Defend our autonomous spaces!
Ungdomshuset (Youth house) in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an autonomous space run according to anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist principles. Ungdomshuset is used for various activities such as DIY concerts and festivals (including the K-town festival), soup kitchens, radical meetings, bookstore/info shop, screen-printing, rehearsing rooms and studio, city garden, and much more; all arranged and run by the people who use the house.
Ungdomshuset was given to the autonomous/squatter movement in 1982, after a long struggle with government and police, for a self-organized youth center. In 1999 the government put the house on the market. The official reason was: \223The house is only used by 25 subcultural youths\224. This is not the case! The truth is that it is used by several hundreds of different people and has since birth, been a thorn in the side of the government!
The house was bought by a fundamentalist Christian group called Faderhuset (The Father house), whose goal is to start a church and save us all from Satan. Of course we will not accept this! Since 2001 Faderhuset has dragged us through the courtroom circus. The verdict is set for September 18th, but no matter what they decide we are here to stay!
For 24 years the house has been an active part in the fight against normalization and apathy and a place for people to be themselves outside the oppressive norms of society.