Amsterdam: Anarcha-Feminist Group Squat a building on Kinkerstraat 16, Medusa Squat & Social Centre

By: fawda - July 1st, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Today we announce our new squat on the Kinkerstraat 16.

We have been living on the Kinkerstraat 16 for about a week now. After many tries it seems that we have now managed to avoid a speed eviction and we might actually be able to stay for some time- though all squats are temporary and under neo-liberal, late capitalism, precarity has become the norm, something that does not just apply for squats. The time to get organised, to built alternative structures that are directly opposed to and in conflict with the structures of the state – is now! We call on all Flint* people who agree with our manifesto and who have a willingness to participate to join us. This space belongs to all that struggle against capitalism, the state and the patriarchy. For us that dream of a world where we can all be free and equal, without hierarchies and cages. If you have an idea for an event, want to use to space to organise in, or want to help out, please get in touch by writing an email. [Read More]

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Ghent: opening of the Blauwhuis

By: fawda - June 19th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Since this morning, the Blauwhuis in Nazareth (Belgium) is open. The farmstead and the land around it belong to the Ghent public patrimony and are sold on the private market. The squatting of the Blauwhuis is an indictment of the privatization of our public housing and land, especially when we see how many people do not have access to (decent) housing and nutritious meals. We give the homes to those who need them and the land to the farmers without land, so that food from the Ghent countryside comes to the city again.
For sustainable agriculture, a sustainable investment policy, food sovereignty and sustainable coexistence.

Against the privatization of public property, against the concept of ‘not growing = dead flourishing’, against hunger and against the housing shortage, against profit maximization at the expense of the citizens of Ghent [Read More]

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Berlin: Die Rigaer lebt – an address to our friends and comrades

By: fawda - June 17th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Thanks to every support that was developed during the last weeks and especially the last two days of preparation and collective fight against our common enemies, we managed to develop the most intensive fighting days that we could have imagined. Days which turned every plan from the state and capital into a catastrophy. A great reminder to ourselves, our collective and its supporters, how important the movement’s networks, infrastructures of solidarity and self-organisation are.

Starting with the defence of the neighbourhood against the establishment of the red zone we drew the right concequence out of the aggressions of the state and the real estate market, against the people living in the city. The announcement of danger zones and red zones, where people get easy targets for the police in order to create an atmosphere of isolation and fear, has become normality in this city of the rich. We saw in the last years many occassions where we as those who are targeted by the states attacks had to stand in almost silent protest at the fences, guarded by a militarized police force. Let’s name the eviction of the Ohlauer School in Kreuzberg, the eviction of the Kiezladen Friedel54 and all the other projects as Syndikat, Meuterei and our neighboors Liebig34. This fact can not be tolerated anymore – the people have to rise up! [Read More]

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Berlin: Rigaer94, our statement on the current situation

By: fawda - June 16th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Today, on the evening of June 16, we look back on a militant day and a temporary autonomous zone and look forward with a clenched fist. Yes, we will remember the barricades in Rigaer Straße and their collective defense for a long time with a big smile on our faces. Step by step, the Senate and the owners are burning their fingers at the attempted destruction of our home.

After the street, there are now problems on the legal level. A higher administrative court has considerably complicated the starting position for those responsible at the Senate and the letterbox company for the attack on our house. The latter, represented by Bernau, Luschnat and von Arentin, was forbidden to enter our premises at all. Moreover, the cops are to be given access only to the stairwell, attic, courtyard, etc., but not to the private apartments.

At this moment, the expert, who is now declared to be responsible, is told by our lawyers that he can inspect the fire protection in our house without any danger to his health and can come in and out without any problems. Of course, without even a cop, as we have already declared in January 2021. And we keep our word. That should have become more than clear again today. Completely in contrast to the word of numerous politicians, whether in the district or senate, that of the cops or even a windy letter box company. Some of them still dare to claim that it is not about an eviction of Rigaer94. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Anarcha-Feminst Group squat building on Sint Willibrodrusstraat

By: fawda - June 5th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

New chapter in the zero tolerance policy towards squatting in Amsterdam. In the evening of friday 4 June 2021, many people are taking part in a squatting action in the Pijp. A house is squatted, banners hanged, slogans chanted, fireworks lighted up, a neighborhood letter handed out. Cops are showing up in big numbers, claiming squatters are caught in the act. They want to evict right away. The big group and neighbors are all together pushed away from the area. Later in the evening, riot cops won’t find anybody inside the squatted house which is ending boarded up by a private company. No arrests are reported.

