[Squat!net]

Canada, Toronto, Media, Michele Landsberg on the squat

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MICHELE LANDSBERG
TORONTO STAR, SAT. SEPT.28 ’02 PG.L1

On the first blessedly cool evening of the fall, as the welcome rain came sluicing down, I drew the curtains and thought of the Pope Squat, where the rain would be bouncing off the newly repaired roof and watering the Swiss chard, tomatoes, lettuce and marigolds now thriving in the front yard.

Toronto loves to puff itself as “world-class”, but nothing could be more inept, blinkered and junior than the way our city and provincial governments have handled the issue of homeless protesters. Just look at the clumsiness of the Tent City evictions.

As for the squatters who occupied an empty building during the Pope’s visit in July, the provincial government has been numb and dumb, in the deep silence of total uncaring. Some of our city counsellors, on the other hand, have been splutteringly apoplectic at the thought of anarchists occupying a decrepit, unoccupied, abandoned rooming house.

Chris Korwin-Kuczynski once again frothed on about the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty —the crowd that organized the protest march and occupation of 1510 King St. West. But at least he tried to get the building used for social housing. Michael Walker and Brian Ashton oppposed.

The provincial government is even more culpable. Apparently, it owns the derelict building. By default, because the house no longer has a registered owner, the property reverts to the Crown. The owners absconded in 1994, taxes and hydro bills unpaid, and left the empty building to fester with leaking roof, rotting floorboards and walls full of black mould. The homeless squatters have peacefully occupied the premises since July, unbothered by local police. They ripped up rotten floors, tore out stinking carpets, emptied the mounds of garbage, planted a garden, fixed the roof and began the interior renovations.

“We have about 15 people living here,” explained Lisa Kocsis, 20, as she showed me “the model suite” — a bedroom and alcove, newly dry-walled.

The squat is a perfect example of functioning anarchy. Whoever wants to work, shows up and works. Whoever lives there and does some work, has first dibs on a finished room. Local fast food restaurants have been stoic about allowing unfettered use of their washrooms, and neighbours turn up with donations of water, food and equipment. It’s messy, and the house is still half-wrecked, and you wouldn’t want to live there if daily hygiene is an important part of your lifestyle, but 15 people have a roof over their heads and a home address.

Which is more than the city ever offered them, with its 60,000 people on the housing waiting list. Alas, despite Councillor Olivia Chow’s constant urgings, the city never re-invested in social housing the $15 million plus it has saved in the last two years due to lower interest rates on its mortgages.

In recent weeks, Chow and city officials worked with OCAP members to prepare a brief to the province, making it clear that the province now owns the building. Their brief now sits on the desk of Attorney-General Dave Young, who has not bothered to respond.

Social conservatives of the Evesian peruasion should take a leaf from New York, where Mayor Bloomberg, a Republican business mogul after their own hearts, has just arranged to sell 11 abandoned Lower East Side buildings for $1 each to the squatters who have turned them into habitable homes.

The unions and social justice groups who are supporting the squatters might also pounce on the shining example of New York’s Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. It’s a smart non-profit that, for 30 years, has helped vulnerable slum tenants and squatters get co-op ownership of their buildings. It secures loans for them, trains them in construction skills, provides low-cost legal help and insurance, and even teaches residents how to get rid of drug dealers.

Academics who have studied the results have good news: marginal people who find stable housing at low rents (average $500 monthly) in these buildings gradually get their feet on the ground. The slow, hard collective work of reclamation also rebuilds self-confidence. Many of the tenants, even the rebellious punks who built a skateboard park in the cellar, are now earning steady wages and raising families.

Tenant control, in other words, works far better than shelters. Stands to reason, in this capitalist culture, that independence, autonomy and sweat equity (otherwise known as pulling onself up by the bootstraps) give a person an ego boost.

OCAP has done some of the city’s and province’s homework for them by tracking down dozens of abandoned buildings. Now if only our elected officials would snap out of their apathy, we might actually start housing the homeless before winter sets in. What a world-class thought.

MICHELE LANDSBERG

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Canada, TENT CITY – an international call for solidarity

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On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, Home Depot Canada sent a small army of private security guards backed by a small army of Toronto police to forcibly evict about 125 people from a homeless encampment on their unused property in downtown Toronto, Canada. Home Depot needs to be held in account for its actions. Due to the urgency and seriousness of this matter, please respond immediately to our international call for solidarity and action against Home Depot.

Please find below, an action pack that includes:
1. Background guide (includes info on our demands and what you can do)
2. A tip sheet on how to organize your own information picket.
3. Sample text for flyer that can be distributed at your information picket.

