No Trespassing!: Squatting, Rent Strikes, and Land Struggles Worldwide [Paperback]

Anders Corr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0896085953 | ISBN-13: 978-0896085954

Contents

Introduction
Chapter One: Homes Not Jails:The Secret Success of a Squatting Movement to House the Homeless
Chapter Two: Battling the Banana Baron: Rural Hondurans Fight Chiquita Brands
Chapter Three: Arguments to Squat By: The Challenge to Property
Chapter Four: Direct Action and the Law
Chapter Five: Repression, Violent Resistance, and Reform
Chapter Six: Tactics and Mobilization: The Primacy of Power
Conclusion: The Future of Land and Housing Movements

An Excerpt from No Trespassing! By Anders Corr

Draft Version: Please do not quote

Chapter 1

Homes Not Jails:

The Secret Success of a Squatting Movement to House the Homeless

Benjamin volunteered to open the vacant building on Shotwell and 22nd, and said I could follow. He had squatted it before the landlord kicked him out, but now lived in a sleazy downtown hotel. We walked up to the alley door, and just as Benjamin produced his crowbar, a very large guy (much smaller than Benjamin and much bigger than me) walked up to his own door just a few feet away. Benjamin thought quick and pretended legitimacy by knocking. "Whatcha knockin for?" the neighbor asked. His eyes narrowed. "Nobody lives there."

Benjamin has broken into hundreds of buildings with Homes Not Jails and knew when to lead a tactical retreat. But undaunted, he circled the building and easily lifted his seven-foot frame over a fence and into the backyard. From my cowardly vantage I could see a weak flashlight flickering at us from a window in the second story of the next-door flat. Was it the neighbor who confronted us? Did he have a gun? Again, Benjamin either failed to notice the flashlight-wielding neighbor or cared little. He climbed the back stairs, jimmied the door, walked out the alley and returned with two homeless people who needed a place to stay. After letting the two into the squat, Benjamin promised to help change the lock if they stayed for a week. Afterwards I skipped to keep pace as, with a crowbar dangling from his pinkie, Benjamin lumbered about the neighborhood in search of more squats.

Homelessness and the Growth of U.S. Squatting

Homes Not Jails began with the wave of other homeless activist gro

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An extraordinary and ingenious work, looking at the heroic efforts of squatters all over the world who defy the laws of 'private property' where such laws deny the right of human beings to have a place to live. No Trespassing! is an invaluable resource for activists everywhere, at the same time instructive and inspiring." Howard Zinn, author of Marx in Soho, and A People's History of the United States) -- (Howard Zinn, author of Marx in Soho, and a People's History of the United States)

"Anders Corr's No Trespassing convinces me that committed activism, smart radical scholarship, and perceptive social thought are alive and well. A boon to squatters everywhere and to the radical tradition of non-violent direct action. A gold mine of movement histories, brimming with tactical and strategic political insights." -- James C. Scott, director, Yale University Program in Agrarian Studies; author, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance

"No Trespassing! is an informed account of a worldwide challenge to property. A squatter's manifesto is at hand." -- Charles Geisler, Professor of Rural Sociology, Cornell University

"No Trespassing! is not only thoughtful and thoroughly researched, it's also an exhilirating read. I learned that there are solutions to the ever more dire housing shortage-at least for those who are bold and adventurous enough to try them!" -- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Blood Rites

"Squatters of the world, arise! This inspiring book tells the rarely-chronicled story of your struggles. From landless peasants in Brazil to rent strikers in the Bronx, communities have resisted eviction and repression. Anders Corr, an experienced participant as well as a scholar of such movements, tells how they are organized, what makes them just, and what lessons can be learned to make them more effective." -- Jeremy Brecher, co-author of Global Village or Global Pillage, Second Edition

"Tough, erudite.... There is much to admire in this...rich mixture of reportage, philosophical rigor, and concrete advice for action." -- In These Times

About the Author

About the Author Anders Corr's writing and photography on the subject of land and housing movements have been published in the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Weekly, Z Magazine, the Progressive, the Independent, Everybody's News (Cincinnati), Anarchy Magazine, Fifth Estate, Slingshot, Kick It Over, Land and Liberty, Squat Beautiful, Tenant Times, Street Spirit, and Spare Change. A former squatter himself, he co-founded the Santa Cruz Union of the Homeless. About the Author Anders Corr's writing and photography on the subject of land and housing movements have been published in the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Weekly, Z Magazine, the Progressive, the Independent, Everybody's News (Cincinnati), Anarchy Magazine, Fifth Estate, Slingshot, Kick It Over, Land and Liberty, Squat Beautiful, Tenant Times, Street Spirit, and Spare Change. A former squatter himself, he co-founded the Santa Cruz Union of the Homeless.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: South End Press (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896085953
• ISBN-13: 978-0896085954
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,269,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Land Use

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a place to live for all, February 5, 2000

By 

Margaret S. Mullins (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Trespassing!: Squatting, Rent Strikes, and Land Struggles Worldwide (Paperback)

NO TRESPASSING is a humane and scholarly look at homelessness, its root causes and its grass-roots remedies. The author has written a non-fiction, philosophical page-turner which should be in every homeless shelter, on every urban planner's desk, and on every corporate boardroom table. The book brings to bear the historical, political, philosophical, and human forces that shape homelessness and offers descriptions of solutions that have worked in today's world. Its an important read and a good one! Read it as you curl up in your warm house in a comfortable armchair, with a good reading light, a cup of hot tea in hand, and the knowledge that your chair, your light, your hot tea will be there for you tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.