local info
Squats vs. sharks in Barcelona
As riots hit Copenhagen after the demolition of a legal youth culture house, Barcelona considers its 300 squats in the look up to May’s municipal elections.
Olympiad Sacrifices
In London preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games are in full swing. And although the mistakes of the previous Games should be avoided, plenty of problems still lurk in the foreground.
Lobbying against property mobbing
Intimidation, blackmail, and conspiracy… Europe’s property owners are resorting to extreme methods to oust tenants and manipulate the market. In Spain, tenants denounce increasing ‘property mobbing’
Housing: The Scottish way
Scotland has resolved to put an end to bad housing by 2012, by obliging local authorities to make real and visible progress. Initial signs are encouraging.Scotland has resolved to put an end to bad housing by 2012, by obliging local authorities to make real and visible progress. Initial signs are encouraging.
French Lessons, Cesare Ottolini
“ Free travel today!
” announces a station-master on the RER B, the line that takes passengers from Paris to Charles De Gaulle airport; “ It’s part of the protest against the burning of a bus by suburban vandals
”. Very different, I think to myself, from the strike in defence of public transport which has paralysed the city of Marseilles for over a month. This was my first taste of the city, when I arrived on Friday November 4th for a series of meetings with urban social associations and movements after the World Zero Evictions Days.
Solidarity towards the Asian Population
Making the inhabitants’ know-how available for reconstruction and the wealth of states for the the abolition of foreign debt. Faced with the disaster of apocalyptic proportions that has upset great part of Asia, the International Alliance of Inhabitants calls upon associations of civil society and all anti-globalisation movements to show, in a concrete manner, solidariety with the stricken populations. It is time to get going, putting all our know-how as builders of cities to rebuild the villages of fishermen, the shantytowns and the popular quarters destroyed by the Tsunami. Otherwise, we run the risk that nobody will take the necessary action.
Tsunami News from Asia's Urban Poor Networks
The Indian ocean tsunami disaster has claimed 140,000 lives. However reports indicate the death toll is likely to "grow exponentially" once aid workers can fully assess the extent of the damage - in Indonesia in particular. About five million people are homeless.
Class is back in the US as the ownership society crumbles
Bush hoped to be proud father of the rightwing economic revolution's grand project. Instead, he is its undertaker Remember the "ownership society", fixture of major George Bush addresses for the first four years of his presidency? "We're creating ... an ownership society in this country, where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property," Bush said in October 2004.
The City Under the Free Market
ALAI AMLATINA, 31/01/2008, Panama.- Panama City is currently undergoing a major urban transformation, as a result of a government policy aimed at feeding a speculative spiral concentrated on deposits and one which is causing disorder in all spheres. Official statistics show that in 2007 building permits totalling over US$2 billion were approved in Panama City.