For formated copies of the materials, visit our website at www.tdrc.net. Due to the urgency of this matter, please participate right away in this international call for action against Home Depot!

Any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 416-599-8372 or email tdrc [at] tdrc [dot] net. Thanks.

Musonda
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee

1. BACKGROUND GUIDE: An International Call for Solidarity

Here’s why – and how – you should take action against Home Depot.

On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, Home Depot Canada sent a small army of private security guards backed by a small army of Toronto police to forcibly evict about 125 people from a homeless encampment on their unused property in downtown Toronto, Canada. The site, known as Tent City, has been the home to Canada’s largest homeless encampment for several years. There were about 55 structures in Tent City, most of them built by the residents. The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee has been working with residents for more than two years. We moved several pre-fab homes onto the site, supplied portable toilets, fireplaces and even showers. Just three days before the raid, TDRC organized a clean-up day with 60 volunteers (from university students to seniors) who worked alongside Tent City residents to improve the site.

Home Depot has spent tens of thousands of dollars to move against the homeless residents of Tent City. Within minutes of occupying the site, they had erected a new, nine-metre high barbed wire fence, a new security road around the perimeter and high-intensity search lights, not to mention the private security staff and construction crews brought on site. Home Depot removed the residents so quickly that they didn’t have a chance to gather medicine, identification or other personal items. It took hours of intense pressure to arrange for residents to have access to their homes and their belongings. And even then, access was very restrictive. Home Depot has said that it will only guarantee to protect the dwellings and belongings for seven days. And it made no plans for relocation of the residents, not even for temporary shelter. After a great deal of pressure from TDRC and others, the City of Toronto has made an offer to help Tent City residents find proper housing. But Home Depot offered no help at all.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights says that “forced evictions are a gross violation of human rights”. The International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Canada has signed, guarantees the right to housing. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Canada has also signed, says that everyone has the right to be protected against “arbitrary or unlawful interference” with their homes. The U.N. says that if people have to be moved, they should be given enough notice so that they can prepare for the move, new homes at another location and practical help in relocating.

Home Depot didn’t do any of this. They spent a lot of money to throw 125 people who had been peacefully living in Tent City off the land without any thought as to where they would go. Home Depot says that the site was unsafe, but the streets of Toronto are even more dangerous. And there were only 14 beds in homeless shelters in the entire city of Toronto (population 2.4 million) on the night that the Tent City residents were forcibly evicted – another sign of the city’s overcrowded and unhealthy shelter system.

Here’s what Home Depot needs to do:

1. Treat Tent City residents with respect. They should have access to their dwellings. Their property and their homes should be protected – not bulldozed after seven days. The portable structures may be moved. Home Depot should help with transportation and storage. They should help residents salvage as much as possible of the structures which cannot be moved.

2. Acknowledge the error of their ways. Home Depot was wrong to evict the residents without any notice and without any help in relocating. Home Depot can make amends by offering $50,000 per unit in capital funding for construction of 55 units of new social housing – the same number of units that were on the Tent City site – for a total bill of $2.75 million. That’s small change for a company that boasted in May of 2002 that it had “a record $5.2 billion in cash on the balance sheet”. An apology is not enough. Home Depot should pay.

3. Adopt the One-Percent Solution. A growing number of groups, including socially responsible corporations, are calling on the Canadian government to restore housing programs that were slashed in the 1980s and cancelled in the 1990s. Home Depot should be an active partner in the One Percent Solution, the campaign for a fully-funded national housing program.

You can make a difference:

The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee is calling on individuals and community groups, unions, faith communities and all others in Canada and the United States to join in a campaign against Home Depot. This is not a boycott, although consumers of conscience may decide to shop elsewhere. This is a mobilization to force Home Depot to take the specific actions outlined above. The TDRC has already talked to senior officials at Home Depot. But they need to feel community pressure before they will respond seriously.

Some tips for action:

1. Contact Home Depot and tell them to meet our demands. Make sure to ask for a response. Organize a letter-writing party in your neighbourhood, union local or faith community. Send a letter directly to

Annette Verschuren, President, Home Depot Canada, 426 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, M1R 4E7.

The telephone number is 416-609-0852 and follow the prompts to get to her office. Or send a fax to 416-412-4215.

2. Organize a Homeless Depot solidarity group in your area and arrange for an information picket of a local store. TDRC has tips for organizing an action on our Web site, along with a flyer that you can copy and hand out to customers.

