Legal issuesAccording to the SquattingOffice, squatting is entering anabandoned place to make use ofit. Contrary to what the media andthe government claims, squattingdoes not involve entering intosomeone's house when they areon holiday, but putting to useplaces that have long beenabandoned, either to live in themor to use them as social centresand strengthen the community.

“Squatting is takingthe matter into yourown hands instead ofwaiting for anyone todo it for you”, says amember of Madrid's SquattingOffice.

In India for instance, we can findhuge squatting communities suchas Geeta Nagar in Mumbai, butthe political and social essence isvery different, distant from thetheoretic political backgroundpresent in other countries, whichremains unknown for most ofthem. Meeting places are merelysurvival zones, but could serve as

crucial spaces to discussproblems, help each other and getorganised to improve livingstandards, in a similar waysquatted social centres do in otherplaces.

Despite this, most social centresend up getting evicted, though itis not the physical space that isimportant, but the political projectand the group of people behind it.Their duration varies from a fewmonths to several years. Madridlongest lasting squat La Casikahas been running for 13 years.

“It is common that owners havedone illegal acts as well, such asspeculative construction works sothey do not want to get involvedwith the law. That includesbuildings owned by government”,says Carlos Castillo, a lawyerwho specialises in criminal law.

In many other countries squattingis also illegal, but with therampant economic crisis manyfamilies are left to live on thestreets and take the step ofsquatting houses to live in, despiteit being criminalised. In 2012 inSpain alone, according to officialfigures, there were 115 evictions a

depend on capitalist logic.Whoever attends the activities hasto help out in the centre inwhichever way they can, fromattending to meetings to helpingout during events.

“We want to create other ways ofliving by building together,exchanging and helping eachother. We need money to survivebut inside the social centre we tryand replicate how we would liketo live. What we need is peopleand what they are capable ofdoing and sharing”, says anothermember of Quimera.

How squatted social centresare runOnce a week there is a generalmeeting where everyone decidesabout the principles of the project,deciding which other projects tosupport, resolving any problemsthat may occur and talking aboutintegration, ideology and politics.This meeting is also used todecide upon activities, and workin what needs to be done. Then,the different tasks are distributedamongst everyone.

“Most squatted social centreswork in this manner. Theregularity of meetings may varybut subjects are recurrent andfollow the same line of thoughtand action in general. It isimportant to keep the movementunited in some ways,” says amember of Madrid SquattingOffice, a collective of people incharge of giving advice andpromoting squatting.

Also the group is divided incommissions. La Quimera hasthree: the communication group,which divulges the work andactivities that will be carried outin the centre, the welcomingcommission, which welcomesnew projects, and the economycommission, which keeps countof the money and looks for newways to finance the project. Thereare also other working groups thatform in certain moments whenthere are big activities to prepare.

“Everyone here has a chance toexpress their views and take partin decision-making. We speakabout what we need and wantwithout middle men. We then goand do it”, says a member ofQuimera.

A big banner which hangs overthe main door of a huge buildingannounces that we have come toSquatted Social Centre LaQuimera. Its walls are paintedwith small childish creatures, andabove them we can see securitycameras and movement sensors,now obsolete.

Located in the very centre of thebusy capital of Spain, Madrid,this is one of the 15 squattedsocial centres in the city. Thesecentres serve as importantmeeting points for members ofthe same neighborhood tostrengthen social relationships,give mutual support, share views,problems and experiences, andcarry out any project of a socialmatter.

But these centres, unlike others,have its peculiarities. To startwith, they are illegal, so they donot collaborate with the State orget support from it, or from anyother organisation of any sort.Instead, the centres are run by agroup of neighbors, with noleaders. Anyone can participate,whatever age, gender, social

background and religious beliefs aperson may have.

“We have chosen to run ourown place with our own ruleswhere respect is key”, says amember of Quimera. 'For usnobody is essential buteveryone is necessary. Onceyou have decided to join, theplace is as yours at is is ofanybody else, no matter howlong you have been in theproject'.

La Quimera social centre wasnamed after a mythological beingsymbolising strength and hope.Inside there are four floors ofactivity. Amongst the permanentactivities we can find a signlanguage seminar, Spanish classesfor immigrants, flamenco, a homemade cinema room, a library,theater lessons and a squattingsupport office. During weekendsother groups and projects organisetalks and seminars which coverdifferent topics such as women'srights, and working sessions likelearning how to fix the electricity.

