Manchester: New shelter squatted

By: sisulscz - December 24th, 2019  Filed under: Announcement, Communique

Update from Manchester Winter Shelter: We have secured a new space that we hope to keep over the xmas period. We are now open for homeless folk.

If you are part of a homeless organisation/ outreach or hosting a xmas dinner please point people with no where to stay to us if they need it. We need people with cars who are available to collect people. Please message us if this is something you’re able to help with.

*We are still not able to take any donations due to the huge amount we have recieved*
Many, many thanks.
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Berlin: Greek consulate occupied – Solidarity with the squats in Greece

By: sisulscz - December 23rd, 2019  Filed under: Communique

Since the July 15, 2019 a wave of repression against the squatted spaces in Greece has been in full force.. Therefore today on December 23, 2019, the symbolic action or rather the occupation of the Greek consulate in Berlin-Mitte (city centre of Berlin, Enough 14), took place as a direct solidarity action.
On November 20, 2019 the Greek Minister for Public Order, Chrisochoidis M., issued a 15 day ultimatum against the autonomous scene, with the option to leave the buildings and houses or sign a contract with the owners.

After the ultimatum expired, the first four evictions occurred within a few days in the Attica metropolitan area.. In the time before that, the following happened: 15 occupied spaces or self-managed house projects were violently evicted, the police invaded the autonomous Info space of the ASOEE (University of Economics)., the parliamentary majority abolished the right of asylum on university campuses, criminal law is being tightened, people have been brutally beaten up, sexist assaulted on a daily basis and in revenge for imprisoned for political or ideological reasons (the case of Kortesis Ch., with Leroy Merlin), Reports were constructed by the police (case of V. Stathopoulos) and migrants or fugitives were secretly transported from the city centre to the deportation prisons.
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UK: Social Centre Bulletin – Manchester Winter Shelter and a Happy New Year

By: sisulscz - December 23rd, 2019  Filed under: Communique

As winter creeps in a handful of locals decided that the councils apathy regarding the homeless simply isn’t acceptable and set about doing something about it. That something is called the “Manchester Winter Shelter“. Their aim is to provide a safe and secure space for the cities homeless from the 18th of December until the end of February.

On the 15th they let word out that they had squatted the old Jobcentre on Clarence road in Longsight and were preparing it to house people. Donations came pouring in and they set to work not only preparing the place for it’s would be residents but heading out onto the streets to help with the regular outreach of Manchester Homeless Group and started to talking to people in need of a roof. They faced a difficult task indeed but were instantly inundated with support from folk from across Manchester as well as with the mutual aid of other Homeless support organisations.
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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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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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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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Athens: From Theory to Practice – An Initial Response – 15 buildings liberated

By: sisulscz - December 6th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

The entire state machinery of the Mitsotakis government, spearheaded by its repressive forces, is opposed to anything that challenges its impositions of normality. It uses the doctrine of “law and order” and the rhetoric of zero tolerance as a veil to cover and distract from its endless inconsistencies. It feeds its constituents the rhetoric of nation, security, legitimacy, and development while adopting models of polarization and paradigms of bygone eras. The purpose is clear: the attempted eradication of the structures of struggle and the destruction of the revolutionary movement, which stands against its development plans and any model of so-called urban gentrification. At the same time, there is a systematic effort to massively displace populations that do not “fit” into the increasing needs of capital and the bosses of the metropolis. The effort to create an ideal consumer environment of both a passive and easily controlled population that serves the private interest is high on their agenda. On the one hand, airbnb, entertainment hotspots, shop windows, and hotels aim at the spectacle-ization of neighborhoods and the profitability of the few, while, on the other hand, cameras, drones, enforcement of all kinds, and the ceding of control of every [public and private] space to the police state for consumer control, surveillance, and commerce.
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Puget Sound: Stop the Sweeps!

By: sisulscz - December 6th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

Don’t Let Your Houseless Neighbors Be Treated Like Garbage

Flyer for printing stopthesweepsflyer

Thousands of people sleep-rough in tents, doorways, or vehicles around the Puget Sound. On any given day they might be forced to give up what little semblance of stability they have by threat of violent arrest and seizure of their few belongings. These sweeps are a never-ending game of whack-a-mole where the only result is to keep the problem out of sight and out of mind, all while inflicting ever-more violence and trauma on those already suffering.

As an avalanche of tech capital pours into the region, more are forced out of their homes and onto the streets every day. This displacement often falls along historic lines of racist and colonial segregation: Indigenous, Black and Brown communities are significantly more likely to be forced out by gentrification and find themselves with nowhere else to go. A nationwide drug epidemic, fueled by massively profitable pharmaceutical companies, magnifies the problems homeless folks already face.
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Athens: Call for demos on 5th and 6th of December

By: sisulscz - December 5th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

Athens. On Thursday 5th December,the Ministry of Public Order’s deadline to “remove squatters” from their homes expires. On this day, we are calling on everyone to protest against the repression, not recognizing any decision of the state or ultimatum of the Ministry of Public Order. On Friday the 6th of December we also march in memory of the 2008 uprising for the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos.

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Northern Serbia: Large-scale police operation sweeps refugee squats

By: sisulscz - November 28th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

The largest eviction of people was carried out at the settlement in the former Grafosrem industrial facility, but was accompanied by the clearance of multiple other smaller squats throughout the city of Šid / The Deputy Head of the Municipality of Šid, Mr Zoran Semenović was also in attendance, declaring the abandoned factory site to be his property, loudly insulting NNK volunteers that were present and — together with police — removing these witnesses from the area
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