Pacific Pygmy Owl – Casa Posa Honda/ owner’s garden – Manabi Province
“I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly and see what comes. Our everyday lives obscure a truth about existence – that at the heart of everything there lies a stillness and a light.”
― Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Mother’s Memoir
My new home offers a serene immersion in nature; the birds – many of them new to me – stop by often, as if to pay proper respect to the newcomer. This post shares some of those birds – one species, if the ID is correct, appears to be quite special!
Calling all birders! Is this an Orange-fronted Barbet?
The RED LISTstates:
Population: This is a poorly known species and no population estimates are available. It is considered generally uncommon.
Slimy businessmen and international Vulture Funds are buying up whole blocks of homes, getting rid of lifelong tenants and converting to luxury and tourist bonanzas. But the mutual aid networks (PAH and the ObraSocial) have caught on and a whole series of blocks are being occupied
The ‘Obra Social BCN’ makes public the occupation of the renamed ‘Bloc Llavors’ (Seeds Block)in Poble-sec
The Obra Social BCN has announced this morning the occupation of a new housing block at number 38 Carrer Lleida , in Poble-sec barrio.
The building is owned by the Finnish investment fund Vauras Investment SL. There are some neighbors still residing in the building with old contracts who would have undergone real estate harassment to leave
(note. the ‘Obra Social Barcelona’ is part of the local PAH groups (stands for People Affected by Mortgages) which is a countrywide network of autonomous assembly-run groups dedicated to defending and helping the hundreds of thousands of families evicted by the banks since the housing ‘speculation bubble’ collapsed.)
This building adds to other occupied vulture fund buildings that have become the spearhead of the struggle for housing in the city, such as the building number 37 of Leiva Street, La Janhela in Gràcia or The Block in La Bordeta.
This investment fund of Finnish origin, which manages super luxury housing throughout Catalonia, was also responsible for the eviction of La Profana, after acquiring the building at the promoter Catalonia Gebira SL. 100% of the company’s share capital is in the name of the company Barcelona Invest Oy, established in Luxembourg.
Their sales are all in the hands of buyers of the great European economic elites. Apart from luxury buildings and flats located mainly in Barcelona, Maresme, Sitges and Eivissa, they also offer high end cars, private jets and yachts.
According to the Collective of Defense of the Right to Housing, Vauras was emptying the block of neighbors through “harassment and not renewing contracts”, a dynamic that is repeated in the neighborhood.
” Poble-sec barrio has lost more than 2,000 homes since 2010, some of these converted into hotels and tourist accommodation, and the rental price has increased by 20% in two years, reaching an average of 750 euros a Month for flats of 57 square meters, ” they say in the statement.
13.11.16.. Eighty riot police expelled the inhabitants of La Profana in Barcelona e and delivered the property to the same investment fund, Vauras Investment SL -registered in Luxembourg- that manages “superluxe” homes all over Catalonia
“Although I’m working today, I can not afford to pay for a rental,” explains one of the new occupiers in the Block in a video that has been made public today. Another of the new neighbors tells before the camera what was her situation before the occupation: “We lived in a situation of overcrowding, with a room shared by my daughter and me. My daughter must have a home that allows her to develop. … The fact of not having sufficient income to pay the rentals that the market raises does not mean that we do not have the right to live in a dignified way,” she concludes.
When entering the Vauras apartments, the neighbors found apartments with “luxury” finishes that made them think they were destined for the luxury tourism sector or large investments.
In this situation, the Obra Social demands that Vauras Investment SL ”not speculate more with our lives and the City Council of Barcelona acts against real estate speculation and offers legal alternatives significantly expanding public housing.”
armed police show off their latest battering device
ORIGINAL IN CATALAN
L’Obra Social BCN fa pública l’okupació del Bloc Llavors al Poble-sec
L’edifici està situat al número 38 del carrer Lleida i és propietat del fons d’inversió finlandès Vauras Investment SL. En l’edifici encara resideixen veïnes amb contractes antics que haurien sofert assetjament immobiliari
L’Obra Social BCN ha fet pública aquest matí l’okupació d’un nou bloc d’habitatges al número 38 del carrer Lleida, al Poble-sec.
Rebatejat com el Bloc Llavors, aquest immoble se suma a altres edificis que s’han convertit en la punta de llança de la lluita per l’habitatge a la ciutat, com l’edifici del número 37 del carrer Leiva, La Janhela a Gràcia o el Bloc de la Bordeta.
A l’immoble del carrer Lleida s’han ocupat sis pisos i “ja hi estan vivint tretze persones, cinc de les quals són menors”, segons un comunicat publicat per l’Obra Social
A l’immoble del carrer Lleida s’han ocupat sis pisos i “ja hi estan vivint tretze persones, cinc de les quals són menors”, segons un comunicat publicat per l’Obra Social. Els habitatges són propietat de Vauras Investments SL. A PAH group protesting at a BBVA bank branch
Aquest fons d’inversió d’origen finlandès, que gestiona habitatges de súper luxe arreu de Catalunya, també va ser el responsable del desallotjament de La Profana, després d’adquirir l’edifici a la promotora Catalonia Gebira SL. Vauras Investment SL té com a administrador únic a Heikki Matti Kalervo Hautsalo i el 100% del capital social de l’empresa està a nom de la societat Barcelona Invest Oy, establerta a Luxemburg.
Les seves vendes van totes encarades a compradors de les grans elits econòmiques europees. A banda d’edificis i pisos de luxe situats majoritàriament a Barcelona, el Maresme, Sitges i Eivissa, també ofereixen cotxes de gamma alta, jets privats i iots.
Segons el col·lectiu de defensa del dret a l’habitatge, Vauras estava buidant de veïnes el bloc del carrer Lleida a través de “l’assetjament immobiliari i de no renovar els contractes”, una dinàmica que es repeteix al barri.