3. If you are a customer of Home Depot, or know others who might be personal or commercial customers, then contact the store to tell them that you expect corporations to show social responsibility. Tell them that you want them to take action on the basic demands.

Stay in touch:

Look for updates on the Homeless Depot action on the TDRC Web site at www.tdrc.net. Call us at 416-599-8372. Send an e-mail to tdrc [at] tdrc [dot] net. Or write to Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1B1. Send us copies of any letters that you sent to Home Depot. And make sure to send us copies of any replies that you receive.

2. TIPS FOR ORGANIZING AN INFORMATION PICKET

Tips for organizing a Homeless Depot information picket

1. Look for a Home Depot store in your community. Check out the site. Most stores won’t allow information pickets on their property, but entrances to parking lots can be effective places to hand out flyers. If you have trouble with private security officers or police, call the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee.

2. Round up a handful of supporters. You don’t need a big crowd (although the bigger the numbers, the less likely you will experience trouble from security). Three or four people per parking lot entrance is enough.

3. Make up some picket signs with snappy slogans: Homeless Depot, honk if you hate forced evictions, and so on. Check out our Web site for some ideas. If your group, union local or faith community has a banner, bring it along.

4. Download the information flyer from our Web site. Feel free to make some changes and add local contact information.

5. Pick a day for your event. You might want to send a news release to local media. It’s a good way to build support and get the message out. Send a letter to the president of Home Depot Canada (with a copy to the TDRC) explaining why you are picketing the store. Send a letter directly to Annette Verschuren, President, Home Depot Canada, 426 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, M1R 4E7. The telephone number is 416-609-0852 and follow the prompts to get to her office. Or send a fax to 416-412-4215.

6. Politely offer the flyers to customers as they come and go from the store. Don’t get into extended arguments with angry people. It just raises everyone’s blood pressure. Be prepared with a quick response when people ask why you are there.

7. Local, provincial, state and national laws on information pickets and trespassing can be different from area to area. If you have any doubts, contact a local legal clinic or progressive lawyer. In most places, if you are not blocking traffic and not on private property, then you have the right to an information picket.

Stay in touch. Look for updates on the Homeless Depot action on the TDRC Web site at www.tdrc.net. Call us at 416-599-8372. Send an e-mail to tdrc [at] tdrc [dot] net. Or write to Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1B1.

Send us copies of any letters that you send to Home Depot. Make sure to send us copies of any replies that you receive. And, please send us copies of any newspaper clippings, if you manage to make some news in your area.

3. SAMPLE TEXT FLYER (Visit our website for formatted copies of this.)

<< side one >>

Home Depot didn’t cause homelessness, but they shouldn’t make it even worse

On September 24, 2002, Home Depot ordered a small army of private security guards, backed by a small army of police officers, to forcibly remove about 125 homeless people from some unused property they own in Toronto, Canada. The people lived peacefully in a community they called Tent City for several years in 55 dwellings, most of which were built by the residents. Home Depot – which boasts “a record $5.2 billion in cash on the balance sheet” didn’t give them any warning, they didn’t offer any help in relocating and they even tried to stop residents from collecting medicine, identification or other personal belongings.

An apology is not enough. Home Depot should pay for the error of its ways. The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee is calling on Home Depot to:

1. Treat Tent City residents with respect. Give them access to their dwellings. Protect their property and their homes. Help them move or store portable structures. Help residents salvage the homes that cannot be moved.

2. Acknowledge the error of their ways. Home Depot should make amends by offering $50,000 per unit in capital funding for construction of 55 units of new social housing – the same number of units that were on the Tent City site – for a total bill of $2.75 million.

3. Adopt the One-Percent Solution. A growing number of groups, including socially responsible corporations, are calling on the Canadian government to restore housing programs that were slashed in the 1980s and cancelled in the 1990s. Home Depot should be an active partner in the One Percent Solution, the campaign for a fully-funded national housing program.

<< side two >>

Tired of big corporations that push around poor people? Here’s what you can do. . .

Tell Home Depot that, as a customer, you expect them to be a good corporate citizen. And that means treating homeless people fairly.

You can make a difference – if you raise your voice!

When you shop in a local store, tell the clerk, the store manager or other employees about your concern regarding the company’s actions in Toronto. And ask the employee to pass those concerns along to the Canadian head office in Toronto.

Send a letter directly to Annette Verschuren, President, Home Depot Canada, 426 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, M1R 4E7. The telephone number is 416-609-0852 and follow the prompts to get to her office. Or send a fax to 416-412-4215.

