In this month's episode of Trouble, subMedia showcases three ongoing land defence struggles: the Unist’ot’en Camp, the autonomous spaces movement in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the eco-defence occupation known as La ZAD.
This is a great Trouble video on autonomous spaces.
Together with some cool conversations over on Mastodon, it’s a reminder to me to celebrate squats. Squats have meant so much for the movement and where squats still thrive, so do anarchists.
Building anarchism doesn't really make any sense if it doesn't include creating autonomous spaces. When you take a space without permission and organize it together, you have carved out an anarchist reality within capitalist territory.
Autonomous spaces are magic because they're places where anarchism just is, where it isn't a goal to be achieved but a reality to be cherished and expanded. (Like the unique freedom in the middle of the riot, but with a lot less immediate danger.)
Autonomous spaces are housing, community kitchen, meeting space, party space, safe space and more. They’re fertile ground on which the movement can grow. But most importantly: they're the actualization of the goals of the movement, made reality right here right now.
