Amsterdam: ADM starts courtcase against municipality

By: sisulscz - June 26th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Today (June22), the residents of the cultural free-haven ADM summoned the Amsterdam municipality in ‘Kort Geding’ (=> interim proceedings). They are claiming that Amsterdam enforces the perpetual clause in the purchase contract and thus prevents the public- and social interests of Amsterdam from being damaged by hundreds of millions.

More background information:

The terrain was purchased by Chidda Real Estate LLC in 1997 with the proviso that the municipality of Amsterdam always has the first right of repurchase and that only an authentic shipyard can be established on the 42-hectare terrain.
[Read More]

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Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Intergalactic Week returns!

By: sisulscz - June 25th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

After the long awaited victory against the airport project, we are trying to lift ourselves out of the brutal spring, a season marked by two phases of evictions in which the government made sure to avenge the affront that the zad had represented for so many years. The massive police operations caused many injuries, the destruction of a part of the living spaces of the zad and a long military presence. But the state was forced to give up going any further and entirely eradicating our presence in this bocage. Resistance on the ground, solidarity elsewhere and the negotiation process resulted in a status quo that maintained of dozens of homes, common spaces and activities on most of the land held by the movement. Nevertheless, what we managed to preserve today could very quickly be attacked again, administratively, politically or militarily. Whilst the zad recovers from its wounds and recomposes itself, the work in the fields and the constructions resumes and we project ourselves towards the struggles of the next months. These however go beyond us and connect with others around the world. They concern the collective and respectful use of the land, the sharing of the commons, the questioning of nation-states and borders, the reappropriation of our habitats, the possibility of producing and exchanging free from the shackles of the market, forms of self-organization on territories in resistance and the right to live there freely …
[Read More]

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South Africa: AbM win in court!

By: sisulscz - June 25th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

On Friday (June15), beginning at around 10 am, the notorious Security Management
Unit illegally, brutally and violently evicted more than 40 families in the
Barcelona 2 ‘transit camp’. The eviction was carried out until 1 am in the
morning on Saturday. A number of people were wounded during the attack.

This morning (June18) Abahlali baseMjondolo went to court in defence of our members.
We defeated the eThekwini Municipality in court. The movement has obtained
a spoilation order to reinstate our members who have been illegally evicted
by the Municipality. The court ordered that those who were illegally
evicted in Barcelona 2 must be reinstated, and that the municipality does
not carry out any further evictions in the area.

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London: Kurdistan Place

By: sisulscz - May 29th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Kurdish youth and supporters, some linked to Plan C, have occupied a vacant building near Edgware Road.

Kurdistan Place was occupied by friends of Anna Campbell last week in solidarity with the Kurdish Freedom Movement. In a statement, the occupiers said:

We want this space to enable learning about Kurdish culture and Kurdish liberation’s emancipatory politics. We also want this space to enable solidarity and anti-capitalist organising. Anna was involved with a similar project in 2012 called Palestine Place, an occupation of a building in Chancery Lane, which was set up to highlight the need for solidarity, support and knowledge about the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the ongoing siege of Gaza by Israel and Egypt. We want to use this space as a means to promote radical social change and revolution.

[Read More]

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Notre-Dame-Des-Landes: Until where will we go with this scam of negociations??

By: sisulscz - May 28th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

I haven’t signed the files project nor do i believe in negociation with a State. I don’t want to discuss with this oppressor, i just simply and only want to destroy it. But still I feel concerned by this process of legalisation that includes almost all lands and sites on ZAD, this area that I see as a whole and not only as my little home, this last one today being destroyed anyways.
We’re calling negociations the injuctions of the prefect, while I really don’t see when have we been negociating. When have we won any advantage of this situation? When have we said anything else than “Yes yes madam, we’re scared, we’re nice people!”? And today again it’s still a topic to go and sign the (agricultural) projects, without even waiting for the ones not accepted yet?! One more time, our famous limit of when will we stop being cheated is pushed further.

Some of the plea that are FOR the legalisation and HURRY let’s legalise appears absurd to me, I stay puzzled between: are this convinced people fooling their ownself or me? I don’t think that we can be smarter than the ennemy when we play his own game.

Here are the plea that are being said :
[Read More]

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Berlin: The Senate speaks of housing policy – we make it

By: sisulscz - May 28th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Last whit Sunday, ten empty houses were squatted in Berlin and Potsdam. From a villa over a former kindergarten to a whole house. What was dead speculative mass for years was filled with life. Even though some of the occupations were abandoned very quickly, #besetzen (occupying) was not just a symbolic action. Each empty building was placed in its context and for almost all objects there were concepts that showed a possible use in the sense of a solidary urban policy. It has always been emphasized that not the vacancy is the problem, but the principle of (private) ownership of useable and living space, which makes speculation possible. But speculation is not only about vacancy, but also about inhabited and used areas. This means that it can displace anyone and anything. Whether they are youth centers, day-care centers, a late night kiosk or entire blocks of flats. Therefore, on May 20, it was clear: Spaces must be occupied and defended. On this day, especially the Bornsdorferstraße 37b (Borni) in North Neukölln and the Reichenbergerstraße 114 (Friedel54 in exile) in Kreuzberg were to be defended as self-managed places for the moment and on the long-term to become places to organize the struggle for a city policy from below.

