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”
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.
from freedomnews.org. The quiet, wildlife-filled countryside just outside Notre-Dame-des-Landes, north of Nantes has been a point of massive contention between various French governments and the country’s environmental direct action movement since 2008, when permission was granted to build a €580 million airport serving as “the international gateway” to Western France.
If you’re a French-speaker, or want a video impression of the Zad movement, try this from 2012:
Squats and camps sprung up on fields due for the rumble of the bulldozer in the early 2010s, and it came to be known as the Zone to Defend (zone à défendre, or Zad), inspiring dozens of other similar camps which have in some cases banded together into “back to the land” networks.
Next month will see a major gathering for the Zads in the form of a week-long camp at Nantes, the Intergalactic Week of Zad, building resources and establishing links between the disparate groups.
Organisers said the programme would be relatively open with a few broad themes, and would offer ample opportunity to learn and work on DIY projects:
Mornings will be dedicated to collective working opportunities, including the building of Ambazada, the Intergalactic cabin as well as collective work on various sites of the Zad (e.g., barn construction, carpentry, helping with collective crops, fence maintenance, collecting wood for the bakery, basket making…). Participants are asked to bring a tent, sleeping bag and a leash if you have a dog.
Recently a few people have asked for the original version of The Free in digital form so I took in the old book and the German version and had them scanned. This is the result. the scan wasn’t too good and I had to go through it all, fiercely resisting the temptation to improve the text, hopefully I haven’t missed too many typos.
‘This short, original version is the same tale but darker and more violent, focusing less on revolution and more on guerilla struggle’.
.Dr Daniel P. Jaeckle, author of ‘Embodied Anarchy in Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ said this of the first version of The Free
I should add that the 1986 version has its own interest. It does not often engage in ideological statements, it ends with the more realistic deaths of some characters as opposed to the more romantic ending of the 2007 version, and the speed of the narrative is compelling. I encourage those who can find the 1986 version to read it as well.
In Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Lübeck, Wuppertal and many other cities across Europe people protested against eviction threats against squats on Friday; #HandsOffAll Squats!
Spontaneous demo in Wuppertal, Germany, June 23rd 2017.
The Coordination of Refugee Squats (City Plaza, Notara 26, Oniro, Spyrou Trikoupi, Arahovis, 5th School, Jasmine School, Acharnon 22) called for yesterdays international day of action “Hands off the squats”. In the call, activists demand to keep the squats open, to close the camps and detention centers, to cancel the shameful EU-Turkey deal, to open the borders and stated that “you can’t evict a movement!”
In the past year repression against refugees and supporters has increased with evictions, arrests and police violence in various EU member states. Some of the squats where refugees lived in a self-organised way were evicted, for instance in Thessaloniki, Athens and Belgrade. Again and again there are reports from police violence against refugees in France, Croatia, Hungary and other European countries. Since the EU/Turkey deal, refugees are being detained at the Greek islands and deported back to Turkey.
In Athens people protested against a possible eviction of City Plaza, Papouchadiko and Zoudochou Pigis 119 in front of the ministery of migration. Projects like City Plaza succeed in where the Greek goverment and other EU member states fail; a self-determined life, a life with dignity for those who travelled to a putative Europe under extrem hard conditions.
A life where it doesn’t matter which papers people have but instead a life where people can live together in a self-organised way. Since the former City Plaza hotel was squatted more than a year ago, after the building was empty for several years, more than 1500 people lived in the building. 400 at any one time. Continue reading “Solidarity Acts across Europe for City Plaza, SquatBo and all squats”
– 24 de junio de 2017 por Enough is Enough!] En Atenas, Berlín, Bruselas, Frankfurt, Lübeck, Wuppertal y muchas otras ciudades de toda Europa protestaron contra las amenazas de desalojo contra las centros ocupados el viernes pasado; #handsoffcityplaza#HandsOffAllSquats!“Hands off the squats”Manifestación espontánea en Wuppertal, Alemania, 23 de junio de 2017.
La coordinación de las ocupaciones de refugiados (City Plaza, Notara 26, Oniro, Spyrou Trikoupi, Arahovis, 5ª escuela, Jasmine School, Acharnon 22) pidió el día internacional de acción “Manos fuera de todos los squats#HandsOffAll Squats!…
En la convocatoria, los activistas exigen que se parar los desalojos, cerrar los campamentos y los centros de detención, cancelar el vergonzoso acuerdo UE-Turquía, abrir las fronteras y declararon que “no se puede desalojar un movimiento”.
… 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 
