[Más abajo en castellano] The PAH is already a European symbol of the fight for the right to housing and human rights, but its message is spreading further each day. Beyond stopping evictions and finding adequate housing for families through its Obra Social campaign, the PAH has been able to organise thousands of people around issues of fair housing access in more than 220 PAH chapters across Spain.
Last weekend, over twenty activists from the USA coming from different housing movements came to PAH Barcelona. They were here to learn first hand our ways of organising, planning and acting. In order to learn how families become empowered at the PAH and join the PAH’s broad agenda on the right to housing. We want to thank the NYC to Spain delegation for organising this visit and to each and every one of the activists that has kindly shared with us their knowledge and experience. We have together already started organising at the international level in order to fight finance funds and banking institutions.
During our time together we have been able to pin point those who are clearly responsible for home evictions both at national and international level. Vulture funds like Blackstone, a financial institution that hoards houses for speculative purposes both in the USA and across Europe while evicting families and leaving them on the street. In the face of shared international enemies, the PAH and different housing movements part of the NYC to Spain delegation, have vowed to collaborate. We will continue to make our demands known, empower individuals, practice civil disobedience and continue with our direct action strategies. If housing speculators think they can hide behind their Wall Street veil, we want to make it clear that we will find them. The right to housing is an international demand and we are working on much-needed international coordinated actions against those who prevent it from becoming a reality.
This was a very rewarding experience for us. Thank you for sharing with us knowledge, actions, escraches and assemblies. Till next time!
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CASTELLANO
DERECHO A LA VIVIENDA ES UNA DEMANDA INTERNACIONAL
La PAH ya es todo un ejemplo global en la lucha por los derechos sociales. Y es que la fama de la PAH, más allá de todos los desahucios que paraliza y las familias que realoja, se debe a la capacidad de haber organizado a miles de afectadas en más de 220 nodos repartidos en el estado.
El pasado fin de semana, más de veinte activistas de distintos colectivos por el derecho a la vivienda en Estados Unidos, acudieron a PAH Barcelona para conocer de primera mano nuestra organización. Para aprender cómo empoderar a las familias afectadas en la defensa por su derecho a la vivienda. Queremos agradecer a la organización NYC to Spain por haber organizado el viaje y a todas las activistas que nos visitaron por intercambiar conocimientos y herramientas para futuras luchas contra financieras y bancos.
En este encuentro quedo claro que existen responsables internacionales de los desahucios. Fondos Buitre como Blackstone, que acumulan vivienda americana y europea echando familias a la calle. Frente a estos enemigos, tanto la PAH como los colectivos inscritos en NYC to Spain saben bien que hacer: plantar cara, empoderar a la ciudadanía, tomar la calle. Si los enemigos del derecho a la vivienda se ocultan en despachos de Wall Street, hasta allí llegaremos. El derecho a la vivienda ya es una demanda internacional, y necesita de campañas internacionales.
Una experiencia muy enriquecedora de compartir conocimeintos, espacios, escraches y asambleas con todas ellas. ¡Hasta la próxima!