All this is offered for free, as away of empowering peoplethrough relations which not

1301­15 December 2014WORLD The Sabhaday as banks demanded thehouses that many families can'tafford to finish paying. Thisfigure is now rising. Due to this, alot of people start getting familiarwith squatting, as they consider itto be a legitimate act.

But squatting involves living onthe edge as police forces try tocarry out illegal evictions.Repression is everywhere asprivate property stands before anyother interest. This is why socialcentres have created a supportnetwork to help each other,although evictions continue totake place.

“The problem is that a lot ofpeople think of us as criminals.What we do inside these socialcentres never gets out on thenews. It's only negativeinformation that gets out there”,says a member of Madrid'sSquatting Office.

World wide ContextThere are many squatted centresin Europe and all over the world.Squatting became a political

movement around the 1960's inEurope as the demand for housingrose, due to the affluence ofpeople coming from thecountryside into the city. Placeslike England have a longsquatting tradition. Since it'sorigin, it became a socialmovement fighting for people'srights, social justice and ecology,and has always been separatefrom the State. The organisationof the squatts has long includedfeminist views, self-sufficiencyand anti-racism amongst theirmain ideals. It has adaptedaccording to time and place toserve different purposes inside asimilar political framework.According to Squatting EuropeKollective “in the end a squat iswhat squatters make it to be”.

Squatted social centres haveshown us what people are capableof doing if they come together,despite social and State rejection.Both members of Quimera whospoke to us agree that “when thereis good will, commitment andmutual support, anything canhappen”.

LAQUIMERA

Almudena

Alumni: Kingston University, London

Squatted social centres, an opendoor to a new society:Their status may be il legal, but their intention is

legitimate.

1401­15 December 2014WORLD The Sabha

A large young crowdis protesting against

the disappearanceof 43 students since

September, holdingrallies and carryingMexican flags withblack mourningbands replacing the redand green stripes.

They count off thenumbers from one to 43chanting:"they took them awayalive, and alive wewant them back."

Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapawelcomes you with Murals of CheGuevera, Vladmir Lenin, FriedrichEngels and Carlos Marx. Thedisappeared students come from aschool which has a history of leftparties. Contemporary students arechildren of farmers and indigenousfamilies living in poverty in the mostmarginalised areas.

The wide protest against thedisappearance of 43 children is linkedto the presidential election in 2012.#YoSoy132 (#I am 132) movementstarted during the election campaignof 2012, when students cause agitationfor the democratization of mediabecause of partial reporting, whichfavored president Enrique Gena Nieto.It was organised horizontally andmade up of 130 local and autonomousassemblies, spread over Mexico.

In 2012, just before the election, whenspeaking to the media, John Ackeman,editor of the Mexican Law Reviewand professor at National Autonomous

University, UNAM said: “ Nieto willgive continuity to Felipe Caldiron'sdrug war strategies and totalsubservience to the dictates from theUS government”. He also said “ thepatience of Mexican people is testedin this big humanitarian crisis but thegood news is the students are still inthe streets.” He further added thatcorporate media controls 95% of theaudience and one company,TELEVISIA, owns around 80% of it: fabricating the image of a goodpresident and did not report aboutmany irregularities during election.

The present strength of themovement is based on acoalition of student and teacherorganizations:INTERUNIVERSITARIA

The motors of the movements areCNTE and CETEG, representingorganizations of teachers which haveunited the forces of farmers,indigenous people, students andcommunity police.

The present protests are also againstprivatization of the energy sector,destructive mining projects, therepression of political activists andthe lack of political security.

Students have decided to temporarilyoccupy the two mega stores in a cityto hand out food and basic supplies,excluding electronic and luxuryitems. Highway blockades are onlyfor Multinational companies likeCOCA COLA and BIMBO, who aresymbols of inequality, whileallowing civil vehicles.