Statement by the Anarcha-Feminst Group Amsterdam:

Today we squatted Sint Willibrodrusstraat 15 owned by ‘evil corp’ Blackstone. This building has been empty for a long time. today we ended this situation of emptiness and speculation by giving the house back its purpose.

Fuck Blackstone, eat the rich!
Stop speculation, squat the world

We are told that there are not enough houses for everyone, that there are not enough spaces for the refugees and migrants coming here fleeing imperialist wars and economies that have been destroyed by (neo)colonialism. It is unacceptable that the media blame migration for the fact that we all seem to struggle to find a home.There is no problem of a lack of space, there is no “housing crisis”, the only problem is the unequal distribution of wealth. The problem is capitalism. [Read More]

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Athens: Theater Embros resquatted

By: fawda - May 26th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

A very large and enthusiastic meeting of Embros on Sunday 23 May decided to continue the defense of the Free Self-Managed Theater. The attempt of the police and the Public Property Company to reseal the Embros on the morning of Monday 24 May was met by the lawyers of the movement and the people of the struggle, the united solidarity forces and the works were stopped. We start today Monday 24 May and every day from 5 pm a week of Art and Freedom in front of the building and collective works to repair the damages caused by the eviction.
On Saturday 29 May, we call for a nationwide Day of Action of artists, neighbourhood assemblies and social centers in every corner of the country to defend not only Embros but all liberated spaces. The power of self-organization can stop the destruction of our neighborhoods and nature threatened by the tide of exploitation and the insolence of obscenity.
The weekly program of events starts now! It will be enriched daily with new entries. We invite art groups to present their ideas and work during the day outside the building. [Read More]

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Athens: on the side of the Embros Theatre

By: fawda - May 26th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

The chronicle of a repression announced for 10 years was completed yesterday with the eviction of the Embros theatre. A space that began as a response to the capital’s overthrow of iconic urban landmarks is sealed off to be overpowered.

The occupation of the Embros Theatre was the appropriation of a decaying cultural tool and its true utilization by people of art, politics, and the neighborhood. All these masses of people who passed, the participants and producers of another culture testing its grips, can attest to this but also reflect on what its loss signifies.

In the midst of the pandemic, in the most gentrified area for the capital’s small and large tourist capital, Embros was a thorn, not only for its political flavour but also for constituting an agitated and agressive voice at the centre of the tourist product. Something like a stronghold a few meters from the tables of the occupied city held parties, theatre performances, speeches, events, concerts, seminars, collective kitchens, festivals… For free. Organized horizontally. And without discrimination, neither ethnic, nor racial, nor, unfortunately for gentrification. [Read More]

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Brussels: eviction suspended and doors open to the Louise occupation

By: fawda - May 26th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

The mobilization against the threat of eviction of the Louise/Defacqz occupation seems to be bearing fruit. In a few days, more than 60 associations and 2000 citizens have signed a petition to ask the owners to reconsider their position and to allow the occupying individuals and families to stay in the shelter until the work is done. Thank you for your support!

The eviction has been suspended and the owners could start negotiating a temporary occupation agreement again. Contacts in this sense have taken place with their lawyer and with the alderman for housing of the city of Brussels. The owners have to come back to the occupants in order to, we hope, advance in the negotiations. Nothing is won yet, but things are moving in the right direction. Let’s stay mobilized for the future! [Read More]

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Berlin: Analysis, Tips and Tactics – Don’t wait until it’s too late

By: fawda - May 8th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Køpi and Rigaer94 are calling for the “Don’t wait until it’s too late” Demo, may 15th on Gendarmenmarkt.