For more information about the Homeless Depot campaign, you can log onto the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee Web site at www.tdrc.net. Call us at 416-599-8372. Send an e-mail to tdrc [at] tdrc [dot] net. Or write to Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1B1. Send us copies of any letters that you sent to Home Depot. And make sure to send us copies of any replies that you receive.

Or contact << add local contact information here >>

Toronto Disaster Relief Committee
6 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON M5G 1B1
Phone: 416-599-8372, Fax: 416-599-5445
NEW EMAIL: tdrc [at] tdrc [dot] net
NEW WEBSITE: www.tdrc.net

tdrc

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Canada, Vancouver, Legal fund for ‘Woodward’s 58′

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THE “WOODWARD’S 58″ NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

In the early morning hours of Saturday, September 22, 2002, the Vancouver Police Department Riot Squad stormed into the Woodward’s squat which homeless people and their supporters had been occupying since the previous Saturday. 58 people were arrested and charged with violating a Supreme Court injunction.

The squatters and their supporters have to return to court November 7, 2002 to face civil contempt charges. The two lawyers who have so far represented us cannot possibly handle all of our cases themselves. THEREFORE, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE RAISE SUFFICIENT FUNDS FOR OUR LEGAL DEFENCE. PLEASE DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN TO THE “WOODWARD’S 58 LEGAL DEFENCE FUND” AND ASK YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS, UNION, HOUSING CO-OP, CHURCH OR COMMUNITY GROUP TO DO THE SAME.

Please make checks payable to the “People’s Opposition” and write “legal defence” on them. Checks can be mailed to:

Woodward’s 58 Legal Defence
c/o Anti-Poverty Committee
42 Blood Alley Square
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6B 1C7

Gordon Flett <gflett1 [at] shaw [dot] ca>

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Belgium: Opening of a new squat

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The Collectif “Le Boulet” presents: a new collective, creative and active living space.

For a few days now, we, a group of people of various origins and from different scenes – students, unemployed, artists etc – occupied the buildings located at the 23-25 rue du Boulet in the center of Brussels. Because of our precarious means of subsistence, we needed a space where we could develop our projects, be they political or artistic, and liva a collective life.

The buildings which we have taken over belong to the Sofidev company. These buildings were being left to rot by the owner but are nonetheless completely viable. Although the need for housing with affordable rent is significant, certain companies, in collusion with the city authorities, practise a policy of real-estate speculation by expropriating the inhabitants of various Brussels districts in order to “raise the tone” of the city centre with luxury shops and high-rent housing.

In reaction to this, we want to put some life back into those unoccupied spaces, and make them suitable for living and for the devolpent of non-lucrative activities:

– soundproof rehearsal rooms for theatre, music and dance projects.
– spaces for political and cultural activities, with an ethos of solidarity, and not the traditional commercial ethos (infopoint: distribution and sharing of knowledge through booklets and fanzines, video projections, meetings and discussions, etc).

As of now, you can come and visit us at n° 23-25, rue du Boulet, 1000 Brusselss.

Tel : 0472 650112 E-mail : leboulet [at] linuxmail [dot] org

[trans. NMcN/ainfos]

nestor mcnab <nestor_mcnab [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk>

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TORONTO: Tent City Evicted!

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This has been a really bad week for squatters in Canada. First the crew occupying the old Woodward building in Vancouver were brutally evicted after eight days, then last Friday another squatted building in Quebec City (occupied since last May) was cleared out by the cops.

This morning, Canada’s largest and oldest squatter community, the so-called ‘Tent City’ located on Toronto’s waterfront, was forcefully evicted in a massive sweep-and-clear operation involving dozens of city cops and private security guards. The hardware giant Home Depot (which owns that tract of land) had earlier this summer bailed out of negotiations aimed at re-settling Tent City residents and creating interim housing on another nearby piece of city-owned land. Instead, earlier today without any warning at all to residents, they decided to proceed with the eviction of more than 120 people who had been calling that place home.

It had apparently been leaked to the media that an eviction was likely to happen this week. Over the past couple of months police harassment of Tent City residents had been escalating, with cops shining lights through peoples’ windows in the middle of the night, photographing residents, entering homes unannounced and dropping ominous hints that the folks living there ‘weren’t going to be doing so for much longer.’

When I arrived outside the site at about 11 AM today, most residents had already been forced off the land by the cops. People weren’t even being allowed back in to collect personal possessions at this time and a couple of people who had balked at leaving had been arrested. One woman who needed medication for a heart condition was stopped from going in to get her pills for more than seven hours. Other people who had left their personal identification and other essentials in their homes were likewise prevented from obtaining their belongings.

