self management – The Free

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”

Errekaleor is Alive!, the Epic Struggle of a Self-managed and Anticapitalist neighborhood.

we share an interesting interview with Estitxu Villamor, by Adrián Almazán for 15-15-15.org/webzine/ on the situation of Errekaleor, neighborhood of Vitoria.

Let’s start with the history of the Errekaleor neighborhood. In what year was it built? What kind of population lived in it and what was its role in the struggles of the city?

Errekaleor is a working district that was built in 1959 to house the workers who came from the whole peninsula to the factories of Gasteiz. This is a time when there is a very strong industrialization in the city and many workers come with their families.

The city grew and this type of labor districts were created, away from the center of the city. This, in particular, is built by a cooperative of the bishopric, totally on the periphery, without any services (the neighborhood initially comprised of the houses and a church), so that the life of the workers was reduced to the work and did not have the possibility of organize themselves in the workers’ struggle.

Even so, because of their workmanship, neighbors were very close and organized from the outset. Very involved in the workers’ struggle and in the defense of their own neighborhood, they themselves built a cinema, a bar and a grocery store; Also through their struggle they got the city council to equip them with services such as the social center, nursery, … Continue reading “Errekaleor is Alive!, the Epic Struggle of a Self-managed and Anticapitalist neighborhood.”