Friday, April 11, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Appeal for signing the support for the autonomous, free and in self-managing use of
former Rog factory!
Rog factory, Thursday, 20th of March 22.30 Mayor of city of Ljubljana Zoran
Jankoviæ decides to make an unexpected visit. He notifies the people in Rog that
he will order the evacuation and sealing of Rog. Upon being asked what the reason
for his decision was he said that the users broke the agreement with The City
Council of the City of Ljubljana (MOL) which claimed that no one was to reside in
the factory. The reason for his decision was supposed to be the hosting of
»Brothers of liberty«, a German medieval craftsman guild, which is holding a
congress this weekend in Rog. It is an old association, whose graduates acquire a
trade certificate after they contribute to the public benefit in various cities
for several months with their work and are welcome everywhere in Europe because of
their noble mission. As hosting such a collective is in accordance with the
mission of openness of Rog, the Mayor's demand that Rog denies them the
hospitality is simply impossible.
Rog will build no walls for the »Brothers of liberty«. It will not instigate
Security or police against them. The world of walls, security services ,
exclusions and discrimination is the world of Mayor Jankoviæ. Rog is a different
world. Many have finally found a place in it where they can express themselves
freely. Many have found in it the dignity and value of their life. Everything,
that the world of Major Jankoviæ wants to deny them. A rich programme, an
exceptional ammount of events and an incredible social engagement of Rog is a
testimony to all this, which can all be seen on the websites www.tovarna.org and
www.njetwork.org.
Mayor Jankoviæ's assault on Rog is simultaneously symbolic and real. The formal
reason for this outburst of self-will and authoritarianism is hosting the
»Brothers of liberty«. The real reason however is the hatred towards all forms of
creative existence that are actively rejecting the subordination to the authority
of »The City Council of the City of Ljubljana » - a company, in which a handful of
arbitrary and authoritarian Moguls is trampling the freedom of expression, human
dignity and diversity. It is about the methodical destroying of those rare
possibilities of autonomous and self-defined activities of individuals and groups
that reject to do just what the hegemonic model of organised social life expects
them to do. For the managerial ideology of the municipal authorities the sole
existance of such possibilities of different creativeness is already
problematical.
Therefor it is important, that you support the free, self-managing and autonomous
use of Rog. Oppose the destruction of one of the rare places in which different
forms of collective activity and life are possible. With your signing and other
forms of support you will be sending out a message that this city, this society
and this world needs places like Rog.
We ask you to send your messages of support for Rog to the Mayor's email and fax
number.
You can sign this petition at http://www.njetwork.org/spip.php?article67.
Jankovic's contacts are mail: zoran.jankovic@ljubljana.si, fax: 013061214. Please
add this information in the text and send it out.
Temporary users of Rog
Ljubljana, 21. March 2008.
former Rog factory!
Rog factory, Thursday, 20th of March 22.30 Mayor of city of Ljubljana Zoran
Jankoviæ decides to make an unexpected visit. He notifies the people in Rog that
he will order the evacuation and sealing of Rog. Upon being asked what the reason
for his decision was he said that the users broke the agreement with The City
Council of the City of Ljubljana (MOL) which claimed that no one was to reside in
the factory. The reason for his decision was supposed to be the hosting of
»Brothers of liberty«, a German medieval craftsman guild, which is holding a
congress this weekend in Rog. It is an old association, whose graduates acquire a
trade certificate after they contribute to the public benefit in various cities
for several months with their work and are welcome everywhere in Europe because of
their noble mission. As hosting such a collective is in accordance with the
mission of openness of Rog, the Mayor's demand that Rog denies them the
hospitality is simply impossible.
Rog will build no walls for the »Brothers of liberty«. It will not instigate
Security or police against them. The world of walls, security services ,
exclusions and discrimination is the world of Mayor Jankoviæ. Rog is a different
world. Many have finally found a place in it where they can express themselves
freely. Many have found in it the dignity and value of their life. Everything,
that the world of Major Jankoviæ wants to deny them. A rich programme, an
exceptional ammount of events and an incredible social engagement of Rog is a
testimony to all this, which can all be seen on the websites www.tovarna.org and
www.njetwork.org.
