All across the world, people are partaking in counter-culture communes in which they seize old abandoned buildings not only for housing needs, but also to actively protest the over-arching societal pressures created by capitalism, patriarchy, exploitation and racism.
This act of reclaiming free housing from existing vacant structures, called "squatting," has become a globalized movement, creating space for networking and making the act of day-to-day living a type of activism.
”Squatting, in a way, is an active participation of a non-stop critique of the city itself as a capitalist structure,” said Alex Ross, a young, experienced traveler and squatter who spoke about his experiences July 23 at the “Okupas: Towards an Anarchist Ecology” discussion held at the Brecht Forum, a social justice organization in the West Village.
Sharing the panel with Ross was Robin, a petite adventurer in her 20s, who also discussed her knowledge of the growing global squatter movement. She focused her discussion on her experiences journeying to and participating in various squatter communities abroad.
Ross, who squatted with various groups and residencies across Western Europe, and Robin, who traveled to South America and squatted with various groups there, were in agreement that squatting is an active form of criticism of everyday life – of the world that mainstream society adheres to.
Plain and simply put, “The act of squatting is also an act of criticism,” Robin said. Robin, outfitted in baggy jeans and t-shirt and knit hat, was very enthusiastic about her experience, smiling and laughing while interacting with the audience.
The squatting communities both Ross and Robin participated in and described during the discussion were not those only set in motion for housing purposes, but were enacted as self-sustaining, "autogestion" communities that strived to survive without participating in conventional culture as it stands today.
”It's a constant protest,” said Ross, who was dressed in a black t-shirt and black cut-off shorts. “Whenever there are squatters, it's kind of understood that this is going to be a really big kind of criticism of everyday life within the ecological constructs."
Both panelists also discussed the act of squatting as a reuse of space, an autonomous re-appropriation of waste and the redeveloping of the system within the wasted space. "It’s moving into houses that already exist," Ross described, "it’s moving into spaces that aren't being used, that have been abandoned, and that are being wasted." He compared squatting to the act of helping yourself to someone else's garbage.
While squatting is an active challenge to the existing mainstream society, the squatter societies can not help but interact with the very culture they are resisting. "The houses generally have a source of income," Robin explained. This money is used within the commune "to better the resources of the squat." As Ross pointed out, "it is too idealistic to think that you will never need money."
This is a direct connection with the mainstream culture, but in other, more unintentional ways, squatter communities have been interacting with and participating in mainstream culture, modernization and globalization. Many squatter communities are creating websites to represent themselves and generate awareness.
La Casa Aki, one of the houses where Robin stayed for a three-week period was in Santiago, Chile. She discovered the squat after talking with a local resident she met along her journey. Eager to attain more information on the community, she researched the house on the web. “I googled it,” she said.
This seems to be the way many people are becoming involved in the global squatting movement. Instead of squatting in their locales, it seems there is a growing number of people that find squatting communities abroad. “I encountered Australians, Germans, English, other Americans and more,” Ross recalled from his experiences through living in communities in England, Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Global squatters, or “nomadic barbarians,” as Ross described them, are driven across time and space by protests. “They’ll be out at the G8 meeting, hear about a protest up in Copenhagen, and go there the next day.”
Ross referenced this mobile radical core of activists and organizers to describe the way in which squatters are utilizing global processes for their own cause, despite their common aversion to globalization. “[They] really focus on global issues, but only because they want to absolutely disassemble globalization, and part of it is disassembling modernization so it’s just supporting localism,” Ross said. Ross continued to describe how localism, the philosophy of organizing society based on local resources, has become a way to challenge the increasingly globalized world.
Squatting is an ancient practice with the first documentation dating back to 1649 with the Diggers of England. It began as a social movement not only to utilize vacant housing structures, but also to live communally and equally. Squats sprouted up all over the world, wherever there has been available wasted space and people who need that space and the determination to utilize it.
While the two panelists, Ross and Robin, did value their experiences from squatting, Robin said that while this way of life was something she supported, it was not for her. “You have to be inclined to [squat] in a certain way, or need it. Those are the factors,” she said.
For Ross, squatting takes on a different meaning. “It’s something I do, I think it’s part of activism and I have called it a ‘lifestyle’ in the past, but I call it an active critique of everyday life. It’s always with me, almost like a religion. It’s something that I can’t always get, but it’s a dream, for me.”
