On the night of May 23rd, the police in Warsaw arrested three anarchists on charges of an alleged arson attempt of a police vehicle. The three were transferred to a remand prison where they are to be held in custody for three months, awaiting trial. They face up to 8 years in prison.
[Agrinio, Western Greece] Apertus squat: Solidarity with the struggle against slavery in US prisons
The US prison operation relies heavily on the work of the prisoners themselves, while many prisons have now been privatized. Also, prison labor is being exploited by multinational companies (Honda, McDonald’s, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, etc.). Payment that prisoner-workers receive for their labor varies from minimal to nonexistent. Furthermore, surveillance, inhumane conditions of detention, discipline, various methods of torture, etc., are traditionally the first choices for the smooth operation of these prisons.
Squat Kumma is a squatted house in Malminkartano, Helsinki.
Week program: Wednesday 7.9: Coffee and hanging out at 17.00 and at 19.00 we are going to watch documentaries, also some squatting documentaries!
Thursday 8.9: House renovating and coffee. You can bring your surplus: furniture, dishes, kettles, chairs, bikes etc!
Contact info: Address: Piianpolku 7, the white house in Piianpuisto.
House phone: 046 954 6154
You can call if you are coming when there’s no scheduled stuff going on, if you want to organize something etc. (Please notice quiet hours 23-09)
There are safer space rules in the house – let’s respect everyone’s private space. Sexism, racism, transphobia, homophobia or othe discriminating behavior won’t be accepted. [Read More]
While most of us turned our brains off and connected ourselves to solar charging, the second issue of the community Inde’s newspaper Počasnik was very quietly released into the world. It outed in mid-August, and you can grab your copy at the premises of The Creative Platform Inde, as well as around town … at different places – in libraries, at faculties and other educational houses, and if you ask nicely, maybe even your neighbour can lend it to you…
In it you can find a range of articles that were written by co-workers and colleagues of our newsroom. The topics discussed in Počasnik# 2 are among others: a presentation of the (Istrian) game pandolo, a biography of the life of the coastal skater community, reflection on the events from the time of the defence of the autonomous space Rog Factory, an interview with Mladen Jovičič from the Union of Crane Operators in Luka Koper, an illumination of what is hapenening with the Trieste’s polluting giant Ferriera, a presentation of the practice of urban gardening, a column, which is not that, and much more …
The media platform Inde is slowly getting its shape. Contractions before the birth of the second baby were at times jerky and painful, but we heard that this is always the case. Because things that are too easy, do not settle in the heart. We hope we have weighed well the weight of our words; when we haven’t, let’s not forget – we are all learning. [Read More]
–> October 8th-9th, 2016
For over 50 years, farmers and locals have resisted the building of a new airport for the French city of Nantes (which by the way already has one). Now in these rich fields, forests and wetlands, which multinational Vinci want to cover in concrete, an experiment in reinventing everyday life in struggle is blossoming. Radicals from around the world, local farmers and villagers, citizen groups, trade unionists and naturalists, refugees and runaways, squatters and climate justice activists and many others, are organising to protect the 4000 acres of land against the airport and its world. Government officials have coined this place “a territory lost to the republic”. Its occupants have named it: la ZAD (Zone À Défendre), zone to defend. [Read More]
During the night between 27th and 28th of August 2016 another one of a series of attacks organized by neo-Nazi groups took place in the autonomous area of Metelkova City in Ljubljana. The Nazis attacked by throwing bottles, pyrotechnics, stones, and shouting fascist slogans which resulted in a few people being hurt, one of them seriously. The police came to the scene and sadly even tried to treat the hurt people as criminals. We stand in solidarity with all the injured and join them in a clearly handed down: “They shall not pass!”
The antimigration discourses that have recently escalated through sensational reporting of the profit-oriented media apparatus, and which are constantly also the agenda of political elites to achieve their populist goals, are creating fertile ground for seemingly isolated and sporadic attacks on autonomous spaces. From our analysis and experience from the field we understand that states as institutions through their antimigration policies, systematic discrimination and racism do not allow to breathe neither to the autonomous spaces nor to people seeking refuge. So it is obvious that we cannot place our trust and hope in these and similar formations. We are aware that in order to fight the ideologies of exclusion the responsability rests in all community members, always and everywhere. [Read More]
On Wednesday August 24th at 3:45 a.m. the Housing Squat for Refugees and Migrants Notara 26 received an incendiary attack. The acting method of the arsonists we consider to be a clear murderous act, organised with the goal to cause – apart from the serious material damage – also loss of human lives. The timing of this cowardly act was chosen during August, when as the arsonists believed the reflexes of the solidarity movement would be sluggish. In vain though…
After the attack with molotov and gas-bottle bombs the safeguard of the refugees and the assistance of the solidarity acted immediately, using the fire extinguishers of the squat. The over 130 lives that where seriously endangered where saved solely by the immediate reaction of the total of the residents, of the solidarity and the neighbours of the squat, as well as with the participation of the fire department – although it derogatively characterised the Notara 26 squat as a storage in its press release, implying that no people where resident at the location.
