Sunday 3 June 2012

Hell no, we won't go!


Residents of a building on Stanislaw Augustow Street in Warsaw are determined to fight to remain in their homes. The building was privatized by people known for dealing in "returned" real estate: infamous lawyer Jan Stachura and Jacek Powsinski. In a process commonly misnamed "reprivatization", these buildings are supposedly returned to heirs of pre-war owners, but in reality, most commonly find up in the paws of a narrow group of specialists with connections, who specialize in getting rid of tenants and making profits for speculators.
The  residents joined the Tenants Defense Committee and have been fighting the process in the courts, but the system is not set in favour of the tenants. Many have lived there for 50-60 or even more years. (One of the oldest tenants, in his 80s, comes from a family who is listed among the Righteous among Nations, for helping Jews during the war.) For many people, this is the only home they have known all their life, and they do not want to move. They are not offered any help by the city in this matter.



The new owner told the residents that they have until May 31 to leave and that after that, The
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The  residents joined the Tenants Defense Committee and have been fighting the process in the courts, but the system is not set in favour of the tenants. Many have lived there for 50-60 or even more years. (One of the oldest tenants, in his 80s, comes from a family who is listed among the Righteous among Nations, for helping Jews during the war.) For many people, this is the only home they have known all their life, and they do not want to move. They are not offered any help by the city in this matter.

The new owner told the residents that they have until May 31 to leave and that after that, they'd be evicted. They were threatened and feared that a gang of thugs could show up to try to illegally evict them. So people gathered to show the privatizers that they would fight back. It was a strong show of solidarity. People vowed to block any eviction attempts. So far, the privatizers have not dared to move on them.
The  residents joined the Tenants Defense Committee and have been fighting the process in the courts, but the system is not set in favour of the tenants. Many have lived there for 50-60 or even more years. (One of the oldest tenants, in his 80s, comes from a family who is listed among the Righteous among Nations, for helping Jews during the war.) For many people, this is the only home they have known all their life, and they do not want to move. They are not offered any help by the city in this matter.

The new owner told the residents that they have until May 31 to leave and that after that, they'd be evicted. They were threatened and feared that a gang of thugs could show up to try to illegally evict them. So people gathered to show the privatizers that they would fight back. It was a strong show of solidarity. People vowed to block any eviction attempts. So far, the privatizers have not dared to move on them.they'd be evicted. They were threatened and feared that a gang of thugs could show up to try to illegally evict them. So people gathered to show the privatizers that they would fight back. It was a strong show of solidarity. People vowed to block any eviction attempts. So far, the privatizers have not dared to move on them.

























The tenants were told that they have until May 31 to leave or they'd be evicted.
The residents were threatened and were afraid that the privatizers would send some thugs to the
building to try to illegally evict them.  Tenants from the building and others came to make a show of
solidarity. Everyone has vowed to blocked any eviction attempts. So far the privatizers have not
dared to make any moves on the residents.












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