Industrial Workers of the World

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Squat 2 Own Realty 22 May 2009 http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/146374/index.php

Signs have been showing up on foreclosed properties around Richmond, VA recently, advertising that the houses are available for free to anyone who needs a home. Though they look like ordinary real estate signs at first glance, they're actually the work of "Squat 2 Own Realty", a group of activists who are helping people take over vacant foreclosed houses without permission from the banks.

"Real Estate Agency" Invites People To Squat In Foreclosed Houses

"The public has paid trillions of dollars to the banks to bail out bad mortgages. So we feel at this point the foreclosed homes are actually public property, and banks have no right to keep them empty." says Mo Karn, a Squat 2 Own activist. "If a working-class family needs a place to live, and they're willing to work to turn a vacant property into a home rather than an abandoned blight, why shouldn't they?"

With homelessness on the rise nationwide and local governments failing to address the overwhelming increase of vacant properties, Squat 2 Own Realty hopes to help ordinary people take the initiative to reclaim their communities from the banks and speculators responsible for the current financial crisis. Comment: The activists advertise this so-called real estate agency on the web site www.squat2own.com, which includes detailed information on how to reclaim an abandoned house as well as a searchable database of foreclosed homes in the Richmond area.

This campaign has been pretty successful at capturing the attention of the mainstream media with little effort on the part of activists. Similar actions around foreclosure could be reproduced elsewhere. It may be instructive for other activists to consider ...

MAY 21, 2009 - From the indymedia Perth newswire: For the last six weeks we have been squatting and building a social centre. Our dreams for this space were large, but our capacity to realise those dreams was not. Squatting has long disappeared from the radical scene in Perth. Before we started this project we were told it was impossible. Though we didn't achieve all we wanted to, we managed to change people's perception of possibilities. After this experience we only have one thing to say, "for every eviction a thousand new squats!" We'll be back and next time and it will be bigger, longer and more effective.

Update: Good news! The owners have decided to let the crew stay on. The house is due for demolition in a few months, and they have consented to allow the squatters permission to stay on , on the condition they pay for the bills and leave the place before the demolition takes place. For now, Charlies lives to see another day!

MORE - PHOTOS of "Charlies" http://perth.indymedia.org/?action=newswire&parentview=143919

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whydah_Galley

http://squatspace.com/handbook/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_centre