Housing

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

BBC Jan. 4, 2008