Squatting

[Revolucija]

Squatting is the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use. Squatting is significantly more common in urban areas than rural areas, especially when urban decay occurs. According to author Robert Neuwirth, there may be as many as one billion squatters globally, or about one of every seven people.

Have you participated in some squatting action? Are there any squats in your city?

Here are some that were existed in Serbia:

Rebel House, Belgrade (2003 - 2004)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/sr/thumb/4/4d/Dobracina15poslepozara.jpg/250px-Dobracina15poslepozara.jpg
Rebel House burnt (picture has been taken in 2007)

This was the first serbian political squat. It is a house owned by Boris Vukobrat, serbian businessman that were empty for years and then squated. After some accidents, squatters just couldn't take care of this house anymore. After that, mostly junkies were in. It was burned by its neighboors.

AKC Akcija, Belgrade (2003 - 2004)

After the Rebel House project, local group started a new project by "Brankov most" bridge. This squat is used as social centre, had its library and free food. There were many activist meeting organized by local radical leftists.

KUDRUC and DZKC, Belgrade (2004 - 2005)

This was the biggest squat in Serbia. It was actuall formed by a few collectives: KUDRUC was an activist center, DZKC was a free restaurant and tthe third squat was formed by some group of homeless people. It was closed by a local government in 2005.

[Boriznov]

I visit the local one very often

[My Heart is a Molotov]

I've never squatted a place to live in. Though I have squatted buildings to hold shows and stuff in. However, since I've now finished school and have a bit of extra time its something on my "to do" list.

[ellipsis]

i have been wanting to do a covert squat, so that i will own the property after five years or what ever. i live in a small town so a large public squat would be near impossible

[guerilla E]

Salt Nightclub in Melbourne! And the real squat next to it for when the cops showed up!
har har har har... they tore it down though... thats a piece of my childhood down the shitter...

Squatting is hard in Istanbul since everyone already lives in buildings that were built illegaly, and anywhere empty really, seriously, should stay empty (like its going-to-fall-on-your-head empty)

[An archist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23, 2007 01:35 am
i have been wanting to do a covert squat, so that i will own the property after five years or what ever. i live in a small town so a large public squat would be near impossible
uhh, five years, where do you live?

[crimsonzephyr]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23, 2007 01:35 am
i have been wanting to do a covert squat, so that i will own the property after five years or what ever. i live in a small town so a large public squat would be near impossible
wait, are you saying you own the place if you squat there for more than five years??

sweet

[Dr Mindbender]

just a question for squatters-

Where do you usually get your mail directed to? 99.9% of these places look abandoned anyway so it seems to me the postman would walk on by.

[Revolucija]

Writing from "Metelkova" place, a squat which exists for 14 years!


Metelkova is an internationally renowned autonomous cultural zone situated on the site of former military barracks – the Slovene headquarters of the Yugoslav National Army. This public space which otherwise lay unused, and which the state now intends to clear, was occupied in September 1993 precisely in order to prevent its illegal demolition and to carry out various forms of autonomous creativity. Neither the City of Ljubljana nor the Slovene state have showed any interest in maintaining the status of the autonomous zone of Metelkova, and therefore the possibilities of the people involved in it, to further develop their creativity.

Check http://www.metelkova.org/indexe.htm .

[Qwerty Dvorak]

Originally posted by hardee+November 18, 2007 06:10 pm--> (hardee @ November 18, 2007 06:10 pm)
[email protected] 23, 2007 01:35 am
i have been wanting to do a covert squat, so that i will own the property after five years or what ever. i live in a small town so a large public squat would be near impossible
wait, are you saying you own the place if you squat there for more than five years??

sweet [/b]
In most common law jurisdictions, yes. The time varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I don't know where theredson lives, but it it certainly has a very liberal stance on adverse possession (acquiring a building through squatting). I know in Ireland and the UK the law is considerably more anti-squatter; the time limit is somewhere around 13 years, and after some period like 11 years you actually have to inform the owner of the property that you are squatting it.

[Revolucija]

Where do you usually get your mail directed to? 99.9% of these places look abandoned anyway so it seems to me the postman would walk on by.

They probably can use a mail forwarding service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_forwarding), or sth PO-box-like.

[counterblast]

Originally posted by Ulster [email protected] 18, 2007 08:20 pm
just a question for squatters-

Where do you usually get your mail directed to? 99.9% of these places look abandoned anyway so it seems to me the postman would walk on by.
If you're squatting a traditional neigborhood house, you can simply put the "flag" up on the mailbox to alert the postman the home is occupied.

If you're squatting an innercity building; most squats are in poorer, rundown neighborhoods where most of the houses look abandoned anyway.

You can also obviously call the post office and complain that your mail isn't being delivered.

[lvleph]

Originally posted by counterblast+November 28, 2007 02:34 pm--> (counterblast @ November 28, 2007 02:34 pm)
Ulster [email protected] 18, 2007 08:20 pm
just a question for squatters-

Where do you usually get your mail directed to? 99.9% of these places look abandoned anyway so it seems to me the postman would walk on by.
If you're squatting a traditional neigborhood house, you can simply put the "flag" up on the mailbox to alert the postman the home is occupied.

If you're squatting an innercity building; most squats are in poorer, rundown neighborhoods where most of the houses look abandoned anyway.

You can also obviously call the post office and complain that your mail isn't being delivered. [/b]
I rent my place and still don't get all my mail. I have complained they don't care. I almost didn't get a job, because of it. In fact, I called to see what was up, and they told me I should have received an offer, and that the response was due that day. Talk about luck.

[RedAnarchist]

Originally posted by counterblast+November 28, 2007 07:34 pm--> (counterblast @ November 28, 2007 07:34 pm)
Ulster [email protected] 18, 2007 08:20 pm
just a question for squatters-

Where do you usually get your mail directed to? 99.9% of these places look abandoned anyway so it seems to me the postman would walk on by.
If you're squatting a traditional neigborhood house, you can simply put the "flag" up on the mailbox to alert the postman the home is occupied.

If you're squatting an innercity building; most squats are in poorer, rundown neighborhoods where most of the houses look abandoned anyway.

You can also obviously call the post office and complain that your mail isn't being delivered. [/b]
I don't think anyone has those in the UK.

[AGITprop]

there was a local squat house in my are a few years back but it got raided and people wre arrested. the property was blocked of and now itsjust abandoned. it was mostly junkies using it though, i dont think ide ever putmyslf in that envirnoment on purpose.