By SIGC-FAGC on May 2, 2020 translation @thefreeonline
Preamble
The coronavirus lockdown has stopped tourism in the Canaries, and left tens of thousands of famies with zero income and high rents overdue.(Canarias Semanal) Below is a Report by an anarchist union on ongoing rent strikes and survival struggles.
“The rent strike is a historic milestone, which has not been going on with this force for almost a century. It is the first time since then that a large group of people simultaneously questions a modern taboo’s: the capitalist institution of income”.
Rent Strike: We are all Precarious workers.. Renters Union of Gran Canaria.. ‘We dont get paid so we WONT PAY’
In Gran Canaria, we must start from the idea that a rent strike was not strange to us in certain militant spaces. Since the Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria (FAGC) went into housing (2012), it did so looking for and nourishing itself on references from the past, and those references almost always spoke of tenant strikes: Baracaldo (1905), Buenos Aires (1907), Glasgow (1915), New York (1918), Seville (1919), Veracruz (1922), Santiago de Chile and Valparaíso (1925), Barcelona (1931) Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1933), and this to mention only the best known of the first half of the 20th century
In 2015 and 2016, the FAGC participated in two sets of rent strikes in the capital of Gran Canaria in two blocks of vertically owned houses, in order to obtain a reduction in rent. The first was won instantly when declaring itself and the second only the next day. We were thus shown, empirically, that the rent strike is a formidable weapon, requiring almost no resources and allowing strikers, if they wanted to win, to endow what they previously took for a “personal problem” with a collective meaning.
The rent strike also had another advantage: in a situation of involuntary non-payment, the strike could turn insolvency into an act of political demand and social struggle. The idea was also brought to us indirectly by the experience of a colleague who, without any recourse, decided to go on a hunger strike: since she was not going to eat anyway, she could at least give political content to her difficult situation.
The same logic articulated throughout history the aforementioned tenant strikes: when you cannot pay and there is little to lose, the possibility of organizing with others and coordinating non-payment becomes a reality even when there is not the slightest politicization previously.
[Admin: The Sexta Grietas Network circulated this statement and asked for signatures. We reproduce it below with the signatures obtained.] Statement of Solidarity with the Struggle against the Maya Train, a Megaproject of Death Traducción en español Traduction française April 15, 2020 We salute the efforts of the Indigenous and Popular Council of Xpujil (CRIPX […]
Squat solidarity! This MayDay squatters from across the U.K. have come together to co-ordinate decentralised actions across the country to highlight our plight and address our needs. Both residential and commercial buildings have been occupied to provide housing for ourselves and the others left high and dry during this time of crisis, and banners have been dropped in support by squats not yet facing imminent eviction. Land has been taken to repurpose for clean open space and food, and food distribution is taking place to aid all who are struggling.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, emergency legislation was introduced and put a stay to all evictions for 90 days. However, it took just three weeks for the judges to surrender to the pressure from bailiffs, landlords and banks, and amend the law. Squatting cases will continue to be heard via phone, and bailiffs are now again smashing through our doors the way they always have – but this time we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and it’s scarier than ever before.
Evictions make us sick. In both the metaphorical and physical sense. The government that we didn’t choose values landlords’ and millionaire owners’ property laws higher than public health or our lives and the lives of people we love. We recognise though that it’s not a matter of choosing a “better” government as for us, it ends up being the same. We are a collective of communities living on the margins of society. Some of us are BIPOC, migrants, refugees, queer and trans people. Some are people living with disabilities, managing various health conditions, healing from trauma and domestic abuse. All of us are building our own refuges, homes and chosen families. COVID-19 has only magnified our already existing health, housing and power inequalities.
We find further discrimination in the illegal evictions that have taken place in these last weeks, as well as the well-evidenced police harassment of those of no fixed abode or street homeless – despite the lockdown rules not applying to those without homes. The government plan to house the homeless has proven to be worthless as people find themselves not able to get a spot, or treated like dirt when they do. State provision has already failed so many. Councils are running out of money, all the while council housing sits empty by the thousands. Specialist services such as domestic violence survivor support and LGBTQI+ housing and support services are fighting to be able to offer much needed refuge. Meanwhile it is estimated that the number of long-term empty homes in England now exceeds 226,000 (this figure is significantly higher if taking commercial properties into account).
The precarity we face is the same precarity lots of other people will recognise – it’s living payslip to payslip in insecure housing. It’s having little to no savings, little to no social network and sweating to get benefits that barely cover necessities. Government’s “solution” to make receiving universal credit easier and suspending evictions (which will only postpone them) is a temporary fix. It won’t solve the crisis that started way before the pandemic did. Some say COVID-19 is a crisis for capitalism. We say: to be so, it would have to destroy or at least scratch any of the structures that stay exactly the way they’ve been, the way they’ve been designed to be. It’s us – squatters and renters – who get hit the hardest while landlords enjoy their mortgage holidays and property owners fill out eviction papers.