This act of reclaiming free housing from existing vacant structures, called "squatting," has become a globalized movement, creating space for networking and making the act of day-to-day living a type of activism.
”Squatting, in a way, is an active participation of a non-stop critique of the city itself as a capitalist structure,” said Alex Ross, a young, experienced traveler and squatter who spoke about his experiences July 23 at the “Okupas: Towards an Anarchist Ecology” discussion held at the Brecht Forum, a social justice organization in the West Village.
Sharing the panel with Ross was Robin, a petite adventurer in her 20s, who also discussed her knowledge of the growing global squatter movement. She focused her discussion on her experiences journeying to and participating in various squatter communities abroad.
Ross, who squatted with various groups and residencies across Western Europe, and Robin, who traveled to South America and squatted with various groups there, were in agreement that squatting is an active form of criticism of everyday life – of the world that mainstream society adheres to.
Plain and simply put, “The act of squatting is also an act of criticism,” Robin said. Robin, outfitted in baggy jeans and t-shirt and knit hat, was very enthusiastic about her experience, smiling and laughing while interacting with the audience.
The squatting communities both Ross and Robin participated in and described during the discussion were not those only set in motion for housing purposes, but were enacted as self-sustaining, "autogestion" communities that strived to survive without participating in conventional culture as it stands today.
”It's a constant protest,” said Ross, who was dressed in a black t-shirt and black cut-off shorts. “Whenever there are squatters, it's kind of understood that this is going to be a really big kind of criticism of everyday life within the ecological constructs."
Both panelists also discussed the act of squatting as a reuse of space, an autonomous re-appropriation of waste and the redeveloping of the system within the wasted space. "It’s moving into houses that already exist," Ross described, "it’s moving into spaces that aren't being used, that have been abandoned, and that are being wasted." He compared squatting to the act of helping yourself to someone else's garbage.
While squatting is an active challenge to the existing mainstream society, the squatter societies can not help but interact with the very culture they are resisting. "The houses generally have a source of income," Robin explained. This money is used within the commune "to better the resources of the squat." As Ross pointed out, "it is too idealistic to think that you will never need money."
This is a direct connection with the mainstream culture, but in other, more unintentional ways, squatter communities have been interacting with and participating in mainstream culture, modernization and globalization. Many squatter communities are creating websites to represent themselves and generate awareness.
La Casa Aki, one of the houses where Robin stayed for a three-week period was in Santiago, Chile. She discovered the squat after talking with a local resident she met along her journey. Eager to attain more information on the community, she researched the house on the web. “I googled it,” she said.
This seems to be the way many people are becoming involved in the global squatting movement. Instead of squatting in their locales, it seems there is a growing number of people that find squatting communities abroad. “I encountered Australians, Germans, English, other Americans and more,” Ross recalled from his experiences through living in communities in England, Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Global squatters, or “nomadic barbarians,” as Ross described them, are driven across time and space by protests. “They’ll be out at the G8 meeting, hear about a protest up in Copenhagen, and go there the next day.”
Ross referenced this mobile radical core of activists and organizers to describe the way in which squatters are utilizing global processes for their own cause, despite their common aversion to globalization. “[They] really focus on global issues, but only because they want to absolutely disassemble globalization, and part of it is disassembling modernization so it’s just supporting localism,” Ross said. Ross continued to describe how localism, the philosophy of organizing society based on local resources, has become a way to challenge the increasingly globalized world.
Squatting is an ancient practice with the first documentation dating back to 1649 with the Diggers of England. It began as a social movement not only to utilize vacant housing structures, but also to live communally and equally. Squats sprouted up all over the world, wherever there has been available wasted space and people who need that space and the determination to utilize it.
While the two panelists, Ross and Robin, did value their experiences from squatting, Robin said that while this way of life was something she supported, it was not for her. “You have to be inclined to [squat] in a certain way, or need it. Those are the factors,” she said.
For Ross, squatting takes on a different meaning. “It’s something I do, I think it’s part of activism and I have called it a ‘lifestyle’ in the past, but I call it an active critique of everyday life. It’s always with me, almost like a religion. It’s something that I can’t always get, but it’s a dream, for me.”
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