Mayor Jankoviæ's assault on Rog is simultaneously symbolic and real. The formal
reason for this outburst of self-will and authoritarianism is hosting the
»Brothers of liberty«. The real reason however is the hatred towards all forms of
creative existence that are actively rejecting the subordination to the authority
of »The City Council of the City of Ljubljana » - a company, in which a handful of
arbitrary and authoritarian Moguls is trampling the freedom of expression, human
dignity and diversity. It is about the methodical destroying of those rare
possibilities of autonomous and self-defined activities of individuals and groups
that reject to do just what the hegemonic model of organised social life expects
them to do. For the managerial ideology of the municipal authorities the sole
existance of such possibilities of different creativeness is already
problematical.
Therefor it is important, that you support the free, self-managing and autonomous
use of Rog. Oppose the destruction of one of the rare places in which different
forms of collective activity and life are possible. With your signing and other
forms of support you will be sending out a message that this city, this society
and this world needs places like Rog.
We ask you to send your messages of support for Rog to the Mayor's email and fax
number.
You can sign this petition at http://www.njetwork.org/spip.php?article67.
Jankovic's contacts are mail: zoran.jankovic@ljubljana.si, fax: 013061214. Please
add this information in the text and send it out.
Temporary users of Rog
Ljubljana, 21. March 2008.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
1) Call for days of decentralized actions in defense of squatted &
autonomous spaces in Europe, April 2008;
2) Invitation to a preparation meeting in "Les Tanneries" (Dijon,
France), November 2007;
Call
----
« On Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th of April 2008, we call for
two days of demonstration, direct action, public information,
street-party, squatting... in defence of free spaces and for an
anti-capitalist popular culture.
Through these two days, we want to help create more visibility of
autonomous spaces and squats as a european/global political movement.
We want to develop interconnections and solidarity between squats and
autonomous spaces. We want to keep linking our spaces with new people
and new struggles, and support the creation of autonomous spaces in
places where there has not been a history of this kind of action. We
want to build, step by step, our ability to overcome the wave of
repression falling on us.
We call for decentralised and autonomous actions of all kinds,
depending on what people feel to be the most appropriate to their
local context. You'll find below the political content we wish to
give to these two days. »
The rest of the call can be read on http://april2008.squat.net/. It is
not a final text, but a way to introduce and discuss the project. It
was first proposed by a group of people involved with various autonomous
spaces around Europe. This summer, we travelled with it and introduced
it to various collectives. Given the present dynamic of resistance
around autonomous spaces in Europe, it seems that the word is spreading
quite quickly and enthousiastically.
preparation meeting
-------------------
The success of this call now depends upon our capacity to create a
bigger international working group. The whole event will happen without
any "central commitee", and will be made of a various autonomous
decentralised actions. Still, we think it is important to have a
physical meeting, in order to exchange ideas and strategies, discuss the
contents of the call, see how to create common information tools around
that project, how to connect and help the various local initiatives.
Thus, we're calling for an international preparation & coordination
meeting on November 24th & 25th 2007, in the autonomous space "Les
Tanneries", located in Dijon, France. It is a squatted social centre in
a post-industrial environment, occupied since 1998. Thanks to years of
struggle against the city council owning the buildings, the project has
reached a certain degree of stability. It hosts a collective house, a
gig room, a hacklab, a free shop, an infoshop, a collective garden, a
library...
We hope that many of you will be able to join. Please tell us a bit in
advance if you're planning to come, so that we get an idea of the number
of people we have to accomodate and plan food for. You're very welcome
to pass this invitation to squats and autonomous spaces that you know.
The call can be downloaded as a flyer from http://april2008.squat.net/.
Furthermore, any help with translations in whatever languages is very
welcome.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
rigaer strasse 84 oficial call out
Fire inside Rigaer Str.84 – Berlin
On the 28th April 2007 a fire destroyed the living place for 48 people,a
space for international guests, public cooking space, cinema, free space
for politcal groups, concert space, and a bar.
We, the inhabitants, had to watch the roof and parts of the womens floor
burn for hours. Luckily no one got hurt in our project or the neighboring
house(Proskauerstraße 10), where the fire also spread. The shock of the
situation is still very strong, and it takes a lot of concentration to
have the energy to look to the future.
