Tag: rent

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Keeping Austin Criminal: An Insurgent Review of 2020

Austin Autonomedia: Keep Austin Criminal

2020 was a year of insurgent milestones in Austin–an explosion of autonomous initiatives, a proliferation of insurrectionary tactics and revolt, and the weaving together of new connections between fragmented worlds inhabiting this territory.

We’ve decided to forefront some of the highlights of this year, to celebrate the high points of this year and look forward to the next one. This is not a claim to a comprehensive review of the activity of this past year, an attempt at in-depth analysis and critique, nor a claim to what projects/initiatives/actions “mattered” or not–it’s merely a reflection of things that we have found on our radar, find inspiring, and wish to highlight and remember. We encourage any fellow insurgents reading this to put out their own analysis and perspectives about the event of this year, whether through our page, your own platforms, or wheatpasted on the walls of the city.

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Rent Strike ATX Graffiti

Spray paint in support of a rent strike in Austin. Location unknown. Submitted anonymously to us. The artist sent this statement:

We are at an unprecedented point in our lives. A time where the flaws of the capitalist system and faults of the state are glaringly obvious to even those we would consider to stand in opposition to our political message.
I want to be one of those people that stands up to the plate and helps their friends, family, and entire community in this time of need… For me part of that means showing my support and solidarity with the rent strike. Now is the time to be brave in whatever ways we can be ❤

Yesterday, Rent Strike ATX released a statement calling for a city-wide rent strike and coordination. 

You can download the statement here: https://cryptpad.fr/file/#/2/file/TAz5mkNXXl0qnunapKDXYog+/

You can fill out the Rent Strike Form here: https://tinyurl.com/tvq822s

 

Got a something you need to publish? Send it to us! We take all kinds of radical/revolutionary content, with a special affinity for anarchist/autonomous movements and crews. We specialize in research and strategic intelligence that can inform direct action, but we’ll take art, opinion pieces, and other stuff too! Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.

 

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WorkQuest’s Cruel “Solution” Sweeps Poorest Under The Rug

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

Over the past 6 months, the long standing war on the homeless in Austin has seen some massive escalations. After a coalition of progressive groups got Austin City Council to decriminalize acts like sitting, lying, and camping, a counter-coalition of business interests–associated with groups like Take Back Austin, the Republican Party, and the Downtown Austin Alliance–whipped up a fervor and fought back. This set the stage for our present moment, in which regular sweeps carried out by TXDoT alongside daily harassment from APD further marginalize those who have already been dispossessed and displaced by a city . While we could open this piece with a deeper explanation of the events that led us here, that work has already been done by organizations like Homes Not Handcuffs and Stop the Sweeps Austin. Our interest is not in just recounting this history, but in offering an intervention to inform and motivate action to impede these forces. There are a whole litany of forces at play here, all of which have different vested interests and weak points. While we hope to dive into some of these forces in the future, right now we offer this investigation on one of the primary forces enabling the sweeps of homeless camps: a company named WorkQuest.

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SeaSol Backs Tenants Against Mega Landlord

Submission from Seattle Solidarity Network (SeaSol), originally published on their blog.

This article is published in solidarity with comrades in Seattle organizing a tenant campaign against American Campus Communities. As they fight against ACC’s practices in their community, we offer our support and solidarity against the housing monster which lives in our own backyard.

After months of targeting and harassment by the landlord, tenants from American Campus Communities (ACC) have organized an association and executed the first of many visible actions. With help from SeaSol ACC tenants held an informational picket attended by 30 tenants and community supporters on Saturday, June 30th from 11 am to 1 pm in front of ACC’s flagship building Hub in the University District. Tenants from ACC first got in touch with SeaSol in April to seek help in their fight against their massive new landlord. Over the next few months we assisted tenants with door knocking, community outreach, and putting together their first association meeting earlier in June.

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