UK: Stop HS2 and Extinction Rebellion

By: sisulscz - September 20th, 2020  Filed under: Communique

Extinction Rebellion have finally decided to refrain from trying to take over control of the STOP HS2 protection camps between London and Birmingham, and instead they are offering to HELP the front line activists who actually live there, and to LEARN direct action from them, according to unconfirmed reports from the camps.
Some of the eco-warriors at the Harvil road and Denham camps in Colne Valley near Uxbridge invited Extinction Rebellion to join them at the protest sites last year, and HS2 Rebellion was the name that was eventually chosen to be used by the new recruits. Unfortunately a power struggle developed fairly soon, with HS2 Rebellion apparently insisting that they controlled some kind of hierarchy and were in fact the “leaders” of the climate movement, and all the protesters were obliged to take orders from them.

Extinction Rebellion released a statement about how HS2 Rebellion was becoming the umbrella organisation for all the protection camps and they listed their “criteria and values” which they claimed all the activists had to agree to and abide by. This was regardless of the fact that the eco-warriors had originally started the camps with the Green Party four years before XR came along to attempt to take them over and control them.
HS2 Rebellion started their own fundraiser with £32,000 being donated for the Colne Valley protest by more than 1000 people. The fundraiser stated that the money would be distributed to all the protection camps, but HS2 Rebellion refused to share anything with camps that did not agree to join Extinction Rebellion and obey their rules.
Two camps which agreed to join Extinction Rebellion and obey them were given £16,000 between them, but the Harvil road and Denham camps at Colne Valley near Uxbridge which remained autonomous and independent got absolutely nothing.
The STOP HS2 organisation which started the local residents protest campaign in their own local communities against the high speed rail link 13 years ago asked for financial support but HS2 Rebellion did not want to help them so they also received nothing.
[Read More]

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UK: Poors Piece camp eviction alert

By: sisulscz - September 19th, 2020  Filed under: Announcement

On Monday the 21st of Monday 28th September, Poors Piece Conservation area will be facing eviction… they have amazing structures & homely straw houses. This ancient woodlands was a life saving project years ago to give wood and timber to the locals who at the time were financially deprived. The land now is conserved by a local called Clive, who is very supportive of the group who are their to protect all life within from HS2.

If you can join those there to protect this land, please do!

This Stop HS2 camp is at Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire, MK18 2HH, UK

UPDATE Monday 28th!!

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An update from the No TAV campaign and thoughts on its relevance for Stop HS2

By: sisulscz - September 18th, 2020  Filed under: essay

The No TAV campaign in northern Italy has been fighting an expensive, unneeded and corrupt high speed railway link for over three decades. The proposed mafia-linked freight train service from Turin to Lyon has been repeatedly exposed for its fantastical predictions and is slated by local people who see no reason to leave their homes for a white elephant. If you are already thinking about the similarities to HS2 here in England then you are in the right place. I will start by giving a very brief history of No TAV, then an update on recent events. In the second half, I will concentrate on what the Stop HS2 movement can learn from No TAV.

For those who have never heard of the No TAV movement, it is a campaign born thirty odd years ago to resist the construction of a 270 kilometre long high speed railway (Treno di Alta Velocita) between Turin (in Italy) and Lyon (in France). There is widespread opposition on both French and Italian soil, since the railway is a corrupt scheme proposing to transport freight based on fantasy figures and the people who live along the route see no benefit (the train won’t be stopping there). They argue that the already existing railway infrastructure should be improved instead. The resistance is greatest in the breathtakingly beautiful Val di Susa (Susa Valley), which stretches from Turin to the Alps for fifty kilometres. In summer, the valley is bright with colours, the blue sky and green grass bisected by the snow on the mountains. It has a unique environment, since one side sees the sun and the other does not. The train line would rip straight through it before entering a tunnel of 57.5 kilometres to France. This tunnel would be longer than the Chunnel and in fact would just squeeze in as the longest rail tunnel in the world, if it ever gets built. Local people are concerned that drilling into the mountains will disturb uranium and asbestos deposts, that mafia construction will lead to health hazards and that the overall economic case for TAV no longer stands up.
[Read More]

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Amsterdam’s lost FREE heaven

By: sisulscz - September 18th, 2020  Filed under: Interviews

In 2019, after 21 years of occupation, one of the world’s most incredible free spaces was demolished, and its residents evicted, in order to make space to … nothing at all!

