Collective housing projects and their micro/macrocosms: an example from Leipzig

Here you can hear a conversation (2013) with an activist living in a collective housing project in Leipzig. Leipzig is a city of about half a million people located in the former GDR, towards the west of which there is currently a lot of collective housing projects being established. Most of them function on the basis of collective purchase. In this area of town there is a huge amount of infrastructures that support experimental ways of living together, from initiatives advising new house collectives in matters related to legal structures, renovation and finances (such as AG Beratung), or in relation to group processes and conflict mediation (such as Modem), community gardens (such as Nachbarschaftsgärten), food cooperatives (such as Rote Beete with its distribution points in various collective houses). Additionally, there are also connections to larger solidarity structures such as the Mietshäuser Syndikat which is developing models of collective ownership.

Below is the map we are drawing throughout the conversation (click to enlarge, it's high res).

Organising mutual forms of legal support: in the street, at the police station and in court

Some examples from London and the US

The police, the courts and prison clearly play a crucial role in controlling and repressing working class and migrant communities. During the student movement in the UK in 2010 for example individuals taking part in demonstrations against the tripling of tuition fees (from £3000/year to £9000/year) and the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance were subject to aggressive public order policing designed to intimidate people, create divisions in the movement and criminalizise protest. Pretty much everybody going on demonstrations was observed and filmed, stopped and searched, contained (‘kettled’) for hours in freezing temperatures without access to toilets and water, and many were assaulted by the police with batons and shields. Many people were arrested and charged with often very serious charges (eg 'violent disorder’). While in many cases these charges ended up not sticking in the courts simply being charged and having to deal with the court system is a terrifying experience for most. It is also a very useful way to keep activists busy over long periods of time and stop them from doing work.