Pretoria (South Africa): Let the dead bury the dead

August 11, 2010

How’s this for life in Pretoria? A squatter community is using a slimy, algae-filled pond to wash their clothes, the Sowetan newspaper reports.

Jacob van Gardeneren, of Lawyers for Human Rights, said: “The surrounding neighbourhoods used typical excuses to justify their involvement in these evictions – such as that the informal settlement hosts criminals. The reality is that this informal settlement hosts their gardeners, domestic workers and construction workers, who are often paid so poorly they cannot afford to travel home every day.” [Read More]

Monars (Catalunya): Notes on the rural squat meeting

August 2010

RURAL SQUATT MEETING IN MONARS

The rural squat meeting took place this year on the beginning of july in Monars, a village squatted for 28 years in the high Garrotxa, catalan Pyrenees, spanish side.
Every year it gathers about one hundred persons, mainly coming from rural squats, around topics that are specific to squatting and rural life : collective organisation, material autonomy, « education », health, land struggles, etc. It goes with workshops, discussions and debates, that rythm the day, the subject of this meeting being mainly to see friends, to go further in relationships and to have fun together.
[Read More]