Help bring Symphony Way for a book tour to the US/UK

30 06 2011

A beauty, extraordinary in every way.’
Naomi Klein, author of ’The Shock Doctrine’ and ’No Logo’.

* Contribute to the project by clicking here *

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About This project:

The aim of this project is to bring three authors of the acclaimed book No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way on a tour of the USA and the UK.

A group of families who have called themselves the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers are demanding that their voices are heard and they need your help to bring them to your city:

London
New York
Boston
Philadelphia
Washington DC
Chicago
San Francisco
Ottawa
Los Angeles


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Categories : Anti-Eviction Campaign, Archives, Delft - evictions + resistance, Video

Diary of Alfred Moyo from the Deposed Makause Development Forum

27 06 2011

Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement

The Makause Informal Settlement Forum in Primrose, Ekurhuleni was overthrown today by the local ANC with the support of the SAPS. The Makause Forum is an independent structure that had been democratically elected to represent the community. Some individual members of the committee have links to the ISN but the committee as a whole remains independent. The overthrow of another community structure by an ANC mob, backed with police support, brings back painful memories for Abahlali baseMjondolo and we are in full solidarity with the Makause Forum. We call on comrades in Johannesburg to show active support to the comrades in Makause and for everyone in this country who calls themselves a democrat to insist that the poor have the full right to organise themselves autonomously from the ANC if that is their wish. This insistence remains useless for as long as it remains abstract and something spoken about in conferences. Solidarity must be concrete, a living force on the ground.

Text Message Diary of Alfred Moyo, one of the community leaders of Makause Informal Settlement Development Forum, Primrose, Ekurhuleni

- Course of events leading to the local ANC ousting the active community leadership, with the help of the police

30 May 2011 (evening) – I’m still well and alive. Thanks for the drafted message on AbM website, I had an early voice recorded interview with the AbM member and received a call from Kate (Tissington, SERI) after seeing it on AMB web. Thanks very much for the solidarity, support, assistance and any great efforts to aid is highly appreciated. ‘More Fire’ – Aluta Continua.

11 June 2011 (afternoon) – The struggle contin Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Archives, Solidarity

Media: 2010 legacy sweet for some, bitter for many

14 06 2011

THE most obvious “spectacle” of the international event’s legacy is the Cape Town Stadium, its indelible mark fixed on the city’s skyline.

The 55 000-seat stadium has been used for various events, including sports, international concerts, and private functions. Its running costs, however, have been a major liability for the city, with former operating company Sail StadeFrance pulling out of the lease agreement because of the risks of unprofitability.

Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Anti-Eviction Campaign, Archives, Mainstream and Other News

Media: No home, no four walls, no warmth

12 06 2011

June 11 2011 at 04:05pm
By Kowthar Solomons – WEEKEND ARGUS

IOL news june 11 cw Tafelsig_2964Some of the land invaders prepare their makeshift tents. Photo; Neil Baynes

Three-year-old Jim-Bop clutches a white teddy bear. It’s a gift for Imaan – the baby who will soon come home from hospital to live in a field.

The 10-day-old girl is the latest member of a community who live in makeshift shelters next to Kapteinsklip train station.

Jim-Bop idolises Spider-Man, but the toddler and the rest of the 120-strong community living on a field in Swartklip don’t need fictional heroes – there are real heroes living next door.

It’s getting dark on Thursday evening, and the 20 families are setting up their makeshift tents. A High Court interdict prevents them from putting up any solid structures and their materials have been confiscated by City of Cape Town officials. Read the rest of this entry »


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Alert: Intimidation and death threats against Somalian traders in Gugulethu

5 06 2011
5 June 2011 – Gugulethu AEC press alert

The Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign has just been informed of serious threats to the well-being of Somalian shopkeepers in Gugulethu and the surrounding area.  The shopkeeprs informed AEC members today of the threats and AEC is afraid of a repeat of the 2008 attacks which led to the death of dozens and the displacement of thousands. During those attacks, Gugulethu AEC successfully brokered an agreement to prevent the fighting (see here and here).

AEC members are on their way as we speak to the Gugulethu police station with Somalian nationals to inform police of the threats and to ensure the safety of people who were born outside South Africa’s borders. Read the rest of this entry »


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The yearly rains return and re-flood informal settlements and backyards

2 06 2011

2 June 2011 – Gugulethu AEC Press Statement

While disaster relief is nowhere to be seen in communities like Thambo Square which has been flooded for days now, the real culprit is that service delivery is non-existent in our communities. Interviews with residents show that this is a chronic problem caused by the City’s top-down approach to development.

There are hundreds of thousands of shackdwellers and backyarders in Cape Town and nearly all of them suffer from the extreme weather on the Cape Flats. Many people, especially children and the elderly, become sick from the cold, the wind and the rain. Their homes are flooded every single winter destroying all their furniture and displacing families for weeks on end.

In the Western Cape, most informal dwellers do not get any assistance from NGOs or the government. This past week, the rains, which barely have an impact in wealthy areas like Camps Bay and Bishops Court, have wrecked havoc on shackdwellers and backyarders alike. And despite requests from victims, the City of Cape Town and the provincial government has refused to provide emergency and medical assistance. In Tambo Square, no alternative accomodation has been provided and so residents remain in their flooded homes. No blankets or hot soup or electricity generators where provided as the elections are well over and politicians think that the poor will forget that government did nothing for them once the next elections come around. Read the rest of this entry »


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Argus Review: Street people book their place on library shelf

1 06 2011

Review: Street people book their place on library shelf.pdf

by Jeanne Hromnik – Cape Argus Op-ed for 25 May 2011


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Categories : Anti-Eviction Campaign, Archives, Delft - evictions + resistance, Mainstream and Other News, opinion / academic articles

Anti-Eviction communities join the Mitchell’s Plain Backyarders at the High Court

1 06 2011

1 June 2011

Anti-Eviction communities who are facing eviction and whose homes have been flooded by the recent rains (more on this soon), are joining backyarders from Tafelsig who are at the Cape High Court today.

Hundreds of backyarders who have set up a new settlement in an open field in Tafelsig which they have aptly called New Horizons will be at the High Court today. They will be defending themselves against eviction by the City of Cape Town which has decided that the poor shall have no right to security of tenure in the entire Metropole – even though there is plenty of unused and misused land all over the City. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Archives, Mitchell's Plain Backyarders Association, News & Press Release, Solidarity


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