City Is Ours

Squatting and Autonomous Movements in Europe from the 1970s to the Present

Bart van der Steen, Ask Katzeff, Leendert van Hoogenhuijze, Bart van der Steen, Ask Katzeff, Leendert van Hoogenhuijze

• Publisher: PM Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781604866834
• eBook ISBN: 9781604869910
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Squatters and autonomous movements have been in the forefront of radical politics in Europe for nearly a half-century—from struggles against urban renewal and gentrification, to large-scale peace and environmental campaigns, to spearheading the antiausterity protests sweeping the continent.

Through the compilation of the local movement histories of eight different cities—including Amsterdam, Berlin, and other famous centers of autonomous insurgence along with underdocumented cities such as Poznan and Athens— The City Is Ours paints a broad and complex picture of Europe's squatting and autonomous movements.

Each chapter focuses on one city and provides a clear chronological narrative and analysis accompanied by photographs and illustrations. The chapters focus on the most important events and developments in the history of these movements. Furthermore, they identify the specificities of the local movements and deal with issues such as the relation between politics and subculture, generational shifts, the role of confrontation and violence, and changes in political tactics.

All chapters are written by politically-engaged authors who combine academic scrutiny with accessible writing. Readers with an interest in the history of the newest social movements will find plenty to mull over here. Contributors include Nazima Kadir, Gregor Kritidis, Claudio Cattaneo, Enrique Tudela, Alex Vasudevan, Needle Collective and the Bash Street Kids, René Karpantschof, Flemming Mikkelsen, Lucy Finchett-Maddock, Grzegorz Piotrowski, and Robert Foltin.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface /// George Katsiaficas
• Foreword /// Geronimo
• Introduction: Squatting and Autonomous Action in Europe, 1980–2012 /// Bart Van Der Steen, Ask Katzeff, and Leendert Van Hoogenhuijze
• Myth and Reality in the Amsterdam Squatters’ Movement, 1975–2012 /// Nazima Kadir
• The Rise and Crisis of the Anarchist and Libertarian Movement in Greece, 1973–2012 /// Gregor Kritidis
• ¡El Carrer Es Nostre! the Autonomous Movement in Barcelona, 1980–2012 /// Claudio Cattaneo and Enrique Tudela
• Autonomous Urbanisms and the Right to the City: The Spatial Politics of Squatting in Berlin, 1968–2012 /// Alex Vasudevan
• Ebb and Flow: Autonomy and Squatting in Brighton, 1973–2012 /// Needle Collective and the Bash Street Kids
• Youth, Space, and Autonomy in Copenhagen: The Squatters’ and Autonomous Movement, 1963–2012 /// René Karpantschof and Flemming Mikkelsen
• Squatting in London: Squatters’ Rights and Legal Movement(S) /// Lucy Finchett-maddock
• Squatting in the East: The Rozbrat Squat in Poland, 1994–2012 /// Grzegorz Piotrowski
• Squatting and Autonomous Action in Vienna, 1976–2012 /// Robert Foltin
• On the Editors
• On the Authors
• Notes
• Index