{"title":"‘This house belongs to everyone’: Otomí community occupation of the National Indigenous Peoples’ Institute (INPI) in Mexico City as a struggle for dignified housing and the right to the city","authors":"Ana Vilenica, Felipe Guerra Arjona","doi":"10.54825/csww4265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/csww4265","url":null,"abstract":"The Otomí community, that migrated to Mexico City due to dire living conditions from their place of origin, has been demanding the right to housing, education, health, and work for over twenty years. However, they have continuously been denied dignified living conditions. On October 12, more then 150 people from the community took over the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), a government institution that has implemented development projects aimed at purportedly enhancing the lives of indigenous communities and moved in making the offices their new home. They used the occupation to voice their demands for improved living conditions of the Otomí people in the capital as well as pueblos originarios across Mexico and to put an end to harmful mega projects and war against EZLIN. Otomí women have played a crucial role in occupying the INPI premises, engaging with government representatives, and acting as key intermediaries. In this conversation compañeras shared about the struggles of pueblos originarios that have led to their occupation. They discussed the reasons behind choosing this specific building for occupation, their approach to organizing inspired by the Zapatistas, and how they manage everyday life in the ex-office building they now occupy.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127207286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The struggle for problematising housing (in Italy): Reflections from Naples, Turin and beyond","authors":"Simone Tulumello","doi":"10.54825/qonh3816","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/qonh3816","url":null,"abstract":"During the last 15 years, amid the global impacts of the economic crisis, austerity politics, and increasing centrality of real estate and construction for capitalism, housing has taken central stage in public and political debates globally. In Italy, the trajectory of housing politicisation has been quite peculiar. Despite a longstanding tradition of housing conflict and a complex geography of new mobilisations, housing has remained at the margins of national discussions. Seen through the lens of Foucauldian problematisation analysis, housing has not been acknowledged as a ‘problem’ in Italy. This article engages with the Italian peculiarity through a comparative study of housing problematisation—operationalised through the dimensions of framing, coalitions and scale. I compare two cities where analogous challenges intersect with very different housing regimes and political contexts: in Turin, the capacity of short-term housing policies to address pressing problems is mirrored by a lack of engagement by institutional and politicised actors; in Naples, in a housing regime defined by informal solutions, the relations among the local authorities and social movements have oscillated among dialogue, conflict, institutionalisation and pacification. By putting these cases in conversation through a generative, relational and multi-scalar lens, I discuss housing problematisation in a country, Italy, characterised by deep regional asymmetries, regionally-specific housing regimes and a complex geography of housing conflict. By reconsidering the national case vis-à-vis broader dynamics, in conclusion, I also provide some takeaways for a reflection on the conditions, preconditions and efforts for scaling up the housing struggle.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128473464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A fighting time and a dreaming time: Struggle for right to remain in LA","authors":"M. Escudero, Ana Vilenica","doi":"10.54825/rcnu8295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/rcnu8295","url":null,"abstract":"In this conversation, Martha Escudero from the Reclaim our Homes is in dialogue with Ana Vilenica, sharing her experience of living in extreme housing precarity and her knowledge of tactics for occupying homes in LA, organizing against evictions and creating a community land trust. We also discussed the importance of learning from Indigenous movements across borders, and how they can inspire us to build different ways of organizing in our local communities.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128648223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Vilenica, Aysegul Can, Derick Anderson, E. McElroy, Judith Keller, M. Ferreri, M. Koepke, Michele Lancione, Samantha Thompson
{"title":"Life-Affirmative Struggles for Home Across Borders","authors":"Ana Vilenica, Aysegul Can, Derick Anderson, E. McElroy, Judith Keller, M. Ferreri, M. Koepke, Michele Lancione, Samantha Thompson","doi":"10.54825/fkaa3465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/fkaa3465","url":null,"abstract":"Issue 5.1 of the Radical Housing Journal (RHJ) examines the current state of struggles for housing and home amidst capital-accumulation-induced urban restructuring worldwide. The authors discuss the enduring impact of settler colonialism on land and housing rights, particularly for Indigenous peoples. Feminist, queer, and trans perspectives are brought to the forefront, emphasizing the leadership roles played by marginalized communities in housing justice struggles. The issue showcases the important contributions of Black women, women of color, and queer activists in fighting for housing justice and challenging oppressive power structures. Additionally, this issue presents alternatives to the current dangerous status quo, urging us to envision radical futures where humanity respects ecological limits, ensures universal access to resources, and grants autonomy in their utilization. It envisions a world where housing is available to all, allowing individuals to choose their desired living arrangements. The 'Pursuing Tenant International: Learning from the Struggles in Abya Yala' conversation series further amplifies the voices of tenants, organizers, activists, artists, and thinkers engaged in cross-border struggles. These conversations shed light on the challenges faced by communities fighting for their right to home and dignified living conditions in Los Angeles and Mexico City.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132404217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tasneem Nagi, Heleen Verheyden, An Vandermeulen, V. d’Auria, L. Beeckmans
{"title":"The homing of newcomers in Brussels at the intersection of bordering and urban speculation: From survival strategies to infrastructures for civic imagination and urban inclusion","authors":"Tasneem Nagi, Heleen Verheyden, An Vandermeulen, V. d’Auria, L. Beeckmans","doi":"10.54825/hcbj5080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/hcbj5080","url":null,"abstract":"Informed by a year of participatory action research in Globe Aroma, an organisation supporting artists and art lovers with a background as newcomers in Brussels, this paper examines how newcomers negotiate their homing at the intersection of bordering and securitisation on the one side, and gentrification and urban speculation on the other. We argue that these exclusionary structures of power do not only challenge newcomers’ homing by restricting access to housing, but also by creating precarious conditions for supportive organisations, which are often housed in low-quality, temporary infrastructures. Our research explores how housing and socio-cultural organisations in Brussels begin to utilise coalition-building and space-sharing as survival strategies, that gradually transform into a common claim for permanent infrastructures and become tools for building solidarity and homing the city. In doing so, they foster an alternative vision of urban citizenship, grounded in community-building and decent housing and services for all.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114223291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pablo Gaytan Santiago, Ana Vilenica, Pedro Montes de Oca Quiroz