About fifteen minutes after I arrived a whole caravan of large trucks hauling bulldozers, dumpsters and assorted other heavy equipment including spotlights and rolls of fencing were escorted through the western gate by the police. There was something like twenty of these big vehicles altogether. Immediately after their arrival, a roll of heavy-duty mesh was deployed across the driveway, sealing it shut.

Supporters kept trickling in and by about one o’clock something like 75 people had assembled. We learned at that point that Home Depot was planning a press conference at a downtown hotel for two o’clock. Toronto’s Mayor Mel Lastman had already gone before the media to spout off that a ‘blight’ had been removed from the city’s waterfront, and that there were ’200 beds available’ in the shelter system for those who required them (A poll done of shelters in the Toronto downtown that morning revealed that in fact, exactly seven male and seven female beds were all that was free). Many of the people present headed in the direction of the Holiday Inn on King St. to intervene in Home Depot’s media event.

A few of us who had bikes arrived ahead of the main body of people. We headed into the meeting room where the media were assembling, only to be accosted by hotel security and escorted right back out. We waited outside for the rest of the folks to arrive – then went right back in, some fifty strong. Outmaneuvering the hotel security, we went back up to the conference room, chanting loudly and demanding an explanation from Home Depot. There was media crowded around on both side of the meeting room’s glass doors, that by this time had been closed and locked. Dozens of press people were there. We ended up controlling the agenda, with word coming back to us that Home Depot had in fact cancelled the press conference not long after we arrived.

Next stop: City Hall. People (and the cops) gathered in Nathan Phillip’s Square, than proceeded in a noisy group toward Mel Lastman’s second-floor office. More folks had been arriving as the word got out and by this time nearly a hundred people were present. Predictably, Mel’s office had been closed off and the only people inside were police. A group of people marched around the rotunda area inside City Hall, angrily demanding that The Mayor stop hiding and deal with us. From there, we proceeded as a group to Council Chambers, where a meeting was underway to discuss (if you can stomach this one) Toronto’s ‘official city plan.’

Well, their ‘plans’ changed at that point. People were majorly angry by this time, and made no bones about it. After some heated back-and-forth between Council members and Tent City residents and their supporters, a meeting was set up with the City’s Chief Administrative Officer in a committee room downstairs. The angry debate continued there until nearly four o’clock, when the CAO suggested a separate meeting with a smaller group to try and resolve things at least temporarily. This proved agreeable to most folks, who made their way back toward the Tent City site, where an emergency rally had been called for five o’clock.

Back outside Tent City, 5 PM. I arrived at the west gate, which was still sealed off. The existing six-foot chainlink fence fronting most of the property had been increased to a height of ten feet, with struts across the top where barbed wire was to be strung. There was not much happening in this area – a few cops and assorted other hangers-on were all that was in the immediate area. I headed east along the bicycle trail that bordered the land, only to spot what looked like every media vehicle in Toronto parked close to the eastern gate, located near the mouth of the Don River. Peoples’ houses had not been disturbed as of this time, but a wide band of brush had been cleared inside the entire length of the fence.

A sizable crowd was gathering and a small army of police and oversized private security guards had been amassed. Two helicopters whirred around overhead. A group of volunteers were distributing sandwiches and bottled water from a table they’d set up nearby. Finally, a sign appeared on the fence stating the hours when people would be permitted to return to pick up their belongings. As the rally proceeded, residents started going onto the site in groups of two or three, and returning with their stuff. Near as I could tell about 250 people were assembled outside the site by then, although it was occasionally difficult to distingiuish between some of the protesters, the media and undercover police. The situation was chaotic to say the least.

Folks hung around until a little after seven, at which point we learned that the city was preparing to invoke their emergency response protocol, meaning that various relief agencies would come together with city officials to seek a means of accommodating the numerous people who had suddenly found themselves displaced. A local community centre was pressed into service as a site for co-ordinating this effort and transportation was being set up to get folks there. Many people were drifting off by then as the sun set and the early fall evening began to turn cooler.

A meeting has been called for noon tomorrow outside the western gate of the former Tent City site to discuss possible strategies, which are likely to involve some form of campaign tatgeting Home Depot for their act of extreme bad faith. I mean, prior to today’s events the Tent City residents had essentially been staying on the land with H.D.’s consent, and had even received some donations of building materials from the company. (‘Tent City’ had actually become a misnomer, what with most residents eventually constructing their own small cabins and shacks, mainly using found materials).

