L38Squat is under eviction
Redevelopment is power, self-management is opportunity
For years, there have been reports of a mega-redevelopment project involving the Laurentino 38 neighborhood. Now the money is there, and the urgency of implementation is driven by the election campaign.
That the neighborhood, abandoned for decades, is now “out of place” is evident to anyone familiar with this area. Just look around and “the bridges” are a corridor of exclusion between one shopping center and another, with a city that expands and pushes those who can’t afford it far away.
We provide excellent labor for shopping centers, but are increasingly brought to our knees by the high cost of living.
Let’s make it clear from the outset that L38Squat has no agreement for the relocation of the social center, as the regional government declared to romatoday in an article on August 18th.
We are here, and we will remain here for several reasons.
Thirty-one years of occupation mean self-construction of every single inch based on the needs, desires, and passions of those who, from all over the world, have crossed the Sixth Bridge.
To take away 31 years of self-management, it would take us about 31 years to dismantle everything.
For us, occupying a significant portion of the Sixth Bridge meant taking care of the entire building, with our own efforts, with the absence of the IACP and Ater, and in agreement with the other entities present. Each problem cost us months of effort, discussions, and initiatives to raise funds and carry out the work.
We have never considered ourselves owners. Here, we take care of the space to give us the opportunity to live better than the system of exploitation allows, and to leave this same opportunity for others.
We have chosen not to be owners, but Ater cannot claim ownership given its neglect and its thirst for profit.
The projects of young architects who call co-housing with book corners, university residences, or singles’ homes the housing models of an atomized and violent society, crushed by profit and poverty, make us tremble.
In the neighborhood, there are lonely people, in a social system where you have to have a family at all costs to scrape together a living. Who are these “singles”? We’re not among the artists of Pigneto or in the super-cool Porta Venezia in Milan…
The Ater and regional government project will not change the conditions of marginalization and poverty.
For us, living together means giving each other a hand and also giving it to those we don’t know.
Having a self-managed library means having thousands of books available that are part of our history. Not disposable publications, but truly indispensable texts.
For us, opening a gym meant taking care of each other, having health as our goal, never competition and machismo.
We’ll take more time to explain who we are and what this occupation is, but we want to emphasize that these aren’t walls, and there’s no neutrality in everything within. These opportunities, free and accessible to all, are irreplaceable.
We’re well aware of the housing conditions in the neighborhood, as we’ve already said and demonstrated. We want housing for everyone, and we’ll remain on the sixth bridge, in the center of the Laurentino 38 neighborhood.
Here, we’ll continue to stand alongside anyone struggling with repression or widespread poverty and wanting to address the problems together.
If they want to start a project that would “bring great prestige to the neighborhood” by attacking us first, they’ll find us ready to defend not only its history, but a shared future.
Squatters of the sixth bridge – L38Squat
Below are some newspaper articles that discuss the aforementioned project. Redevelopment:
https://www.ilfaroonline.it/2021/11/11/laurentino-38-presentato-il-progetto-ater-da-oltre-7-milioni-per-56-nuovi-alloggi/446431/
https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/laurentino/riqualificazione-ponti-laurentino-56-alloggi-come-saranno.html
https://urloweb.com/municipi/municipio-ix/laurentino-38-progetti-e-iniziative-per-rilanciare-vivibilita-e-socialita-del-quartiere/
https://ilcaffe.tv/articolo/66951/la-riqualificazione-del-laurentino-38-passa-dal-cohousing