Comrades from the Kasa Invisível squat in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, are now touring all around Europe to present the book Casa Encantada, the Enchanted House, “A Portrait of the Fight for Housing in Belo Horizonte Going Through the Pandemic”. The book brings together illustrations by Renato Baruq and photographs by Cadu Passos. During 2022 and 2023, two Brazilian artists and organizers documents almost 20 old abandoned houses in the central region of Belo Horizonte that became living social and cultural spaces for people in vulnerable situations during the pandemic. The work is accompanied by interviews conducted between 2022 and 2023, which tell the story of these properties and their inhabitants in their own voices. [Read More]
Belo Horizonte: european tour for the book Casa Encantada
What are the Squatting Techniques in France?
Many people resort to squatting at some time or another: the homeless or the poorly housed, travelers, activists challenging the principle of private property, precarious people in need of collective space…
Warning: under French law, “entering and remaining in a dwelling, commercial, agricultural or professional premises”, “degradation” and “home invasion” are offenses punishable by arrest, fine or even imprisonment. Inciting or facilitating squatting is also a crime, which is why this text is for information purposes only.
Spotting
In general, the longer a building has been out of use, the less likely it is that squatters will get into trouble by occupying it. So they look for houses, buildings, apartments or other premises that look as if they’ve been abandoned for a while: dust on the windows, overgrown vegetation, doors and windows sealed with wooden or metal plates, mailboxes overflowing with mail… Some people put pieces of paper in the doorways of different buildings to make sure that no one enters, then look later to see if the pieces of paper have fallen out. [Read More]
Amsterdam: Vossiusstraat 16 under threat – Removal of Russian oligarch Arkady Volozh from the sanctions list
The Russian oligarch and founder of Yandex, Arkady Volozh, the owner of the squatted building Vossiusstraat 16, was removed from the European sanctions list on the 12th of March 2024. This is likely to lead to a new court case and the eviction of the squat.
This statement begins with a legal overview of the Vossiusstraat 16 case, and then summarises the changes that led to Volozh’s removal from the sanctions list. Finally, we present reasons why his removal from the list should not have taken place. [Read More]
Tbilissi (Georgia): The Georgian eviction resistance urgently needs our support!
❌🏠❗️ This week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, three foreclosure evictions of entire families were supposed to take place in Tbilisi, Georgia. On Tuesday January 23rd, a huge number of people showed up to stop the eviction but also an unexpected amount of cops who were extremely violent against the protestors. 18 people were arrested, two of them are now facing trial and up to 3-6 years in jail. Others have been fined to an average of 2000 GEL (approx. 700 €) which is a lot of money in Georgia. What’s new is that the story was widely spread in the media, and due to this on Wednesday there was even more resistance and the bailiff was blocked from entering the building. The eviction on Friday was stopped by our comrades, who had already managed to suspend this eviction in December 2023. [Read More]
Amsterdam: Mokum Kraakt squats former windows in the Red Light District
Mokum Kraakt squats on the Dollebegijnensteeg in the Red Light District in solidarity with the sex workers and against the arrival of the erotic center. During a protest against the planned erotic centre, squatting collective Mokum Kraakt announced it has squatted a number of former sex work windows in De Wallen, Amsterdam’s red light district.
The squatters say the windows were squatted in solidarity with sex workers who fight against plans for an erotic centre on the outskirts of the city. Sex work has been a part of De Wallen for over 400 years and sex workers have clearly and repeatedly said they want to stay in the city centre. The people living close to the location of the prospective location of the erotic centre are also against it. And still, mayor Halsema is pushing through her plans. [Read More]
Barcelona: the police install a camera to spy on a squat in the district of Gràcia
A camera hidden in a dark box on the roof of a restaurant monitored the activity of a squat house in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, at least since December 22 when it was detected. As disseminated by the group Ègida -Defensa Collectiva Anarquista, the video surveillance team focused directly on the door of the squat, which is why they rule out that it is the restaurant’s security system.
Neighborhood witnesses have told La Directa that during the last weeks they had observed the presence of “strange” individuals and vehicles parked with people inside the house all day: “I saw them in front of the house, I am convinced that they were plainclothes policemen,” says a neighbor. One of the managers of the restaurant, where the state security forces had placed the camera, told this media outlet that they have “nothing to say”. [Read More]
Belo Horizonte (Brazil): “Casa Encantada” book project
Hello comrades! We, from the Kasa Invisível squat in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, wish everyone a happy new year of struggle, solidarity, and revolutionary construction.
