Tag: Occupy

The ‘Blokes Fantasma’ resistance begins.- After 31 years abandoned the owner is trying to destroy our community life project-

The owner of the Ghost Blocks ( Blokes Fantasma) has taken legal action to evict us. He wants to destroy a community life project that, since 1993, has been home to hundreds of people and a multitude of social projects.

On 15th January 2025 from @blokesfantasma  instagram.com/reel/DExSMGat8CZ/ via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-FAZ Telegram https://t.me/thefreeonline.

‘By attacking one of us they ATTACK US ALL!‘

5,565 views Premiered Jan 13, 2025

We defend the Ghost Blocks- Blokes Fantasma

– translation from Catalan


From its beginnings, the Blokes Fantasma were committed to not only being a home, but to building an open space, where to generate and share counterculture away from the commodification of time and leisure.

We want the owners to withdraw the lawsuit and accept that Blokes is not theirs but belongs to those who live there!


It was built almost 40 years ago, and the owner, who belongs to a family of large landowners in the city, abandoned it before finishing the work, without paying the workers and endangering the lives of the neighbors, leaving a crane at the mercy of the wind.

After his death, his children have never claimed the inheritance; until now, when all the former debts have been prescribed.

One of the many reasons to defend the Blokes is that they are part of a struggle to conquer another model of life.

And in this struggle there are many of us, from different places, but with the same goal: to build a world free from oppression and material accumulation. A world that defends the right to housing above the right to private property.

Access to housing has become the slavery of the 21st century and is essential for the maintenance of capitalism.

How many people would leave their crappy jobs if they didn’t have to pay rent?

For us, just as the land belongs to those who work it, houses belong to those who live in them. Or, what is the same, we want for everyone what we want for ourselves: we want everything.

We want houses for everyone. For those who are in an irregular situation, for those who study, those who work, those who are unemployed; those who give birth and those who dedicate their time to getting involved in social causes without receiving anything in return.

We don’t want anyone to be able to speculate on housing. But, above all, we don’t want to leave anyone behind.

We don’t want to be accomplices in the commercialization of housing and, in this fight, our tool is the occupation.


But we won’t be satisfied with just that. We want to end the plunder of natural resources that this city model based on mass tourism entails. We want to stop satisfying the whims of the rich.

We want resources to be distributed according to needs, and to contribute according to our possibilities. We want no one to be able to accumulate wealth in order to, thus, put an end to poverty.

We want Blokes Fantasma for all. We want these Blokes and all those who will come

You won’t be able to defeat The Blocks, we are all ghosts!!

Against your greed, our love and our rage.
Barcelona is ours and we have the keys to all the houses.

Vídeo producido por Blokes Fantasma y Empatik Films. https://bsky.app/profile/blokesfantas…https://mastodon.social/@blokesfantasma  / blokesfantasma  https://bsky.app/profile/empatikfilms…https://mastodon.social/@empatikfilms  / empatikfilms   Música: Suicidas https://suicidas.bandcamp.com/

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Continue reading “The ‘Blokes Fantasma’ resistance begins.- After 31 years abandoned the owner is trying to destroy our community life project-“

Barcelona: 15 day blockade stops Blackstone eviction of 10 Families

.. ”Giant vulture funds are fast becoming our landlords.  But why should  the 1% be allowed to suck our blood forever with impossible mortgages and rents boosted by their disgusting greed? From Berlin to Barcelona and every city we call for rent strikes and occupations. The Raval victory shows that mass resistance and solidarity can WIN”..

Raval neighbors 15 day blockade stops Blackstone eviction of 10 Families

Neighbours in the Raval barrio in Barcelona have held a successful 15 day long resistance campaign from 1st July to block plans by vulture fund Blackstone to evict people by surprise in Carrer Hospital. The blockade was widely supported round the clock  with all kinds of activities, workshops, concerts, etcetera.

Evictions in the Raval neighbourhood are a daily occurance , sometimes up to 5 a day. In recent years anarchist groups have promoted a growing  practical solidarity network  to block evictions and help homeless victims.

Blackstone is the world’s biggest vulture fund. It arrived in Spain in 2013 and by now has over 100,000 ‘assets’, mostly homes evicted due to the criminal  housing policy. For example Blackstone bought 41,000 mortgages for a giveaway price from a bank which had just been ‘bailed out’ with a free gift of 12,000 million of public money.

XVII Festes Alternatives del Raval de l’11 al 14 de juliol a l’Àgora Juan Andrés divendres 12 de juliol de 12 a 14h Putivermú al Carrer […]

The local housing union Sindicat Habitatge Raval@RavalSindicat, held a press conference this morning 15/07/2019 claiming victory after the street was blocked  fore 15 days and the legal eviction time ran out. Though illegal evictions are common it’s unlikely in this case as it would cause a riot.

