Squat Le-Tannneries, france : news, account on the mobilisation, and victory!

Dear friends,

At last, here comes an update on our situation! Our apologies to all our international friends, comrades and supporters throughout the world who have been awaiting this long for news, but as you can imagine, we've been really busy. Anyways, it's more than time to confirm the rumour that's been spreading for four weeks already: we might not have won the fight, but we definitely have won the first round!

First of all, we want to send our warm greetings to all those of you who made this possible, by sending protest letters, faxes and e-mails, by threatening the council by phone, by organizing protest actions in your cities and in front of your embassies, by staying with us, be it for a night or for a week, by sending us encouragement, greetings and energy. More than ever, we feel part of a thriving & vibrant community - made of affinities without borders, seditious complicities, wonderful people and practical solidarity.

Then, we want to stress that our struggle is not just local, and that our victory can only be partial when other autonomous spaces such as the Köpi & Rigaerstraße in Berlin, Ungdomshuset in Copenhaguen, Blitz in Oslo, Ifanet in Thessaloniki, as well as miscellaneous social centres in Amsterdam, Barcelona and elsewhere are being threatened or destroyed.
We believe in reinforcing the informal links that bind us, in standing together, in resisting together!

* * *

a brief account on the mobilisation in and around Dijon

* * *

Late March 2007, we discovered that discrete negotiations were under way between the council and the "Générale de Santé" corporate group to build
a private medical complex on our site. After repeatedly asking the council for an explanation and not getting any answer, we decided to launch a new campaign, in an attempt to break into the subject while it was hot, before any decisions would be taken.

Within days, a call was spread to gather in front of the city hall on March 26th. Some 300 people showed up and demonstrated outside, while a group of 70 activists entered the building to disrupt the city council assembly, which was then taking place. The meeting was blocked, and the mayor had to meet our first demand: answers. Suddenly, we had an
appointment for the next day; yet another proof that collective action is far more efficient than polite letters.

After that first wave of pressure, the council admitted they had a 5B project, but that we would be advised of any decision; to which we answered that we didn't want to be told what would happen, but that we would prevent such a project from happening. To the perspective of relocating our space, we answered it was out of the question for us to
move, and that we would campaign and resist, to maintain the structures we'd been building over 10 years.

In the following weeks, hundreds of letters, messages and phone calls were addressed from all parts of France and Europe to the city hall,
while posters, flyers and graffiti in defense of "Les Tanneries" quickly covered the whole city. Most political meetings from the Socialist Party
(holding the city council and running for elections at the time) were disrupted by speeches about our situation, while contacts were made with tens of collectives in and around Dijon, a number of which sent protest letters to the council. To know all sides of the enemy, we invited ourselves to the "Générale de Santé" as a group, and obtained an
appointment with its head, who confirmed negotiations with the council were underway, but said to be open to build the medical complex a bit
further from our location.

On May 6rd, right-wing Sarkozy was elected for president. Riots broke out throughout the whole country in anger. In Dijon, hundreds of people
clashed with riot cops protecting the right wing party's headquarters, and a few capitalist targets were attacked. A few days later, the local right wing accused us of being responsible for the rioting, demanding the council shut us down. We answered by expressing our solidarity with all demonstrators through a communique, explaining that we wouldn't drop a tear for the bank windows that were smashed.

Turning a large number of issues of the newspaper that contained the infamous article into confettis during one of our demonstrations did not only rile the journalist in charge, but also led him to publish large bits of our answer in the next issue. This happened in the context of a media crackdown on anarchist and autonomous circles in France, which the
police has widely held responsable for the social unrest that spread through the country after the election, resulting in several squats being raided and people detained.

Still lacking any guarantee in the maintenance of our space, we planned an escalation of protests, with a first date set for May 19th, for which
we announced a colourful and active demonstration, and a second date set for June 9th, for a massive Reclaim The Streets concert mixing militant
hip-hop (Keny Arkana) with punk (Guerilla Poubelle) and revolutionary songs (René Binamé).

