Amsterdam: New social centre ‘De OverVal’

overval-openingA new social centre is going to open on the Prins Hendrikkade 138/139: De OverVal! [It was recently squatted in February]

Opening night on Thursday March 5th

Starting from 7 PM there will be VOKU and punk bar

Come by to eat, drink, listen to music, play, chat, think, discuss, dance, laugh, organise, create, and resist the commercialised spaces of the inner city!

workshops, info events, movie nights, free shop, bike workshop etc will follow soon. If you want to organise any activity drop by or send an email: ph138a [at] squat [dot] net

Source

Aylesbury Estate (London): The Occupation Keeps on Moving!

Southwark Council now have an Interim Possession Order for 69-76 Chartridge on the Aylesbury Estate. It becomes illegal for anyone to ‘trespass’ in those eight flats after 14.55 tomorrow. The police may turn up at this time to enforce it.

We are now in occupation of the disused council offices at the base of Chiltern house on the corner of Albany Road and Portland Street (SE17). [Read More]

Forest of Dean (UK): Solidarity still needed at Yorkley Court Community Farm

Residents of Yorkley Court Community Farm would like to say a huge THANK YOU for the support & solidarity received so far…
[Read More]

London: New week, new building

london_new_week_new_buildingNew week and a new building has been cracked open and occupied by Love Activists London, this is our fourth which we currently hold in and around Westminster.

Building number 15 is quite something else, three floors and a basement our initial plans are to use the space to outreach into the community and organise meetings, workshops and in general activism.

We have decided that the new building is to become a community hub only, staffed by live-in volunteers and activists and following very sadly months of dealing with homeless people who have brought with them many problems that we are unable or have the time to deal with, which in itself is a diversion from what we intended to do as a protest and campaigning group, it could be drink or drugs of some description or other and on top of being homeless, as one activist has said: “I’m not equipped to be a social worker”. [Read More]

Prague: Klinika, anticommercial cultural and social center

201501_Prague_Klinika_demoPrague is just like any other big European city in desperate need of a noncommercial community centre, of a space for cultural events (such as concerts, exhibitions, etc.), educational lectures and workshops, community gardening, cooking, library, and, above all, meeting people from the neighbourhood (or anyone interested) and also a place to support marginalized groups of people (especially people without homes) who are living in stop-gap conditions on the fringes of society.

The building of former lung clinic (that’s why the name “Klinika“) in Žižkov district, which was abandoned, unused and left to decay, was taken over by a group of squatters and activists on 29th of November 2014 in order to create Autonomous cultural and social centre Klinika. All the trash including used needles was cleaned out and the first neighbourhood event was organized. But after just 10 days, on 9th of December, the building was violently vacated by police forces. On the 13th of December big demonstration took place (about 1000 people) but after its end police corpses forced everyone to leave the place, several people were injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Since then, we were stuck in endless cycle of meetings with city and state offices and basically forced to wait. [Read More]

France: Of the necessity to find ourselves – Call-out for a camp in Bure for Summer 2015

We come from counter-summits, Climate Action camps, No Border villages; struggles in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, the Susa Valley or in the Sivens; anti-nuclear struggles such as in Valognes, Montabot or Bure; social, feminist and anti-authoritarian struggles…

If all these struggles are singular, many of us will bear the same horizontality structured ideals and reflections to combat all forms of domination. We also find common ground in modes of life and action. These battles sometimes intersect and reinforce each other.

The capitalist logic transforms the territory, devastates our environments, seeking to reduce our lives at work and by consumption. Faced with this we respond with squatting, blockades, sabotage; by practices that acquire autonomy outside of this world. [Read More]

London: Squat the lot (Aylesbury Estate)

[Posted on their website Feb 20]

*We wondered where our wages went*

*We wasted most by paying rent*

*Since, we’ve learnt to change our lot*

*So now we’re living in a squat*
[Read More]

Hamburg: Solidarity paint attack against housing cooperative office

Every eviction has its price! Attack with paint against the office of the ‘Bauverein Reiherstieg’ housing cooperative in Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg:

On January 26th, 2015, Heiko was evicted from his home at 10 Otterhaken in the Wilhelmsburg district of Hamburg. For a long-time he was an obstacle against the ‘Bauverein Reiherstieg’ housing cooperative because of his organising against rising rents and due to more involvement from tenants. Since Heiko paid his rent late several times, he had to be thrown out this time.

Nearly 200 people in solidarity tried to prevent this happening. The eviction was delayed by a good 90 minutes. Unfortunately, the cops then succeeded to get through a door at the rear of the building with the help of the BFEs [special units of the German police]. The stairwell was blocked by supporters, but was then violently evicted. All this in the name of the ‘Bauverein Reiherstieg’. [Read More]

Dublin: Housing Activists’ Cases Dismissed From Court

20150217_Dublin_Housing_Activists_Cases_Dismissed_From_CourtToday 8 housing activists from An Spreach Housing Action Committee and from D8HAC were up in court. All 8 were charged with trespassing on the 29th of July 2014 in a vacant flat in Charlemount Street in Dublin’s south inner city. All charges were dismissed by the court. This is a small victory for the housing groups, but the struggle continues it is not the end of the campaign to highlight the homeless and housing crisis.

An Spreach was formed to help highlight the homeless and housing crisis by methods of direct action. In the sort time of An Spreach’s existence it has been involved in helping stop house evictions; banner drops around the city; removed homeless spikes that were erected outside the Department of Social Protection (homeless people were sleeping in the Department’s doorway to try get some protection from the elements (these spikes were made from cement and bolted to the ground to prevent homeless people sleeping there); and An Spreach liberated a vacant flat in the Tom Kelly flat complex in Charlemount Street in Dublin’s south inner city. An Spreach was created by housing activists that were sick and tired of the lack of action and change from politicians and community representatives in trying to combat the problems of the homelessness and the housing crisis. [Read More]

Toulouse: February 21st demonstration in support of the ZADs and against the world of concreters

On the 25th of October 2014, the death of a man by the police on the ZAD of Testet marked the beginning of two months of struggle in Toulouse, that continued with demonstrations, public actions and occupations. This movement echoes those of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Testet, and elsewhere where an occupation was set up to confront detrimental State projects. The different ways of organising and communal life practiced on the ZADs have been put in practice in Toulouse, in spaces momentarily snatched away from the control of the Metropol.

By the Metropole, we are speaking about the authoritarian and destructive organisation of territory, put in place by the State and the multinationals that determine our lives. A real steamroller; reducing environments to their ability to be converted and economically managed, modeling spaces and practices for the market imperatives, and extending in all directions their infrastructural tentacles of steel and concrete. Here an airport, there a fast lane, a dam or a touristic park. [Read More]

London: Guinness Estate Occupation

Yesterday, an empty flat in Elveden House on the Guinness Trust estate in Brixton was occupied by local residents and supporters protesting at the threatened eviction of dozens of Guinness tenants from the estate.

More people have joined the action today and they plan to keep the occupation running until Guinness agree to halt all evictions and rehouse all the tenants in local social housing.
[Read More]

South Africa: Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement

An Old Snake in a New Skin – From Raymond Masondo to Heinrich Bohmke and Bandile Mdlalose

In 2006, when we made it clear that we would not give up our autonomy to the NGOs and walked out of a meeting at the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) at UKZN, some NGO workers, such as Mondli Hlatswayo, rushed to call us criminals on emails and in the press.
[Read More]