Blackstone has begun negotiating and now offers 7 of the families rent contracts, which would be a ‘first time ever’ for the vulture fund. It seems that, like in the case of the giant Cerberus fund evicting a community garden , Blackstone is being forced to cancel a publicly resisted eviction, in order to quietly go ahead exploiting its other 100,000 properties.

Blackstone (Anticipa) and 32 smaller funds were invited in by the far right PP with tax free incentives and have always employed mob-like practices such as extortion, blackmail, bribes, rental prices which families can’t afford (pocketing public subsidies), abusive clauses, and selling apartments before rental contracts end in order to promote the expulsion of the tenants.

  In the first three months of 2019 the youth unemployment rate for under 25’s in Catalonia was 30.5%

Over 0ne million people have lost theit homes in the Spanish State since the ‘crisis began.

The avalanche of homeless families are helped, case by case, by volunteers Image result for ocupacion del sede de Anticipa Blackstone en el Pratfrom the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (Platform for People Affected by Mortgages). It’s a Spanish grassroots organization with over 150 local branches that takes direct action to stop evictions and campaigns for housing rights. For example in June 2018 they occupied Anticipa/Blackstone’s headquarters in Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona)


https://twitter.com/endavantcv/status/1146462835582668800

Above video: Mass picket outside apartment o Blackstone’s Barcelona manager Mendiluce . This protest tactic is a huge success. The banner  above reads  ”If you come to our houses we will come to yours. Eduard Mendiluce,  Stop the eviction of c/ Hospital 99.”

 

  

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SEE.. Sindicat de llogaters ..https://twitter.com/ravalsindicat?lang=en   ALSO: El Raval, en peu de guerra contra l’especulació de Blackstone

MAYDAY is the name of a big new Occupied Social Center, occupied on May 1st 2019 in the central Raval area. The building was squatted twice before as a collectivised student residence. It was extremely destroyed after the 2nd eviction and is still being renovated by the new collective and neighbourhood.

see also  … Road to Revolution: The Barcelona Rent Strike of 1931./

 

 

 

The Squatted Garden and the Vilest Vulture Fund on Earth

 

Lentillères Free District: Occupied Urban Gardens Grow Community ZAD

For the 2017 Networks of Resistance conference reports, see Pt. 1 – ZAD, Bure, Hambach Forest & Pt. 2 – Infrastructure; ExarcheiaNet & Cooperativa Integral

Starting with a protest in the center of Dijon, France, in the midst of a chilly day in 2010, about 150 people embarked for an abandoned lot, cleaned it up, occupied the area, and formed the Lentillères (lentil garden).

Family farms produce 80 percent of world’s food …Only 1 percent of the world’s farms are larger than 50 hectares, but this small group controls 65 percent of the world’s agricultural land, the FAO report said. Farms smaller than one hectare account for 72 percent of all farms, but control only 8 percent of agricultural land

Eight years later, the urban gardens of the Lentillères encompasses a free zone of over nine hectares that is, by its existence, resisting against development projects while demonstrating “another way of being that [is] non-hierarchical and egalitarian and free.”

“[Lentillères is] a mixture of the preservation of agricultural land, the promotion of agricultural land, mixed in with living spaces and collective spaces.” – Presenter from Lentillères

Dijon, the capital of France’s Golden Coast in the Burgundy region famous for wine and monasteries, is an area rich in history and home to 250,000 people. Presenters said that politicians and developers utilize the history to attract investment. The municipality has been busy with plans to modernize Dijon by building new streets, shopping centers, and installing thousands of CCTV cameras. Developers in Dijon now plan to build 15 new housing projects in what they call ‘eco-quarters’ by 2020.

Recent history of anarcho-punk culture from 1980s-90s is also embedded in the city. Massive “anarcho-fun gigs” in the squatted industrial wastelands of Dijon took place in efforts to reclaim space from capitalism.

The more accepting culture of squatting and land defense in France helped lead to the local, socialist-run government of Dijon essentially allowing anti-capitalists and anarchists to take the space they desired with no problems, the presenters said.

The continued occupation of the land by over twelve collectives and more than 100 people living in the Lentillères are now threatened by the second phase of the encroaching ‘eco-quarters’ project. Continue reading “Lentillères Free District: Occupied Urban Gardens Grow Community ZAD”

#ManiOkupa December 1 .. Why We Squat .. Demo for Occupation ..Barcelona

English translation .  llegiu en català cartell Ara més que mai okupa tu tambe.jpg#ManiOkupa  .Squat Demo December 1 Demonstration for Occupation

On Saturday, December 1, we take to the streets in defense of Occupation. In the face of repression and the wave of evictions we do not retreat, on the contrary, we take a step forward.

Saturday December 1 .. All on the streets! No eviction without response.

Spread the word and Act!