Negotiations had been ongoing for over a year following a resolution made by City Council that would have involved re-settling these people on another piece of land the city owned nearby, and possibly constructing some form of transitional housing project there. The City of Toronto, Home Depot and a non-profit property management outfit called Homes First Society were involved in this process along with the Tent City people and their supporters from the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. Unfortunately, thanks to stalling by the city and now Home Depot’s treachery, these plans currently appear to be extremely uncertain at best.

Graeme Bacque September 24, 2002

Graeme Bacque <gbacque [at] colosseum [dot] com>

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Brutal Repression of Homeless and Woodwards Squatters in Vancouver, Canada

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At 6 am on the morning of Saturday September 21, 2002, Vancouver riot police broke through barricades and arrested the squatters inside the old Woodwards building. The Woodwards building had been empty for 9 years; a landmark in the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. The squat began on Saturday, September 14, 2002, lasting almost a week. 55 squatters were arrested and brutalized within the buidling by riot police. Squatters were beaten and choked and then taken out of the building through an underground tunnel. 3 squatters and supporters were arrested outside the building. They were pepper-sprayed while climbing down a ladder and attempting to leave.

58 people appeared in court Saturday afternoon for contempt of the court injunction against the squatters.

The tent city outside of the Woodwards building continued after the eviction, and on Sunday night, September 22, 2002, police blocked off all traffic and raided the area, clubbing people, and smashing one woman’s face into the ground. Numerous people were detained and pushed out of the area and at least 12 people were arrested for “obstructing the sidewalk”.

On Monday morning, September 23, 2002, a short community march made its way to the Woodwards building and food was served. The crowd spray-painted slogans all over the building and when two police officers entered the crowd they were yelled at and forced to leave. The crowd then walked over to police grouped a block away and confronted them until they left.

The struggle continues.

sabate <sabate [at] ziplip [dot] com>

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News from Vancouver

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Hi. Here’s a forwarded message about the Woodwards Squat – The Woodwards Squat in Vancouver, an insurrectionary anarchist analysis Monday, September 16, 2002 On Saturday, September 14, 2002, a group of homeless people and community members occupied a huge department building in Vancouver’s Downtown +Eastside that has been vacant for 9 years. During that time various different community groups and agitators have fought to have the building +converted into social housing, only to have the government agree, and then go back on their promise. The old ?Woodwards building? takes up an +entire city block. The Downtown Eastside is the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, and with the current Liberal government’s cuts to social services, social +housing, welfare, and the lowering of the minimum wage, poverty and homelessness are growing; class contradictions are deepening. >Out of this desperate situation, a group of people have squatted the enormous old department building and plan to stay their until it becomes +social housing. Many people have set up camp outside the building and donations of food, mattresses and other essentials have been pouring +in. Banners have been hung from the windows, the sides of the building, and the large ?W? on the rooftop. Woodwards is owned by British Columbia Housing, and the government is threatening to get an injunction to evict the squatters because of +”saftey issues”. ?We have moved into what we consider to be our building? said one of the squatters. As of Monday morning, September 16, 2002, the squatters are still occupying Woodwards. The squat is now into its third day. In our analysis, this action has become possible not only because of the growing divide between the rich and the poor in this province. The +determination of the squatters to finally take action, at risk to themselves, should not be overlooked. The Woodwards building has been +fought for year after year. A range of more conservative community groups as well as direct action organizations have struggled, using +various tactics, to force the government to convert the building into housing. After 9 long years, the building is occupied. The potential is +enormous. Hundreds of homeless people could occupy and use the building. An autonomous social centre could develop. The nature of this +action, in finally squatting this landmark building, will surely lift the morale of the community and hopefully, spread an insurgent attitude +among the exploited and excluded. Currently, security concerns, experiments in self-organization, and the instability of the situation mean that everything is still ?up in the +air?. In our view, the fact that this action was not taken exclusively by ?career activists? is very positive. At the same time, an organizational +structure must develop which is informal, egalitarian, and confrontational to the State. It remains to be seen whether this will occur. It +largely depends on the ability of different social sectors to unite around this struggle in a decentralized way. The task for anarchists, as +always, is to contribute their own methods and tactics of resistance to the larger body of the exploited. Insurrectionary Anarchists of the Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) check for new info – http://vancouver.indymedia.org

[squat!net]

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Poland, blockade of eviction in Wroclaw

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Today a dozen anarchists and squatters managed to prevent the eviction of Ms. Barbara Markiewicz, a pensioner living in mid-town Wroclaw, who was unable to pay rent.

