Blog Archives
CATALONIA: Can Vies – One Solution Reconstruction!
04.06.2014 by Julius Gavroche
Can Vies – The Resonance of an okupation
…we need to abandon the view of autonomy that fantasizes uncontaminated enclaves of emancipation.
Stavros Stavrides
For over a week, thousands protested the eviction and partial destruction of the Can Vies Self-managed Social Centre in Barcelona, in the Centre’s neighbourhood of Sants, but also throughout the city and the country; an extraordinary testimony to the potential radical political life of okupied social centres. Never simply the spaces that they physically occupy, they are the collective that self-manages them and the relations woven between the collective and broader communities, in an anti-capitalist politics. Judgements of success or failure are precarious here, but the solidarity, resistance and creativity around the CSA Can Vies reveals that the Centre did far more than simply provide an alternative space for those involved in the squat (something that always brings with it the risk of either ghettoisation or cooptation); it became over its 17 years a point of passage in a rich network of relations opposed to the capitalist urbanisation of Barcelona. It contributed to shaping that opposition, to creating the subjectivities and social relations nurtured within it, such that it will survive its physical removal. Read the rest of this entry
CATALONIA: Riots in Barcelona after Can Vies eviction
28.05.2014
DAY ONE
On Monday, May 26, police from the Mossos d’Escuadra evicted the 17-year-old squatted social center Can Vies, starting at the atypically late hour of noon, perhaps due to heavy morning rains. Can Vies had an open eviction date, but the choice of day was to be expected as Sunday was elections for the European Parliament (which, incidentally, saw a sharp increase in the presence of far right and far left parties). The party in power never wants to start unpredictable conflicts in the weeks before an election, and the day after an election, the media is full of related news. Read the rest of this entry
Managing disorder: towards a global state of control?
by on March 29, 2014
Refusing to tackle the causes of our troubles and allow public space for dissent, the neoliberal state is sliding inexorably towards authoritarianism.
Image: Brazilian police demonstrated its new riot gear last month.
When an Egyptian judge condemned 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death this week, he underlined in one fell swoop the terrifying reality in which the world finds itself today. The revolutionary euphoria and constituent impulse that shook the global order back in 2011 have long since given way to a re-established state of control. Violent repression of protest and dissent — whether progressive or reactionary — has become the new normal. The radical emancipatory and democratic space that was briefly opened up by recent uprisings is now being slammed shut. What remains are dispersed pockets of resistance under relentless assault by the constituted power. Read the rest of this entry
SPAIN: Spain: Gamonal is only the beginning. Demonstrations against urban-political corruption
During the past two weeks, the residents of the Burgos neighbourhood of Gamonal have won “a great little victory” and have become a symbol of citizen participation in politics. Their protest against corruption, whose cause was their objection to the construction of a boulevard with a parking in their neighbourhood, has provoked a wave of solidarity demonstration throughout Spain. Read the rest of this entry
SPAIN: Burgos: Why are they rioting?
14.01.2014 text David Jackson info
The northern city of Burgos is entering its fifth day of riots. On Saturday alone, 41 people were arrested and 21 hospitalised, including several police.
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CATALONIA: Active Resistance Camp against development of the M.A.T.
2nd of September, 2013:
The active resistance camp against the MAT (very high tension electricity line) taking place near Girona has squatted a huge, antique, abandoned farmhouse near the village of Oriol, in order to give continuity to the struggle against this deadly project and the world which needs it. The resistance against the MAT has been active for more than a decade and has now reached a crucial point seeing that the construction of the line has now started in this area and is going ahead at a furious pace. Read the rest of this entry
CATALONIA: ‘Freedom’ for Catalonia.. 400km human chain.. an anarchist viewpoint
07.09.2013
Catalans will try to form a human chain, holding hands along the entire 400 km seashore of Catalonia in the Spanish State. The demonstration is called by a non governmental organization the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) with the theme “Catalan way to independence” on Wed. September 11, the Catalan national day. The event aims to both challenge Madrid and make the Catalans’ voice heard in the world. … continued below CGT article Read the rest of this entry
Pyotr Silaev: My adventures with Interpol
16.08.2013
On 22 August 2012, the anti-fascist Pyotr Silaev was arrested in Grenada. He is an activist in anti-governmental protests, and the author of the book “Exodus” (published in Finland, Greece, Italy and Germany), under the pseudonym DJ Stalingrad. Pyotr took part in the infamous protests in Khimki, which for some protestors ended in jail or hospital (as it did for the renowned journalist Oleg Kashin, who was attacked with baseball bats near his home). Around 400 young people threw stones and flares at the administrative office of the town in protest against the construction of the Moscow – St. Petersburg highway through the Khimki forest – one of the few remaining green oases around Moscow. The situation bore some similarity to the recent events in Istanbul. Read the rest of this entry
SPAIN: Document of Claudio Lavazza on initiatives of resistance in Spanish prisons
02.07.2013
Document of an anarchist prisoner Claudio Lavazza on some initiatives of resistance in Spanish prisons: Read the rest of this entry
SPAIN: Conversations with Anarchists in Madrid (pt1)
April 20, 2013
Interviews conducted by Jeremy – eds
There are massive social movements shaking Spain. In 2012 I spent six months living in Madrid and participating in anarchist and other movements. There are anti-austerity mobilisations virtually everyday, and at least monthly demonstrations which see tens of thousands in the streets. Many of these are organanised through the 15M movement, although the struggle for ‘control’ of the movement is ongoing. In November a million workers marched through the city as part of a union-led general strike. In many neighbourhoods there are weekly assemblies and frequent direct actions such as stopping people being evicted from their homes. There are hundreds of squatted houses and more than a dozen squatted, self-managed social centres in Madrid alsone. Millions of people are involved, from students and workers to 15M ‘Indignants’, anti-fascists and anarchists. Read the rest of this entry
