Greece: Networks of Resistance Conference Part 1 – ZAD, Bure, Hambach Forest
Athens, Greece from unicorn riot, with thanks. – In the summer of 2017, folks in Athens organized the Networks of Resistance: 1st European Local Struggles Conference to “create an open source platform” to expand upon and share the experiences, knowledge, and ideas that have arisen from organically created resistance encampments currently building new alternatives outside of capitalism and nation-states.
The two-day conference was held in the self-organized Embros Theater, which is a squatted ex-factory in the Psiri District of Athens.
Navigating through the dynamics of building strong grassroots movements that impact radical change is a arduous task. The resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in the United States was monumental, but it didn’t stop the project nor the flow of oil. In Europe, resistance to development and fossil fuel extraction projects continues to grow in waves, similar to the USA, and like the resistance camps around Standing Rock, autonomous experiments of building an alternative society outside of capitalism and void of consumerism and hierarchy have existed for years now.Continue reading “ZAD, Bure, Hambach Forest: Networks of Resistance Part 1”
Prison Advocacy Network is forever humbled to be hosting the upcoming March on Washington DC.
Date:Saturday August 19th Time: 11:30am-12:00pm March 12:00pm- 5:00pm Rally Location: White House (Lafayette Park) Pennsylvania Ave NW & 16th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20001
Sat. Aug 19, San Jose: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCH – in solidarity with March in Washington DC
On AUGUST 19, 2017 please join in solidarity with the historic Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March. People from all over the country will be marching and hosting a rally at the White House to formally issue and demand the removal of the 13th Amendment “exception” clause that legalizes slavery. People are traveling from as far as California to join the March. Solidarity marches, rallies, and protests are being planned across the country to coincide with the DC event. Here’s San Jose!Continue reading “Sat. Aug 19: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCHES in Washington and San Jose”
Kurdish women hold a photo of Arin Mirkan, killed in fight against IS
Dilar Dirik salutes militant women-organised democracy in action in Rojava
It was in the autumn of 2014, only months after so-called Islamic State (ISIS) achieved massive territorial gains inside Syria and Iraq, committing genocidal and femicidal massacres as it did so, that a revolutionary silver lining arose from the little-known town of Kobane.
Having overrun Mosul, Tel Afar and Sinjar in Iraq, as well as a vast expanse of territory inside Syria, ISIS prepared to launch an attack on the north of Syria, known by Kurds as Rojava.
What it did not anticipate in Kobane was to encounter an enemy of a different kind – an organised, political community that was ready to defend itself courageously by all means necessary, and with a worldview that turns ISIS’s death ideology on its head.
Arîn Mîrkan, a young, revolutionary Kurdish woman, would become the symbol of Kobane’s victory.
TIPNIS [Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure] is a territory where the Pacha (Earth) is being devastated by people who see it as a space to plunder for their own enrichment;
It is not only the fauna that they attempt to destroy (thousands of species of animals and communities that have been thrived before the advance of Capital and ‘civilization’.
TIPNIS is located between the north of Cochabamba Dept. and the south of Beni. From the year 2000 to 2012, there were nine protest marches through the territory, demanding that those in Power respect their self-determination and not interfere in their behavior with the natural environment. This place has a lot of diversity as far as nature is concerned, and therefore is attractive to exploiters.
While Morales was enacting the new law, in the streets of Trinidad indigenous of the TIPNIS, environmental activists and settlers marched against Law 266 because they consider that the highway will only allow the expansion of the coca crops. According to the latest report of theOficina de las Naciones Unidas Contra la Droga y el Delito (UNODC),United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), these illegal sowings grew by 150 per cent from 2015 to 2016.
In October 2011, with the arrival of thousands of TIPNIS defenders, a law was approved which grants intangibility to the protected area. However, those in Power approved this past Tuesday [August] 8 a law that removes the intangibility of TIPNIS.
Workers Solidarity Movement position paper on Platformism and the WSM as collectively agreed by the July 2017 National Conference. This sits under ‘The Role of the Revolutionary Organisation’ paper.
The Role of the Revolutionary Organisation’ ..
Platformism and the WSM – a Workers Solidarity Movement position paper
Preamble
This position paper outlines in practical terms what platformism means to the WSM. Our collective theoretical understanding is framed in the WSM Constitution’s core point of unity number 3 and 4:
‘3. We identify ourselves as anarchists and with the “platformist”, anarchist-communist or especifista tradition of anarchism. We broadly identify with the theoretical base of this tradition and the organisational practice it argues for, but not necessarily everything else it has done or said, so it is a starting point for our politics and not an end point.
4. The core ideas of this tradition that we identify with are the need for anarchist political organisations that seek to develop: Theoretical Unity Tactical Unity Collective Action and Discipline Federalism’Continue reading “Platformism as an Anarchist Organisation Tactic”
The border does not divide one world from another. There is only one world, and the border is tearing it apart.
Borders: The Global Caste System
By CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective The border is not just a wall or a line on a map. It’s a power structure, a system of control. The border is everywhere that people live in fear of deportation, everywhere migrants are denied the rights accorded citizens, everywhere human beings are segregated into included and excluded.
The border divides the whole world into gated communities and prisons, one within the other in concentric circles of privilege and control. At one end of the continuum, there are billionaires who can fly anywhere in private jets; at the other end, inmates in solitary confinement.
As long as there is a border between you and those less fortunate than you, you can be sure there will be a border above you, too, keeping you from the things you need. And who will tear down that second border with you, if not the people separated from you by the first? Continue reading “Free Download pdf: No Wall They Can Build… US Border Guide”
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”.
… 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 