It should be a strong and dynamic demo, not waiting for the next eviction date. There have been many evaluations and analysis of our demos in the last years, enough so to succeed a few times in breaking out of our usual behaviour and winning back some potential for action. We’re hoping for our demos to be good for more than just being seen and heard, or blocking something. It’s about creating collective moments, moments where we can find together in the street, moments of breaking with normality, getting over mass inertia and snapping the social reigns. Moments were we can recognize and experience our collective strength. Not as an event but with the goal of creating an instant which connects us with other points in a timeline of radical praxis and building on them. Moments from which a dynamic can grow, where it’s possible to join spontaneously, where people can dare to try new things and gain experience. In order not to turn this quest into our own impasse it’s necessary to always rethink and adjust our approach and break out of habits and routines. As a base we gathered some analysis and suggestions here. [Read More]

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Madrid: La Ingobernable opens a Social Rights Office in the center of the city

By: fawda - May 7th, 2021  Filed under: Communique

The collective that squatted the building at 39 Gobernador St. announced this morning that they have occupied a building at 5 Cruz St. to “resist in common and conquer new rights”.

With the slogan “Social rights to change everything”, the collective of La Ingobernable has started this new project that they have called Office of Social Rights (ODS, Oficina de Derechos Sociales). In a communiqué they explain that it will serve to “resist in common and conquer new rights” because they cannot “wait any longer” and point out that the current crisis of covid19 “hits us with other pandemics: hunger lines, distrust, fascism, precariousness, racism, speculation, loneliness, pessimism and fear,” they claim.

The ODS will have seven axes that respond to seven social urgencies: the right to housing, the right to food, the right to protest, labor precariousness, transfeminisms and dissidence, basic income and community health. It is this context of social emergency, which has prompted the collective to raise the slogan “Social rights to change everything”, with a commitment to “resist in common” and open this space where “develop, protect and fight for social rights”. [Read More]

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Brussels: a hundred residents mobilise to avoid eviction

By: fawda - May 7th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Press release 7 May 2021. Brussels city – a hundred residents are mobilising to avoid eviction: the building has been empty since 2017 and belongs to Belgium’s second largest fortune.

The building was squatted by the “Solidarity Requisition Campaign” in March. Following the occupation, negotiations were started in order to reach an agreement and sign a temporary occupation agreement with the owner, Viscountess Caroline de Spoelberch. Despite encouraging beginnings, the latter is now backing down and has obtained an eviction order. The residents are mobilising to avoid being thrown out on the street in the midst of a social and health crisis.

A hundred or so people have been living for over a month in the gigantic building , which overlooks both Rue de Livourne and Avenue Louise. Purchased in 2018 for 18 million euros by Caroline de Spoelberch, it has remained unoccupied since then. For this reason, the “Solidarity Requisitioning Campaign” took over the building at the end of March and several groups of homeless or badly housed people, including the Voice of the Homeless BXL and the Voice of the Homeless Family, quickly moved in. [Read More]

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Solothurn: Wagenplatz “Wagabunten”, 7 years are enough! The “Wagabunten” are still around!

By: fawda - May 5th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

For 7 years now we can be found in our trailers in the city of Solothurn and the surrounding area. 7 years in which we have tried to get our request for a fixed location for our caravan site. But unfortunately there is still no solution for our alternative living project.
In these 7 years we have tried different solutions: we have collected signatures, we have actively approached land owners, be they private individuals, the city, the canton or the surrounding communities.
A concept was also worked out and sent to various parties. But even with the consent of a private land owner and a building permit, obstacles were put in the way of our project. Therefore, the occupation of brownfield sites has proved to be the most effective method for us. In this way we have occupied over 25 derelict sites in the last 7 years. For us “Wagabunten” this means moving on average every 3 to 4 months!
We demand a location for our trailer park!
There are some examples of alternative living in Bern, Biel, Lucerne, etc. that show that they’re in demand and that there are possibilities to legalise such projects. [Read More]

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