Tag: Anarchism

Occupied Centers Resist Summer Evictions in Barcelona

 from La Directa, translation TheFreeOrg , en Catalá cap a baix
Self-managed and housing projects built in squatting areas such as Ca La Trava, Armadillo or the Expropriated Bank are threatened with eviction in the Gracia barrio suffering the pressure of tourism and the increase in prices in the purchase and rent of housing

In the neighborhood of Gràcia 2 occupied social centers have a threat of eviction Ca la Trava and the Expropriated Bank (El  Banc Expropiat),  separated by a mere 500 meters, they are different projects in the fight against the progressively imposed model where  traditional neighborhoods and businesses still struggle to coexist  in the face of real estate investors, promoters and tourists.

A second hand flat  Gràcia costs € 4,379 per m², the average rental price was € 856 per month in 2017, there are 1,081 hotels, hotel-apartments and pensions in the District.

Ca la Trava or luxury apartments


In December 2016, a group of students, workers, etc occupied the buildings located at numbers 154 and 156 of the Travessera de Gràcia in Barcelona. The first block was called Jahnela and hosted the ‘Gràcia Housing Office’ occupied project. Next door is Ca La Trava. “We organized ourselves at the Housing Office of Gracia, a group that offers solutions to the various housing problems, either by stopping eviction, defending neighbors in cases of real estate harassment, or by helping to squat to guarantee everyone access to decent housing, “they explained to their founding manifesto.

The block of Ca La Trava is property of the ‘ Inmobiliaria Mar SL’, also owned by the huge developer and construction company ‘La Llave de Oro’. ” It was in disuse for a long time and when we entered, we found it deliberately damaged to make  it uninhabitable” assure the occupiers

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Negotiations with the City Council and property began  Ca La Trava. After the first attempts to get the council to buy the blocks, in a process that delayed the order of eviction and finally did not fructify, the fate of real estate goes through the eviction and fell through they were scheduled for demolition to build ‘luxury homes. “ We are now facing a ”precautionary eviction” through criminal law, against which we will resist “, affirm the residents.

Banco Expropiat, six years and three threats

After the last eviction of the old bank the group of the Expropriated Bank liberateded a new space at the extinct ‘Center for Primary Health Care (CAP) of Quevedo Street and kept the same name. Continue reading “Occupied Centers Resist Summer Evictions in Barcelona”

Feminists Rebel As ‘Wolf Pack’ Gang Rapists Freed By Political Court

 CNT calls for rebellion against the Patriarchal State and its courtsImage result for CNT contra la manada

The anarcho-syndicalist trade union shows its indignation at the judicial resolution adopted in the case of “La Manada”  the self styled ‘wolf pack’.

”The CNT union has shown its absolute “dismay and disgust” before the performance of the Navarra Court that has decreed the provisional release of the members of “La Manada” .  “We share the anger and call to turn indignation into a permanent struggle against the patriarchal system that the State carries in its genes,” said the anarcho-syndicalist organization.Image result for CNT contra la manada”Being Afraid is gonna Switch Sides.. Feminist Self Defense …Platform for Free Abortion and Sexuality’‘

In the same way, the CNT has warned that what happened around “La Manada” once again puts in focus an unquestionable reality: “for what and for whom courts and prisons are made”. “That same judicial system is the one that pursues and ruins the lives of eight young people of Altsasu thanks to a police assembly, or also the one that persecutes rappers and criminalizes social protest,” the union stressed.

“Justice is nothing other than injustice, and the State is nothing more than a gigantic macho, violent and patriarchal apparatus,” they said. In this context, the CNT has also called for a “reflection” on the current system, “a system that breeds monsters like the members of La Manada and places in the courts of ‘injustice’ machista and misogynist judges.”

Sign/Share this Petiition ‘WE DON’T WANT THE WOLF PACK IN OUR STREETS’  firma esta petición … 750K signed so far!