History of the house
Rigaerstraße 84 was squatted in 1990 and was legalized through rent
contracts in 1991. In 1997, shortly after the first attempt to renovate
the house, which could not happen due to resistence from the inhabitents,
the roof of the entire corner (rigaerstraße 84 and proskauerstraße 10)
burned. According to the reports from the fire investigators, the fire was
intentional. In addition to the roof the 4th floor flats were damaged by
fire and water. The other floors were minimally damaged. Both houses were
closed for a while by the police.
Shortly after the fire and failed renovation attempt, the house was sold
to the current owners under dubious circumstances.
On november 2006, a new renovation plan came to us. In response to that,
we offered to buy the house from the current owners. They told us that,
due to tax laws, they did not want to sell to us.
At the time of the latest fire there were 48 people living in the R84.
Right now there is no offical report from the police of the fire, but for
us it looks this way:
The fire was first noticed by the inhabitants of the back house at 4:30am.
The fire started in a locked, uninhabited room that had not been used for
a long time. At this time we could not see other seperate fires. As we
tried to fight the fire with fire extinguishers and hoses, people ran
around the houses waking the others up, and called the fire department.
Even before the fire department and police arrived, there were civil
(plain clothed) cops in the house, forcing people to get out without
grabbing essential belongings.
The fire department arrived at 4:45am and started, in staircase and later
with ladder trucks, to fight the fire. There were 10 fire trucks blocking
the street, yet majority of the time, only one of the firetrucks was
used...
In not much time, the entire rooftop of R84 caught on flames and the fire
began to spread across the rooftop of Proskauerstr. 10. Around the same
time, the 4th fl. of R84 (which was the women's floor), began to catch
aflame.
At this point, as far as anybody standing outside could tell, the process
of extinguishing the fire was concentrated mostly on the normal rented
flats of Proskauerstr.10, ignoring the blazing flame on the R84 side for
what seemed to be hours.
A few of the firefighters, who were asked how the fire started and spread
so quickly, responded that they were quite sure that some kind of
accelerant was used in the arsenal. Some hours later, after most of the
fire was extinguished, the entire rooftop, most of the attic and a good
portion of the 4th floor was mostly just a skeleton of what once ws our
home. The rest of the house, due to the extinguishing process, was
destroyed and declared too dangerous to enter and no longer habitable.
While the building was still aflame, passerbys stopped on the sidewalk and
gauked at the ruins.Amongst these „passerbys“, 5 people, recognized as
Nazis, heckled the victims of this event. They were decidedly driven away.
On the same day, the building police closed access to both buildings.
While we,the inhabitants from R84 house project, were denied the right to
sit across the street of their burning home and to have breakfast in
mourning, the neighboring house (Pros.10) inhabitants were allowed to
retrieve personal belongings and effects, All day, we were not allowed to
re-enter our home to retrieve important documents, money, or even clean
socks. The police said that our house was more endangered of potentially
collapsing upon us....
The next day, a few different local Berliner newspapers stated that the
fire was started due to a malfunctioning marijuana plantation, which we
were supposedly growing in our attic. They got their information from a
quite unbalanced, disgruntled neighbor, who has been quite aggressive
towards us in the past. Needless to say, this information is false, and
we, as a household, were never given the possibility to give our statement
on this matter to the press. They never asked. Guess the Marijuana story
was more juicier than the truth. Lies in the media? Go figure!
We find this spread of false information unjust and unfair, and have
already spoken with our lawyer to put force on the local media to take
back these bogus accusations and let our voice be heard.
On Tues afternoon, we,the ex-inhabitants organized an infocenter in the
bar next door, Fischladen. This is the collection place for donated
materials. In the same time, we were in mediation with the police and
bldg. inspectors to allow us to retrieve our smoldering and wet
belongings. Also, we tried to arrange a meeting with our local Mayor Dr.
Franz Schulz,which couldn't take place,since he wasn't there...
Later that afternoon, the owner from R84 agreed to allow us access to the
house for a few hours the next day. In the evening, there was a public
meeting where supporters came to get detailed info, ask questions and
exchange ideas.
On Wed, 30.May, we finally had access to our house from 10am til 1pm to
retrieve our belongings which were not destroyed by water and fire damage.
Many friends, neighbors and concerned individuals helped us make the move
quick and productive. A big thank you to all of you!!