In the meantime, support messages kept arriving, together with delighting news of international solidarity. In Copenhagen, on May 3rd, a demonstration was held in defense of various occupied social centres, among which was Les Tanneries; when the demonstration tried to reach the
French embassy, it was attacked by police, which led to street riots and burning barricades throughout the night. In Berlin, on May 8th, a demonstration for the Köpi gathered some 1000 people, behind a banner stating "Köpi, Blitz, Les Tanneries, Ifanet - we stand together, we fight together". In Barcelona, on May 19th, the demonstration for autonomous spaces, which was blocked and attacked by the police, carried a banner in defense of "Les Tanneries" & "Köpi".

In Dijon, on the same May 19th, the Tanneries' demonstration started with a public reading of the international solidarity statement coming from
Barcelona, and then went through the streets, led by an energetic batukada, followed by some 400 participants. Posters were glued on the walls throughout the whole demonstration, which eventually arrived in the park right behind the council. There, a group of activists climbed up trees, deployed big banners opposite the council windows, and set up
an aerial camp, while a flyer was distributed on the ground, announcing the permanent occupation of the park and its transformation into a temporary autonomous zone, until the mayor would commit to not
endangering Les Tanneries.

This made the city council freak out slightly. After the police said they couldn't evict the trees, lacking numbers and equipment, city officials were still there late at night, proposing to renew our
contract for four more years if we'd climb down. Without any written confirmation, we refused, and spent a night up in the trees. On the next day though (a Sunday morning), we were brought a signed commitment from the mayor, and thus decided to leave, after 24 hours of occupation.

Not only did we win four more years, but we also had confirmation that the private medical complex would not be built on top of our house, rather be our neighbour. Despite that first big victory, we had a
remaining worry: the "Générale de Santé" would still have a legal right to appropriate all surrounding land within the next 15 years. However, being pressured by the perspective of a huge street party in front of the city hall on the day before before the parliament election, the council promised that if the land we're occupying was to be sold, our
lease would remain untouched. We got their word, for what it's worth; after two months of mobilisation, we've chosen to take a break and enjoy a first victory, remain vigilant and see.

As a result, we relocated June 9th's street party to our house, calling for a celebration of our two months of struggle, getting the occasion to open our doors wide and show the diversity that lies within Les Tanneries. It was quite a thrilling week-end for many, combining enraged hip-hop and punk outdoors, vegan food and anarchist literature, speeches and videos about Ungdomshuset and squatting in Barcelona,
exhibits, conferences and movies on the popular uprising in Oaxaca, an electro dancefloor and a day-long graffiti jam-session.

However, the struggle is not over. It wasn't more than a few days before the right wing party reacted, attacking the council's decision to let us stay. The mayor answered that local elections were soon to come, and that if the right wing party wanted to claim they'd get rid of "Les Tanneries" as part of their campaign, they very well could, but that he
wished them a lot of luck! It is clear that we'll have to be on our guard during the local election next year.

In any case, our concern extends way beyond Dijon, when autonomous spaces are being shut down everywhere, anarchist and radical left circles are being criminalised, social control is being enforced, just about everywhere. Our combative greetings and thoughts fly out to all those in Copenhagen, Berlin, Thessaloniki, Oslo, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris and elsewhere, who keep fighting to keep police hands off our few liberated spaces!

Dijon, June 2007
Espace autogéré des Tanneries
http://squat.net/tanneries/

Please support our comrades in struggle:
· in Copenhagen: http://ungdomshuset.dk/
· in Berlin:http://squat.net/r84/ & http://koepi.squat.net/
· in Oslo: http://blitz.no/
· in Barcelona: http://okupesbcn.net/
· in Amsterdam: http://www.krakengaatdoor.nl/
http://squat.net/ & http://indymedia.org/