The anarcho-syndicalist union showed its ” support and affection” towards all the militants of the feminist movement that today take to the streets “to shout against this injustice and defend their rights”. “You, sisters, are essential and indispensable to build another model of society, freer and more human,” they remarked.People show a banner reading 'It is not sexual abuse, it is rape' as they attend a protest against the judiciary sentencing on the trial of five men accused of gang raping an 18-year-old during San Fermin fiestas.‘We are the wolf pack’

Protests as Spanish court releases ‘wolf pack’ rapist predators

Five men who were convicted only for sexual assault after a gang rape of a woman at a Spanish bull-running festival have now been released on bail pending appeal, sparking fresh protests.

One of the accused is a Guardia Civil (Franco’s military police) and another was in the army. Several are far right “ultras” who support FC Sevilla.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Spain after a court ordered the release on bail of five men sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually abusing a young woman at Pamplona’s bull-running festival.‘Hitting a Guardia Civil gets 13 yrs jail. A Guardia Civil and 4 friends rape you and walk free’.

The men, who called themselves “the wolf pack” in a WhatsApp messaging group, had been accused of stalking, abducting and raping a woman, then 18, at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

All five were convicted only of sexual abuse in April and  were acquitted of the more serious crime of sexual assault, which includes rape, as the court did not consider that the victim had been subjected to intimidation or violence, sparking nationwide protests.Image result for manifestación manada barcelona

Coming shortly after the first ever feminist General Strike the verdict by a politicized Spanish Court is seen as direct repression and yet another example of patriarchal approval for the rampant neo fascist mentality and impunity for a far right gang including a paramilitary police officer who boasted of their crime on Whats App and mocked their victim.

Photos of some of the Demos around Iberia

Manifestación en Pamplona en protesta por la puesta en libertad bajo fianza de los cinco miembros de ‘La Manada’.

 

Concentración contra la puesta en libertad de ‘la manada’ en Cuenca.

Manifestación en Madrid contra la puesta en libertad de la manada.

Cientos de personas se concentran en Sevilla contra la puesta en libertad de los miembros de la manada.

Manifestación en Murcia, en la Plaza del Cardenal Belluga. El movimiento ha logrado movilizar de nuevo a miles de personas a través de las redes sociales.

Manifestación en Pamplona por la puesta en libertad de la manada.

En Valencia, el movimiento feminista avisó de que tomaría las calles. Y así lo ha hecho.

La imagen ante los Juzgados de Bilbao ha sido también la de un clamor multitudinario

 

Protesters hold a banner reading "There is no one who judges our word - It is not abuse, it is aggression" in Pamplona.

Spain: self styled  ‘wolf pack’ gang rapists freed by far-right political courts

Women’s rights groups immediately took to social media to call for protests on Thursday night with the slogan: “If the pack hits the streets, we will as well.”

Around a thousand people marched in Pamplona, some shouting “Enough macho violence”, and there where also rallies in neighbouring Basque cities Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian.

Hundreds also marched in Barcelona, some holding a banner that read: “In the face of patriarchal justice, feminist self-defence.”

“It is a shame, these scoundrel rapists get away so easily. It seems they want to release them so they are ready to start again on July 7, the day of San Fermin,” said 66-year-old protester Carmen Roman.

Another protest is scheduled to take place on Friday evening outside of the justice ministry in Madrid as well as in the southwestern city of Seville, the hometown of the five men, and other cities.

Demonstrators hit the streets of Pamplona, Spain. Demonstrators hit the streets of Pamplona, Spain.

Prosecutors had argued during the closed-door trial last year that the men’s victim was subjected to “serious intimidation and it prevented resistance or flight”.

They had asked for each of the men, who have been in custody since 2016, to be jailed for 22 years and 10 months.

One of the accused is a Guardia Civil policeman – currently suspended– and another was once in the army. Several are “ultras” who support FC Sevilla.