In the afternoon, some of us were able to finally meet with the local
Mayor. We asked for his support in our demands for an immediate housing
alternative for us, as a house collective. In the evening, another group
of ex-inhabitants visited a local office of the left wing party, which is
a strong presence in this area.
Alternative open spaces are endagered everywhere,not just in Berlin alone.
Since the eviction of of York 59, the threat against „Schwarze
Kanal“,Brunnenstraße 183,Rigaerstr.94, K0pi and many others, the burning
of R84 is at present the most devastating.
The city structuring plans of Neo-liberal ideology leaves no place for
alternative self-managed open/free space. Especially dirty ones like ours.
We were astoundished by the amount of solidarity actions that already
started in the first hours of the fire. All coming from friends,
strangers, neighbors and other house projects, in forms of colthing, food,
financial support, etc.. Even local businesses had offered to help us out
in any way they could possible. This help came out not just from Berlin.
Copenhagen, Amsterdam,Dijon, Barcelona, have all given us moral and/or
finacial support.
Since our core infrastructor has been destroyed by water and fire, and are
left without housing and the loss of belongings, we are completely
dependant on outside help for our lawyer and processing costs.
We are demanding a political solution that enables us to continue living
out our dreams and ideas of a free, self-organized community. Its
important to keep on living/organizing together and to contribute to the
subcultural way of life.
THEREFORE WE DEMAND OPEN SPACE!!!! Either back in our old house, after
renovations, or an acceptable replacement and also for the time inbetween.
We won't tolerate that the politicians remain silent of the loss of such
an important international house project, which housed 48 people, all of
which are homeless now. Alternative lifestyles are an unseparatable part
of Berlin and we will fight together for the right of our houses! We do
NOT want to be forced into an escalating situation!
In our point of view, its the duty of those politically responsible to
find an agreeable solution for the berlin house projects.
space for international guests, public cooking space, cinema, free space
for politcal groups, concert space, and a bar.
We, the inhabitants, had to watch the roof and parts of the womens floor
burn for hours. Luckily no one got hurt in our project or the neighboring
house(Proskauerstraße 10), where the fire also spread. The shock of the
situation is still very strong, and it takes a lot of concentration to
have the energy to look to the future.
History of the house
Rigaerstraße 84 was squatted in 1990 and was legalized through rent
contracts in 1991. In 1997, shortly after the first attempt to renovate
the house, which could not happen due to resistence from the inhabitents,
the roof of the entire corner (rigaerstraße 84 and proskauerstraße 10)
burned. According to the reports from the fire investigators, the fire was
intentional. In addition to the roof the 4th floor flats were damaged by
fire and water. The other floors were minimally damaged. Both houses were
closed for a while by the police.
Shortly after the fire and failed renovation attempt, the house was sold
to the current owners under dubious circumstances.
On november 2006, a new renovation plan came to us. In response to that,
we offered to buy the house from the current owners. They told us that,
due to tax laws, they did not want to sell to us.
At the time of the latest fire there were 48 people living in the R84.
Right now there is no offical report from the police of the fire, but for
us it looks this way:
The fire was first noticed by the inhabitants of the back house at 4:30am.
The fire started in a locked, uninhabited room that had not been used for
a long time. At this time we could not see other seperate fires. As we
tried to fight the fire with fire extinguishers and hoses, people ran
around the houses waking the others up, and called the fire department.
Even before the fire department and police arrived, there were civil
(plain clothed) cops in the house, forcing people to get out without
grabbing essential belongings.
The fire department arrived at 4:45am and started, in staircase and later
with ladder trucks, to fight the fire. There were 10 fire trucks blocking
the street, yet majority of the time, only one of the firetrucks was
used...
In not much time, the entire rooftop of R84 caught on flames and the fire
began to spread across the rooftop of Proskauerstr. 10. Around the same
time, the 4th fl. of R84 (which was the women's floor), began to catch
aflame.
At this point, as far as anybody standing outside could tell, the process
of extinguishing the fire was concentrated mostly on the normal rented
flats of Proskauerstr.10, ignoring the blazing flame on the R84 side for
what seemed to be hours.