We’re writing to friends and accomplices from various parts of the globe, those we’ve met on the road, corresponded with, who we’ve visited, or whom visited us at our squat, to announce the campaign we are organizing on the FireFund platform to launch the book “Casa Encantada” (Enchanted House). The book documents 20 autonomous occupations in Belo Horizonte, most of which emerged during the pandemic. We hope through this campaign to be able to translate it into four languages and conduct a tour and launch in cities in Brazil and Europe in 2024 and debate the great differences and similarities of these two contexts of struggle for housing, and how to build solidarity. [Read More]
Brooklyn (NY): Skull Squat defense ongoing
For the past week, squatters and friends have defended Skull Squat in Brooklyn from shady developers and their goons attempting to break-in, lock out residents, and demolish the building. After forcing entry three days in a row with hammers and angle grinders, the developers have been turned away for the past two days by dozens of punks, anarchists, neighbors, and friends. The building has been squatted for six months by six black, brown, and white transgender anarchists.
The developers, two persistent and violent Israeli-American brothers, do not own the building. They forced long-term residents out years ago, allowed the building to deteriorate, and are hoping to reclaim it once it is foreclosed upon. They convinced the police of their claim to “management” with dubious work permits, who allowed them to break in and hurt those trying to defend the squat. Both their purported lease and permits have been found invalid by several civil authorities. [Read More]
Ile-Saint-Denis: the Malvassé squat under eviction threat since mid-december
We are about twenty people who have been living in Malva since May 2022, a squatted building on Île Saint-Denis, at 62 avenue Jean Jaurès. The Malvassé has been under eviction threat since December 15, 2023 following a procedure that does not grant us any delay and abolishes the winter truce. (December 18, 2023 – the winter truce would be granted, “the owner having withdrawn his request to cancel the truce”).
Our place of residence is currently squatted, among others, by vulnerable people, families with children attending school in the same commune and in Saint-Denis. The neighbouring lots are also squatted by about sixty other very precarious people, including a dozen families with children, who also attend school on the Ile-Saint-Denis. [Read More]
Athens: demonstration in defense of Ano Kato Patission
Demonstration in defense of Ano Kato Patission, after the successful resquat of the steki on 9 december 2023. Sunday 17 december, at 12.00 pm. Pre-gathering at Steki Ano Kato Patission, Naxos 75.
Last summer, while Greece was experiencing the violent signs of the climate crisis (fires, floods), magnified by the unpreparedness of the relevant state mechanisms, the government adopted a classic recipe for decoordination for disasters: the eviction of occupied spaces.
At the same time that the state proves in practice that it is incapable of dealing with our problems, it is trying to gain some legitimacy in the eyes of the world by selling security and order.
But with tenacity and militancy, three of the evicted squats of the summer are once again in the hands of the community. After Zizania in Victoria and Evagelismos in Heraklion, Crete, it is the turn of Stekiou Ano Kato Patission to get its space back, to revive a debris building. [Read More]
Rotterdam: the Silverfish, a new anarchist group
Who are we?
We are a group of anarchists living in Rotterdam who were previously involved in student, squatting, and other housing struggles. We decided to call ourselves the Silverfish, or de Zilvervisjes, after the silverfish who ate some of our publications in our humble anarchist library. Most of us were previously involved in the Rotterdamse Anarchisten Tegen Supermarkten (RATS) collective.
Why are we anarchists?
We believe that a society characterized by mutual aid, free association, self organization and spontaneous initiative is possible, and that today’s society, characterized by competition, coercion, centralized organization and apathy must be transformed in its favor. Furthermore, we believe that the current society is maintained through hierarchical social forms, such as capitalism, states, property, as well as prevailing race, gender and sexuality relations. This must be struggled against by people organized upon social relations that embody the society they wish to create. We are anarchists because we act on this belief, while learning and transforming ourselves in this process. [Read More]
Athens: Steki Ano Kato Patission resquatted
[Update: During the resquat, 11 arrests were made on misdemeanor charges. The trial of the comrades has been postponed until February 13. The legal costs to be collected are many, your financial support is welcome.]
On saturday december 9, 2023, the Steki Ano Kato Patission was resquatted by 80 comrades. Then 250 people gathered in front to support the reoccupation. This gathering was attacked by cops and people were trapped in apartment buildings, in the adjacent dormitories and in the Steki itself. At the same time, teargas was thrown into cars, cops shouted at people that they would burn them alive, arrests were made, and people were beaten up. The cops also surrounded the Steki, teargas was thrown inside. People defended the Steki and kept it. There are seriously injured comrades, they are taken to the hospital. Around 19 people were arrested. On sunday 10, solidarity rally for those arrested during the Steki Ano-Kato Patission resquat at 11:00, Dikastiria (Evelpidon).
The Ano-Kato resquat took place on the nationwide day of action in solidarity with the squats, with a demonstration at Monastiraki in Athens. The attacks on our squats confirm once again that solidarity, self-organization and unmediated struggle are a formidable enemy for the state. The call out was made by Ano Kato Patission, ASP (Autonomous Polytechnic Steki), Evagelismos and Zizania.
STRUGGLES ARE NOT EMPTIED, IDEAS ARE NOT SEALED
SOLIDARITY WITH SQUATS
Statement from Steki Ano-Kato Patission:
We said that we are not leaving and we mean it [Read More]
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