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In solidarity with squatting movements and homeless people

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people who are poor and homeless find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history.

The majority of squatting is residential in nature. As a phenomenon it tends to occur when a poor and homeless population makes use of derelict property or land through urban homesteading.
According to an academic, Kesia Reeve, "squatting is largely absent from policy and academic debate and is rarely conceptualised, as a problem, as a symptom, or as a social or housing movement."

In many of the world's poorer countries, there are extensive slums or shanty towns, typically built on the edges of major cities and consisting almost entirely of self-constructed housing built without the landowner's permission.

Squatting can be related to political movements, such as anarchist, autonomist, or socialist. It can be a means to conserve buildings or a protest action.
Squats can be used by local communities as free shops, cafés, venues, pirate radio stations or as multi-purpose autonomous social centres. Dutch sociologist Hans Pruijt separates types of squatters into five distinct categories:

• Deprivation-based – homeless people squatting for housing need

• An alternative housing strategy – people unprepared to wait on municipal lists to be housed take direct action

• Entrepreneurial – people breaking into buildings to service the need of a community for cheap bars, clubs etc.

•Conservational – preserving monuments because the authorities have let them decay

•Political – activists squatting buildings as protests or to make social centres



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So where do you draw the line between squatting and trespassing/home invasion?
@BizSuitStacy Inhabited homes are a no-go. Uninhabited homes that are left to rot or are just there for someone to make lots of money aren't.
@RebelliousSpirit so who determines if they're uninhabited? What if it's a vacation home or cabin in the woods that remains uninhabited most of the year?
@BizSuitStacy It's quite easy to spot empty houses and apartments. If it remains uninhabited for such a long period of time then I see no problem either.
I believe it's problematic for people to own much more living space than they actually need.
@RebelliousSpirit Yes, it's very easy to spot empty houses and apartments. All you have to do is case them for a while. So, how long, exactly, does a place have to be vacant for it to be "squatting" vs trespassing/breaking & entering?

Besides, how much living space a person owns, as long as they pay for it, is really none of your business.
@BizSuitStacy I don't know in an ideal case there wouldn't be any signs of someone still living there. Most squatters chose abondoned houses. Only very desperate people use those who are still in use by others.

That's shitty Capitalist logic. Money shouldn't play a role in basic necessities for life like food, shelter and so on. Money is actually worthless since it is just paper outside of the zones one can optain goods for it.
Does it work as a means to organize an economy? Yes but has it fucked up people and made them obsessed and greedy? Yes
People work hard and often get little of the value their work brought back in form of money that isn't even enough to cover rent and basic expenses.
@RebelliousSpirit LOL. Gee officer...I swear didn't break in. I just watched for a couple of days and no one was inside, so I figured it was abandoned. No slippery slope there. Only desperate people? It's happening with more frequency.

"Squatters" moved into a multi million dollar home not far from me. The home owner lives overseas, paid people tot maintain it. Obviously [b]not[/b] abandoned. Police arrest them. They're out in a couple of days and back inside the home. There's your slippery slope.

[quote]That's shitty Capitalist logic.[/quote]
There it is! I knew you had been to the Marxist bar because I could smell the communism on your breath from here.

[quote]Money shouldn't play a role in basic necessities for life like food, shelter and so on.[/quote]
Oh...but it does. Always has and always will. We have programs for people who have difficulties affording food and shelter, but nothing is free. Oh, the Bernie Bros love to chant free food, free housing, free education, free health care.
I'm sure you fit right in. But when Bernie says free, [i][b]he means someone else has to pay for it.[/b][/i] Now that is shitty socialism.

Does it bug you that the champions for "redistribution of wealth" like Bernie and Obama are multi-millionaires, with multiple homes, and extravagant mansions, etc?
@BizSuitStacy Well fuck multi million dollar homes. No one deserves so much money.
It's no secret and you gave me the Capitalist Conservative vibes.

It bugs me yeah that's why I don't support Biden and Obama is even worse. They are not as left as you make them out to be.

I believe those things can be "free" through communal building and usage. If people would work together and workplaces would be more democratic things would be better. Unfortunately our system is fucked. Everyone just thinks of themselves, obtaining wealth seems to be more important than human well being, rich people can do whatever they want cause the system is rigged, ...
The costs for an ambulance for example are insane.
Oh I would love to see the whole damn system in the US go down.
@RebelliousSpirit [quote]Well fuck multi million dollar homes. No one deserves so much money.[/quote]
LOL. Million dollar homes are pretty common these days. Besides, who are you to say how much money people deserve?

You think you see greed, but staring back at you is envy.

Nothing is free. Not a damn thing.

The truth about politics is ugly. Biden and Obama are corrupt criminals. But that's how it is with most democrats and republicans. The concept of bipartisanship is mostly an illusion to keep people divided. You've seem to fallen for the most divisive political trick or all...pitting the haves vs the have nots.

There is a painting of Klaus Schwab with a white guy on one side and a black guy on the other. Klaus has a giant plate of cookies. The white guy and black guy each have one. Klaus is whispering into the ear of the white guy, saying the black guy is trying to steal his cookie. That's the world of politics in a nutshell. And the Obama's, Bush's, Biden's aren't the ones calling the shots.

[quote]Oh I would love to see the whole damn system in the US go down.[/quote]
Be careful what you wish for. It's closer than you may realize. And I doubt you'll be loving it if it actually happens.
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