Porto (Portugal): Call for April of Action

APRIL OF ACTION Porto, Portugal 2020

International call for action

This call is born out of the refusal to conform and stand passively watching as States and Governments turn the world into an machine of oppression imposed by rulers that don’t even hide the disrespect they have towards whole populations.

We have been witnessing an escalation of events which demand that we re-think our posture in the world and the way we want to lead our lives and the future of the planet.

Low salaries, unreasonable rents, gentrification that purposely pushes the lower classes out of the cities, out of their local communities to give space to the rich, not only alienating them from their roots and history but also not providing alternative resources for a dignified life. A consequence of real estate speculation and only in benefit of the upper class and capitalist economic interests. The exploitation of resources like Shale Gas, and Lithium without respect for the will and well being of the citizens living nearby. Illegal toll systems. New constructions that destroy entire ecosystems, like the project of a new airport in Montijo, or fracking extraction platforms that pollute soil layers and contaminates water plaques (same contaminated water that goes into the houses of nearby citizens).
Human exploitation, the mass destruction of nature, the killing of indigenous peoples and their habitats, wars…
And the list goes on and on…

All this scenario of insecurity also gives space for neo-fascist political ideologies which are now trying to sneak softly into our lives with the promise of “saving the interests of the nations”

It’s necessary to say ‘’enough’’!!
It’s necessary to take control of our own lives and by our own hands.

We feel its urgent to create structures of collective organization, horizontal, self managed, anti-capitalist, sovereign, that will help us depend less on a State and more on each other, our neighbors, our communities.

We invite @ll for the creation of a squatted autonomous zone on an urban/rural area of Porto starting on the 1st of April. Created by and for @ll.

From the 19th to the 25th of April there will be an international “Gathering of The Struggles”. It will be a meeting point for activism, art and struggles with the theme: Sovereignty. Throughout this period there will be a series of practical actions taking place at the city center related with housing and gentrification issues. This escalation of actions will lead to a final, bigger action on the 25th of April (anniversary date of the Portuguese peaceful revolution that ended dictatorship in the country)

If you have any ideas or proposals for activities/ lectures/ workshops/ concerts/ exhibitions/ workshops/etc for this meeting or if you wish to be involved in the organization, get in touch.

Things to bring:
Tent/sleeping bag/blankets/knives, forks, plates, cups/candles/food donations/all kinds of materials/trust and self esteem.

The meeting on the 1st of April will be at (Jardim de S. Lazaro at 14 o’clock) from where we’ll go together to the place in question.

Follow the white rabbit … abrilaccao [at] protonmail [dot] ch

Almada (Portugal): The Center for Libertarian Culture needs your support!

The Centro de Cultura Libertária, an anarchist association with 44 years of activity in Cacilhas-Almada, Portugal, is again threatened. The continued pressure of the real estate business, the change in the rental law and the gentrification that forces the departure of residents from the central spaces of cities, the destruction of non-profit spaces or the closure of neighborhood stores, now also touches the CCL.

What is happening?
This is not the first time that the CCL’s permanence in its historic headquarters has been called into question.
Between 2009 and 2011 the Centro de Cultura Libertária resisted an eviction procedure initiated by the landlord. Only the solidarity of many collectives and individuals here and beyond allowed us to face the costs of the judicial process, which led to two trials and one appeal. In the end, we reached a rent increase agreement that allowed us to continue in the space without changes in the duration of the contract.
However, in 2014, as a result of the changes in the rent law in favor of property owners’ interests, the CCL contract duration was set at five years. At the end of 2018, we have reached the point where, as has happened to thousands of tenants, the continuation of the rent of our space will be at the mercy of the owner’s will and the conditions that he wants to impose on us. [Read More]

Portugal: Stop the eviction of C.O.S.A

On the 13th of October in 2000 a group of young people from Setúbal, Portugal, decided to take in their own hands the control of a part of their lives. They squatted an abandoned house replacing emptiness and apathy with desires, dreams and experiences of freedom, autonomy, self organisation, confrontation and atack.

A communitarian place to live free action and expression, without political parties or state control, without authority, without profit and at last puting anarchism in practice. They named the squat C.O.S.A. (casa okupada de Setùbal autogestionada) and from this moment a new confrontation with power starts spreading through the city. Quickly the critique, denounce and intervention became present in the daily life of Setúbal. Cosa became a social center from where people organized against speculation, tourism resorts, oppression from the state, deaths by the hands of police, political parties, alienation… There were discussions, actions, demos, concerts, political paintings all around, all the experiments that were necessary to break up with the system. Many things happened trough these years but COSA always stood firm and strong. 17 Years passed and neither the police or the courts can erase this chapter in the rebel and unsubmissive history of the city.
[Read More]

Setúbal (Portugal): À da Maxada, days of collective work*, 7-14 May

We invite everyone for a week of (de)construction a la Maxada! To improve the space we need to take care of the fence, sewage, roofs, oven and the garden. We are also open to proposals for building new stuff – will it be solar oven, tree house, a filter for wastewater or something else?

