On Thursday the 15th of March a massive 4 story squat in Ashfield Sydney was evicted by private security forces. For 3 inspiring and eventful months the building had been home to over 20 homeless students, workers and anarchists. The space had become a centre of anarchist organising and counter information, where many demos and actions were planned and countless zines, leaflets and posters were printed for mass distribution.
Inside the HQ people were able to collectivise their dreams and begin constructing the microcosm of a free society within the shell of an old building. Everyone involved in the space had equal say in how the space should be used and put a lot of time and effort in cleaning and fixing the place up. The squat was named after a large sign on the building labelling it “The Ideal Corporate HQ”
Ideally the building could have been transformed into an open social centre, and we could have publicly announced our presence immediately with banners hanging down from the roof, celebrated with an opening party, created a public free shop, communal kitchen and free school. Unfortunately, due to Australia's draconian trespass laws, and the lack of militant resistance, squatters have no legal rights. Any squat that publicly announces itself or is discovered by security or police, must generally prepare for an immediate eviction. Police have the right to evict, arrest and charge anyone squatting an abandoned building without even consulting the owner.
Despite these difficulties, squatting goes on, as long as there are empty buildings and homelessness there will be squats and squatters. There are over 120,000 empty residential properties in Sydney, not to mention the massive number of uncounted, empty commercial properties. Each of these spaces are an opportunity for those without shelter to take direct action for their own needs, without having to wait on an endless queue for state housing, or in one of the unsafe, prison like shelters provided by some charity groups.
Over the past 6 months in Sydney, a number of large empty buildings have been occupied and barricaded by anarchists attempting to build social centres. Though these centres were evicted by massive riot squads, we have not been defeated and we will not back down. Despite state repression we will continue to take buildings, to create spaces free from capital, and to defend them from police intrusion. We also encourage everyone who’s had enough of a life with bosses and landlords to take over physical spaces, from parks to buildings to entire neighborhoods and reclaim control of a life confined by the cages of capital.
For the defence of self organised spaces and the creation of communes as bases of resistance!
Toward an Indefinite General Strike!
Comments
You could elaborate on how the eviction happened
You could elaborate on how the eviction happened... and the flaws that made it possible. This benefits the rest of the occupation movement as its teaching a lot about security/police tactics, in your area at least.
Stay wild and free in OZ!
Eight burly thugs against two comrades inside
The eviction itself was an uneventful incident. Some guy parked right outside the building one day, he then confronted someone who left the building, the guy latter tried to get inside the building but couldn't because there were new locks.
After this some people decided to move out, but most stayed. A few days latter. Around noon, when bunch of the squatters were at uni or work and some others were out collecting food, 4 cars pulled up at the building. First a locksmith and a security company car. Then two more cars pull up, big thug looking guys get out, not wearing any security vests.
In all there were 8 pretty big guys walking around the building, and only two young comrades inside it. They saw the guys outside, gathered everyone's valuables, and got the fuck out without being grabbed.
Unofficial thugs can often prove for more dangerous and unpredictable then police, squatters in Sydney have in recent times had to deal with such thugs, one lone female squatter, was evicted by two thugs with hammers, who broke in through a window, threatened her, then proceeded to smash everything the squatters had of value, including a solar panel setup.
Since the 'eviction' the building has had at least 2 security guards patrolling it 24/7.
Such security has proved ineffective at preventing squatters secretly getting back inside to collect the rest of their valuables, but it has prevented the squatters reoccupying the building.
Despite a lot of talk early on about barricading the shit out of the place and defending it for as long as possible, it pretty soon became obvious to everyone involved that barricading the building effectively would prove to be a monumental task, there were numerous entrances to the street from 3 separate levels, not to mention two levels covered by windows accessible from the ground.
On top of the buildings defensive flaws, the location wasn't particularly good for a public siege style eviction either.
Recent large building evictions in Sydney had proved effective propaganda coups because of the centrality of their locations.
In September 2011, an 8 hour eviction of a barricaded Catholic College at Sydney university had resulted in the closure of a large section of the university, the mobilisation of over 80 cops, and massive media coverage.
Another spectacular siege style eviction occurred in November, in the context of the Occupy Sydney movement, when anarchists and indigenous activists barricaded themselves inside a 7 story office building. Major inner city streets were shut down, with massive media coverage of the 6 hour eviction involving over 100 cops.
A siege style eviction at the location in Ashfield though, would not have resulted in any major disruption in the everyday reproduction of capital, and would probably not have garnered any media attention, plus, with all the trees in front of the building, you couldn't even get good banner photos.
On top of that, most squatters with a stomach for such evictions were simply not prepared for one at this time, many comrades are still facing numerous charges on occupy and squatting related arrests and some are still recovering from an arson attack that destroyed a squat where they where living just a few weeks ago, all comrades were fortunately unharmed.
What is important is that all evicted comrades are free and have shelter and new spaces are being opened all the time.
Contact
May the author of this comment be so kind to get in contact with me at jamesray0001{at}gmail(dot)com
all i can say is, keep smashing capitalism
holy shit, this is for real isn't it. hahahahahahahaha!!!!
i haven't laughed so hard in ages. nice one. funniest thing i've seen on the internet for yonks... and you're completely serious.
all i can say is, keep smashing capitalism, you're obviously doing a fine job. judging from this article you've really got them on the ropes.
what's phase 2, a daring occupation of the common room at sydney uni? don't be afraid to think big...
keep on printing those leaflets... "comrade"
What a damn shame!
What a damn shame!
Occupying private property is simply trespassing
Occupying private property is simply trespassing. If public buildings are being left unoccupied there may be some argument for forcing some use for public good, but who gets to be the decider of such is probably not going to be just anyone occupies the building.