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About Me
- rn
- I spent most of the past four years hanging out with street hawkers, smugglers, and sub-rosa import/export firms to write Stealth of Nations, a book that chronicles the global growth of System D--the parallel economic arena that today accounts for half the jobs on the planet. Prior to that, I lived in squatter communities across four continents to write Shadow Cities, a book that attempts to humanize these vibrant, energetic, and horribly misunderstood communities. My articles on cities, politics, and economic issues have appeared in many publications, including Harper's, Scientific American, Forbes, Fortune, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Metropolis, and City Limits. Before becoming a reporter, I worked as a community organizer and studied philosophy. I live in New York City and do most of my writing on manual typewriters.
2 comments:
After the fall of the last (conservative rightwing-liberal) gevernement the issue of a law against squatting (luckily) vanished in a drawer. Nevertheless, it gave the squatters movement a healthy impulse to once again state its motives and goals.
A number of spectacular actions were staged, including a big sleep in at amsterdams central square in july 2005 and squatting various big and small empty buildings all around the country.
Suprisingly, there was support not only from the 'usual suspects' as renters organisation and leftwing parties but also from the housing department heads of the major cities, who wrote a letter to the housing minister stating that a squatting ban was senseless and counterproductive because of rampant speculation and the general housing crisis in urban areas.
As for defiant, it is needless to say that squatters do not really require a legal situation at all to do their thing. Definitely not the dutch squatters who are a well organized and quite millitant movement.
social-revolutionary greetz from
insurgent amsterdam, fortress europe
PS: Roland, I lost your mail address, please mail me at ksuoost@squat.net
insurgent greetings back at you, Sikes.
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