In Zurich, and Across Europe, Squatter Communities are Strengthening

[polly7]

By Ed Sutton

Source: Occupy.com

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Seen as a threat, and threatened with extinction

Autonomous communities and the buildings they occupy are a particularly pressing topic in Europe at the moment. As austerity sweeps the continent, squats—among the last remaining scraps of common space (Freiraum) and therefore burrs in the saddle of neo-liberalism’s charging horse, privatization—are being systematically cleared out.

In Greece, the wave of squat evictions has been largely driven by the need to eliminate real centers of active opposition that threaten the status quo (see my January portrait of Athens’ antagonist movements, http://www.occupy.com/article/dispatch-greece-meeting-antagonist-movements andhttp://www.occupy.com/article/thank-god-fascists-dispatch-weimar-greece).

Stories are surfacing about pensioners in Germany squatting a senior center under threat of closure due to lack of funds; of Spanish indignados breaking into sealed, vacant apartment buildings not to squat themselves but to provide living space for recent evictees of all stripes; of Minnesotans fighting the banks and refusing to leave their homes; even of anarchist movements being forged in the current tumults of the Middle East.

The time appears ripe to begin introducing squatter philosophies such as self-organization and the struggle for Freiraum and community preservation into the broader public discourse.

Full Article: http://www.zcommunications.org/in-zurich-and-across-europe-squatter-communities-are-strengthening-by-ed-sutton

[cbrer]

1. If it's the difference between me or my kids having to revolt

Let's get it on.