The City Is Ours ― Squatting and Autonomous Movements in Europe from the 1970s to the Present

Squatters and autonomous movements have been at the forefront of radical politics in Europe for nearly a half-century—from struggles against urban renewal and gentrification, to large-scale peace and environmental campaigns, to spearheading the antiausterity protests sweeping the continent. Through an examination of the local history of these movements in eight different cities—including Amsterdam, Berlin, and other famous centers of autonomous insurgence, along with underdocumented cities such as Poznan and Athens—The City Is Ours paints a broad and complex picture of Europe’s squatting and autonomous movements. Each chapter focuses on one city and provides a clear chronological narrative and analysis accompanied by photographs and illustrations. The sections center on the most important events and developments in the history of these movements, identifying the specificities of the local movements and dealing with issues such as the relation between politics and subculture, generational shifts, the role of confrontation and violence, and changes in political tactics. The contributors are all politically engaged authors who combine academic scrutiny with accessible writing, providing a clear and engaging view of important contemporary social movements.

Bart van der Steen completed his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence, where he studied the squatter and autonomous movements in Amsterdam and Hamburg during the 1980s. Ask Katzeff is a researcher at the University of Copenhagen, where he focuses on the interaction between urban development and squatting in Europe from the 1970s onward. Leendert van Hoogenhuijze is the coeditor of the Dutch socialist annual Kritiek. George Katsiaficas is a longtime activist for peace and justice who has twice been granted Fulbright fellowships. He is the author or editor of 11 books, including The Imagination of the New Left; Latino Social Movements: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives; Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party; The Subversion of Politics; and Vietnam Documents: American and Vietnamese Views. He lives in the Boston area. Geronimo is the pen name of an activist for the German autonomous movement. He is the author of Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist Movement.