[Squat!net]

The landless: no longer to be ignored.

At first sight it looks like a festival. The makeshift tents hung with colourful hammocks, the rousing Brazilian beats blaring from speakers, even the portaloos – like a mini Glastonbury sprung up in a small town in the Brazilian Amazon. There are stalls selling cold drinks, food on paper plates, even handmade jewellery. The details give it away though. Children run laughing, but the adults look old, tired, tense. Some have brought battered electric cookers with them, powering them with home-made generators.
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Nearly one year after the eviction of the neighbouring houseproject Liebig 14, our project Rigaer 94 and the squatbar Kadterschmiede got attacked by cops.

On 28th of January 2012, a demo against a police congress and the urban operations-conference in Berlin took place. At night there was an after-demo soliparty in Kadterschmiede which is located in Rigaer 94.

Before the party had even started, the area was already swarming with cops. Soon the usual quarrel with the cops at our gate to the street began. It is not unusual that they try to get into the yard and cause some trouble. At first, they were held back by our outer gate as always.

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Italy – NO TAV – Arrests and denunciations throughout the country

26/01/2012 – At 6:30 this morning, Thursday, January 26, 2012, a vast police operation ordered by the Public prosecutor of Turin has struck many friends, comrades, and No TAV resistants throughout Italy with arrests and cautionary measures. The practices of resistance that set off this massive operation concern conflictual episodes starting from the eviction of the Libera Repubblica della Maddalena [Free Republic of the Magdalene], passing through the siege of July 3 and the long Susa Valley summer.
Of the more than 40 measures, 25 are remands in prison, 15 measures of mandatory residence, 1 detention under house arrest and 1 prohibition of residence in the province of Turin.

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Yesterday, Occupy Oakland moved to convert a vacant building into a community center to provide education, medical, and housing services for the 99%. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and mass arrests. The state has compounded its policy of callous indifference with a ruthless display of violent repression. The Occupy movement will respond, as we have always responded: with an overwhelming show of collective resistance. Today, we take to the streets. Across the country, we will demonstrate our resolve to overcome repression and continue to build a better world grounded in love and solidarity for one another. All eyes on all Occupies.

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London students who occupied a space in the run-up to the November 30th public sector strike were under the jurisdiction of the Met’s SO15 Counter Terrorism Command, FITwatch have learned today.

Bloomsbury Social Centre [now evicted] – which aimed to be a “hub of organising for students, workers and residents in the Bloomsbury area” – held regular reading groups, served food, provided a silent study space and workers rights info evenings. SO15 (Counter Terrorism Command) was born in 2006, when SO12 (Special Branch) and SO13 (Anti-Terrorist Branch) were merged. It claims to be committed to “ensure[ing] that London remains a hostile environment for terrorists.” and also polices so-called ‘domestic extremists’
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Occupy London this morning (21/01/12) publicly repossessed Roman House, an abandoned nine-storey office building in the Barbican in the City of London which previously housed companies from the financial service industries. [1] The Occupy London campaigners – part of the global movement for social and economic justice and real democracy – stated that they intend to occupy the building – their fifth occupation – until such time as the City of London Corporation publishes full details of its City Cash Accounts. This is a request that Occupy London has consistently asked off the Corporation, so that it can become a more transparent public body like every other public body in the country. [2] [3]
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It is with mixed feelings that we announce the end of the offMarket project. We took disused buildings and try to turn them into open resources for the wider community. We started the project with a big collective. Now there are only a few people left in the collective and we can’t carry it anymore as everyone is becoming increasingly tired. We doubt that we will open a new space in the future, but one can never say never.
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Three squats are due in court as the owners of the buildings try and regain possession.

The protest started at 10.30 outside Brighton County Court in solidarity with the squatters in court. Once the last squatters have had their court case heard the protesters will march through the centre of Brighton to raise awareness of the benefits of squatting and the attack on squatting by right wing Hove MP, Mike Weatherly.
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The 13th of January, “Les Planchettes”, “Bel-Air”, “Le Tertre” and “La Gaité” received a letter from the baliff announcing that he had come to deliver a “document of eviction converted to an attempt at eviction” on the 10th, but hadn’t found anyone to give it to.

He would also ask the police chief for help from the “forces of order”, but we still haven’t managed to know the response of the police chief.

It seems they are going to try to not apply the “winter truce” (which means no evictions until March 15) that the judge seems to have given. [Read More]

The mega-operation of the police to vacate the Pinheirinho has started. Police helicopters are flying around and throwing leaflets urging residents to retreat without resistance. The residents are firm and organised to resist the eviction.Leaflets from the residents read “A physical presence there is crucial at this time. The campaign of legal moes is very important, but the physical presence there is crucial at this time. Eviction can happen at any time. Tomorrow we want as many leaders and activists in this activity. We call on all organizations and movements to go out tomorrow to the city of San Jose Campos and collaborate in this act of resistance at Pinheirinho. This is our fight. 100% Pinheirinho!”

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“Mothers’ strike” is a documentary that shows the living conditions of the striking women in Walbrzych in 2010, their struggle against local authorities, conflicts with welfare institutions and their self-organizing attempts. They explain how their living situation relates to the changes in the labour market. It challenges housing and employment relations in a polish Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the particular situation of women workers who refuse to carry the double burden of wage and reproductive work. These women went on rent strikes, and some of them started to squat for a living.

« Mother’s strike » (22’, 2010, SzumTV and Feminist Think Tank, Poland)
The movie, in polish with english subtitles, is here.

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Article mainly translated from the original article in french, January 12th, 2012.
[San Juan City is a city in the Manila’s eastern suburb, Philippines‘ capital.]

“Patay kung patay. Hindi kami aalis dito.”
[We’ll die if we have to. We’re not going anywhere.]
A man who lives in Corazon de Jesus, January 11th, 2012

A lot of mainstream media [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5], #sanjuandemolition on Twitter and some local alternative media talked about the events of January 11th 2012, when more than 400 policemen (including at least 100 riot-police) tried to impose a massive demolition operation on Corazon de Jesus, a poor area of San Juan City.

On December 6th, 2011, a demolition warning was given by the City to the Corazon de Jesus’ inhabitants. They had until January 11th to move out. Almost none of them moved.
In this area of San Juan City, about 2 000 homes are concerned by the demolition operations, resistance is going on since June 2010. In one year and a half, 400 homes have been demolished by the State forces. [Read More]