Housing

Another Successful Eviction Blockade for Boston's Working Class Housing Movement!

pirate — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:52:16 -0400

Ainfos Sat, 19 Jul 2008

On the July 15th eviction blockade led by Paula Taylor and the City Life/ Vida
Urbana Bank Tenants Union ---- Today, Paula Taylor of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, her family, friends, the City Life/ Vida Urbana (CLVU) Bank Tenants Union, and various community allies successfully resisted an eviction attempt by Countrywide Financial in another win for Boston's working class movement! Paula- with the bank tenant union and community allies by her side- is asking Countrywide to accept rent money instead of kicking her out on the street and keeping the property vacant. Paula was attacked by the foreclosure scandals sweeping the country, and is now offering money to rent what she once owned. read more »

Number of refugees worldwide rises to 11.4 million

pirate — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:43:51 -0400

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press June, 17, 2008

LONDON - Tents, sacks of food and a replica of a burnt-out village hut appeared in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday as a tourist hotspot became a refugee camp to highlight the plight of millions of people displaced in Darfur and elsewhere.

The display, set up to mark World Refugee Day this week, came as the U.N. refugee agency reported a record 11.4 million people were driven from their home countries last year. read more »

Berlin - In Chaos!

pirate — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:36:23 -0400

A personal report from last week's action days for autonomous spaces in Berlin. This report reflects the thoughts and opinions of the authors, not of any campaign, although these opinions may be shared by others.

(Report from) Action Days for Autonomous Space May 27 to June 1 2008

"If we do not wish to find ourselves in a world where no one really lives, where no one really knows anyone else, where everyone has become a mere cog in a machine meshing with other cogs but remaining truly alone, then we must have the strength to attack alienation in every way we can." read more »

Homeless advocates protest at Seattle City Hall

pirate — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:11:04 -0400

By JOHN IWASAKI Seattle PI

Given that he was in a wheelchair, Mike Smith says Seattle police officers treated him "magnificently" Monday morning when they arrested him and 14 other homeless advocates who blocked Cherry Street near City Hall.

But the cordial treatment contrasted with the city's sweeps of homeless encampments, he said after his release from custody, likening the sweeps to a death sentence. read more »

FEMA's Toxic Trailers: Formaldahyde Isn't Good For You

rafael — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:18:48 -0400

Relief according to the Feds: After you stick em in the trailers,which it turns out handily came equiped with 5x the safe level of formaldahyde fumes, lose track of em, start some useless studies and don't bother coming up with any long term plan to help these kids you've gotten so very, very sick... 12x the cases before the storm of severe asthma in kids after they stay in those FEMA relief trailers.

It will take 10-15 years before the cancers start to develop.

AP story after the jump, via Rawstory. read more »

Buenos Aires, Argentina: A Different Kind of Land Occupation

pirate — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:43:16 -0400

ainfos May 21, 2008

"This is going to be a different type of occupation," say the people of Tierra y
Libertad (Land and Freedom), a land occupation on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The name of their group gives an idea of what they intend. The occupation began on March 29th this year when 40 families entered a small parcel of land in La Matanza and began setting up a community. Since then the occupation has grown to over 135 families and has continued to organize and resist eviction in the face of intimidation and violence. read more »

Hotel staff in barricade protest

pirate — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:36:16 -0500

BBC Jan. 4, 2008

Two workers have spent three weeks barricaded in the bedroom of a closed hotel in protest at losing their jobs.

Assistant manager Mark Craig, 20, and kitchen porter Steven Black, 16, staged their protest at the Meldrum Arms Hotel in Oldmeldrum, Inverurie.

The pair live on food delivered in a bucket pulled up on a piece of string. read more »

Activists protest slum demolition

pirate — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:55:27 -0500

Dec 27, 2007 Times of India

MUMBAI: More than 3,500 activists and slumdwellers held a dharna at Azad Maidan on Wednesday afternoon to protest against large-scale slum demolitions.

Over 600 homes were bulldozed in the last seven days alone. The protest was organised by the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM). Slumdwellers were upset that, despite a government affidavit in 2005 that set aside 50 acres of land in Mankhurd for those whose homes had been razed in the demolition drive, the land still lay vacant and slumdwellers were not allowed to build their homes on it. read more »

Vietnam: Man Sets Himself On Fire To Protest Land Confiscation

pirate — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:10:01 -0500

HANOI, VIETNAM(AP): A Vietnamese man set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of the land where he lived that authorities said belonged to the government, police and state media reported Wednesday (26 Dec).

Hoang Huu Hanh, 53, soaked himself with gasoline and lit a match Tuesday (25 Dec) when police pulled down his makeshift house in Hai Ba Trung District, said a local police officer who declined to be identified, citing policy.

Police quickly extinguished the fire and rushed him to a hospital where he remained in serious but stable condition Wednesday, he said. read more »

Police Attack Protesters at New Orleans Demolition Hearing!

pirate — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:09:20 -0500

Thu. Dec. 20 2007 The Associated Press

Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall.

One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping. read more »