Two weeks ago humans were chased from their homes in Hambacher Forst. Whilst the main public focus was on the protests in the forest, already for years people have been forced out of the surrounding villages. And so also in Mannheim.
Rather than only concerning local inhabitants, coal mining in the Rhineland is also a global problem.
It doesn‘t matter if it‘s a question of the dormouse seeing their old oak being destroyed, local farmers seeing their fields dry out and settlements being torn down, humans having to leave the streets in which they first learnt to ride a bicycle, or Peruvian villages being threatened by melting glaciers. All living creatures suffer in common, from this problem from the behaviour of RWE and this destructive culture in general. Multinationals like RWE and politicians need to take responsibility for this issue. If they are not willing to change their methods of energy production, then we as ordinary people are obliged to act.
We are not willing to accept the destruction of these homes, so we‘re occupying them to prevent this. In doing so, we intend to open up a space for free and self-organised living, one that encourages creativity and quality of life and supports each one another in the struggles against RWE. We demand from RWE to give those people the houses back who want to return.
Living in rural areas became attractive to a lot of humans. Far away from an anonymous life in small, unpayable flats in the concrete jungles all over the world where people can help each other, live together and where living projects of different generations can be possible.
We want to make this possible together in unity. With people who live together in Mannheim since decades. With people who lived here and already left with their families. With people who came here to fight the structural destruction of nature. And with people who were forced to flee from their homes in other parts of the world, just to be chased away once again from here. [Read More]
Germany: We squatted Mannheim! Friedenstrasse 44 occupied
Susa Valley: Chez Jesus in Claviere evicted. Call for solidarity
This morning, October 10, very early, the Italian police evicted the squat located in the parish hall of Claviere, where migrants were temporarily sheltered. Among the people present were three undocumented migrants and several supporters. The people were quickly removed from their home. The police broke everything inside the place and then took out all the belongings.
The fifteen supporters who were present inside were rounded up for several hours in the garden. The three undocumented people were taken elsewhere and are reportedly free. After checking their identities and “files”, they were released but charged with illegal occupation in a meeting.
Since this winter, this self-managed place allowed migrants, harassed by the police, to find a place to rest before crossing the mountain. This place was crucial to fight against the racist policy of the French and Italian governments, as they collected testimonies of police violence and they opposed this policy by helping the migrants who passed through (children and adults). They were preparing them to cross the mountain, where too many people die during this crossing. [Read More]
Book: Fighting for Spaces, Fighting for our Lives
Squatting everywhere kollective (SqEK) aims with this book to move beyond the conventional understandings of squatting, investigating its history in different places over the past four decades.
While waves of repression against squatters seem to spread across many places, attacking and shutting down its remaining squatting strongholds and its historical spaces of rebellion, some squatted social centres manage to persist and new occupied zones arise – successfully defended through public mobilization and widespread solidarity, alongside militant action. At the same time, squatting has seen a rebirth as a tool of radical praxis in movements fighting against the rising number of evictions and foreclosures during the financial crisis, facing the policies of racism and creating open spaces for refugees, migrants and people of colour. The collected essays, first-hand accounts and photographs in this book do not intend to offer an over-arching narrative of where the squatters movement is heading. Instead the book provides glimpses into a diverse and multi-faceted movement, with accounts from local struggles, experiences of repression and stories of collective forms of life which have grown out of squatted spaces in various cities and countries throughout the world, including accounts from Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Seattle and Australia.
PDF available to download (10MB)
Amsterdam: ADM news update
Another Amsterdam council meeting took place on October 3 in the Committee for Economic Affairs. To most councillors it is obvious that there will not be a shipyard here, which is the only activity that is legally allowed on the ADM terrain (26 ha). In spite of the controversy and contradictory expertise the Aldermaster (wethouder) insisted he does not have a choice but to evict the ADM because he has to uphold the law.
Of course most people feel that respecting the law would mean waiting until the legal fight against the permission for an asbestos company to start on the ADM terrain is over. There is no date set for this appeal, and our left/green council accepts that eviction comes first, and that getting our right as citizens is of minor importance.
