Okupying with Alegría

Corrala de Vecinas La Alegría

On the 30th of August, up to 200 people occupied a residential building in Sevilla, subsequently providing housing for 5 families.  Supported by 15M Sevilla, the building taken was recently constructed, but empty and had passed to the bank Bankia after the bankruptcy of the original owners.  With exploding home expulsions/appropriations, unemployment and homelessness, with parallel astronomical bank bailouts with public money (above all, to save Bankia), the okupation of private or public property to meet basic human needs is a most fitting response.  Such actions not only respond to immediate concerns, but also radically question the inviolabilty of private property and create spaces for radical autonomy.  ¡Viva La Alegría!

The statement from the okupiers follows, in english and in spanish …

Who are we

We are a group of 5 families that have felt in the flesh the current economic crisis.  We are mostly unemployed or holding jobs with little stability.  We all have housing problems.  And while we struggle daily to survive, we observe with amazement and stupefaction how the same entities which provoked the current economic crisis receive public aid in the millions that condemns the country to new social cuts and further suffering.

We decided that we were not going to allow our families to pay the current crisis.  We are not going to sleep in the street when there are thousands of empty houses.  We have therefore decided to house ourselves in a building that has remained empty for many years and that in the current economic context would remain so for some time.

We do not refuse to pay a rent for the houses that we have occupied.  More, our objective is to pay a social rent that is reflective of our financial possibilities.  It is indecent that thousands of families live suffocated paying exorbitant mortgages and high rents, while simple subsistence becomes ever more complicated with every passing day.  We believe that in a country in which the indices of poverty, misery, even childhood malnutrition increase alarmingly, that our action is absolutely legitimate.

Quiénes somos

Somos un grupo de 5 familias que hemos padecido en nuestras carnes la actual crisis económica. La mayoría de nosotras se encuentra actualmente en situación de desempleo o desempeñando trabajos con escasa estabilidad laboral. Todas tenemos un serio problema de vivienda. Y mientras luchamos por sobrevivir día a día observamos con asombro y estupefacción como las mismas entidades que provocaron la actual crisis económica reciben ayudas públicas multimillonarias que están condenando al país a nuevos recortes sociales y a nuevos padecimientos.

Hemos decidido que no íbamos a permitir que nuestras familias paguen la actual crisis económica. No vamos a dormir en la calle cuando s hay miles de viviendas vacías. Por ello hemos tomado la decisión de realojarnos en un inmueble que lleva ya varios años vacíos y que, en el actual contexto económico, seguirá vacío durante mucho tiempo.

No nos negamos a pagar un alquiler por las viviendas en las que nos hemos realojado. Es más, nuestro objetivo es pagar un alquiler social ajustado a nuestras posibilidades. Es indecente que miles de familias vivan asfixiadas pagando desorbitadas hipotecas o elevados alquileres mientras la simple subsistencia se complica cada día. Creemos que en un país en el que los índices de pobreza, de miseria e incluso de malnutrición infantil se elevan alarmantemente es absolutamente legítima la acción que hemos realizado.

(http://www.corrala-alegria.blogspot.com.es/p/quienessomos_317.html)

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For further news about La Alegría, see: periodismo humano, madrilonia

 

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