Although it is hard to hear what is really happening on the ground in U$A, it appears that recently there has been an increase in squatting in cities across the United States. Obviously, squatting is often a covert activity, but it seems that a few factors have dovetailed to facilitate the emergence of a new, public squatting movement. This sWatching the value of property melt away –
The increase in squatting across the U$Ahort article will provide a background to these events and a report of the actions which we have heard about. Hopefully these are merely the tip of the iceberg….
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Watching the value of property melt away – The increase in squatting across the U$A
Police Harass Occupy Liverpool at Legal Squat
The “new location” is a squat in a derelict office block on Preston Street and until the above message was posted its location was kept secret. I always thought the decision not to tell anyone the new location was odd but I have heard that it was intended as a half-way-house for the camp to re-group and store their stuff before moving on to a new camp. The old location was extremely exposed and as a result was often battered by high winds; I’m surprised the occupiers stayed as long as they did.
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New York City: An interview with Rob Robinson from Picture the Homeless and Take Back the Land Movement
Published in “Brisbane From Below” n°1 (Brisbane, 2011).
Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you became involved with Picture the Homeless?
No problem. I became involved with Picture the Homeless after spending 10 months in a NYC shelter. I was advocating within that shelter for better maintenance conditions, adherence to rules and better food. The director advised me to take my work to a higher level and I joined something called the New York City Coalition for the Continuum of Care (NYCCCoC). This group makes up 33% of the vote on how some 60-80 million USD are spent on homeless services. Picture the Homeless had access to the email list of (NYCCCoC) and I started to receive emails about the work they were doing. I showed up at a housing meeting in November 2006, liked what I heard and became a member. [Read More]
Ontario (Canada): An Interview with John from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
Published in “Brisbane From Below” n°1 (Brisbane, 2011).
Justice, Dignity, Resistance: An Interview with John from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you became involved with OCAP?
I was a worker at a factory in Ontario in the 1980s and, after being made unemployed, I helped form a union of the unemployed. In 1990, this organization helped out in the campaign that led to the formation of OCAP. [Read More]
Berlin: Arson attack at Georg von Rauch Haus
Yesterday morning (25/12/11) around 7 am two separate fires broke out in the house, one in the basement, another one in the stairway of the house. At that time not only the residents were in the house, but also several party
guests, at the whole around 150 people. The fire left 12 people injured, two of them with multiple broken bones, after they jumped out in panic from the windows of the first floor. Two kids are also among the injured people.
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Sheffield: Salvation Army Citadel Occupied and renamed Citadel Of Hope
Occupy Sheffield has taken possession of the former Salvation Army Citadel (at Cross Burgess Street, Sheffield) on the basis of a so-called ‘Section 6′ notice [1]. The building has lain idle since 1999, and has been open and unsecured for over two months. Occupy Sheffield will make the building safe and secure and will then open it for public use. Occupy Sheffield will be inviting any community groups that have lost the ability to pay for a space due to funding cuts to come and make use of the building. The building has been renamed ‘The Citadel of Hope’.
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Occupying housing from the Pope Squat to Occupy Toronto
It was a sweltering afternoon in late July 2002 when the armoured vehicles of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force pulled up in front of our building. Quickly we started barricading the door with an old desk, if they were coming to kick us out we weren’t going to make it easy for them. We waited tensely as the cops approached the door with submachine guns drawn.
Our crime? We dared to take over an abandoned building in the middle of a housing crisis.
We all survived that early raid and were eventually allowed back into the building where we lived for the next three months — dubbing it the “Pope Squat” as we occupied it during the pontiff’s visit to Toronto.
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Brighton: Squatters Resist Eviction Attempt
This morning at 8am, less than 48 hours after a possession order was granted by Brighton Magistrates Court, the Brighton and Hove council attempted to evict the occupiers of Ainsworth House on Wellington Road, Brighton.
The building has been occupied for less than a month by at least 25 people. Despite the fact Christmas is only 4 days away, the council is pushing ahead with plans to make the occupiers (including vulnerable people with disabilities) homeless. For more info see the previous indymedia article here.
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Barcelona: Almost two months in CSOA Castillo
For almost two months we have occupied the Castillo (Castle) in Les Planes on top of the Collserola mountain range in Barcelona. Since then a lot has happened, with this we would like to inform you about recent developments. Firstly most of the cleaning and rennovation work is, in parts completed and the social centre can present its frst events program:
London: Occupy liberates abandoned Old St magistrate court
As the LSX occupation prepares to present its case at the High Court yesterday, members of Occupy London alongside a group of military veterans – Occupy Veterans – have liberated a disused court house in London’s East End. The opening of Occupy London’s fourth occupation, will see the movement conducting “trials of the one per cent” in an abandoned magistrate’s court building which has lain empty since 1996, despite its prime location and grade II listing. [1]
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Seattle: Informal Update On Situation
The Turritopsis Nutricula house (named after an immortal jellyfish), located on 23rd and Alder in the Central District of Seattle, has now been in existence for a month. Within the span of that same month, over a dozen squats have also sprung into existence in as diverse places as Bellevue and White Center. One of them has recently set up a screen printing studio. An informal network of people from Occupy Seattle consistently brings food and supplies to the house on 23rd and Alder. The food is free for everyone who comes through the house.
This account is the personal reflections of one irregular resident of the Turritopsis Nutricula house and does not reflect the collective as a whole.
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New York: Occupy Our Homes Moves Homeless Family Into Vacant Home
About 1,000 people flooded the streets of East New York on Tuesday, as Occupy Wall Street (OWS) arrived from the subway system from all five boroughs. Along with community organizations, the protesters took over a vacant foreclosed home in East New York for a homeless family of four.
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Radar Online Agenda