Rapists Freed as Impunity reigns in Patriarchal Spain

The five men jailed for sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman at the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona two years ago are to be released on bail of €6,000, according to reports.

The case, known as the “wolf pack” trial because of the name the men used in their WhatsApp group, caused a national outcry after the defendants were acquitted of rape.

The case was widely seen as a cross-examination of the 18-year-old woman rather than the men who attacked her. The proceedings were criticised after the judges accepted into evidence a report compiled by a private detective hired by some of the defendants. The detective had followed the woman over several days and produced photographs of her smiling with friends.

This was used to suggest she had not suffered any lasting trauma, prompting hundreds of women to demonstrate outside court holding signs reading: “We believe you, sister.”

Defence lawyers claimed the woman had consented and had let one of the men kiss her. They also said that 96 seconds of video footage from the men’s phones – showing the woman immobile and with her eyes shut during the attack – constituted proof of consent.

The prosecution said the victim had been too terrified to move. Al final de la manifestación, decenas de manifestantes han protagonizado una sentada frente al Congreso de los Diputados en Madrid.

“The defendants want us to believe that on that night they met an 18-year-old girl, living a normal life, who, after 20 minutes of conversation with people she didn’t know, agreed to group sex involving every type of penetration, sometimes simultaneously, without using a condom,” the prosecutor Elena Sarasate said.

The verdict was criticised by many senior politicians, including Pedro Sánchez, the leader of Spain’s socialist party who recently became the prime minister.

“She said NO,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “We believe you and we’ll keep believing you. If what the ‘wolfpack’ did wasn’t group violence against a defenceless woman, then what do we understand by rape?”

News of the men’s release prompted women’s groups to call protests in cities including Pamplona, Madrid, Zaragoza, San Sebastián and Barcelona on Thursday and Friday.

Laura Berro, the equality and LGBTI councillor at Pamplona’s city council, said the court’s latest verdict was proof of the patriarchal nature of justice.Cientos de personas se concentran en Madrid al grito de “Tranquila hermana, aquí está tu manada”.

“It’s shocking,” she tweeted. “But we will not shut up or be paralysed.”

Sign/Share this Petiition ‘WE DON’T WANT THE WOLF PACK IN OUR STREETS’  firma esta petición … 750K signed so far!

Animal Rights from an Anarchist Perspective

from  Red Black Green,  shared with thanks.

”Ultimately though it is class struggle that drives change and that means we will not see the end of capitalism and human and animal exploitation until the vast majority embrace it”.

Image result for anarchists and Animal rights

…  In my view animal rights needs libertarian ideas more than ever before. In the recent years the movement in Britain has suffered unparalleled repression. This country is not unique in this either – as animal liberation has across the world, so in its wake has followed a state and corporate backlash.

Anarchism – with its critique of power, hierarchy and capitalism – can help us understand how repression works and how we can work to resist it.

see also .. Animal Liberation and Social Revolution | The Anarchist Library

Related imageThe threat of far right and racist infiltration has grown as well. Attempts in the past to use AR as a vehicle for fascism failed. Now thanks to the internet, social media, low morale and  fragmentation – and the naïve belief some hold that fighting for animals takes precedence over everything else- extreme right wing groups are trying to gain a foothold.

These problems don’t affect animal rights alone. Anarchism and the libertarian left also face them.  The Earth First Journal published an article entitled “The New Face of the Radical Right” about Anarchist Nationalism. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn’t it? But some on the so-called radical right are suggesting building alliances with groups such as Earth First! to spread an anti-state but also nationalist/fascist agenda.12729321_1507503332890712_6185680978061315320_n.jpg Continue reading “Animal Rights from an Anarchist Perspective”

Fraguas: Occupiers of Abandoned Village resist Eviction, Fines and Prison

    #Fraguasrevive ”Justice” condemns the re-occupiers of Fraguas to a year and 6 months of prison, eviction and 50,000 euros fines.

sign petition: NO To EVICTION OF FRAGUAS  *74,000 so far!