The police and bailiffs charged with the eviction were stopped by people holding a banner “Stop evictions”. The police argued that the eviction comes as a result of the complaints of the neighbours. However the neighbours were solidary against the police.

The bailiffs decided not to proceed with the eviction. The first attempt of eviction of Ms. Barbara took place in april.

Taken from “Alter-EE mailing list” <http://www.lists.most.org.pl/cgi-bin/listinfo/alter-ee>

Zaczek <hydrozag [at] poczta [dot] onet [dot] pl>

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Woodwards Building Squatted in Vancouver, Canada

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Vancouver, Canada, September 16, 2002

On Saturday, September 14, 2002, a group of homeless people and activists occupied a huge department building in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that has been vacant for 9 years. During that time various different community groups and activists have fought to have the building converted into social housing, only to have the government agree, and then go back on their promise.

The Downtown Eastside is the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, and with the current Liberal government’s cuts to social services, social housing, welfare, and the lowering of the minimum wage, poverty and homelessness are growing.

Out of this desperate situation, a group of people have squatted the enormous old department building and plan to stay their until it becomes social housing. Many people have set up camp outside the building and donations of food, matresses and other essentials have been pouring in. The building is owned by the British Columbia Housing, and the government is threatening to get an injuction to evict the squatters because of “saftey issues”.

As of Monday morning, September 16, 2002, the squatters are still occupying Woodwards.

For pictures and updates check – http://ontario.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=12087&group=webcast

sabate <sabate [at] ziplip [dot] com>

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From December we began to see a new form of political intervention, after the cacerolazos are born the assemblies, soon the interbarrial of assemblies, and now the phenomenon of the “assemblies okupas”. In the heat of economic and political crisis the search of collective solutions is urgent . Little by little the necessity was growing to create our own spaces and to solve the serious problem of the house. [Read More]

Pope Squat: Lobby Day and Rally at City Council Meeting

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TWO IMPORTANT ACTIONS TO PUT THE POPE SQUAT AT THE TOP OF COUNCIL’S AGENDA

With astounding success, the OCAP Pope Squat is now well into its second month. Homeless people and their allies have established a community and taken forward the whole fight against homelessness and underhousing in Toronto. Our goal, however, is not just to win the right to squat the property but to compel the levels of government to set a vital precedent by accepting a self managed social housing project at 1510 King Street West.

We are doing all we can to take this forward on our own while we pressure City Hall to act. Renovations are underway, a model suite is being prepared at the site and, with community partners, we are creating the legal entity at the site that could assume control of a housing project. The City, however, has not yet faced up to its responsibilities. The motion passed by Council calls on the Province to hand over the property and the Province will be very unlikely to admit to ownership. What we do know, though, is that the City sent all with a stake in the property a communication in December of 2000 warning that the building would be seized if back taxes weren’t paid. If they had that power then, they have it now and we demand that the City take over the property, provide housing during the renovation period to those presently there and open negotiations around the creation of self managed housing.

We have prepared (and include with this notice) a model resolution that outlines our position and we have two upcoming actions to press for City Council to adopt it. Below are the details of these.

* * * * * * * LOBBY DAY AT CITY HALL. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. MEET AT 11.00 AM IN FRONT OF BUILDING.

We are preparing a mass lobby of Council members. If you would like to be part of one of the delegations that will meet with the politicians or their representatives, here’s how things will work.

* Find out who you elected member of Council is.

* Call the OCAP office and offer your help. We will assign you to a team of people meeting with a Council member.

* If you are the first person calling in from your particular ward, we will ask you to phone and make an appointment.

* On the day, we will proceed together to the lobby area of the Councillors’ offices, go to our meetings and press the demands contained in the model resolution. We will call on them to put this on the floor of the next Council meeting and to adopt it at that session.

TAKING THE POPE SQUAT TO THE NEXT MEETING OF COUNCIL. MEET IN FRONT OF CITY HALL ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, AT 2.00 PM

We shall rally in front of the building to show some of the community support that exists and then go to the Council Chambers to eliminate any lingering doubt on the matter. We hope and expect, that they will be ready to discuss this vital issue. (Did not this same Council declare homelessness a national disaster?) We will be ready to go into the chambers to witness politicians who do the right thing and provide a small but important beginning in the work of dealing with the housing crisis. We are also prepared, however, for our visit to the gathering to be a restrained yet unmistakable reminder that the community will no longer accept talk as a substitute for action and that the Pope Squat is something they just can’t hide from. We need every single person available to come out and show their support on the 17th!