Our friend Anita, a member of Underkonstruction sound system and part of the amazing Nostruckture travelling stage, has been visiting the ADM community for several years.

We asked her a few questions about the past, present and future of ADM.

[Read More]

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Madrid: First attempt to evict the Ateneo Libertario in Vallekas stopped. The struggle continues

By: fawda - September 18th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

On September 16, it was again made clear that solidarity and direct action are the best weapon we have as a means of defense against the state and repression. About 150 people from Vallekas and other neighborhoods of the city gathered at the door of the Ateneo Libertario de Vallekas to prevent the eviction of the space. This is not just the eviction of a space, it is the defense of squatting as a tool of struggle in the social war, as a tool to create with our own hands, outside of parties and institutions, spaces of struggle, meeting and learning.

And we achieved this (thanks to all of you). We had a modest deployment of journalists, municipal police vans and the district commissioner. Due to the flow of solidarity, the judicial secretary had no choice but to pass by. Now, any day and without notice, the Ateneo can be evicted. [Read More]

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Mexico City: Occupation of national human rights commission

By: sisulscz - September 18th, 2020  Filed under: Announcement

Mexican women have occupied the headquarters of the national human rights commission (CNDH) in the capital Mexico City. They have promised to stay until the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) recognises the rights of women instead of allowing the high levels of sexual violence and murder to continue. Eleven women are killed every day in Mexico and 98% of murders go unsolved. Predictably, Amlo focused more on the hilarious vandalism going on than the activists’ concerns. Inside the buildings slogans have been painted and various paintings have been improved. Pictures taken by the only tolerated press photographer Andrea Murcia (Inst@usagii_ko) have lit up the internet. She has known the occupiers from the beginning and therefore is trusted by them.

An adulterated portrait of Francisco I. Madero (pictured, 33rd president of Mexico) has received the most attention online. As well it should, it looks great now, gotta love the ACAB. The original artist doesn’t like to collaborate it seems, saying “The most outrageous thing is that they believe that losing respect for the characters who made our Mexican history will solve the lack of the kind of government that we all deserve.” In response, Yesenia Zamudio on of the occupiers said “If he doesn’t agree with us painting the painting, I don’t agree with that my daughter was murdered and that for five years nobody has helped me.” [Quotes]
[Read More]

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Two, Three, Many ZADs

By: sisulscz - September 18th, 2020  Filed under: News

A ZAD means a “zone to defend” (zone à défendre in French). These environmental protest occupations have recorded successes such as preventing an airport near Nantes and a dam in the region of Toulouse. This a roundup of recent ZAD news. In July this year, activists from ANV-COP21 and Extinction Rebellion occupied land in Besançon near to the Swiss border, before handing it on to anonymous occupiers supported by Gilets Jaunes. They are resisting plans to build a controversial “eco-housing” district, saying they prefer the wetlands which are now threatened with destruction. Despite being initially reluctant to use the term ZAD, they are now going by ZAD des Vaîtes.

Currently, there is a standoff of sorts. The mayor refuses to negotiate until a watchtower has been demolished (for the safety of the campers she claims) and the Zadists are digging in for winter, having already celebrated two months of occupation. Meanwhile at Roybon, a small village to the south of Lyon, the squatters have won! After a long struggle both in the courts and in the trees, Center Parcs Europe decided in July to halt their construction plans. They had planned to build a new waterpark and a thousand holiday cottages in a forest, sparking concerns about the amount of pollution it would have created. The Zadists have announced that after six years of occupation, they actually quite feel like staying, which has outraged the local mayor. She is calling for eviction and the story continues. More news on social media or at their website.

