By: sisulscz - December 15th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

In Šid, Serbia, we are currently experiencing the gradual return of migrants after the recent eviction of squats throughout town. Police had forcibly brought people living inside the squats to far away camps close to the Romanian and Bulgarian borders. This resulted in a major set back for them on their way to the EU. However, there also are new faces among those coming to Šid.

During the eviction, many of the guys had their telephones, money and other personal belongings taken away by police. Tents that were sheltering over a hundred people prior to the eviction were destroyed, as well as all the blankets keeping these same people warm at night.
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Bordeaux (France): ‘Living from day to day’ in migrant squats

By: fawda - December 14th, 2019  Filed under: News

As the western French city of Bordeaux struggles to accommodate its growing migrant population, more and more squats have popped up to keep the city’s legal and illegal migrants off the streets. However, since the region appointed Fabienne Buccio as its prefect, an aggressive evacuation campaign has been set in motion; with over 70 squats having been shut down in the past 6 months alone.

Like most children her age, eight-year-old Samar loves the extracurricular activities that are held on Wednesdays. “Today we painted, and we were even allowed to paint on the wall [of the squat]!,” she exclaims in impeccable French before one of her mates interrupts her for a play fight. “He annoys me a lot, but what is good here is that we’re allowed to disagree,” Samar says and points to the little boy who goes on to pull a face and then bursts out laughing. “There’s respect, but above all there’s no war like in my country,” she says [Read More]

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Ronzón (Spanish State): Social center El Palaciu under threat

By: fawda - December 13th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

The social center El Palaciu of Ronzón, Asturias, which was squatted last April is facing threat of eviction.
The mansion which houses the social center is owned by the Fundacion de Ronzón. They are the inheritors of Spain’s feudal system. They have extensive land holdings in and around Ronzón. As this includes all the houses of the families living in Ronzón, they also are the landlords to the entire local community. Charged by the conditions of the trust with developing the countryside, their only action of note has been to undermine the Palace by profiting from the unwanted, unfinished AVE high speed train. Oh, they also profited from a duck farm scam.
Our vision of the countryside is different. If they are the continuation of feudal oppression, we are the continuation of peasant resistance. The rent seeking of the Fundacion and their ilk has led to the abandonment of over 800 villages in the Asturian countryside. The bureaucrats in rural town halls dream vapid dreams of wealthy city dwellers spending their excess capital in an uninhabited, natural paradise. We live and breathe and work for a sustainable, thriving agrarian world; a world where the necessities of life, like land and housing, are held in common for the empowerment of all. [Read More]

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Oakland (USA): Moms for Housing Respond to Eviction Notice

By: sisulscz - December 13th, 2019  Filed under: Announcement

On November 18th, a group of mothers without shelter reclaimed possession of a vacant investor-owned property in West Oakland. They have been living in the home with their children and rehabilitating the property ever since. On December 3rd they received an eviction notice from Wedgewood Inc, the company that has been holding 2928 Magnolia St. vacant during a housing crisis. The eviction notice named the previous owner of the house, not the Moms for Housing.

“Wedgewood wants to pretend we don’t exist, that their actions don’t have real-life consequences for Oaklanders,” said Dominique Walker, one of the Moms for Housing and a resident of 2928 Magnolia St. “We’ve had hundreds of our supporters calling and emailing them. We’ve sent letters from ourselves and supporting organizations. But Wedgewood has refused to sit down with us to talk. Instead of negotiating with us in good faith, they hired a ‘crisis communications’ firm and sent an eviction notice to someone who doesn’t even live here.”
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Seattle: Autonomous Tiny Home Village Pushes Back Eviction to March 2020

By: sisulscz - December 10th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

Report from Stop the Sweeps and Demand Utopida Seattle on the recent pushing back of an eviction of an autonomous self-organized tiny house village.

Seattle Deputy Mayor Mosley has promised that the village will not be swept and may remain on the current site through March 2020. The City has secured a commitment from the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) that they will not try to remove the houses, which they claim to own. He expressed some concerns about whether the budget outlined by the village will be adequate, wants the village to commit to allowing case managers to work with residents, and says there are some other details to be worked out, but it is a relief to everyone to have this overview agreed upon. The residents will now be responsible for coming up with the funds to cover utilities and other operating costs which are estimated to be $27,000 through March 2020. If you are so inclined to donate, please follow this link here.
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