The occupation of abandoned sites for self-management of our lives has been a reality for more than two decades in Barcelona.

This was our response to the need for social spaces and the lack of accessible housing in the cities. In the last year, and like other times, we are experiencing a wave of repression of our projects: ccupied Social Centers such as La Clandestina, REA, Ateneu la Pua … and homes such as Ca La Trava, Kubo, Kantonada, Montmany 3 … have been evicted.

okupas de Gracia

Continue reading “#ManiOkupa December 1 .. Why We Squat .. Demo for Occupation ..Barcelona”

Abused ADM Occupiers ”donate 100m Euros” to Gangster Speculators, Amsterdam

Amsterdam: ADM Action at Chidda Vastgoed B

# ADM Occupiers threatened with eviction of their amazing alternative reality in their squatted island have launched a surreal Publicity Action .

They ”donated 100m Euros” in a giant golden box to the family of a gangster Speculator who stand to gain at least that much in public money if the eviction goes ahead

The ADM occupied area, which includes an abandoned harbour, warehouses and forest has become  living European symbol of both cultural freedom and a possible route to an anti capitalist future. We can also argue that by organising Festivals continuously over many years the Adm has  attracted billions in wealth and goodwill to the Dutch city.

The ADM is due for eviction from Christmas day 25th December 2018.

Statement by ADM about the action at Real estate company.

Originally published by ADM.      Today we went to the headquarters of Chidda Vastgoed BV to present a cheque of 100 million euros to the heirs of Bertus Lüske in a massive golden box. There were about 50 people at the action, and none of the heirs of Lüske came out to pick up the present.

Why did we do that?
The city of Amsterdam gives an absurd gift of 100 million euros to the heirs of Bertus Lüske, by evicting the residents of the ADM.
Today we went to give a huge gift to Chidda Vastgoed B.V. on behalf of the city of Amsterdam.Image result for aerial view of ADM squat, Amsterdam

Due to the eviction of the residents of the ADM site and by allowing demolition- and asbestos removal company Koole BV to move to the ADM site, (while their activities are not fitting with the perpetual clause that is part of the site), the value of the site is increasing enormously. Money that shouldn’t go to the real-estate mafia but back to the citizens of Amsterdam! Continue reading “Abused ADM Occupiers ”donate 100m Euros” to Gangster Speculators, Amsterdam”

#Amsterdam: #ADM sympathizers squat in city center

Originally published by Squat Net.

The fringes of Amsterdam also belong in the city center

After hearing alderman Kock’s proposal to move the ADM to Almere in two years, many were stunned. One could not believe that the alderman had so little understanding of the social added value that Free-spaces & Fringes have for the city of Amsterdam. Recently, even in the media it was pointed out that

the city loses its soul now that the fringes of Amsterdam are in Zaandam. Does Kock really want to move the fringes of Amsterdam to Almere? Continue reading “#Amsterdam: #ADM sympathizers squat in city center”

They died for being poor: How Mass Squatting could Burst the Speculation Bubble.

by Perifèries Urbanes (+ in Spanish Italian Catalan) tweets + pics added)

In the early hours of 14th June 2017, a fire tore through a 24-storey tower block in North Kensington, killing at least 72 people. In the wake of the event, it soon became clear that this was more than a tragic accident, as revelations began to emerge around a lack of fire https://thefreeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/grenfell.jpegsafety standards, a refurbishment which had saved £293k by downgrading insulation to less fire-proof material, as well as panels installed on the outside of the building to make it ‘look better’ for local wealthy neighbors (creating a cavity which acted as a chimney).

It also emerged that the residents of the tower had been trying to raise their voices in the run-up to the event in order to get their landlords and the council to address fire safety issues in the building, but to no avail….

Housing Crisis 1946 – Thousands march in London in support of squatted empty blocks in Bloomsbury and near Regents Park. Housing Crisis 2018 – The same slogan is still good!    196 Retweets      239 Likes

 Grenfell Tower has now become a beacon for the housing crisis and urban inequalities in cities like London, symbolic of an aesthetic disregard for the poor (not listening to their voices and trying to mask their appearance on the city’s skyline behind panels) as well as who has the ability to access safe and secure housing (which is currently distributed around property ownership and notions of entitlement). Many, for instance, have pointed out that the fire took place in one of the richest boroughs in the country, but that Kensington and Chelsea also has one of the highest number of empty buildings in the UK, which are largely being used as investments by the international super-wealthy.”

 

lights

Addressing this context after the blaze, there was an extraordinary and controversial call by leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, for the state to take over these empty buildings in order to house survivors. This idea was immediately met with dismissal as threatening core tenants of property ownership and entitlement, yet we can actually find a precedent in the UK for requisitioning empty buildings in order to address a housing crisis. Continue reading “They died for being poor: How Mass Squatting could Burst the Speculation Bubble.”