For more information call OCAP at (416) 925-6939 or e mail us at ocap [at] tao [dot] ca

* * * * * * MODEL RESOLUTION FOR CITY COUNCIL ON POPE SQUAT

“Given that a housing crisis exists in this City, with vast waiting lists for social housing, rampant evictions and a level of homelessness that the City Council has declared a disaster.”

“Given that an attempt is underway to turn the building at 1510 King Street West into social housing.”

“Given that this initiative is widely supported in Parkdale and by many labour, faith and community based organizations.”

“And, given that the City of Toronto felt able to seize the property as long ago as December of 2000 and communicated this to all those with a financial interest in it.”

“Toronto City Council will take over the property in question without delay and begin its transformation into social housing.”

“Council will also ensure that those homeless people who are presently living at the site be housed during the renovation period.”

“As the City moves forward with developing the site, it will enter into good faith negotiations with those presently living there and their community partners who have allocated or pledged resources to this initiative around the creation of a self managed project at 1510 King Street West.”

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NEW ADDRESS!
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234 Toronto, Ontario M5G 4A2
416-925-6939 ocap [at] tao [dot] ca www.ocap.ca
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Ontario Coalition Against Poverty <ocap [at] tao [dot] ca>

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AC Molotov squat update : first trial

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Here’s a message from an inhabitant of the squat :

Salud!

Yesterday, 6.9., we had a first trial in the case: AC Molotov (a squat in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which they want to evict since 11.7.) against its owner Slovenske Zeleznice (SZ; Slovenian Railway Company). All together was very funny and dumb. There were 9 of us, representer of SZ; lawyers and the judge, who were the only-one speaking. The first question of SZ’s lawyer was if we think to go out. Our answer was NO. Then she said there was unformal agreement between us and persons from the Museum, than we have to respect it and go out. Later, she said she doesn’t know about the agreement, because it was said by us. Ofcourse, in reality, no-one informed us about going out at that time. Their lawyer coludn’t say more than her meaning that this is a private property and if Slovenia is a state of law then there is no question who is right. The real question of this trial was if the Company knew the fact that we live there. If they did, then their accusation of disturbing the property has no meaning, because they set up a law suit too late (according to the law, the owner can put an accusation of disturbing the property to 30 days after s/he founds out that the person is using his/her property). On the question of the judge if they knew about the fact that we live there, their lawyer said she doesn’t know and they must ask the witnesses – the workers of Railway Museum. She claimed she has never been in Molotov and later that they couldn’t indentify the persons because there are about 60 people going in and out and lots of them under 18. When we applied as witnesses in the next trial, she asked if we can tell also the year of our birth, because we don’t look so old.

Our lawyer gave next evideneces about SZ’s knowing of our living in AC Molotov: two televison shows in winter (we squatted the place on new year 02), artical in newspaper (about FNB), key from the doors (we made it together with the person from Museum, because it’s the same buliding) and police records (from new year, they visited Molotov more than 30 times, identifying the inhabitants).

They were speaking also about sanitary inspection and they calimed it came alone (they didn’t call it). Here, SZ made another violation, because they would have, according to the statement made by inspection, to disinfect the place totally. They coludn’t made this with dredger and barricading the windows of the house. Their lawyer finally confesses that they wanted to destroy the house (even if they still don’t have persmission to destroy nor to bulid).

Thus, the next trial is on 22 October with 6 witnesses defending Avtonomna Cona Molotov and 2 witnesses to speak in favour of Slovenian Railway Company. This is just a starting point. If we want to continue (this will happen if we don’t find another house and we can keep this one for a year, two, we don’t know), the next big trial is about violations of human rights made by SZ and G7 (private security company) and then comes the final trial with decision when we have to go out. I think, we won’t come to the end of the trial, because we need another house (we have no water and electricity; Mirovni Institut, organization that is sponsoring our lawyer gave lots of money already for these charges and it can happen that they throw us out in winter). We made a plan of direct actions if the city doesn’t give us another house for at least 3 years!

Just to mention that the day before the trial came police with order from the judge to search the house, because SZ put an accusation of stealing the electricity. They didn’t find what they were looking for (a certain cable) and for first time they were acting almost all according to the rules (they wrote a record with our complaints, waited for the lawyer). They were too much nice, with questions like: “do you maybe know who could connected electricity?” etc.). As they didn’t get the person who connected the cables, the accusation has no meaning.

For the end – today the sindicats from Railway Company are having demonstrations, because the Company will be soon privatised. In general that means it won’t work in favour of the people (what public transport should stand for), but in favour of capital. It means more explotation of the workers and higher prices for the people, who’s only transport is train.

…a las barricadas……

maja libertad

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