To ease the pain the council is offering the current ADMers a 2 ha piece of polluted wasteland beside the A10 motorway in the north of Amsterdam, for the duration of only two years. With this land come many restrictions: no more cultural events or festivals, very little space to work and no communal or public spaces. There is not enough room for even half the ADMers, and where are all the ships supposed to go? The ADM forest, habitat for wild animals and rare species will not be relocated…
ADMers have been looking around for additional alternatives, but nothing concrete has come out so far or is likely to be realised before the 25 of december, the date that everyone on the ADM terrain is expected to have moved out voluntarily. To date the only realistic option is to keep what is here. Why evict for some hardly realistic business plan, which is all that is needed to get rid of the ADM community. [Read More]
Utrecht: Defend the Swamp. Come to the court case!
After 5 years of creating alternative living spaces with nature, the Swamp, Kanaleneiland, is being threatened with destruction.
The state and the company Borghese are working hand in hand to turn the Swamp’s beautiful young forest into asphalt to then build a distribution centre and a bus remise, while there are alternative locations for these projects where the destruction of nature isn’t necessary.
From the Hambach Forest and ZAD evictions, to the ADM case and the expansion of the A27, time after time, people and nature have to defend themselves against capitalist greed and neoliberalist development policies.
The Swamp became a space of living and sharing with people and nature, outside of consumption trends. In a city where the waiting list for expensive “social housing” is endless, we decided to build our own houses and work in a sustainable and self-sufficient way. In Kanaleneiland in particular, only a couple of years back social housing was sold to private corporations behind people’s backs.
While the Netherlands presents itself as a “green country”, green spaces in the city keep on disappearing. We are not the only ones being evicted from the Swamp. Birds, rabbits, bats, bees and other animals and insects will also lose their living spaces.
We won’t keep silent. We won’t just leave. Come to the court case and join the struggle to save the Swamp. [Read More]
Durban (South Africa): Abahlali to march against state repression, threats and assassinations
Friday, 4 October 2018
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement
On Monday 8 October Abahlali baseMjondolo will march against repression in Durban. There will be solidarity protests in Cape Town, Johannesburg and New York. Since our movement was founded in 2005 we have faced waves of repression including assault, arrest, torture in police custody, organised campaigns of slander, the destruction of our homes, death threats, the murder of our members during protests and evictions, and the targeted assassination of our leaders. The price for land and dignity has been paid in blood. [Read More]
Zagreb: Presentation about squatting in Croatia. Call for support by the BEK collective
Presentation and discussion about squatting in Croatia, during the Van sistema DIY fest, on 6 October 2018 at the BEK squat in Zagreb: “Our colleague squatter Damir Batarelo will have a presentation about squatting in Croatia, as well as about the squatting scene, its history and context. After his presentation, there will be an open-table discussion so – squatters of the world unite! Come and let us emerge in sharing experiences and let’s talk about the foundations of the squatter solidarity network not only in this area, but wider.” The festival program: https://squ.at/r/69vf
Call for support by the BEK collective, autonomous space for free social and cultural activities.
When talking about our story, first of all, we want to emphasize that one day, hopefully soon, this will really become OUR story. A story of all included, anyone who wants to participate, a story of a community that builds it’s own part of a creative and self-sustainable space, a story of no one left aside. We want to make a new spot for all of us who don’t have a place to create and invest their time into, and for us who don’t have money or access to social and cultural programs that we can be a part of.
We are BEK collective, a group of enthusiastic young people, emerged from the “Food not Bombs” collective, who squatted an old abandoned school at the beginning of 2018. The building is located in the heart of Croatia’s capital city Zagreb. It was built in the 1940’s and it has 2500m2 on three floors. [Read More]
Lecce: Eviction of Canaglia Occupata
On Monday 3rd September Canaglia Occupata in Lecce was evicted. Police stormed the place at 6am along with the fire brigade and ENEL and municipal waterworks technicians, who cut off all electricity and water supplies. Three male and four female comrades who were in the building at the time of the eviction were charged with occupation, defacement and damaging of others’ property, as well as theft of electricity and water supplies. Three were also reported for breach of expulsion orders from Lecce and a comrade who managed to stay on the roof for a while (Digos officers had to use a ladder to reach him) was charged with resistance. Three more expulsion orders from Lecce for another three years were issued. The building was declared sequestrated.