We will not ask permission to find a safe place to sleep and stay alive. We will sleep wherever we can and want to. Whether in one of the 837272819191? empty buildings or abandoned unused land plots lying around or take up secret corners on OUR streets, if that’s the place we find the most safe. We will survive in the ways we need to and know.
We can’t just see this as a return to “normal”, and like all other aspects of our lives, we need to forge new paths and refuse to be crushed by a crumbling capitalism trying desperately to maintain its grip on the population. Our actions today are not those of politely asking to be reconsidered by the state, or begging to have the amendment overturned. We’re not asking for their kindness as we already know they’ve got none for us. We acted today because for us, solidarity means attack – attack on the legal amendment and the idea of housing as a commodity.
Demand space to stay safe. Take it if you have to.
Squatters across the UK, May 1, 2020.
Post-action report from one crew in London:
On Friday we squatted a disused residential block to house ourselves and others, and we were prepared to fight for it. In light of the amendment to Practice Direction 51Z allowing squatters to be evicted, we decided to attack. We will always be targets of the law. The law does not respect us, why should we respect the law? Our target today was the heinous law criminalising residential squatting. However once we gained access to the building we discovered the council had stripped and smashed each flat to make them uninhabitable. In this situation and in the reality of COVID-19, we decided to leave. In usual circumstances, our way would be to fix what the council has destroyed, with time and collaboration this would be possible – this time, we decided it’s not safe for us and others. This estate is in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, and the council continues to claim they’re lacking resources. We saw and continue to see with our own eyes that these resources exist, they are just not being used by design. The first flat we found our way into was in a fixable state, almost liveable. As we continued further into the block the flats we opened were more and more fucked, every last bit of wire stripped, and the fixtures smashed.
“We need to build more housihng they say, smash up this beautiful bathroom they do”
People squatting are often threatened with criminal damage charges. These images show the common injury and assault that councils and corporates inflict on our precious housing.
We are not discouraged, quite the opposite. Our successful action today encourages us, and we hope encourages others, to continue opening residentials, knowing that through mutual support we will one day we will find the one that we call home. (We are pleased to hear that another residential building was taken in south London and continues to be held).
Fuck Section 144, fuck the amendment to PD51Z, fuck the law, squat the world.
Dandelion Salad Updated: April 30, 2020 Originally published May 1, 2016 The Laura Flanders Show on Apr 26, 2016 Author and professor Peter Linebaugh discusses his new book, The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day. Later in the show filmmaker Avi Lewis discusses worker-owned factories in Argentina, and Laura focuses on the […]
London. UK. May Day call out of the Green Anti-Capitalist Front. Originally published by the Green Anti-Capitalist Front. May 1st is well known as international workers day across the globe, but this year we want it to be known as a day where anyone who is sick and tired of capitalists and the state threatening their…
PHOTO SHARED ON INDYMEDIA:::Objects looted by anarchists from the Véritas del Raval supermarket (Barcelona) // Objetos saqueados por los anarquistas del supermercado Véritas del Raval (Barcelona)
The robbery occurred yesterday Wednesday, in one of the Veritas stores in the Raval neighborhood. Specifically, this is the supermarket located at 17 Dr. Dou Street, as confirmed by sources close to the company to this medium. According to the same sources, there have been threats in recent days against various establishments of the premium supermarket chain.
The action has an anarchist political component. According to the Indymedia, portal, after the looting some leaflets were launched “inciting looting supermarkets and rebelling against this system that makes us starve.”
“LOOT YOUR NEARBY SUPER”
On the web they have shared an image (see above) with the stolen products and with various anarchist messages. “Loot your local supermarket”, “steal and destroy”, “in my hunger I command”, or “Daddy State I do not ask what you have stolen” are some of the phrases that accompany the stolen food from Veritas.
According to corporate media during the last fortnight, there was a wave of arson attacks in the Netherlands against cell phone repeaters. The last one reported by the corporate media took place in Groningen. “Fuck 5G” was written on one site.
The actions did not appear to be claimed. At least 15 attacks took place according to information released by the Dutch government through the media. Apparently, the first fire was in Beesd on April 4. Since then, transmission masts have also caught fire in Neerkant, Rotterdam, Nuenen, Dronten, Groningen, Oudenbosch, Veldhoven, Tilburg and Almere.
Stop 5G: Worldwide Actions, EU Cities Call for a Ban on 5G …People across the globe are protesting 5G. 5G Crisis Actions 2019 July 27, 2019 – New Day of Action Against5G: An Undeniable Risk A New Day of Action against5G has been planned July 27 and called 5G Crisis: An Undeniable Risk. This demonstration has been organized through Americans for Responsible Technology. This video from the 5G Crisis website highlights that this is not a simple …
Reportedly, none of the antennas were 5G carriers, with 2G, 3G and 4G masts. Police reported that the sabotage method was similar at each site. An instigator of the Groningen fire was caught on a surveillance camera. European police officials are reportedly being removed from terrorism cases to investigate arson attacks on 5G cell phone towers.