They do not want negotiations, they just want violence.
[Read More]

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South Africa: Another Comrade has been shot by the eThekwini Municipality

By: sisulscz - May 22nd, 2018  Filed under: Communique

*Attack on Abahlali by the City continues*

The armed forces working for the eThekweni Municipality continue to relate
to impoverished black people in the city like an army of occupation,
especially when poor people are organised outside of the ruling party.
Today at 11 am the notoriously violent Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolished
Mr Ndumiso Mnguni’s house in our Foreman Road branch. This was a brazenly
illegal and criminal act.

When Mr. Mnguni went into the house to remove his possessions he was
attacked and shot at by the Anti-Land Invasion Unit security. As we release
this statement Mr Mnguni is in theatre in a critical condition. The doctors
are trying to remove the bullet in his stomach. We are praying that the
mighty God saves his life.

The very surprising part is that the only house that was demolished in
Foreman Road is that of Mr. Mnguni which is in the middle of the settlement.
[Read More]

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UK: Should we be worrying about a further assault on squatting rights?

By: sisulscz - May 22nd, 2018  Filed under: Communique

On the 8th May the Evening Standard carried an article titled “Squatters law has wiped out almost all illegal home invasions in London” pointing out that less people were arrested for squatting in residential properties last year than when S144 first came in (what a surprise!).

On the 11th May some Tory MP called Philip Davies wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice [sic] to ask “what assessment he has made of changes in the prevalence of squatting in commercial premises following the introduction of the criminal provisions contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012” (to which the answer was that no data is collected).

Neither of these is unusual, but as the last attack (leading to S144) started with attacks from the “Standard” and some Tory MP, we should be prepared for an upsurge in attacks and for calls for full criminalisation.

But this time round, thanks to the Sofia House squat, other occupations, the Grenfell Tower disaster and other events, squatting, and generally requisitioning empty properties should be more easy to defend/push for. And we seem to have a leader of the opposition who would hopefully be less pliant.

Source

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Berlin: New squats!

By: sisulscz - May 20th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Places open as of 14:52 today:

Odenwaldstraße / Ecke Stubenrauchstraße (Steglitz) #OdenEckeStuben
Finowstraße / Ecke Frankfurter Allee (Friedrichshain) #EckeFinow
Bornsdorfer Straße 37b (Neukölln) #Borni
Reichenberger Straße 114 (Kreuzberg) #Friedel54 im Exil
Petersburger Straße 16 (Friedrichshain) #Peter16
Arndtstraße 13 (Kreuzberg) #Arndt13
Regattastr. 277 (Grünau) #Funkwerk
Rummelsburger Landstraße #Bootsschuppen
Karl-Marx-Straße 145 (Neukölln) #KMS145

More infos as it happens at https://besetzen.noblogs.org/ and https://twitter.com/besetzenberlin

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ZAD: Live Blog second wave of expulsions

By: sisulscz - May 17th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

You can see the live ticker over on enoughisenough

09:52am Clashes at the edge of the forest at Bellevue. Images by @ZAD_NDDL

Klaxon radio: If you are north of the Rohan forest, to the Datchacha, there is a a special unit of cop dressed in light blue who ambush people and make surprise arrests. So watch out, do not stay alone!

09:22am Cops attack with gas at the Bellevue camping. Image by @ZAD_NDDL

09:00am Solidarity protests in Rennes scheduled for 18:00 (06:00pm) at Sainte-Anne tonight. As we reported earlier there will also be solidarity protests in Paris: RDV 18:00 (06:00pm) at belleville.

08:54am Cops checking id’s and bags on a field next to the chemin de Suez. Images by @JFrancoisMartin

08:42am A digger arrived at the La Saulce crossing.

08:11am, The cops took the Saulce crossing. Image by @JFrancoisMartin

[Read More]

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South Africa: Police attack in Germiston

By: sisulscz - May 17th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Yesterday afternoon all the shacks on the Zikode Extension Land Occupation
were demolished again. Tonight a large number of police officers, from
various units, including a SWAT team, launched an unprovoked, violent and
brutal attack on the nearby Good Hope Settlement in an attempt to prevent
people from moving back to the occupied land. Rubber bullets were fired and
tear gas was used. Individuals were targeted and threatened. There has been
at least one confirmed arrest.

This is an emergency statement. Events are still unfolding, the police are
still occupying the settlement and people are currently scattered and in
hiding. We have not been able to account for everyone or to hold a meeting.
Full details will be available tomorrow morning when people have been able
to regroup.

Today is day six of the occupation. The struggle for land and dignity
continues.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Emergency Press Statement

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South Africa: New Land Occupation in Germiston

By: sisulscz - May 15th, 2018  Filed under: Communique

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement May 12 (with update May 13 below)

Last night more than two hundred people occupied unused land in Germiston,
on the East Rand in Gauteng. We laid out our design for the occupation in
the afternoon, built throughout the night and slept on the occupied land.
Around 350 stands have been marked out via a democratic and carefully
planned process. The new occupation has been named the Zikode Extension in
honour of S’bu Zikode.

On the 8th of November last year residents of the Good Hope Settlement in
Germiston attended the Land Summit called by Gauteng MEC of Human
Settlements Paul Mashatile. He told us that we must identity available land
and that his Department would then sit and talk with us with a view to
acquiring that land.
[Read More]

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