Evicted in 2018

On the 13th of October in 2000 a group of young people from Setúbal, Portugal, decided to take in their own hands the control of a part of their lives. They squatted an abandoned house replacing emptiness and apathy with desires, dreams and experiences of freedom, autonomy, self organisation, confrontation and atack.

A communitarian place to live free action and expression, without political parties or state control, without authority, without profit and at last puting anarchism in practice. They named the squat C.O.S.A. (casa okupada de Setùbal autogestionada) and from this moment a new confrontation with power starts spreading through the city. Quickly the critique, denounce and intervention became present in the daily life of Setúbal. Cosa became a social center from where people organized against speculation, tourism resorts, oppression from the state, deaths by the hands of police, political parties, alienation… There were discussions, actions, demos, concerts, political paintings all around, all the experiments that were necessary to break up with the system. Many things happened trough these years but COSA always stood firm and strong. 17 Years passed and neither the police or the courts can erase this chapter in the rebel and unsubmissive history of the city.

Two days after the 15th anniversary we received a notification saying the owners were starting a court order to evict us. After this we started meetings to prepare the defense and suport of COSA. A group of people said loud and clear that all efforts will be made to make sure that this story doesn`t end for now. We chose the lawyer who will defend us and we`ve drawn our legal strategy, never forgetting the most important strategy: our own! In 2017 instead of having a court case we were called to attend a previous audience. Coming as a surprise to everyone the judge appeared with a conclusion, for her there was no need to have a court case (the case was obvious and so was the sentence), there was a justification for an immediate eviction order. Our lawyer found some mistakes in the process, enough to bring it down. However the judge followed her will and gave us the sentence. This sentence was just to recognize that the property was from the owners but after this the owners could start the eviction process.

While all this was happening we started O Covil an infospot with books, magazines and fanzines which hosts the Suporte Okupa (help and suport to squat), a way of getting a consistent organization for squating. The idea is to find new affinities and to reinforce old ones. We`ve been busy with fixing up the place to make the social center a place with better conditions.

Saúde & Anarquia!