(source: roarmag)

261 8PEOPLE DISAPPEARED DURING

THE FIRST YEAR OF PENA NIETO

PRESIDENCY

1 IN 5 ARE WOMEN

261 21

DISAPPEARED DURING THE

SIX YEARS OF FELIPE

CALDERON'S PRESIDENCY

UN RECORDED 42000

DISAPPEARANCES IN

MEXICO

18% OF CASES WERE NOT

ACCOUNTED AS

DISAPPEARANCE BEING

THE CAUSE

THERE WAS A 426% INCREASE IN

KIDNAPPING FROM 2004 TO 2013

45000 CHILDREN WENT

MISSING FROM 2013 TO

THE FIRST HALF OF 2014

THERE ARE MORE THAN 400 MASS

CLANDESTINE GRAVES IN MEXICO

MONEYGRAM andWESTERN UNION inAfrica:

Migrant workers send moneyfrom Gulf to India, US toMexico, UK to Somalia andfrom South Africa to Malawiand Zimbawe. These transferstake place not through thebanks but transfer companieswhich have good localnetwork.

London Overseas Developmentinstitute study reveals thattransfers to african countriescost sround half as much to theglobal average and twice asmuch to the Latin America. If

remittance charge is brought toglobal average money savedcould educate and extra 14million primary schoolchildren.

Transfer companies MoneyGram and Western Union havemonoppoly and they occupy90% of the market in 30countries, from where bulk ofmoney transfers to Africa. Theworse is inter africa rate whichis above 20%. World Avg rateis 8% while for most of Aricais 12% for the transfer. Now,Walmart and facebook wantsto get the chunk of this profitby entering into the marketusing their global presence.(source: IRIN)

Old eyes stillwaiting for theson in law sincelast 21 years forhis half widowdaughter

D

I

S

A

P

P

E

R

A

D

O

WE THE MOTHERS, HALF

WIDOWS, DAUGHTERS AND

SISTERS OF THE PERSONS

SUBJECT TO ENFORCED

DISAPPEARANCE DEMAND

THE AUTHORITIES TO

WAKE UP FROM SLUMBER

AND IGNORANCE AND GIVE

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR

DEAR ONES. AND WE WILL

CONTINUE TO DEMAND IT

TILL WE BREATHE OUR

LAST.

Source: (APDP) Association of Parents of Disappeared Disappeared Persons,

Kashmir

KASHMIR: TEARS OF HEAVEN ! OR HELL !

Mexic

1501 December 2014TRAVELOGUE The Sabha

.It was supposed to be the end ofsummer but it turned out to be thehottest autumn to be remembered.The last days of August I join myfriends in Geneva to go to France,a bunch of other Eastern-Europeans, Polish, Checks,Hungarians, all of them seasonalfarm-workers and restlessvagabonds and some universitystudents.

With some savings they boughtsecond hand vans :The HotelTransporter and the TransitParadise. They run merrier withmore folks on board but they don'trun fast. No highways, no haste,only small distances on littleroads and many halts. The Swissturn back and stare: they neversee such rickety things drivingthrough their towns.

France is full of luxurious camp-sites, not quite legal but not reallyrisky. With always a river or alake to bathe in, a fountain todrink from, a five-star view andall of this is free of charge. So welive like this, improvised, modernnomads. From farm to farm, fromriver to lake, mountain tomountain, from the Alps to thePyrenees through France. I'veread an article lately about tenthousand families in the US who

are thought to be struggling beinghomeless and living in vans. Theyare classified as "unsheltered"which was defined as a personwho sleeps in a place not intendedfor human beings. Oh, it's such asweet life but only if it's out ofchoice.

We drive to Beaujolais, thecharming hilly region of theRhône-Alpes, to work in thegrape-picking, like every yearwhen the season starts. Most ofthe farmers here still harvest theconventional way resisting themachine and keeping the traditionof the hospitable feast of thewine. The sun is burning, we haveto bend all day and cut very fast,but at the end of the day we makea fire and party with the manypicker-pals.

Once a season we all go to StEtienne, a village nearby whereall the grape-pickers cometogether and celebrate. Dirty,scruffy and a little stinky, thecrowd grows at the parking lot infront of a wine cellar, claimingspace, making noise. It's a nicething to see in the heart of theneat and impeccable French

village. Everyone's tired afterworking hard, but still: all ages,nations with different history andhair style are happy to be here,feel connected, and proud.

There is a place I really like, thefarm of Joan and Marguerite atthe feet of the Pyrenees. Theycultivate without machines,chemicals or digging the ground.Without big investments but withgreat knowledge they are turninga piece of land into a self-sustainable habitat.I meet many who come to thecountryside, opting for a differentlife to carry out their ownprojects.