Pancartas de apoyo a los okupas de FraguaIf we’re not kicked out there’ll be a Ziccini Garden

  • The defendants fear their entry into prison for not being able to pay the 50,000 euros in fines imposed by the judge
  • Failure to comply with the sanctions translates into three years of imprisonment for each of the defendants
  • The defense will argue in its appeal for the ‘legitimacy’ of the project and the possibility of resolving it by administrative means


first part by Raquel Gamo  @gamopascual    06/08/2018 –

Fraguas1

Continue reading “Fraguas: Occupiers of Abandoned Village resist Eviction, Fines and Prison”

Anarchist Reading group #1 .. review and download

Anarchist Reading group #1

London Anarchist Federation held their first reading group looking at two chapters in volume 1 of ‘Anarchism, a documentary history of libertarian ideas’, edited by Robert Graham. We read chapters 8 ‘Anarchist Communism’ and 9 ‘Anarchy and anarchism’.Below we present some of the talking points during the discussion, hastily jotted down as notes by one of our members.

A pdf of the texts (vol.1) can be found over at libcom: click Anarchism – A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas .

Parts of the texts are strikingly modern (particularly Kropotkin) and seem readily applicable to situation the working class finds itself in today. Has anything really changed, then? The texts speak of the coming automation of labour and the need, therefore, to make sure workers are in control so this can be a post-scarcity utopia rather than a high unemployment, high exploitation dystopia (hello Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work 2016).

Within this Cafiero acknowledges that many jobs could already be automated but it’s cheaper for capital to exploit labour, so we are condemned to drudgery (hello Bullshit Jobs, A Theory 2018). Although the texts on anarchist communism mainly focus on work and production, there is also an acknowledgement of the impossibility of valuing work and the need to consider mental health, social work and other functions of society which fall outside capitalism. Continue reading “Anarchist Reading group #1 .. review and download”

ZAD resists Militarization and Evictions: State offers to Legalise ‘Approved Projects’

Image result for ZAD expulsions resistance
If you don’t know what the ZAD of Notre des Landes is, check out the official site , in English and various languages, link click HERE

 21st day of Military Occupation, 29 April,

The police operation is supposed to be completed since Thursday, April 12, 2018, 22h, but the cops said they would not leave the area without having cleared all the destroyed houses, “released” the roads and they will prevent any reoccupation.Related image

The general-in-chief of operations announces that he and his villains will stay for months to “secure the area so that projects validated by the prefecture can see the light of day”. Edouard Phillipe, the first disaster, speaks of “to put an end to the illegal occupation”. The prefect meets his chiefs today. More info to come!

We stay in ALERT EXPULSIONS! We always call you to come support us on the spot, if you can, or to act from your home! Continue reading “ZAD resists Militarization and Evictions: State offers to Legalise ‘Approved Projects’”

Why growing up Anarchist made me a better Permaculture Designer

RTF lady

…..This post intends to share my love for both anarchism and permaculture and why the relationship between them keeps me up at night.

Anarchism and Permaculture

I joined the Anarchist Federation and the Anarchist Youth Network as a young teenager (circa 13-14 years old). While a lot of people have a jaunt at socialism or the Green Party and other escapades and find themselves radicalised by increasing dissolution with liberal ideas, I found I dove into the deep end.

And so began a lifelong love affair with ideas and action that questioned the legitimacy and role of a state, the capitalist economic system and all other forms of intersecting oppression, like racism, sexism and human supremacy.

I hungered for an understanding of all the fucked up things I’d seen or gone through.

”The site Empty Cages Design provides a portfolio of my work as an organiser, designer, agroecologist, educator and writer. It gives a platform to the courses, workshops, events and projects that I organise”.

Continue reading “Why growing up Anarchist made me a better Permaculture Designer”