Amsterdam: Infonight Housing for All (Cologne) and KoZe (Hamburg)

20161029_Infonight_Housing_for_all_KoZeSaturday 29th of October 2016 – 7pm @ Joe’s Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43, Amsterdam.
Infonight and Food – Housing for all//Cologne + KoZe//Hamburg

At the end of October, two collectives from Cologne and Hamburg will be in Amsterdam in order to exchange ideas and experiences about the local struggles for housing and the establishment of solidary structures in our cities and beyond its limits.

Housing for All is a recent movement in Cologne that suggests practical ways of re-appropriating real estate properties in word and action. We are happy to visit our friends at Joe’s and meeting people from KoZe as well! Looking forward to it. https://karti14.noblogs.org/

Koze is the ‘Collective Center/Kollektives Zentrum’ in Hamburg, that was founded through a squatting action in 2014 and is currently under thread of eviction. http://koze.in/ [Read More]

Calais Research Network: 40+ companies profiting from the Jungle eviction and border violence

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The eviction of the Calais jungle is about to begin, but who does this act of brutality serve? On the one hand, cynical politicians looking to the French presidential election next year, desperately trying to cling onto power with a show of toughness. But also, it will boost the profits of a host of private companies who supply the rubber bullets and barbed wire, bulldozers and deportation buses. [Read More]

The Hague: November 19th, Fight Repression! Stop repression against anti-fascists and anarchists!

20161119_Den_Haag_fight_repression_demo_flyerOn Saturday November 19th, there will be a demonstration in The Hague, The Netherlands, against the wave of repression that Hague anti-fascists and anarchists have been facing in the last year. One who attacks one of us, attacks all of us. Solidarity through struggle!

Within the last year, repression against anti-fascists and anarchists has greatly increased, with The Hague in the middle of it. An area ban for anarchists was issued for the Schilderswijk, in an attempt to break the struggle against the racist, violent, and murderous police. After that that, another area ban was issued, this time against anti-fascists who have been resisting against the extreme right wing Pegida demonstrations. Damage claims of 50,000 euro were demanded from several anarchists who resisted against the eviction of social center De Vloek, which had been squatted for 13 years. The mayor also tried to shutter the local Autonomous Center. Furthermore, subsequent demonstrations were forbidden, people were intimidated by the police at home and on the street, numerous preventative arrests were made, and attempts were made to recruit informants.

But these are not just attacks against individual anarchists and anti-fascists. This is an attack against all who fight against racism, this is an attack against all who stand for a world without exploitation and discrimination, this is an attack on all of us. And this attack cannot go unanswered! This is a call for solidarity, because solidarity is our weapon against the isolation being forced on us by the police and the mayor. We must defend our autonomous spaces and structures! [Read More]

Calais (France): Updates of the October 1st Demo

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A comrade was arrested and charged for attempting to conceal his identity and participating in an unauthorized demonstration; the trial will be on 7 November, in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The following text has been translated from French, from an article published on October 3rd, 2016 on Squat!net. The next solidarity gathering will take place in Calais, on friday October 14th, at 4pm, Places d’Armes.

This Saturday, October 1st, a solidarity demonstration was scheduled in Calais departing from the “Jungle”, the name given to the largest slum of France, where thousands of migrants are living. The event had to cross through Calais to reach its ending point downtown.

Two days before, the protest had been “prohibited” by the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais, Fabienne Buccio, who announced “a ban on any protest demonstrations in connection with the issue of migrants in Calais, Sangatte, Coquelles, Fréthun and Marck-Calaisis, during the entire day of October 1, 2016.” [Read More]

Calais (France): Total jungle eviction may begin on 17 October

laser-pirates

The French State has been spreading word that it will evict the whole of the Calais Jungle, meaning the homes of 10,000 people, by “the end of October”. The latest rumour is that the attack will begin on 17 October and will feature a new weapon: blinding laser cannons developed for use against Somali pirates, now to be used for the first time against Africans and other migrants on European soil.**

Other talk is that the eviction will take just “three days”, and that not only the self-built jungle but also the official Jules Ferry day centre and maybe even the state-built Container Camp will go. Comrades from the ZAD (occupied zone of resistance to the airport project in Notre Dame des Landes) also believe that their own planned eviction may be delayed so that the state can first throw all its forces at Calais.
[Read More]

Amsterdam: Eerste Oosteparkstraat becomes another chapter in the gentrification of the city

201610_Eerste_Oosterparkstraat_114_116_AmsterdamOn the 22nd of September, the residents of Eerste Oosterparkstraat 88-126 were evicted from their homes. Construction work has started to demolish the buildings. It will be replaced by a new block of houses and businesses. We have lived here for three years in a squatted house and we have decided to speak up about what is going on.