Cyril lives on a little land hiddenin the forest, he bought it for theprice of a flat-screen TV, as heputs it. He has constructed twoyurts, grows his own food andmanages his water. He has noelectricity so he invites us towatch the stars. "Do you knowthat 80% of the world'spopulation cannot see the milkyway?" He doesn't care whatpeople say or think, that he usesstate aid, because he knows whathe is doing and why, and he is

more in harmony with nature thanthose. Right now he sees this asthe most ethical work he coulddo: influencing others by makingan example.

On the way, Toulouse is strandedby the demonstrations triggeredby the death of a young activiststudent, who was hit by a stun-grenade while protesting againstthe Sivens dam project. Areservoir that is intended tosupply water for a couple oflarge-scale, industrial farmsthreatening to destroy the localbiodiversity. Then we meetNicolas, who works in a nationalpark in the Pyrenees. He frownsat the weather: this is not normalhe says, this is not right, thischange is what the humans havecaused, accelerated, thisenormous impact is a tragedy andmore is yet to come. He talksabout the Gulf-stream that islikely to disappear and then suchcold will come, and he goes onabout the melting of the ice andthe decreasing water of thePyrenees. He calls himself ageographer of catastrophes andbelieves that one must happensoon, a big one, like the death ofthe dinosaurs so that a change to abetter can arise.

Rakeeb,Alumni: Christ University,

Bangalore.

This year’s Hornbill Festival iscredited with some big names inthe field of music. Smokie,Vinnie Moore, Bon Giovi are afew among them. And, on top ofall these, I am quiet excited, asthis year I got an opportunity tovisit this great festival as a part ofmy performance with my bandknown as Tape Town Madnessfrom Bangalore.Tape TownMadness was formed in Jan2014, and plays progressive funk.Our song ‘Look Up’ is about

telling people to look up to theworld aside from their smartscreens and become aware ofwhat's happening around them.

SHYMALAlumni: JAMIA MILIA

(presently setting camp site nearHORNBILL)

KITE MANJA is a tourismventure that was born to bringforth uniqueness and culturaldevelopment as well as self prideamong the natives of the Eastregion of India. Localemployment generation andpromotion of local resources have

always been an integral part of theconcept of responsible tourismand we have many stories to tell:1.Jadav Payeng, theForestman of India:Moulai Kathoni is a reserveforest, planted single handedly byhim, that spreads over 550hectares on the sandbars of theriver Brahmaputra. The forest ishome to herds of elephants, deer,rhinoceros, tigers and a variety ofresidential, as well as migratory,birds. Payeng has been brought tothe attention of the world throughaward winning documentaries onhis efforts for environmentconservation. “Nature has its ownwonders and it lies on the childrenof today to make the world abetter place for tomorrow. Hence,attention has to be paid to makeour education system at schoollevel environment-centric so thatlove for nature onsets on everychild from an early stage.”2.Viyalie Taku from Phesamavillage in Nagaland :A renowned hunter and an ex-soldier of the fierce Naga Army,Viyalie has marked his place inthe Guinness Book of WorldRecords for discovering the tallestrhododendron tree in the world.

“It was during our hunting trail toJapfu range with my friendDoneipa Khale where we foundthis tree and I am happy that it gotacknowledged on a worldwidescale.” Mr. Viyalie is still strongin his 79 years of life to guidepeople through the jungle trails ofMount Japfu near Kohima.3.Bobby Hano from Ziro inArunachal Pradesh:Bobby is the event coordinator of

Ziro Festival of Music, one of thebiggest outdoor music festivals inone of the most picturesquelocations of the world. “The ideaof doing something to promotethe Ziro Valley through musicstruck and with band members ofMenwhopause we started thisfestival in 2012 and it has beengetting a good response eversince.” The third edition of thefestival, in September this year,has seen an overwhelming footfallof music lovers and tourists alikeand with the tunes of over 30indie bands from India, as well asabroad. People have thronged tothis beautiful Apatani Valley, aproposed world heritage site forits fragile eco-system and theunique paddy cum fishcultivation.

