Oslo: Vestbredden Vel Vel, one of the Scandinavian’s oldest existing squat, under threat of eviction [ENG]

The living-and-working collective Vestbredden Vel Vel which resides in Hausmannsgate 40 in Oslo, is under threat of eviction.

Oslo municipality are close to ending a long term sales process that, if it is approved by the city council which everything points to, will result in eviction and demolition of Scandinavia’s oldest existing squat.

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www.vestbredden.net
www.hauskvartalet.org

Press release from Vestbredden

April 13th 2016

Yes, it was not nice!

Politics meet money. But who really decides and is it ok?

One doesn’t really have to be a great political or economical genious to see that there is something wrong and that party politics in all it’s simplicity only wants to facilitate the market forces, at the expence of human, environmental and cultural aspects.

With the information that the housing giant Urbanium A/S, with Espen Pay as administrating director, has plans to demolish Vestbredden if the sale of Hauskvartalet (the Haus neighborhood) would be approved by Oslo city council, it became crystal clear that the politics the city advisory leads is giving them a parlamentary free card for annihilation of Vestbredden.

The fact that this information knowingly has been witheld and that they as “responsible” politicians continue their lies unabated, to defend an eviction and demolition of a functioning urban ecological user run living- and working-collective, can only be seen as a militant escalation where it’s the municipality’s top elite that unfortunately act as the driving force.

Espen Pay says he wants to create something lasting in Hauskvartalet. To demolish an appartment building with a 130 year old history, Barrikaden, one of Oslo’s most important underground stages, and at the same time throw the capitals longest living user run collective on the street, can not be called creating something, it’s called destroying!

Vestbredden takes distance from the use of violence and will in no way take initiative to any form of violent actions. But we have absolutely no plan to leave our home voulentarily and any form of power use to achive this will be acknowledged as a further attack on the whole culture in itself.

That they conciously choose to go in this direction, where conflict is nearly inevidable, seems uncomprehensible and it should be completely clear that it’s the municipality-elite itself that has to bear the responsibility for the after effects of this kind of action.

It’s sad to see labour partists in the pocket of the big businesses, but we’re happy for all the support that’s beginning to take shape in contrast to this advancement.

The financial comittee will the 28th of April come with their position to the city council about wether they should sell Hauskvartalet or not. The city council vote is going to happen, from what we can see, earliest May 11th or June 15th. If the financial comittee would choose to follow the city advisory’s wish to sell, we encourage insistently all city council representatives to study the case further before giving their “judgement”.