“Al Poble-sec s’han perdut més de 2.000 habitatges des del 2010, alguns d’aquests reconvertits en hotels i allotjaments turístics, i el preu del lloguer ha augmentat un 20% en dos anys, arribant a una mitjana de 750 euros al mes per pisos de 57 metres quadrats”, diuen en el comunicat.
“Al Poble-sec s’han perdut més de 2.000 habitatges des del 2010, alguns d’aquests reconvertits en hotels i allotjaments turístics, i el preu del lloguer ha augmentat un 20% en dos anys, segons l’Obra Social.
“Encara que avui en dia estic treballant, no puc fer front al pagament d’un lloguer”, explica una de les noves veïnes del Bloc Llavors a un vídeo que s’ha fet públic avui. Una altra de les noves veïnes narra davant la càmera quina era la seva situació abans de l’okupació: “Vivíem en una situació de sobreocupació, amb una habitació per la meva filla i per a mi.
He hagut de gestionar jo mateixa el meu dret i de la meva filla ha de tenir un habitatge que li permeti desenvolupar-se”. “El fet de no tenir ingressos suficients per pagar els lloguers que el mercat planteja, no vol dir que no tinguem dret a viure amb una manera digna”, conclou.
En entrar als pisos de Vauras, les veïnes han trobat pisos amb acabats “de luxe”, que els fan pensar que estaven destinats al sector del turisme de luxe o les grans inversions. Davant aquesta situació, l’Obra Social exigeix “a Vauras Investment SL que no especuli més amb les nostres vides i a l’Ajuntament de Barcelona que actuï contra l’especulació immobiliària i ofereixi alternatives legals ampliant significativament el parc públic d’habitatge”.
by Squat!net, shared with thanks! This Thursday 3rd of August, 2017, in the morning, the cops have broken the doors of several rented and squatted houses in Florence, Rome and Lecce, to arrest eight anarchist comrades from Florence.
La Repubblica (Italian mainstream newspaper) says it’s the result of an investigation made by the DIGOS (Division of General Investigations and Special Operations) and the antiterrorist Italian police, regarding two events.
First, an explosive device was put in front of a fascist bookshop linked to Casapound during last New Year’s Eve, and the police bomb-disposal expert lost a hand and an eye.
Second, a Molotov cocktail was thrown against a Carabinieri barracks in Rovezzano (Florence) on 21st of April, 2017.
By CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective Gord Hill is an anarchist artist and a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation who has been active in anticolonial and anticapitalist struggles for decades. Over the years, his art and criticism have been an inspiration and challenge to us.
Obviously, there have always been intersections between art and resistance, but we’d like to hear how you see those intersections for yourself, and how you see those intersections playing out in society today.
I believe art is an important part of resistance in that it contributes to an overall culture of resistance. Art inspires, educates, motivates, and helps to maintain a history of resistance as well.
by The Free 03/08/17 Late capitalism is like an express train screeching down a hill towards a cliff edge.. and the only way to stay on the rails, as is unanimously agreed, is BY ACCELERATING the ‘growth rate’..
So how will the revolution happen? The classic answer is that the workers will unite, strike, takeover, banish the insane 1% and put the world to rights.
Not likely to happen any time soon. For one thing we are divided and marginalised and being replaced by precarious labour and willing anti-union robots.
The Nation States each demand a monopoly of violence and coercion. They need to be abolished, ASAP, but they have 24.7 million bored troops, armed to the teeth and just longing for us to attack.
Capitalism needs to crash to the ground in smithereens, but most of us are dependent on its crumbs to survive and feed our kids.
And even if socialism or communism were to triumph we have generations of proof that top down State Control just Doesn’t Work.
So how will it happen? Or is it just wishful thinking?
First of all, we are not naturally greedy, selfish, cruel, self centered, bastards. Those are the qualities demanded of us by a perverse system.
On Thursday, July 27, women prisoners occupied Korydallos prison. We publish a statement of the women prisoners.
Submitted to Enough is Enough, translated by Black Cat
Statement Women Prisoners in Korydallos Prison Greece, July 27, 2017
Today, on Thursday the women prisoners in Korydallos occupied the prison in order to keep it open throughout the night, as a response to the death of Vasiliki Stathopoulou, a woman who was imprisoned here. Vasiliki was a cancer patient. She was in prison for over two months and all the while her health was in a terrible condition, the authorities and the doctors kept saying she was just faking it and nothing was wrong with her. She was eventually hospitalized after she collapsed. She died yesterday, on the 26th of July and we were informed of her death today.
We decided collectively to respond to the death of our fellow prisoner and the fact that she was not taken seriously during the previous period, so we attempted to keep the prison open throughout the night. At 22:30 the chief prison-guard Nikolopoulos came in, with ten men from the men’s prison and forcibly locked the women in wards, apart from those who were at the front of the building. In many cases, those who resisted were pushed violently. Next, none of the women were allowed to go out.
Our reaction to the death of our fellow prisoner is a minimum reaction against everything she went through and aims to show that women prisoners facing serious heath conditions -which are many- do not have access to healthcare and are not treated with respect.
The Ministry of Justice, the D.A. and the authorities in prison, repressed our mobilization through the use of violence. This repressive operation in the women’s prison constitutes a political success of the Syriza-Independent Greeks administration.
Pacific Pygmy Owl – Casa Posa Honda/ owner’s garden – Manabi Province 
Calling all birders! Is this an Orange-fronted Barbet? 
… The fact of not having sufficient income to pay the rentals that the market raises does not mean that we do not have the right to live in a dignified way,” she concludes.
armed police show off their latest battering device
A PAH group protesting at a BBVA bank branch
The Free 