PICKERS ON THE ROAD

WAY TO HORNBILL FESTIVAL

by A dropout from Budapest University

16 01­15 December 2014khichdi The Sabha

…… Long long ago, back whenthe world was young- for me that

is- sometime around the year1998, some of us who wanted todo beautiful things began to lookat the surrounding world in a new

way.

We thought: "oye! cakes andkisses can be more beautiful thanfancy art objects… a kiss in themorning can be more dramatic

than an art work, the sloshing ofmy foot inside my wet boot

sounds more beautiful than fancyclassical music…"

And when we saw that it turnedour minds on,so we began to ask

questions…One question was:"why does everything we see thatis beautiful, like cakes and kissesand sloshing feet, has to be made

into just a part of somethingfancier and bigger? Why can't me

just use it for its own sake?"

When we asked questions like

that, we wereinventingsomething

that was like ababy whosemother and

father couldn'tagree on whatto call it – we

knewsomething

nice and newwas there, but

we did nothave a name for it.

Now all of us were scattered allover. Oh! and there were moretoo, in other worlds beyondours… We did "concerts" ofeveryday living; and we gave

exhibitions of whatwe found, where

we shared thethings that we likedbest with whoever

would come.Everything was

itself, it wasn't partof something

bigger and fancier.The fancy people

didn't like this,because it was allcheap and simple,and nobody could make much

money out of it.

But we were scattered all over.We sometimes knew about each

other, but we didn't see each other

much or often, we spoke differentlanguages and had different

names for what we were doing,even when we were doing the

same thing. It was all mixed up.

I liked to make books, so wethought, "let's do a book of-our

kind of thing." My friends agreed,and so we did it. I collected our

needs for the book, and we put itonto pages, and after a while, I

was able to take it to a printer andhave it printed. I called it A5,

which is a fun word for acollection. No fancy name, thename came from the paper

size…I did more books after that andthese were beautiful books. Youcan still buy them and look at thebeautiful, simple things in them:

ideas, piles of words and ways formaking your own life more

wonderful.

Well, it costs money to makebooks, and if you spend yourmoney on one thing you can'tspend it on another. So when

there was no money to pay for allthat, once the books were done, Ihad to give up on my position as

re-arranged found wordsHimanshu

Alumni : JJ Art College, Mumbai

an artist and as a bhikshuk askaround for contributions from the

rest of you…

My idea was to get together withpeople in different places who

were doing the same kind ofthing, and to do something like abook or a magazine. It would be

printed every so often, and itwould always change, always be

different, always be really itself…To let people know about thesekind of books, I decided to do

some art events, so thenewspapers would write about

them and people would find outabout our books. The events

certainly did get written about!other galleries, collectives andpublic places wanted our eventstoo… so we kept doing them at

different places…

It was then then we began to getcopied Fancy people began

copying our things and ideas, butthey tried to make fancy thingsout of them - and that changed

them. When cakes were replacedby millions of arty cakes they

weren't simple any more, so theystopped being our kind… That is

always the difference: theystopped being art of life… youcan always tell the real of our

things from the fake ones becausethe real ones stayed simple, while

the fake ones had fancy namesattached to them.

Bombay Underground andDharavi art room

www.artroom.strikingly.comDon’t just appreciate,

participate !

Owner, Publisher, Printer : Abhishek Kumar Tiwari; Printed at New Millenium Printers, Mathuradas Mill Compound, N.M Joshi Marge,

Lower Parel,Mumbai­400013 ; Published at c/o Santosh Thorat, Ekta Chawl, Jeejabhai Bhosale Marg, Annabhav Sathe Nagar, Mankhurd,

Mumbai­400043. Editor : Abhishek Kumar Tiwari. Contact: 08454073328, thesabha.in@gmail.com, www.thesabha.in

In that school Mithun, Sourabh,Pinky, Aabha, aajat, Ranjeetcame- that school name wasGlden pick chool-I felt verygood that outside Indiasomeone welcome me and thenwe did rogram there-and then at 10pm in the nightwe caught the bus to nepal andnepal to India.

letter -Part 2

Diksha foundation works withundeprivileged communitiestaking innovative educationaltechnologies services toeconomically vulnerable children.They work in Bulandsahar, Patna,Nalanda and Delhi.

Mithun and Twinkle students fromPatna centre of Diksha went toattend People SAARC meeting inNepal through Centre for Socialequity and inclusion.

Avi Karan, TISS Alumni