<Fair City Amsterdam> Fwd: Call for International Solidarity with Housing Justice Activists in Dublin

[Jan]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Call for International Solidarity with Housing Justice 
Activists in Dublin
Date: 	Tue, 4 Sep 2018 16:51:59 +0100
From: 	Outreach IHN <outreach.ihn at gmail.com>




Stand in Solidarity the Take Back the City Campaign in Dublin

Hi all,

Irelandis suffering from an extreme housing crisis. There are 10,000 
people homeless- people live in hubs, hotels, hostels and in cardboard 
encampments that crop up across our city every night.


We face some of the most extortionate rents in the world, rents that 
continue to rise, and we also have some of the longest waiting lists for 
social housing in Europe. The state prefers to protect the interests of 
massive foreign vulture funds and the rich rather than those of ordinary 
people.


In July 2018, grassroots housing and homeless action groups, migrant and 
student groups met to figure out how we can support each other to tackle 
the worsening crisis. An occupation was planned tackling a known slum 
landlord who evicted 120 tenants in May, Pat O Donnell. On the 7th of 
August activists from 7 grassroots groups, joined together under the 
name Take Back the City,took over one of his buildings that had been 
lying empty for months in the middle of a housing crisis.


Numerous public events and rallies led after 10 days to a second 
occupation on North Frederick St in Dublin’s Inner City. Take Back the 
Citycontinues to demand that all the empty properties in the city be 
turned over to the local communities to be used as public housing.


On Wednesday 26th of August, the landlord of the occupied property at 
North Frederick Street received a High Court injunction against the 
activists. However, the occupants refused to leave, and several large 
shows of community strength outside the property forced the landlord to 
back off. Now, as the Take Back the Citycampaign enters its fifth week, 
and its second week since the injunction, the occupants are still 
holding strong 
<https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/were-not-going-anywhere-firework-and-pellets-thrown-at-protesters-refusing-to-leave-property-despite-high-court-injunction-37263952.html>against 
the forces of the state.


The connections between the struggle for housing justice in Ireland and 
other movements around the world have been highlighted throughout the 
campaign. Migrant groups such as Brazilian Left Front(BLF) and Migrants 
and Ethnic Minorities for Reproductive Justice(MERJ) have been involved 
in the action from the beginning. Since the beginning of the campaign, 
activists from the South African movement of Shack-dwellers Abahlali 
baseMjondolo and London-based housing activist group Focus E15 
Mothershave been invited to speak at the occupations, making links 
between the struggles for housing justice across international borders.


We at Take Back the Cityare calling on all our international supporters 
to stand with us in solidarity - something as simple as sending a 
message of solidarity or standing with a sign. Just send any photographs 
to this email, or to the Facebook page Take Back the City - Dublin 
<https://www.facebook.com/TakeBackTheCityDublin/>, or tag us in any 
posts on social media. All support helps us to maintain the strength to 
continue to defy the courts and resist the injunction.


Solidarity,

Take Back the City


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