From Rozbrat, Poland
September 17, 2024

Last Saturday, September 14, the second day of Rozbrat's 30th birthday, we met again to protest in the street. The reason for the hastily called protest was information about the date of the upcoming bailiff's auction concerning a part of the plot on which Rozbrat is located. Business does not sleep.

Where did the auction of a part of the squat come from? The history that led to the auction of part of Rozbrat is the history of the pathology of the Third Polish Republic. We have long been fighting against the wild reprivatization of this area. We demand that the city of Poznań recognizes that it is its owner. The plot was public property for almost 50 years from the beginning of the Polish People's Republic. A state-owned enterprise operated here. However, at the threshold of the collapse of the previous system, the private "heir" of the plot, in unclear circumstances, entered his name into its land and mortgage register. Before the city authorities and the court had time to cross out the incorrect entry in the register, the "heir" sold the plot for a fraction of its value to a front company called DAREX. The quick replacement of the private owner by a "good faith" sale has made it difficult for the city authorities to restore public ownership of the land to this day. The front company DAREX immediately took out a mortgage in the bank for the real value of the plot - a multiple of the purchase price. DAREX disappeared immediately after that. In 1994, the abandoned buildings of the liquidated factory were occupied by anarchists and the area was handed over to the people of Poznań. This is how Rozbrat was created, today the oldest living occupied social centre in Eastern Europe, one of the oldest operating squats on the continent. After 30 years, banks are trying to collect the debt incurred by the front company. The Poznań bailiff Guzik is encouraging millionaire vultures to buy real estate with a "meat insert", the residents of the squat. This is not the first such attempt. Thanks to previous mass protests, we managed to scare the vultures away.

It was with such an outline of the current situation in Rozbrat that our protest began, which started from the squat itself. Before a group of about 200 people went to the bailiff's office, we explained in a loud voice how much the development business interferes on Pułaskiego Street itself. The DudaDevelopment company is building a six-storey building here, intended to be a luxury apartment building. It turns out that this area strangely does not include the green wedge area, so a building several times higher than the typical low-rise buildings of the Sołacz district is legal under the law. Another development project is to be built on the site of a former printing house. Here, the investor has already carried out the first demolitions on the plot, probably without the appropriate permits, apparently the business can do more. Initial information indicates another tall hotel and service building. A complete novelty in this area, which will certainly strain the inadequate road infrastructure. For us, such actions are reprehensible.

With slogans POZNAŃ FOR PEOPLE, NOT DEVELOPERS, ROZBRAT STAYS, PEOPLE FIRST, PROFITS THEN, APARTMENTS FOR MILLIONS, NOT MILLIONAIRES, WE ARE HERE, WE ARE ACTIVE, WE WILL NOT GIVE UP ROZBRAT, WE WILL CHASE THE BAILIFFS, WE WILL DEFEND ROZBRAT TOGETHER! WE FIGHT TOGETHER, WE WILL WIN TOGETHER! AND WE WILL NOT GIVE UP ROZBRAT - the demonstration went down Puławskiego Street, and then Poznańska Street. The original route of the march was to lead through Roosvelta Street, but it was closed the day before. The reason was the threat of collapse of an abandoned tenement house, whose owners had not renovated it for years, and had even received fines for its improper security. However, officials clearly did not press the supporters of the "sacred right of ownership" and the tenement house became a real threat to nearby houses and the tram line. It is not known how long it will take the wonderful owners to demolish the tenement house that is in danger of collapse. It is known that the costs of the inconvenience are borne by all the residents. This situation was a good commentary on how wealthy speculators do not have to fulfill their obligations to take care of tenement houses and buildings, because if anything, they are not in much danger anyway, and the demolished plot is still a very good capital investment.

At the intersection of Poznańska and Kochanowskiego streets, people associated with the Malta Estate spoke out. As a result of the actions of the Curia and the passivity of the city authorities, they are facing eviction on a mass scale. Their situation requires specific steps from the relevant authorities, but as usual, they consider that the problem does not concern them. The residents of tenement houses on Stolarska or Piaskowa streets heard exactly the same thing when they were threatened by the actions of tenement cleaners. Rozbrat is involved in supporting the residents of the estate. At this point, the threat resulting from the successive development of the Green Wedges was also mentioned. The area of ​​Wodziczki Park, the place next to which we have been operating for 30 years, is gradually being flooded by the waters of the river. Bogdanka, and the area that used to act as a flood area, is now increasingly concreted by successive developer investments. On the one hand, the city of Poznań boasts about the role of the Green Wedge for "airing the city", on the other hand, it does nothing to protect it. President Jacek Jaśkowiak himself is able to temporarily switch to a bicycle for PR purposes, but in reality he got into a conflict, because he tried (fortunately unsuccessfully) to cut down more trees in the city on ul. 27 Grudnia.

The protest ended with the lighting of flares right in front of the bailiff's office on Kochanowskiego Street. The representatives of Rozbrat clearly stated that they would not allow themselves to be thrown out of the socio-political-cultural center they had occupied for 30 years. The goal of Rozbrat has always been to build an alternative and co-create a city without exploitation, without evictions, without poverty.

After the official end of the demonstration, the entire group set off along the same route through the streets of Poznań to the sounds and rhythms of Samba Hałastra supported by Samba Warszawski Rumor . When the demonstration again found itself at the DudaDevelopment building under construction, opposition to this and similar investments was expressed in a spontaneous manner using paint and smoke candles. None of the protesters were detained. Everyone returned safely to Rozbrat where the celebrations continued on the second day, the 30th birthday of Rozbrat.

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