{"title":"Against Whitening by Dispossession: A History and the Present of Tenants Rebellion in Mexico","authors":"Pablo Gaytan Santiago, Ana Vilenica, Pedro Montes de Oca Quiroz","doi":"10.54825/fehp1807","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/fehp1807","url":null,"abstract":"In this conversation we delved into discussions with Pablo Gaytan Santiago, aka Hombre de Humo, urban sociologist, activist, and filmmaker about the historic tenets' strike organized by sex workers a century ago in Veracruz. We also explored the struggles for the right to housing and ongoing process of whitening and whitewashing in Mexico City. Our conversation encompassed Pablo's engagement with local communities as a documentary filmmaker and their use of film as a tool in indigenous peoples struggles and urban movements.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122903211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Encroachers on their own land: India’s transition from military-imperialism to settler colonialism in Kashmir","authors":"M. Shah","doi":"10.54825/ficf3563","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/ficf3563","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines a period of transition in the approach of the Indian state to Kashmir from roughly 2014 through today, comparing dispossession under earlier practices of military-imperial land seizures and occupation to new regimes of dispossession through state-level bureaucracy, planning schemes and “encroachment” clearance for capital projects. I suggest that this period represents the end of a decades-long transition from an indirect military-imperial occupation to direct settler colonial rule. It also represents a new moment of mass dispossession, toward the eventual goal of merging Kashmir with India and creating a unified Hindu state. Before this transition, most dispossession in Kashmir happened outside legal frameworks, and extrajudicial executions and land seizures were either ignored or denied by the state. The last several years have seen the increasing operationalization of “legal” mechanisms to take land for non-military, “development” projects. I look closely at the afterlives of “encroachment,” a colonial era urban planning designation that has been increasingly deployed by the Indian state in Kashmir to conduct mass evictions. I also look at increases in home demolitions by Indian military forces, theorizing them both as a terror tactic to instill fear and maintain precarity in Indigenous populations as well as a mechanism for land acquisition.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132510750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Racializing the concept of ‘housing otherness’: The effects of temporary housing policies on squatters in Rome","authors":"C. Cacciotti","doi":"10.54825/cwvf5288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/cwvf5288","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the long-standing relationship in Rome between socio-cultural diversity and the temporary nature of low-income housing solutions. I argue that that this phenomenon began long before recent neoliberal trends and the global post-2008 crisis, and instead emerged from the gradual development of a moral and racialized understanding of housing as a ‘social award’. This has created a specific social category known as ‘housing otherness’, which includes migrants and Italian squatters who are experiencing severe housing distress. This exclusionary approach towards the most ‘diverse’ sections of the population in Rome can be traced back to the inception of public housing in Italy during the 1920s. The paper aims to provide a historical account of this process and demonstrate how it is based on the limited availability of residency and settling as a commodity. I also introduce the grassroots Roman housing rights movements and highlights their efforts to challenge the notion that residency and settling should be seen as something that is earned or deserved rather than as basic human rights.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131580154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Being women scholar-activists: Tensions between the neoliberal university and grassroots housing movements","authors":"Meg D. Bishop, Abi O’Connor","doi":"10.54825/iolo6421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/iolo6421","url":null,"abstract":"Research rarely unpicks the variety of experiences that exist between activists at different intersections. Our paper attends to this shortfall in literature, firstly through the lens of gendered experiences of labour in housing movements, and secondly through the lens of casualised gendered labour as scholar-activists in the neoliberal university. How we, and others, negotiate these everyday politics will be analysed to offer a more complete understanding of the nuances and tensions at play even in the most progressive movements in Britain. By combining our own experiences with those gleaned from interviews with fellow activists, we develop a framework for understanding what we term ‘activist housework’ - often carried out by those of us who are not cis men - and how this shapes our capacity as organisers and researchers. This framework identifies mundane, everyday and behind-the-scenes labour of activism, which too often goes unseen in favour of focus on more emergent, organic and direct forms of resistance (Pain, 2019). Doing so, we consider, allows reflection on where and how resistance can and must change to maintain the welcome growth in housing activism in Britain.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125551038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lived realities versus state rationalities: Mobilizing within and against housing injustices","authors":"Alejandra Reyes, Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia, Melissa García-Lamarca, Solange Muñoz","doi":"10.54825/bvxe7696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54825/bvxe7696","url":null,"abstract":"The contributions in this issue of the Radical Housing Journal evidence the historical and contemporary evolution of struggles against structural pressures impacting housing and everyday precarity, as well as mobilizing efforts based on particular local, gained or ancestral knowledge. We outline four main themes emerging in the articles featured in this issue, all situated both within and against the lived realities of housing injustices. We hope this issue triggers analyses, questions, approaches and praxis for housing activists, researchers and practitioners everywhere to continue to imagine and co-produce transitions that move beyond our current realities to those founded on true security and justice.","PeriodicalId":321208,"journal":{"name":"Radical Housing Journal","volume":"73 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134013083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}