The eviction of the Rosa Nera squat and the Rectorate squat on april 1st 2024 demonstrated Belvedere’s intentions to go ahead with its plans to turn the complex into a luxury hotel. According to a document that surfaced, the company has received the green light to start sampling work at the sites of the squat, despite the stated opposition of bodies, unions and associations of the city, even the city council itself, to the hotelization on Kastelli hill.
According to confirmed information, this work will start on Monday, April 8, by private crews that have been hired, most likely by Belvedere. We call on all struggling sections of the society of Chania not to leave Belvedere and its plans on a green branch and to block any work that is going to be done, starting Monday.
We call for mobilization on wednesday, april 10, at 7 a.m., outside the squat. [Read More]
Chania, Greece: Rosa Nera evicted for a second time, call for mobilization
Chania: Rosa Nera evicted, the struggle is just beginning
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]
Crete: Rosa Nera evicted
Following the police raid and evacuation of Terra Incognita, a 16 years old squat in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 17 August 2020, another squat was raided today, (5 September 2020), this time in Chania, Crete where Rosa Nera squat stood ground since 2004.
Following the police raid, hundreds of people marched in solidarity through the small greek island town in the afternoon and held a public assembly in the evening to decide the next steps of resistance.
Another protest is taking place right now in Chania, while in Exarchia, Athens a solidarity demo to Rosa Nera Squat is also taking place. The mass participation in the protests and assemblies is a clear sign of the Squat’s openness and interconnection with society and the people’s reaction to the plans of turning the historic building into a hotel owned by an Israeli company.
More than 2.000 protesters protest last night in Chania in solidarity with Rosa Nera Squat in a town of 55.000 inhabitants. In Athens many people gathered in solidarity with Rosa Negra at Exarcheia square.
Chania (Crete): Solidarity with the squat Rosa Nera
There are no hotels in Crete. Missing spaces are missing.
During the last years all the governments have carried out several campaigns of elimination of the self-managed spaces. What they want to achieve is that we find ourselves only in our homes, in the cafes, in the bars and in the shopping centers. That is, they want us to be just consumers and customers. Consequently, the offensive that Rosa Nera is facing in Chania is not fortuitous. The Rosa Nera building belongs to the Polytechnic School of Chania, and for thirteen years has been a place of struggle and emblematic culture, also covering roofing needs. In its facilities the tireless people who have worked hard to give life to the building have created a theater, a library and reading room, a space for presentations (of artistic creations), a children’s park, a construction workshop, a space in which is a bazaar of gifts, an oven for the production of artisanal bread, and a coffee. [Read More]
Chania (Crete): Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative Rosinante: “Hands off the occupation Rosa Nera – Solidarity with the social spaces of struggle”
On the occasion of reports that talk about transforming the building where occupation Rosa Nera is in a hotel, the Anarchosindicalists Initiative “Rosinante” has published the following announcement:
In the last week, in newspapers (Eleftheros Press, Kathimerini) and racist web sites belonging to the “New Democracy” appears the Rectorate of the Polytechnic of Crete to offer informal “in secret” auctions buildings of the city to tourism bosses. Among these buildings is the building of the Rosa Nera Occupation. This move is part of the wider attack on social and labor movements – and with the backs of the current government.
The occupation of Rosa Nera, for 13 years, is a working machine of support and organization for important aspects of social and labor movements in Chania. Through a libertarian and anarchist culture that supports the organization on the ground, the political work of occupation offers both a hospitable “home” for social struggles and a critical human potential for most social, labor, environmental and rightful claims in Chania. [Read More]
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