a18- Book Reviews: Fighting for Spaces, Fighting for Our Lives: Squatting Movements Today

Squatting Everywhere Collective (SqeK)

Edition Assemblage 2018

Rudolf-Diesel-Str. 37, D – 48157 Münster

Review by dj dio

This book is 356 pages long and contains 30 different authors writing on 30 different situations around the world. What unites these stories is the underlying question: “Who has a right to be where and who gets to decide?”. There is no more central social question in our modern times and these authors address this question directly and indirectly from many different angles. What makes this book very readable is that the answers come in the form of anecdotes and histories from a wide variety of real world struggles…..this is not a collection of abstracted theoretical discussions, this is on-the-ground praxis!

Real, lived experiences from the city streets, the villages, the countryside and the wilds told by people who are part of these struggles. My personal favorite was Margot Verdier’s reporting from the ZAD near Nantes in France where a very diverse group of folks have successfully challenged government and industry plans to build (yet another fucking) airport. Replete with victories, losses and lessons learned, you will find no references to 401K plans here! Read this book if you want to open your mind up to something other than cynical, individualistic survival strategies for the coming zombie capitalocalypse. You will be inspired!