The occupation took place on 23rd July, about a month after the Villa Matta squat was evicted. On social media right-wing groups of Lecce (Northern League, Forza Italia, Sentire Civico, Movimento e Libertà) are rejoicing at the brilliant police operation that restored respect for ‘sacred property’ – be it private or public – followed by cheers from those who have no scruples about calling us ‘parasites to be eliminated’.
Unfortunately for them, it is certainly not a physical place that gives content to our life and struggle; unfortunately for them, we’ll continue to be present in the city. [Read More]
Berlin: Liebig34 must stay!
We are Liebig 34, a self-organised anarcha queer feminist house project in Berlin-Friedrichshain made of different collectives: the Infoladen Daneben, the-queer-feminist living-project Liebig34 and the queer feminist eventspace L34-Bar. 40 people from all over the world with different backgrounds and gender identities collectively live together whitout cis-men, trying to create a “safer political space“ without hierarchies, a space where we try to develop, extend and exert anti-patriarchal practices, where we reflect power structures, privileges and where we empower each other.
Liebig 34 was squatted in 1990 and later legalized like many other houses in east-Berlin. After the failed attempt to buy the house collectively, a contract was made for 10 years.
Now, december 2018, our contract is coming to an end.
Our house, like over 200 others around Friedrichshain, is owned by Gijora Padovicz and his company Siganadia Grundbesitz GmbH, famous for the systematic buying, eviction and destruction of houses and houseprojects for commercial profit in detriment of affordable housing spaces for all. [Read More]
The Hague: Prosecutions for anti-repression demonstrators
We have been informed by our lawyers that the Public Prosecution will start summoning people to court who took part in the anti-repression demonstration in November 2016 in The Hague. Some people have already receive subpoenas to attend court (on November 14th).
For the upcoming court case the lawyers Ineke van den Brûle and Juanita van Lunen will be available for the defense. If you wish to be defended and represented by them you can contact us. Because the case consists of 166 arrests of which all will likely be prosecuted we need to be sure to give the most complete and accurate information to our lawyers. The required information is: [Read More]
London: The Battle for Deptford and Beyond
In Deptford in south east London, local campaigners have occupied a 20-year old community garden to prevent it from being boarded up and razed to the ground by Lewisham Council and the housing association, Peabody. They are also highlighting the absurdity of proposals to demolish 16 structurally sound council flats next door to build new social housing.
What’s happening in Deptford reflects two pressing concerns in the capital today. The first is the prioritising of house-building projects over pressing environmental concerns. The second is the destruction of social housing to create new developments that consist of three elements: housing for private sale, shared ownership deals that are fraught with problems, and new social housing that’s smaller, more expensive and offering tenants less security than what is being destroyed.
The proposed destruction is part of a plan to build new housing not only on the site of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden and Reginald House flats, but also on the site of the old Tidemill Primary School, which closed in 2012. Peabody intends to build 209 units of new housing on the site, of which 51 will be for private sale, with 41 for shared ownership, and 117 at what is described as “equivalent to social rent”, although that is untrue. The rents on the latter will fall under London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s London Affordable Rent, which is around 63% higher than existing council rents in Lewisham.
[Read More]
London: Homeless Festival Was a Stark Reminder of How Bad Things Have Got
Immersed in the fun of Streets Fest, you could have been excused for forgetting, just for a day, how vast a crisis homelessness in Britain has become.
Unless, of course, your first sight after walking out of Finsbury Park tube station – towards the health and wellbeing festival for homeless and vulnerably housed people – was a rough sleeper, apparently lifeless and surrounded by paramedics, as mine was this Monday morning.
It was a brutal sign of the times and a stark reminder of why charities are tasked with picking up where those with the power to change the fate of thousands have fallen down. And it is happening in a country where more than 8,000 people are forced to sleep rough on any one night, and at least 300,000 face homelessness. This is an era in which grassroots organisations, such as Streets Kitchen, find themselves having to host a special event – by some cruel irony, in one of the nation’s homelessness hotspots – to offer basic services to vulnerable people. It seems we have reached peak austerity Britain.
[Read More]
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