WSF: Housing occupation by No Vox and Brasilian homeless movement
babel-nate | 26.01.2005 22:58 | London | World
During the first days of the World Social Forum, there was a housing occupation by No Vox and Brasilian homeless movement for over 30 Brasilian families.
Occupation of a Public Building by a group of 30 Brasilian homeless people.
The World Social Forum is an opportunity for various groups and social movements to discuss way of creating a better world. It is also the time where some groups decide to change their condition here and now.
That's what happened yesterday
On the 25th of January a group of 30 homeless people decided to occcupy an empty public building to make themselces a new home. The building is situated in the centre of Porto Alegre, on 727 Avenida Borge de Meideros. This building is now being used as a creche and housing for 30 families. It had been empty for several years and the governement was planning to sell it to the private sector (making it imporsible for poor families to afford the rents proposed by the commercial sector). The group of homeless people who occupied the building are supported by a Brasilian organisation called the MNLM, the Movimento National de Luta Pela Moradia, a movement that fights for the right of everyone to have a roof. The action is also supported by an international network of the destitute called the NO VOX, those who have no voice in our society but still make themselves heard!
The families entered the building at 6 o'clock in the morning and started cleaning the flats that had been left empty and abandoned for many years. They have now cleaned 4 floors out of 8 and more families are joining them to occupied the entire building. The families are coming mainly from the interior of the State of Rio Grande do Sul such as Pelotas and Santa Maria, but others are also coming from further away like Sao Paolo. When they first entered the building, there was already 9 inhabitants, a middle aged man with 9 children and young people. The youngest one was a girl of around 8, with others aged from 11 to early 20. The new occupants offered food and a collaboration emerged to join efforts and campaigns to reclaim the building and legalise the occupation. Shortly after though, they left and there are hopes for their return.
Homelessness and insecure housing is huge problem in Brasil with 14 million people either homeless or living in favelas often without the basic requirments of habitation such as clean water and shelter and condititions of unsanitary hygiene which causes a massive amount of ill health. The MNLM, has more than 1 000 000 families currently as members of the movement with 300 000 currently fighting for a new homes. The policy of this movement is to build new homes with the families and assits in facillitating legal support and an exchange of building and construction skills. 1 800 000 families, members of the MNLM, have already been rehoused either through the rehabilitation of empty buildings or through the construction of new homes with ecoconstruction material.
But the housing and poverty problems are not only the lot of Brasilian people and this is why this occupation is also supported by the NoVox, an international network of destute people who decide to act by thmeself to solve their problem rather than relying on marginalised state support.
http://www.novox.ras.eu.org/
http://rogeriopt.sites.uol.com.br/
The World Social Forum is an opportunity for various groups and social movements to discuss way of creating a better world. It is also the time where some groups decide to change their condition here and now.
That's what happened yesterday
On the 25th of January a group of 30 homeless people decided to occcupy an empty public building to make themselces a new home. The building is situated in the centre of Porto Alegre, on 727 Avenida Borge de Meideros. This building is now being used as a creche and housing for 30 families. It had been empty for several years and the governement was planning to sell it to the private sector (making it imporsible for poor families to afford the rents proposed by the commercial sector). The group of homeless people who occupied the building are supported by a Brasilian organisation called the MNLM, the Movimento National de Luta Pela Moradia, a movement that fights for the right of everyone to have a roof. The action is also supported by an international network of the destitute called the NO VOX, those who have no voice in our society but still make themselves heard!
The families entered the building at 6 o'clock in the morning and started cleaning the flats that had been left empty and abandoned for many years. They have now cleaned 4 floors out of 8 and more families are joining them to occupied the entire building. The families are coming mainly from the interior of the State of Rio Grande do Sul such as Pelotas and Santa Maria, but others are also coming from further away like Sao Paolo. When they first entered the building, there was already 9 inhabitants, a middle aged man with 9 children and young people. The youngest one was a girl of around 8, with others aged from 11 to early 20. The new occupants offered food and a collaboration emerged to join efforts and campaigns to reclaim the building and legalise the occupation. Shortly after though, they left and there are hopes for their return.
Homelessness and insecure housing is huge problem in Brasil with 14 million people either homeless or living in favelas often without the basic requirments of habitation such as clean water and shelter and condititions of unsanitary hygiene which causes a massive amount of ill health. The MNLM, has more than 1 000 000 families currently as members of the movement with 300 000 currently fighting for a new homes. The policy of this movement is to build new homes with the families and assits in facillitating legal support and an exchange of building and construction skills. 1 800 000 families, members of the MNLM, have already been rehoused either through the rehabilitation of empty buildings or through the construction of new homes with ecoconstruction material.
But the housing and poverty problems are not only the lot of Brasilian people and this is why this occupation is also supported by the NoVox, an international network of destute people who decide to act by thmeself to solve their problem rather than relying on marginalised state support.
http://www.novox.ras.eu.org/ http://rogeriopt.sites.uol.com.br/
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