In September, an unoccupied house in Toulouse‘s Minimes district is squatted and, following legal proceedings, the occupants benefit from the winter truce (recently extended from March 31 to June 1 as part of the health crisis). These two months of extension alone trigger an update of the anti-squat media and political wave of recent months.
On February 7, the newspaper La Dépêche, published a miserable article on the “so-called” situation of Roland, a former employee of the same newspaper… The affair invaded social networks and media in the days that followed, leading to the massive presence of journalists, always there to defend the owners, possessors and other dominants.
Each time, it’s the same rhetoric, the same bogus story: old people who would be put out on the street by squatters. For them, the fable is attractive: it is the landlords who would be in misery and it is the squatters who would be at the origin of the evils of old age. Behind this fable, which plays on pathos, are clear objectives: to support the intensification of repression against squats by promoting new laws reinforcing the rights of landlords (ASAP law and other proposals to parliament). But no one is fooled: if some elderly people cannot afford the EPHAD (housing establishments for dependent elderly people) and others occupy empty houses, it is because the states and capitalism organize and maintain the misery of billions of people, elderly or not.
Also, this mediatization allows the offensive of fascists organizing themselves on the Internet, threatening to dislodge the inhabitants. The result is the presence of people playing the big guns around the squat. We were then able to be spectators of the tribune offered by the different media present to members of extreme right-wing groups.
This is why we refuse to talk to these media, which we consider to be opportunists and enemies.
Faced with this situation, forms of solidarity are being established. We are organizing to be able to counter the attempts to expel and intimidate the fascists and allow this place to continue to exist.
Squatting is sometimes a necessity.
Squatting, because finding a good place to live in the city is becoming increasingly difficult: rents that are constantly rising, segregated access to social housing, hardcore selection of tenants by real estate agencies, and so on.
Squatting means tackling the fact that some people own several housing units while others have none or are struggling to keep one.
Squatting is a way to get free housing and thus to imagine one’s life differently than one’s work and money, and to try to create one’s own spaces of autonomy.
Squatting is also a means of struggle. It means creating spaces to live something else, to think together, to develop self-management practices, to fight against relationships of domination.
We invite all people to whom this text echoes to take hold of it and to spread it, and to express their complicity in words and deeds.
We’ll keep squatting your empty villas
Press release in support of the squat on Fronton Avenue.
While cities are witnessing the flowering of major urban development projects that are bailing out the pockets of developers and emptying the centers of the poorest classes, the media is raging about the occupation of a house that has been uninhabited for several years in Toulouse.
La Dépêche and Roland the landlord chose to exploit the situation of this house shortly after the announcement of the two-month extension of the winter truce, creating a movement in defense of private property and a wave of hatred and violence. Since Sunday, a cohort of harassers, including the usual protagonists, such as the cops, the fascists and the media, along with “vigilant citizens”, have been threatening, beating and trying to evict the residents.
In the face of this, a solidarity network has been set up and is resisting until now.
Whatever the cost, we will always support the squatters. Whatever the situation, we will always be in solidarity with those who are fighting for a roof over their heads. We will continue to support the precarious people and to fight against private property.
WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN YOUR EMPTY VILLAS AGAINST THIS LIFE!
We call for all actions of solidarity with the 83 avenue de Fronton, and to defend all squats!
Squatters from Toulouse
Backlash for the anti-squat militia.
Published on February 14, 2021
Two days ago in the evening, the inhabitants of 83 avenue de Fronton in Toulouse left the squat under the threat of various groups who put private property before the need to sleep under a roof.
That same evening, one of the self-proclaimed leaders of this militia, Vin’s Ken on Facebook, called for an aperitif in the Sesquières parking lot on Saturday afternoon to “celebrate this fucking victory” and create groups capable of kicking out any squat, anywhere in France. He concluded his video with homophobic insults and with «Vive la France, nique les squatteurs !».
This afternoon, a welcoming committee was waiting for these wannabe cops who were greeted with some punches and teargas.
Down with La Dépêche, long live the squatters!
Some squats in Toulouse https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/toulouse/squated/squat
Evicted squats in Toulouse https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/toulouse/field_active/1/squated/evicted
Groups (collectives, social centres, squats) in Toulouse https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/toulouse/country/FR
Events in Toulouse https://radar.squat.net/en/events/city/Toulouse
Some squats in France: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/FR/squated/squat
Groups (collectives, social centres, squats) in France: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/FR
Events in France: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/FR
source: https://fr.squat.net/2021/02/11/toulouse-variation-de-mise-sous-pression/
https://fr.squat.net/2021/02/09/toulouse-a-propos-du-squat-route-de-fronton-et-de-laffaire-roland-solidarite-de-classe-contre-toutes-les-expulsions/