This particular event is one link in the long chain of attacks against the migrant squats, refugees, as well as the free social spaces, which consists of a cooperation of state and parastate – where the first acts using the law (Orphanage, Nikis squat, Hurriya) and the second with the usual mafia practices (Vancouver, Avtonomo Steki, Zaimi, Analipsi, Kaniggos) – targeting the solidarity movement. [Read More]
The massive complex of squatted buildings at Grangegorman was evicted for a second time in early August, this time its likely to be permanent at the plan is to build a huge number of expensive to rent student apartments on the site.
The eviction was anticipated and a lot of material was moved over the days around August 11th when ‘heavies’ broke through the gates but were told to back off and allow time for material to be moved out when the Garda arrived. The squatters were quietly moving to another large abandoned building nearby that had been squatted recently, the Debtors Prison on Halston street. Central Dublin is full of such abandoned buildings despite the worst housing crisis in the history of the state. Welcome to Ireland 2016 where protecting the rights of vulture funds to make millions come far, far ahead of needs of those without secure accommodation.
Parts of the Grangegorman site had been abandoned for 20 years as they were assembled into a speculative land package. The total site included 3 very large warehouses, 3 houses and 2 office buildings and a shop as well as one enormous central courtyard and a number of smaller ones. With the 2009 crisis the original developer ended up in NAMA who evicted the site a little over a year ago and then sold it to more property speculators, details below. This new group then abandoned the site so was occupied once more a few months ago and has provided housing to up to 30 people since then as well as being the site of art performances and solidarity fundraisers. [Read More]
August 2nd, 2016: For the second time in as many days victoria police have attempted to illegally enter the home of a formally homeless family now residing in one of over a dozen formally empty state government owned houses acquired for the East-West link.
Twice police arrived unannounced at the home, applying physical force to the door, drilling the door lock and threatening to release “dogs and gas” into the family’s home. Neighbors, passers by and supporters surrounded police, forcing them to back down. [Read More]
What may have been the largest squat in Europe, at Grangegorman in Dublin, was recently evicted for the second time. A major hardship for the 30 people living there but one that was rapidly improved on when many of them moved a kilometre down the road and occupied a long abandoned prison.
The Debtors Prison on Halston street was built in 1794 and actually lies between Halston Street and Green Street. The ‘U’ shaped 3 storey building is built of granite and limestone and was built as a luxury prison for the wealthy who had run up gambling debts. There were 33 such rooms / cells which were rented either furnished or unfurnished. If you weren’t rich you were thrown into the basement, Dublin at the time had 5 debtors prison and this one alone could accommodate 100.
It later saw use as a police barracks, both the RIC and the Garda, and in the 1960s for public housing. After that it was threatened with demolition in the period when many historic buildings and indeed squares were pulled down to make way for ‘development’ before being leased by Students Against the Destruction of Dublin, a campaigning group formed by architecture students in the 1980s and then handed back to the Office of Public Works (OPW). [Read More]
This is an individual statement after the trial that followed an action against the Orthodox Church in Thessaloniki. Although this statement doesn’t represent anybody except myself and may include an uncompleted picture, I decided that it should be spread. Never trust the media!
Unsurprisingly, the three evictions in Thessaloniki on 27th of July resulted in furious actions. The squats were evicted by a coordinated police operation to do the Church a favor and satisfy their thirst for revenge. The Church is in this case not only an agitator but also responsible for the eviction and demolition of Orfanotrofio squat (a selforganized space and housing squat for immigrants since December 2015). [Read More]
On August 3, several anarchists in The Hague, the Netherlands, and one from outside the city received a letter from Mayor Van Aartsen with the intention of imposing a two month area ban for the Schilderswijk, a working class and immigrant neighborhood in the center of the city. The mayor wants to use the so-called “Football Law,” which is now being used against political activists for the first time. In recent times, anarchists in The Hague have dealt with much repression, much of it directly from the mayor’s office.
50,000 euro damage claim for De Vloek eviction
On September 9, 2015, during the eviction of social center De Vloek which had been squatted for 13 years, ten people were arrested. Five of them remained in prison for two weeks after being accused of committing violence against the police. Several months after their release, the ten people who had been arrested received a letter from the mayor of The Hague with a 50,000 euro damage claim. [Read More]
