| Belgium: Opening of a new squat |
The Collectif “Le Boulet” presents: a new collective, creative and active living space.
For a few days now, we, a group of people of various origins and from different scenes – students, unemployed, artists etc – occupied the buildings located at the 23-25 rue du Boulet in the center of Brussels. Because of our precarious means of subsistence, we needed a space where we could develop our projects, be they political or artistic, and liva a collective life.
The buildings which we have taken over belong to the Sofidev company. These buildings were being left to rot by the owner but are nonetheless completely viable. Although the need for housing with affordable rent is significant, certain companies, in collusion with the city authorities, practise a policy of real-estate speculation by expropriating the inhabitants of various Brussels districts in order to “raise the tone” of the city centre with luxury shops and high-rent housing.
In reaction to this, we want to put some life back into those unoccupied spaces, and make them suitable for living and for the devolpent of non-lucrative activities:
– soundproof rehearsal rooms for theatre, music and dance projects.
– spaces for political and cultural activities, with an ethos of solidarity, and not the traditional commercial ethos (infopoint: distribution and sharing of knowledge through booklets and fanzines, video projections, meetings and discussions, etc).
As of now, you can come and visit us at n° 23-25, rue du Boulet, 1000 Brusselss.
Tel : 0472 650112 E-mail : leboulet [at] linuxmail [dot] org
[trans. NMcN/ainfos]
nestor mcnab <nestor_mcnab [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk>
