Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Have you ever squatted the heart of the beast?

Anonymous | 10.07.2011 18:24 | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | World

In the past couple of days, a group of people in Vienna, fed up of the increasing daily repression of life and the lack of free social space, have taken over an abandoned building in the Ottakring part of the city.

In the past couple of days, a group of people in Vienna, fed up of the increasing daily repression of life and the lack of free social space, have taken over an abandoned building in the Ottakring part of the city. Ottrakring is ground zero of Real Estate speculation in Vienna. The people are also fed up of rising rents and abusive landlords in Vienna. We are also fed up with how the city government not only unconditionally supports the landlords but also how the city is doing less and less to help tenants and other social layers who find life in Vienna more and more unbearable. We're comprised of Austrians, immigrants, women, men, youth, middle aged, students, workers and unemployed. We are artists, intellectuals, and free thinkers. We represent a true microcosm of Vienna and Austria.



Vienna is one of the few capitals of Western Europe with a significant lack of Free House Projects / Squats and Community Centres. London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin, just to name a few cities, all have these spaces. Therefore we call for all those that have Free House Projects/Squats and Free Community Centres to come to Vienna to support us and to help us keep the house. Vienna is one of the most important cities of the world. It is the 3rd Seat of UNO. Vienna also serves as the headquarters of OPEC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Austria is the second richest Euro Zone country and the 6th richest country in the world. With all this wealth, the Austrian State and City of Vienna says there is no money for social housing. Yet Vienna can spend millions of Euros to host the World Economic Forum, where in June, leading European banks discussed the carve up of markets in Southeastern Europe. Vienna plays a key role in the neo-colonisation of Central and Eastern Europe. While Austria serves as a junior partner and helps to conceal the role of Germany's planned domination of Eastern and Southeastern Europe by finally achieving the Nazi objective of Lebensraum, Austria uses the EU as a mechanism to re-establish the Habsburg Empire which was defeated and destroyed at the conclusion of the First World War. The impoverishment of the masses in Hungary, Roumania, Bulgaria and the Republics of former Yugoslavia is a direct result of political and economic decisions made in Austria.



Yet. there is no money for community centres for youth, women and other oppressed groups. There is no money for media education. The few places which exist are too small and too weak. The rules and regulations to become an officially recognised "Association" (Verein in German) are complex, bureaucratic and forces a dependency upon the official structures of the state.



Until a decade ago Ottakring was one of the least desirable parts of the city to live in. It's the historical district of the proletariat and lumpen-proletariat. In recent decades, Ottakring has become one of the largest immigrant districts of Vienna with migrants mostly from the former Yugoslavia and other Balkan lands. Since the past decade, Ottrakring has become the centre of a Real Estate speculative frenzy. The poor and the migrants are slowly being priced out of the district.



We want a truly free, independent and autonomous space in Vienna. We are actually doing a community and public service which the Austrian State and City of Vienna should be doing in the first place, of course don't expect anything from the city or the state! We are people dedicated into remodelling the building using our own resources and labour to create a space for living, working, education and food for the community and society at large. We do not support capitalism nor do we have the illusion of reforming capitalism. The era of reformism is past. All across Europe, Finance Capital is using the state to take away all of our social and economic rights which our parents, grand parents and ancestors fought and died for. We are taking what is rightfully ours. Housing is a human right. Food is a human right. We are not begging for what belongs to us naturally. We are asserting our fundamental human rights. We are not criminals nor are we terrorists. We simply want to live as social human beings and to take the first step of creating a new society. The same struggles and day to day oppression which take place in Athens, Madrid, Dublin occur here in Vienna. Vienna is also caught in the web of totalitarian capitalism under the Neo-Feudal Corporate Fascist State. The financial aristocracy (oligarchy) is the same everywhere. Every country and every city in Europe is under occupation by Finance Capital. Like most countries in Europe, Austria confronts the ever growing support for the far right and neo-fascist parties. This house is actively anti-racist and anti-fascist. It is also a zone of anti-sexism, a space where women can be free and comfortable. This is also a house where human sexuality is free regardless of sexual orientation. Therefore, we send this call to all groups across Europe to come to Vienna immediately. We call on all Squatters, Autonomous, Women's Collectives, LGBT, Syndicalists , Antifa, etc. groups to travel to Vienna and support our House! We have plenty of space for hundreds of people to sleep. We also need tools, food, supplies, ideas, strategies and above all numbers to help us keep this building. In short, we are calling for active physical solidarity. This is an urgent call as by the next couple of days the city will begin moves to evict us. If we have more than 200 people, we will be able to repel the city from evicting us by force. WE HAVE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS! Vienna does not have a history of violent confrontations with the state. Riots seldom happen here. This is why we urgently need large numbers as the Austrian police have no experience with dealing with large organised resistance. We need help from comrades in Berlin and France who have experience in defence in the face of police intimidation.



One Advantage of the legal situation in vienna is that to be inside a squatted house is not a crime, only the failure to comply with the order to leave is a misdemeanor, fines normally don't exceed around 100 Euros. The House is located at Roseggergasse 1 in the 16th District of Vienna. It is easily reachable by the U3 Metro station Kendlergasse.



For more information visit:  http://autonomizethecity.blogsport.eu/

House information phone +43 699 144 56 187

email: autonomeszentrum[a]riseup.net

Anonymous
- e-mail: autonomeszentrum@riseup.net
- Homepage: http://autonomizethecity.blogsport.eu/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech