Title: April 25th didn’t get here
Description: The construction of today’s city is the result of a historical context marked by the continuous privatization and commodification of our basic needs. Housing is paradigmatic of this development model, having been used as a weapon of control during fascism and as a catalyst for change in the short time of PREC (Revolutionary Process in Progress), it is currently one of the battlefields of the class struggle: access to housing for thousands of people is denied in the face of the possibility of enriching a few, who control the narrative and defend their right to accumulate property as a democratic conquest for all.
Objectives: To study and understand the current ways in which the city is built, from the historical context of development through the expulsion of the working class that builds it. Through a tour of the city (in case the weather is good) to encourage reflection on the relationship between the worsening housing crisis, vacant buildings and current public policies.
Space/Material: if the weather is good, you won’t need any material; if the weather is bad, you’ll need a room for everyone and a projector.
Duration: 1h30/2h (depending on whether the weather is good or if we stay at the University)
Number of participants: 25 (flexible)
Photo: photo of a Housing Residents’ Assembly Today, May 18, 2024
Brief biography of the speakers: Habitação Hoje is an organization that was born in Porto in 2021, as a space for building a collective and informed struggle for the popular conquest of the right to housing and the city. Our daily practice is on two levels: organizing those who are experiencing housing problems, resisting and providing legal support in cases of eviction, supporting tenants and homeless people on the various fronts of this problem; and building useful information, deconstructing the policies that make access to housing even more difficult for the working class, leaving and enhancing the possibilities of speculating and trading housing as a commodity – in the uncompromising defence of infinite and unused private property, exploiting a basic right for all of us.
References and links (It might be interesting for participants to be a little more familiar with the work we do, so they can ask questions):
Site: https://www.habitacaohoje.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/habitacaohoje?igshid=52osxqnongzz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068236846482
Twitter: https://x.com/habitacaohoje
Video of the evictions in Bairro Quinta do Griné, em Aveiro: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtSCAqd5qDq9TdA6VJxF4WR8H5Tj6IxRl
Videos on vacant buildings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtSCAqd5qDq8-_OV2tZ-N-r40iXwsa6tf