The first step to gentrifying the neighborhood begins by evicting and demolishing existing homes and building new, often ugly block houses. House rents will increase and the neighborhood will fill up with rich yuppies. The original inhabitants will be forced to leave their homes and move out of town. The plans to renovate the neighborhood for profit forces people out of Amsterdam. This is social cleansing designed to eliminate social and cultural diversity, and further impoverish the low-wage workers, the unemployed, the homeless.

Owner of these houses is Stadgenoot, a public housing corporation. This corporation owns 40.000 houses, office spaces, storage spaces and garages. It is known for contributing to the nationwide decimation of affordable housing and tenant rights. They bypass tenant rights by using all kinds of flexible temporary contracts, anti-squat, temporary leases and campus contracts thereby by circumventing rent control, while at the same time decreasing the number of houses that used to be social rent. [Read More]

Amsterdam: ADM XIX festival, “take a gentri-vacation on the ADM reservation”.

ADM_19_yearsOn October 6, 7 & 8 there is a unique chance to take a look inside the ADM.
This squatted community celebrates it’s 19th. birthday with a multi-disciplinary-all-flavoured program, which includes dancing, safari & porcelain, circus & puppets and much, much more.

In a city where thinking within existing frameworks, economic interests and clean sidewalks dominate the public domain, the ADM is an alternative community based on solidarity, self-organization, respect, improvisation & innovation.

A place were Anti-conformists walk freely and Dreams still fly around and lay eggs. The ADM is currently under severe legal pressure, but still we present a huge program of international acts.
Not to be missed! [Read More]

London: Camelot HQ squatted

201609_London_Camelot_HQ_squattedA few days ago the former Camelot Europe HQ, in Westland Park London N1 was squatted in protest against guardian companies’ anti-social profiteering from empty properties and homelessness.

For those who don’t know, Camelot are the original “guardian” company, invented to counter the squatting movement in Holland by moving in people who act as security by living there. Guardians pay rent but have less protection than ordinary tenants, at least according to the wording of their contracts. Other guardian companies also exist, such as our least-favourite Dot Dot Dot ……

A couple of articles have appeared in the Guardian but with certain problems. Both of them seem to agree with Camelot that what the people acting as security guards by living in their properties are is merely licencees, when most legal advice shows that they clearly have tenancies. When challenged on this point most guardian companies back down and come to a deal, rather than allow the issue to go to court. [Read More]

Calais (France): Homes on trial

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On September 28, eight friends will have an appeal trial for charges related to the last squat attempted in Calais. Aquitted by a previous court ruling, largely due to police abuse and police not even following procedures. Now the state representatives have filed an appeal (to contest what?!).

If you think of the judicial system as a good measure of “right” and “wrong,” it is Natacha Bouchart (Calais’ mayor) and Philippe Mignonet (deputy mayor) who should be on trial. They have executed massive and numerous evictions in Calais – making thousands of people homeless, using force to traumatize people, damaging people for years. [Read More]

Gouda (NL): Update on arrests

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On Saturday September 17 Hotel Mirage, Westhaven 49 was squatted in Gouda and immediately evicted. (see press release in Dutch).

On Tuesday September 20, the five detainees still held (four anonymous) came before the magistrate. One was remanded, the other four (all still anonymous) were released.
[Read More]

Utrecht: Two more houses squatted on Kanaleneiland

monnetlaan85_Kanaleneiland_UtrechtEvicting in neighborhood with 300 empty houses is useless.

Last weekend two new houses were occupied on the Monnetlaan in Kanaleneiland, Utrecht. Those homes were empty awaiting renovation in March. “It seems vacancy protector VPSitex considers metal plates a good way to protect vacancy, we think it’s not.” says one of the squatters.

The first eight houses, Monnetlaan 97-111 were occupied last April in protest agents racist policy of gentrification in this neighborhood. 1100 affordable houses would be demolished because renovation was impossible. Of the replacing new houses only 25% would be social rent. When the social housing corporation ‘foundation Mitros’ almost bankrupted itself and government took over financial responsibility, this megalomaniacal project was dropped. The local government nor the housing corporations knew what to doo with those 224 social houses where they already kicked out the renters. Ultimately they were sold for € 0,- to the Qatari- Swiss asset trust Aventicum. Interesting to note is that this company’s head of real estate is the west- Flemish prodigy Christophe Tanghe, yes the same one that run ING bank to the ground when he run real estate there. This asset trust will renovate the houses; well… they will replace the windows. After that you may buy a 70 square meter house for € 140.000,- with the obligation to finish the renovation within two years. Some of the houses may become open market tent, € 1.200,- a month. Non available for low income groups. [Read More]

Amsterdam: We Are Here squat two new places

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Today, Sunday, September 18th, We Are Here (Wij Zijn Hier) squatted two buildings on Burgemeester Roelstraat 70 (for women) and Rijswijkstraat 2 (for men). We squatted these buildings cracked because the Vluchtgemeente squat, where many of us stay, will be evicted on Monday.
[Read More]