A few of the firefighters, who were asked how the fire started and spread
so quickly, responded that they were quite sure that some kind of
accelerant was used in the arsenal. Some hours later, after most of the
fire was extinguished, the entire rooftop, most of the attic and a good
portion of the 4th floor was mostly just a skeleton of what once ws our
home. The rest of the house, due to the extinguishing process, was
destroyed and declared too dangerous to enter and no longer habitable.
While the building was still aflame, passerbys stopped on the sidewalk and
gauked at the ruins.Amongst these „passerbys“, 5 people, recognized as
Nazis, heckled the victims of this event. They were decidedly driven away.
On the same day, the building police closed access to both buildings.
While we,the inhabitants from R84 house project, were denied the right to
sit across the street of their burning home and to have breakfast in
mourning, the neighboring house (Pros.10) inhabitants were allowed to
retrieve personal belongings and effects, All day, we were not allowed to
re-enter our home to retrieve important documents, money, or even clean
socks. The police said that our house was more endangered of potentially
collapsing upon us....
The next day, a few different local Berliner newspapers stated that the
fire was started due to a malfunctioning marijuana plantation, which we
were supposedly growing in our attic. They got their information from a
quite unbalanced, disgruntled neighbor, who has been quite aggressive
towards us in the past. Needless to say, this information is false, and
we, as a household, were never given the possibility to give our statement
on this matter to the press. They never asked. Guess the Marijuana story
was more juicier than the truth. Lies in the media? Go figure!
We find this spread of false information unjust and unfair, and have
already spoken with our lawyer to put force on the local media to take
back these bogus accusations and let our voice be heard.
On Tues afternoon, we,the ex-inhabitants organized an infocenter in the
bar next door, Fischladen. This is the collection place for donated
materials. In the same time, we were in mediation with the police and
bldg. inspectors to allow us to retrieve our smoldering and wet
belongings. Also, we tried to arrange a meeting with our local Mayor Dr.
Franz Schulz,which couldn't take place,since he wasn't there...
Later that afternoon, the owner from R84 agreed to allow us access to the
house for a few hours the next day. In the evening, there was a public
meeting where supporters came to get detailed info, ask questions and
exchange ideas.
On Wed, 30.May, we finally had access to our house from 10am til 1pm to
retrieve our belongings which were not destroyed by water and fire damage.
Many friends, neighbors and concerned individuals helped us make the move
quick and productive. A big thank you to all of you!!
In the afternoon, some of us were able to finally meet with the local
Mayor. We asked for his support in our demands for an immediate housing
alternative for us, as a house collective. In the evening, another group
of ex-inhabitants visited a local office of the left wing party, which is
a strong presence in this area.
Alternative open spaces are endagered everywhere,not just in Berlin alone.
Since the eviction of of York 59, the threat against „Schwarze
Kanal“,Brunnenstraße 183,Rigaerstr.94, K0pi and many others, the burning
of R84 is at present the most devastating.
The city structuring plans of Neo-liberal ideology leaves no place for
alternative self-managed open/free space. Especially dirty ones like ours.
We were astoundished by the amount of solidarity actions that already
started in the first hours of the fire. All coming from friends,
strangers, neighbors and other house projects, in forms of colthing, food,
financial support, etc.. Even local businesses had offered to help us out
in any way they could possible. This help came out not just from Berlin.
Copenhagen, Amsterdam,Dijon, Barcelona, have all given us moral and/or
finacial support.
Since our core infrastructor has been destroyed by water and fire, and are
left without housing and the loss of belongings, we are completely
dependant on outside help for our lawyer and processing costs.
We are demanding a political solution that enables us to continue living
out our dreams and ideas of a free, self-organized community. Its
important to keep on living/organizing together and to contribute to the
subcultural way of life.
THEREFORE WE DEMAND OPEN SPACE!!!! Either back in our old house, after
renovations, or an acceptable replacement and also for the time inbetween.
We won't tolerate that the politicians remain silent of the loss of such
an important international house project, which housed 48 people, all of
which are homeless now. Alternative lifestyles are an unseparatable part
of Berlin and we will fight together for the right of our houses! We do
NOT want to be forced into an escalating situation!
In our point of view, its the duty of those politically responsible to
find an agreeable solution for the berlin house projects.
ONE STRUGGLE—ONE FIGHT: WE STAY TOGETHER!!!!!!
VIVA LA R84!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
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