Will the Pand be sold to the highest bidder?

Once…

Twice…

Three times squatted against privatisation!

On 19 December 2021, two weeks after the last eviction, we resquatted
the heart of Ghent! Out of political necessity, because once
again the voice of the people is ignored and the city and its puppets
want to sell the Caermersklooster to the highest bidder.

For more than forty years, the building has symbolised the struggle of
ordinary inhabitants of Ghent for the preservation of their public
property and right to live in dignity. Opposite them is the interest of
private investors and speculators, mainly interested in buying up
heritage in order to make a profit. Even more than that, the building
embodies the power of the people if they make their voices heard loud
enough. In 1980, thousands of inhabitants of Ghent, squatters and
sympathisers, took to the streets against the sale of the Pand to the
private tourist sector. They won the battle and for more than 25 years
the Caermersklooster was used for social housing.

Now, for the second time in half a century, the loss of the building is
imminent. While so many people are looking for an affordable place to
live, WoninGent has evicted the social tenants and the squatters and
wants to sell the Caermersklooster. Ghent on sale! In addition to the
property, many more privatisations of public property will follow, such
as the Blauwhuis and the Arsenal site and hundreds of social houses.
With our action, we want to denounce the cause of this: a failing
neoliberal housing and anti-squatting policy, in which everyone with a
normal or low income is driven out of the centre and literally put
aside.

Do you feel connected to our struggle and would you like to help, even
though you may not know how? Then become a Pandemist and bring fear to
every capitalist! There is plenty to do: come and think, build, talk,
do… Do you have an idea for a project in the Pand or are you just
curious about the place? Then come along! You can contact us on
hetpand@riseup.net or come to the people’s kitchen on Saturday evening.
Our address is Trommelstraat 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium, ring the bell on
the iron gate.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsSWXEKFkoc

Squatted since 01/05/21

Evicted on 07/12/21

Resquatted since 19/12/21

Evicted on 18/02/22