Eviction of the ROG FACTORY in Ljubljana - Call for international SOLIDARITY
Wanneer: 20/01/2021 - 14:36
TO OUR INTERNATIONAL COMRADES: CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
Comrades! Many of you have stayed, fought and loved one of the two squats in Ljubljana. For 15 years Rog was a centre of political activity in the city and in the international movements. Today Rog factory was brutally evicted. Many of our comrades were violently beaten and arrested. We are calling for solidarity all around the world. Let's show the oppressors of all kinds they are messing with the wrong movement! More information below.
XXX STATEMENT OF ROG FACTORY ABOUT EVICTION XXX
Today, on 19 January 2021 at 7 in the morning, employees of the security company Valina have forcefully entered the spaces of Autonomous factory Rog. Violently, using physical force, they injured some of its users and evicted everybody. Our personal belongings, pets and valuable equipment were left inside, together with 15 years of our dreams, activities, projects, adventures and common experiences. Police has erected fences around Rog and started to beat supporters gathering in support in front of the factory’s gate. In the inside of the complex workers have demolished majority of side structures and smashed windows on the main building that is protected as heritage. At the same time they are taking away, on the unknown location, all the equipment from Rog. More then 10 persons were held in custody, among them some of the injured that need medical help. We do not have access to them and we don’t have information on where all of them were taken.
In the last decade and a half hundreds of users have been using Autonomous factory Rog for their activities and thousands of persons have attended various events in its spaces. Migrants, persons on the edge of society, artists that haven’t succumb to the dictate of capitalistic culture, skaters, graffiti artists, circus artists and others, who despite the pressures of capital, municipal security and police, make this city alive and enable life worth living.
Since the opening of Autonomous factory Rog Municipality of Ljubljana does not tolerate a fact that we show mirror to their gentrifying politics. Their policies are transforming the city in a Disneyland for tourists and putting profit over people. This is a reason why they have announced a total war against us. After years of unsuccessful and publicly unpopular legal prosecutions of users the authorities today decided for a legally disputable, violent break-in and a complete demolishing of the space. Regardless of the fact that they don’t have any ideas or financial means for future development of the area. Even more, not long ago municipal authorities have publicly stated that they haven’t got any concrete plans for Rog in the current mandate. There were no information about this obviously carefully planned attack, not even on last night’s session of the municipal government. After all these years of activities and public promoting of the dialog that the municipality has long time ago abandoned, we would expect at least a decent deadline to conclude our current projects, protect our belongings and a constructive discussion on municipality’s plans on potential eviction of users. Instead, Ljubljana municipality was lying to the public, elected councilors and us.
The attack on Rog is not taking place in a political vacuum. In the last months we are witnessing various attacks on civil society, Radio Student, Metelkova 6 and other publicly critical actors. In times, when political engagement is reduced to a low-minded public exposure of disobedient individuals in right-wing media outlets, municipal authorities have as well decided to use deceitful means on the territory, which is propagating itself as safe sanctuary against the current governments’ phalanx. Today, Municipality of Ljubljana has clearly demonstrated on which side it really stands. Evicting people in the middle of a severe epidemics is preposterous for the municipality that is continuously selling its image as green, social, cultural and solidary capital. After its unsuccessful campaign for European capital of culture with a motto “Solidarity”, all masks have clearly finally fallen.
What can you do in support of Rog?
1. COME IN FRONT OF AUTONOMOUS FACTORY ROG. Let’s show them that we are not alone. We can’t let autonomous spaces fall one after another! Attack on one is attack on all!
2. SEND A PROTEST LETTER TO MUNICIPALITY AND POLICE! PUBLISH IT ONLINE!
They have to be made responsible for their crimes, violence, profiteering and corruption. We can’t enable that they sweep under the carpet their profiteering plans and contentious acts.
3. SHARE INFORMATION, INVITE FRIENDS AND COMRADES.
Right now we don’t fight only for our dignity. We fight for being able to exist in this city. We fight for everything that is not capitalistic, gentrified, privatized, polite, tidy; for everything that breathes freely and does not allow to be captured by the profit logic that manages our common city.
Against the opportunistic synergy of fascists, police, municipal profiteers and capital! Save Factory Rog!