[Read More]

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Athens: Call for international solidarity for a trial on September 18

By: fawda - September 16th, 2020  Filed under: Communique

On September 18, the trial against two comrades from Berlin and two comrades from Athens will take place in Evelpidon Court in Athens. On November 26, 2017, the four persons were arrested during the eviction of Gare Squat, in the Athens district of Exarcheia. Among other charges, they are accused of trespassing, attempted serious bodily harm, refusal of forensic identification and possession of explosive materials and explosive bombs. This eviction was the first of three in which the four comrades were detained for 4 days. They were released on conditions or bail and now, almost three years later, have to appear in court. [Read More]

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Berlin: Don’t touch Liebig 34! Eviction date on 9 october 2020

By: fawda - September 15th, 2020  Filed under: News

Today, on September 15, we received mail from the bailiff T. Knop. They threatened to evict Liebig34 on Friday, October 9 at 7 am!

We will not let that happen! How is it possible that an attempt to evict is being planned even though it is publicly known that a different association than the defendant is present in the rooms?
How is it possible that in times when a second wave of Corona and #StayHome is expected, a home is to be evicted by so many people?
How is it possible that especially now, in times of fascist marches and a shift to the right, a feminist, leftist and queer house project is being attacked so massively?

We are angry but determined. We will not easily give up the Liebig 34.
Support us in our struggle.
Come to the general assemblies, annoy politicians and homeowners.
Be creative! Let’s make the eviction attempt a disaster! [Read More]

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Chania: Rosa Nera evicted, the struggle is just beginning

By: fawda - September 15th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

Rosa Nera is an autonomous, anti-authoritarian political collective and since 2004, has squatted and given its name to the historical building that was formerly known as the “5th Army Division”, declaring it, for the first time in its history, a liberated space.

The squatted building of Rosa Nera, was built around 1880 by the Turks as a palace for the local pasha. It continued to house different representatives of the authority, the latest being the local military command, during the military dictatorship of Papadopoulos.

In 1985 the building passes from the ministry of defense to the ministry of education, which offers it to the Technical University of Crete, under the condition that it would be used solely for educational activities. Nevertheless, from 1985 till 2004, the building was totally abandoned.

In June 2004, the building was occupied and revived. It was transformed from a ruin that was falling apart, into a political, cultural and social activities center, as well as a house. Everything was accomplished with collective work, collective will and collective financial support. That means that the people did it all, by organizing themselves through horizontal and non-hierarchical procedures. [Read More]

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Paris: Call for support for a new squat in Montreuil

By: fawda - September 15th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

A new squatted space, Le Marbré opens in Montreuil at 1 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau and is already threatened with eviction. The so-called owner passed by this morning together with the cops and he wants the eviction to be carried out as soon as possible. “If we evict them fast enough they won’t have time to bring back reinforcements.”

In these buildings that have been abandoned for 4 years, in addition to spaces that are inhabited, we will set up spaces for political organization for autonomous collectives that are not linked to parties, unions or associations that already have so much space to act. We want this place to be used for meetings and assemblies, workshops, spaces for sharing and free of charge (solidarity canteens and grocery stores, infoshop, library…). The idea is that any individual, informal group, or collective that fights against the State, capitalism, patriarchy, racism, psychophobia and the different forms of oppression could invest this space.

Our presence is also part of a desire to fight against the gentrification of the neighborhood. The so-called landlord practices real estate speculation and has plans to build housing that will benefit his wallet and encourage gentrification. [Read More]

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Vitry-sur-Seine: Presentation of La Kunda, new autonomous social center

By: fawda - September 12th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

Since February 2020, we are about fifty people – precarious, undocumented, students – to occupy a plot of land with three buildings in Vitry-sur-Seine. This place, empty for less than a year, owned by the Val-de-Marne, was a home and the headquarters of a company of land shareholders in the department. We chose to call it La Kunda (the community in Soninké).
Why squatting it? The squatter responds first of all to the need, for some of us, to have decent housing and for others, quite simply, to have a home. We refuse precarious work in order to pay a rent that is too expensive, just as we refuse the blackmail of the real estate market and social institutions.
Some of us are undocumented, and follow long procedures that leave them on the street, without housing and without the possibility of working. Without the squat, it is the street, and everyone knows the difficulties of the street. Thanks to these places, some of us can go to school, move forward and have a place to live. [Read More]

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