Hamburg: Solidarity paint attack against housing cooperative office

By: dolph-l - February 18th, 2015  Filed under: Communique

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]

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Dublin: Housing Activists’ Cases Dismissed From Court

By: fawda - February 17th, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

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]

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

By: dolph-l - February 16th, 2015  Filed under: Communique

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]

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London: Guinness Estate Occupation

By: sisulscz - February 15th, 2015  Filed under: Communique

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]

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South Africa: Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement

By: sisulscz - February 10th, 2015  Filed under: Communique

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]

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Amsterdam: Prins Hendrikkade 138-139 squatted

By: fawda - February 10th, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

The building has been empty for several years. The owner wants to turn the building into yet another hotel. However, according to the city council, there is a hotel stop in this neighborhood since 2004. The neighbors are also actively resisting the hotel plans.

While in Amsterdam thousands of people are in need of housing, speculants and investors with the support of the city council keep on turning the city into a place only suitable for tourists and commercial activities, while sweeping off everything that does not suit their profit. [Read More]

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London: Aylesbury Estate Occupation – Statement of support for our occupation from local tenants and leaseholder groups

By: fawda - February 6th, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

Southwark Council, a bunch of Labour party career crooks who disregard their tenants’ clear wishes and smash up empty homes on a cold winter’s night, claims that our occupation has no support from residents. The reality is there is real strong solidarity between occupiers and long-time residents, as we saw last night when dozens of people turned out to help defend the buildings under attack.

Today a number of local residents’ groups have emphasised the point with the statement below.

Message for Southwark Council: your cowardly attack last night helped bring us together and make us even stronger!
Tenants, leaseholders, squatters, homeless people … wherever we stand on the sick “housing ladder”, we are coming together and fighting. Stop social cleansing of our city. Homes for all. Solidarity.

Statement on the occupation and housing action on Aylesbury Estate ( Friday 6th February):

Numerous Southwark housing campaigns and other local activists warmly welcome the ongoing occupation of a number of empty homes on the Aylesbury Estate. The current occupation of Chartridge block on the Aylesbury Estate has brought a much-needed spark of inspiration to local residents and housing campaigners. [Read More]

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Koper (Slovenia): Creative Platform INDE U.P.I. manifesto

By: fawda - February 4th, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

Inde_platforma_squat_Koper_SloveniaNOT THE POWER TO RULE, BUT EMPOWERMENT.
THE FUTURE IS HERE AND NOW: COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE CREATIVE PLATFORM INDE – UPI

From the ruins, we have built new foundations.
From the abandoned spaces, we exorcise old ghosts and return them to life.
From garbage, we will create instruments with which we will drown the sound of monotonous dark and hopeless situation of our time and space.

On the 5h of October 2014, we, a diverse group of people decided that we no longer want to just be part of the problem, but want to become part of a solution. So we spontaneously self-organized and occupied a couple of rooms at the long-abandoned and dilapidated factory INDE Koper. Decades ago this factory walls gave room to different companies employing handicapped people under the guise of social inclusion and integration, but in reality mostly only for the profit of the owners. [Read More]

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London: Statement from Aylesbury Estate Occupation

By: fawda - February 2nd, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

Since the “March for Homes” demo on 31st January, we have re-opened and occupied a part of the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark, South London.

We are tenants, squatters, and other people who care about how our city is being grabbed by the rich, by developers and corrupt politicians, socially cleansed and sold off for profit.

The Aylesbury Estate is where Tony Blair made his first speech as Prime Minister in 1997, making empty promises about social housing. Since then, for the past 18 years, Southwark Council and their developer friends have come up with one scheme after another. All with the same aim: to dispossess the residents, demolish their homes, and sell the land.

In 2002 Aylesbury tenants fought and won a campaign against demolition and voted down the original scheme in a ballot. But now big areas of the estate are emptied and sealed up awaiting the bulldozers, while residents are “decanted” away from the area.

The same bullshit that we have seen on the nearby Heygate estate, and all across London. [Read More]

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London: Aylesbury Estate Occupied

By: fawda - February 1st, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

Message from the occupiers: “We are occupying part of the aylesbury estate se1 resisting social cleansing. Join us. Neighbourhood Assembly 3 pm tomorrow sunday. Charteridge house off albany rd.”

Yesterday (Saturday 31 Jan) after the March for Homes demo, a 100-200 strong “squatters bloc” broke off from the main rally and headed South to occupy the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark, South London. Houses on the Charteridge House bloc have been opened and were occupied overnight.

The occupiers are holding an assembly this afternoon and ask for neighbours, squatters, and everyone who wants to, to join them. There are homes here for hundreds, lying empty because of the greed of developers and bribed politicians.

The Aylesbury Estate is one of the largest “social housing”complexes in Europe. It was built in the 1960s-70s with 2700 homes. Because it sits on prime inner London real estate, it is being socially cleansed of its working class inhabitants, in a saga that has gone on for over 15 years now. In 1997, genocidal scumbag Tony Blair came here to make his first speech as prime shitster, promising to invest millions to gentrify the area. But in 2001 tenants campaigned and voted against the first plan to sell the estate to a “charitable” private housing association. [Read More]

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London: Squatters bloc @ March for Homes, January 31st

By: fawda - January 30th, 2015  Filed under: Communique, News

20150131_london_SQUATTERS_BLOC_March_for_HomesFrom Squatters in North and South London.
SPREAD WIDELY. JOIN US.
Whose City? Our City.

Are we going to let all of London become a playground for rich fuckers? Where every inch of space is taken for profit? A sterile zone drained of history, culture and life? Are we going to hand it to them without a fight?

Squatters and Tenants unite.
Fight ALL evictions.
Homes for all.
Take the empties.
Take back our city.

Join the SQUATTERS BLOC on the March for Homes.

UPDATE: the main squat bloc meet up will be at Elephant & Castle at 12 noon: St Mary’s Churchyard, Newington Butts, SE1 6SQ. Though there will certainly also be squatters on the East London march, which starts from St Leonards Church, Shoreditch High Street, also at noon. [Read More]

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Marseille: Occupation of the Park Michel Levy

By: dolph-l - January 24th, 2015  Filed under: Communique

DENUNCIATION OF THE PRIVATISATION OF THE PARK,
STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT TREES!
RECLAIM OUR COMMON SPACE!

Since May 2013, the collective “Michel Lévy” took over legal challenges brought to the court by residents near the park. They are fighting to avoid the square Michel Levy and it’s trees, centuries old, from disappearing. Notably a “remarkable” tree is listed in the national register of the association ARBES [Remarkable Trees: Appraisal, Research, Study and Protection]. [Read More]

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