[Spain] This is not a demonstration – Actions, constructions and revolutionary turns to save the world

From : http://takethesquare.net

In the past two years we have completely reinvented the way we try to transform the world into a place where life does not hurt. The old demonstrations, so grey and limited, become obsolete and useless, and have given way to an infinity of possibilities. We rethought the action, the complaint, the relationships, the public, the common, and our imagination has completely overwhelmed the space of what is possible, building already new worlds inside the old structure of this one. We collect here a list of dozens of actions and constructions that we have organized during these two years, sharing all of them that brightness of the new, that smell so special that returns us the confidence in us, and announces what is to come. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

[Original Spanish version of the compilation in this link]

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London, May 12th: NO Evictions! Campaigning and Protest in the Context of the Housing Crisis

Today, many people are facing eviction because of the unfair welfare changes which will force people into debt and arrears. How can we campaign to keep people in their homes? Join us for an afternoon of housing related discussion, international skill sharing, developing ideas for creative protest action and networking!

Speakers are housing activists from Berlin and Barcelona, Isabel Counihan-Sanchez from the Counihan campaign, a solicitor and the Branch Chair of Unite Housing workers Paul Kershaw, a former anti-poll tax activist.

Dublin: Successful anti-eviction defence

Around lunchtime on April 15th we received word that there was an anti-eviction protest underway on Manor street in Dublin outside a house that had been squatted. A Garda had called at the door that morning and after being refused entrance had said he’d be back later with more Garda. The building had been squatted on and off a couple of times in recent years and was recently re-occupied.
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ACT UP/San Francisco Protests Evictions: Housing=Healthcare And Eviction=Death

In celebration of their one year anniversary, the direct action group ACT UP/San Francisco staged a lively, 50 person demonstration last Saturday, April 20th. The event was aimed at drawing attention to the impact of increasing evictions and rental price increases in San Francisco on people living with HIV/AIDS. The group, and a coalition of supporting LGBT and housing rights organizations, began at 16th and Mission Street and worked their way up to Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro. The marchers, who took to the streets chanting ‘Housing is a right, housing is a right, ACT UP!’ and ‘Housing equals healthcare and eviction equals death!’, made multiple stops along the way. Though perhaps small in size, the demonstration made a strong and colorful stand, one that hammered in the point that the increasing rents and waves of evictions hitting San Francisco hurt people living with HIV/AIDS and their supporters. Despite the inclusion of lavish street theater and brightly painted signs, the protest was not all noise. Imbedded in their style, ACT UP offered a pointed critique of San Francisco’s City government, especially District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, a gay man who the group feels has turned a blind eye to evictions in his neighborhood.

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Poznan (Poland): Odzysk squat, the opening!

Poznan_odzysk_squat

On 26-27/04/2013 we opened for public Od:zysk [Re:claim] squatted social house in the strict center of Poznań, western Poland. That’s the second squatted autonomous space in the city, next to Rozbrat squat, in part thought of as the reincarnation of Warsztat [The Workshop] squat, evicted last year.

Our agenda is to inspire social change, tame the gentrification process in the Old Market Square with non-commercial, anticapitalist action, politically oriented art, culture, workshops, supplying a venue for unconstrained political debate and living space for a dozen of people, organized independently and self-sufficiently. [Read More]

Basildon (UK): Dale Farm Protestor Awarded Damages For Police Detention

A supporter of families at Dale Farm who was arrested during the forced eviction in 2011 has been awarded damages this week. Lu Smith, one of many arrested during the eviction, has settled her claim for damages against Essex Police. She was arrested at Dale Farm on 19 October 2011 while there as an activist protesting against the eviction of Travellers from the estate. Police said she was obstructing a bailiff – a minor offence for which the maximum penalty is a fine. Once Smith was already under arrest, and after she had been lifted and carried to a police vehicle, she was handcuffed despite already being in police custody and having shown no resistance. Smith was held in a police van and thereafter a larger police vehicle referred to as a “prison bus” for five hours. Her handcuffs remained on throughout the full period in the van and she was denied access to toilet facilities as well as water. Eventually, she and other protestors were forced to urinate on the floor of the van with no privacy and while in handcuffs.

