by en español abajo) In Spain, the “La Esperanza” okupation on the island of the Gran Canaria is an amazing example. In early 2013, at the initiative of the Federación de Anarquistas de Gran Canaria (FAGC), some twenty apartments were occupied, providing housing for dozens of people unable to meet their most basic of needs; today they are some 71 families, made up of 250 persons, the majority of which are minors, occupying a residential complex baptised “La Esperanza”/”Hope”, the largest residential okupation in spain and the largest experiment in libertarian self-management in the country, carried out by people who are not for the most part anarchists.

On March 14 twenty residents of the 250 in the Community “La Esperanza” (the state’slargest occupied and self-managed community) received an administrative notice in which they were informed of the decree of the mayor of Guide Pedro Rodriguez: This decree gave them one month to leave their homes and threatened them to cut off water and light.

The community has always demanded the comples become public housing with a social rental scheme to compensate the dozen buyers who have invested in the building. We have also claimed that the electric supply be regularized, so that we can put a counter and pay for the electricity, and running water be connected so as to stop paying expensive barrels daily. Since mid-2014 we have put on the table these claims the mayor Pedro Rodriguez has always turned a deaf ear…

They can not evict 77 families, 202 people, with more than 100 children without guaranteeing us decent and affordable housing as a low-income alternative. Their policies, which have left us for years unemployed, have made it impossible to access to housing….

We will not allow them to take our homes with impunity. We demand that we be given a housing alternative and or let us stray where we are. Until either thing happens ..the Streets will keep on Shouting!

Let no eviction go unanswered.

In early 2013, unemployment on the Canary Islands stood at 35%, with house evictions during that same year reaching 4,000. Today, more than 30% of the population of the archipelago lives below the poverty line, with some 16% of the Islands’ families having all of their active members unemployed. This poverty then manifests itself at various levels, among which housing; on the Islands, there are 130,000 unoccupied houses and some 21,000 families in need of homes. The role of the FAGC has nevertheless been central throughout this whole process and this in a context of extreme economic hardship…. La Columna.Cat 27/12/2015)

Housing is thus a territory of struggle …

We share part of a text by Ruymán F. Rodríguez of the FAGC that appears below in translation:

From an anarchist perspective, few lines of struggle today open more expectations than that of housing and evictions. It is a domain that, directly or indirectly, touches everyone; that strikes the poorer classes and undermines the reality of those held to be “middle class”; that breaks the barrier that existed between the “sedentary working class” and those “without class”, the indigent (today not having a roof over one’s head is no longer understood as an “anomaly”, but as a dangerously close possibility). ……………. long discussion continues here: http://autonomies.org/e..

And today, it is La Esperanza that is threatened with eviction.

Canarias: Comunidad “La Esperanza” en resistencia

____NO desalojo__

11 de Abril Memorable día de Lucha

Manifiesto que se leyó en varios momentos de la concentración:

El pasado 14 de Marzo una veintena de vecinos de la Comunidad “La Esperanza” (la comunidad ocupada y autogestionada más grande del Estado) recibían una notificación administrativa en las que se les informaba del decreto del alcalde de Guía Pedro Rodríguez: este decreto les daba un mes para abandonar sus casas y les amenazaba con cortarles el agua y la luz.

Los vecinos siempre hemos reclamado que nuestras viviendas pasen a ser vivienda pública en régimen de alquiler social y que con nuestros alquileres se pueda resarcir a la decena de compradores que invirtieron en el edificio. Así mismo hemos reclamado que se regularice el suministro de gua y luz, para que se nos ponga un contador y poder sufragar la electricidad, y para tener agua corriente y dejar de pagar las caras cubas que diariamente nos abastecen. Desde mediados del 2014 hemos puesto encima de la mesa estas reivindicaciones al alcalde Pedro Rodríguez y siempre hizo oídos sordos.

Hoy pretende echarnos de nuestras casas. Así que elevamos nuestra protesta y nuestras reclamaciones al mismo Gobierno de Canarias. Le exigimos a su Presidente Fernando Clavijo (CC), a su Consejera de Vivienda Patricia Hernández (PSOE) y también al Presidente del Cabildo Antonio Morales (NC), que dejen de guardar silencio ante esta situación y se pronuncien de una maldita vez.

No pueden desalojarnos, a 77 familias, 202 personas, con más de 100 menores, sin garantizarnos antes una alternativa habitacional digna y asequible a nuestros reducidos ingresos. Han sido sus políticas, las que nos han tenido años en paro, las que nos han hecho imposible el acceso a una vivienda, las que nos han obligado a tomar el techo que desde las instituciones se nos negaba. Ahora no pueden mirar hacia otro lado.

Acusamos directamente a Nueva Canarias, y a todos quienes comparten con ellos labores de gobierno y mantienen la boca cerrada, de firmar acuerdos contra los desahucios y contra la pobreza energética y al mismo tiempo intentar batir el record del mayor desahucio masivo de todo el Estado español: primero en la Esperanza con más de 200 personas y luego en Brisas de Sardina con otras tantas.

No vamos a permitir impunemente que se nos eche de nuestras casas. Reclamamos que se nos dé una alternativa habitacional ya o que nos dejen seguir dónde estábamos. Hasta que no suceda una de estas dos cosas LA CALLE SEGUIRÁ GRITANDO.