We always need cement, bricks, beams, screws, wallplugs, hinges, locks, paint, rolls, brushes, tarpaulins, isolation materials, barbed wire, nets etc. From our side you can count on a place to sleep, vegan food and juices ))

Come over and bring your ideas and friends! [Read More]

Lisbon: New squat in the centre

We are human, young, old, pirate, student, homeless, worker, weak,
strong, shy, energetic…
We are Lisbon, Europe, the World. We were born into this society that
sees us as a number, as a list of material possessions, as somebody who
has to play a game for which we never volunteered and that we don’t want
to play. We walk the streets of Lisbon and we see the abandoned houses
that adorn it, we see the cardboard boxes that some buy to move houses
and others use as a bed, we hear music and we hear complaints. We want
to live here. We want to be able to live here. But how? Should we stop
talking of autonomy and enter the vicious cycle that makes us study,
work then retire? Should we try to rent a room, buy a house? Get
ourselves into debt? We don’t want to. We don’t want to! We want to live
the way we want.
[Read More]

Portugal: Voices from an okupation. The assembleia de occupação de Lisboa

Ongoing reflections on an okupation in Lisbon (continuing a discussion) …

The essay below, which we share in translation, is by Tiago F. Duarte, a member of the Assembleia de occupação de Lisboa, a collective responsible for the recent occupation of a residential building in Lisbon’s centre. We share the essay not because we agree with everything that is stated therein – for example, its overly marxist reading of history, of the opposition of the city and the countryside, of class conflict, and its reduction of occupation to a means or tactic of anti-capitalism when it is as much an end and a strategy (that is, these distinctions are in the end not only meaningless, but problematic) – but because of its insistence in reading “okupation” as a radical politics. [Read More]

Lisbon: Building occupied by ALOX collective

September 15:

Number 69 of Marques da Silva Street is occupied. The action is born of an initiative by a group of people, without any institutional affiliation, united by the desire to give life to an abandoned building.

Over the last years, the right to inhabit the city of Lisbon has been the target of numerous attacks. In a scenario of economic-financial crisis and austerity, a change in the rental law by the previous government created new business opportunities for investment funds and other speculating entities. At the same time, the image of the city as sunny, picturesque and peaceful, promoted by the tourist industries, contributed to an increase in the number of people interested in visiting and living in Lisbon. The market, as well as prices, are on a high. Neighbourhoods in which formerly rents were minimally accessible have their values rise brutally. The destructive re-composition of ways of life in the city, now reserved for those who can pay the most, is illustrated by the repeated examples of evictions.
[Read More]

Setúbal (Portugal): Stop Eviction of COSA Squat

Bulletin from C.O.S.A. in struggle. Gathering at May 27 in Setúbal, Portugal.


[Read More]

Athens: Solidarity with the C.O.S.A squat in Portugal, threatened with eviction

The C.O.S.A squat in the city of Setúbal, which had its 15th anniversary this month, has received an eviction threat.*

During the night of October 20th 2015, and as a first response to this bad news, we hung a solidarity banner at the Athens Polytechnic School, on Patission Street in the centre of Athens, reading: Solidarity with the C.O.S.A squat in Setúbal, Portugal, threatened with eviction – Strength, comrades (A) [Read More]

Lisbon (Portugal): Reportback from an anti-authoritarian protest in solidarity with the Greek squats, the NO TAV movement and the ZAD occupation

Last Saturday, January 26th, between 2.30pm and 6pm, there was an anti-authoritarian protest against capitalism, fascism and repression, in solidarity with the comrades from Greece and the entire world, and in support of liberated spaces held in Lisbon.

The communiqué specifically dealt with the frontal attack of the Greek State against the anti-authoritarian movement; the political repression of activists in the ZAD (Zone à Défendre, against the new airport in the outskirts of Nantes, France) and fighters against the TAV (Italy); the repression of the indigenous movements; the violent repression of the mass demonstrations around Europe (as on the 14N general strike); and the attack of the police with tear gas against young students of the basic education in a school in Braga (Portugal). A call to a struggle without borders. [Read More]

Porto: Autonomous social center Es.Col.A evicted on April 19th

The Squatted autonomous neighbourhood center in Porto, Es.Col.A was evicted this morning during a violent police action. An illegal act without notice. 3 people got detained and about 5 people badly injured.
Please support us with solidarity actions, translating and spreading the news! We need a strong international support, as the movement here in Portugal is weak and police still acts as in the times of dictatorship. [Read More]

Almada (Portugal): An anarchist centre under eviction threat

International solidarity | 9 november 2009

The court decreted the eviction of the oldest anarchist center in Portugal. We shall fightback!!!

CCL is an anarchist centre that exists in Cacilhas, Portugal, since 1974. It was started by old anarchists that fought against dictatorship and since then it stands in the same place. Along the years it has been an important place for anarchism in Portugal and it has been the house of several generations of anarchist. It has an unique library and archive in Portugal, with anarchist books that were edited in the last hundred years as well as its own distro. [Read More]