Lausanne: Interview with the collective la LOC(A)MOTIVE

New News: Since 8 April 2013 the squat is in danger of eviction. The members of the house will struggle against that. Support us if u want. Infos will follow.

Below is an interview with participants in the Loc(A)motive squat that was made possible on the occasion of counter-information gatherings in Lausanne. Since April 8th, Loc(A)motive is in danger of eviction, and the squatters are organizing a defense of the house. So, this would be the time to support them in any way you want.

Contra Info: What is the Loc(A)motive?
Loc(A)motive: It is a collective composed of people living in the occupied house of 1, Chasseron, in Lausanne, as well as people involved in the space’s activities. At the moment, 15 individuals are living in the house, and more or less 10 are also participating in different ways. The building is a former Spanish college, property of the Spanish State.

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Brighton: Statement At Adjournment of the Trial

Today the squatting trial in Brighton was adjourned until the 24th May as it ran out of time due to extreme faffing.

Two squatters had already had the case against them thrown out of court when the magistrates realised the prosecution hadn’t actually presented any evidence that they lived in the building. And the case against the third squatter looks pretty flimsy.

One of the freed defendants, said:
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Reinickendorf, Berlin (DE): Funeral of Rosemarie Fliess on Friday 26th in the Jerusalem Cemetery

Two days after being “force” evicted from her house in Berlin, the 67 year old Rosemarie Fliess died Thursday 11th of April 2013. The Alliance “Prevent Eviction calls for the funeral participation. It is a normal funeral. Following the funeral there will be a picnic in honor of Rosemarie Fliess on Blücherplatz. There we will eat together and exchange ideas. Bring food and flowers! Rosemarie was desperate and knew that she would lose her home. Ever since the protests for family Gülbol  she was in the middle of events for fighting for tenants rights. They protested against the eviction of the family Gülbol also on the day of eviction. She attended, with many others, the court hearing of the Linien street 206, a threatened house project. During the evacuation in the Reuterstr. 2 she sat in front of the house to block, even though she was already very weak.

Greece: Athens Indymedia and 98FM are back online

The following statement was issued by the Occupiers:

 Athens.indymedia and 98fm radio are emiting RIGHT NOW throught NTUA s occupied  rector.  Athens imc collective called people to come over  to the university now “Those who consider themselves as being solidarious with counter-information projects  are invited to support us with  their physical presence  to intervene so as to keep those projects to emit through their physical space, as much as this is possible” the two media that were targeted by the state repression (through the intervention of the rector Simopoulos) from April 11, managed to emit because of the decisive action of solidarity.
 For the same reason, a solidarity march/ demonstration will take place, starting from Monastiraki square, on Thursday the 25th of April at 18:00
We will win

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Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France: ZAD update

So it just kicked of again in the ZAD, heres a first hand account of what happened. It’s a bit long and probably has grammatical errors.. My ZAD experience this time has been completely different juxtaposed to last years adventure. Hitching from Nantes to La ZAD this time a year ago no one new about the anti-arport occupation where as this year everybody was talking about it [after the evictions in November the ZAD was national front page news]. I had to get dropped off slightly outside the zone because the police had set up a check point on the road. After spending too long walking over fields with all my tools and backpack. I finally got onto the D281, the whole road is in the control of the ZAD residents. At first I passed a few stacks of branches blocking parts of the road, I thought it was pretty cute. Then every 10-50 meters would be a new barricade usually bigger than the last until I was see huge piles of tires, haystacks and other burnables with spikey shit jutting out of it and painted messages all over the road, trenches dug deep through the tarmac and stone until they hit water, projectiles lying in wait everywhere!

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Calais: Police break-in to squat to serve bailiff’s court papers

At around 2.30pm a bailiff arrived at a squat near the theatre accompanied with around 25+ Police Nationale and PAF, supposedly – the bailiff said – just to serve court papers on the squat. Instead of posting the court papers through the letterbox, they smashed the bottom half of the front door from the outside. Again breaking an entry without a court order. Most of the cops entered the building, taking pictures and asking all non-european people their name and nationality. Racist profiling once more. There was about 40 people in the house… many from Sudan, Syria, Eqypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. After around one hour, the cops left the building.

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