24 03 08
European Appeal in Solidarity with ROG Social Center (Ljubljana)
Please send your support signatures to: andrej.kurnik@guest.arnes.si
http://tovarna.org/
To ROG Social Center,
To our sisters and brothers who have brought it alive over the last two years
To the European cultural and political space
To the city authorities of Ljubljana
Over the last few days, we have received alarming news concerning the visit of Ljubjana's mayor Zoran Jankovic to Rog Social Center, in which he announced the sale of the space and the intention of forcibly evicting the social center in a matter of days.
Over the last two years, the Rog factory, for long left empty and abandoned, has become a lively social center, with a panoply of cultural and political initiatives being organized by several associations, many born in Rog itself. What used to be an abandoned factory has been transformed into a socially active space, a highly creative node in the European landscape, which produces culture and knowledge for and by students, artists, precarious, migrants.
We, members of cultural, political, university networks covering many areas of Europe, have often taken part in the activities and events of Rog Social Center. We strongly side with the demand that Rog's users make for its continuity to be safeguarded and we are determined to gather support around their cause in all of Europe's major metropolises.
We ask the mayor of the city, Zoran Jankovic, to reflect upon his statements. This is no time for deception. This is time for realism and pragmatism. A social creation like Rog Social Center does not deserve the treatment that you, Mr Mayor, have announced. Mistreating those who create urban spaces for public use, while at the same time pandering to private interests that aim to increase their wealth through real estate investment, is not what we would expect from the highest representative of Ljubjana's citizens. Please change your mind and go back to the bargaining table with Rog's users, in order to stablish conditions tu support their cultural project. Anything else would be outside common sense, and would put you in the company of those politicians for whom public office means managing high-profile private interests, which never are in the interest of the majority. That's why we ask you to reconsider your decision.
Lastly, we wish to send our warmest and most fraternal wishes to our friends of Rog. We are together with you in this. Our support will be unrelenting. Your project is ours: a different Europe where the rights of all are ensured by the creation from below of ever new public spaces in all European cities.
Europe, 24 March 2008
Centro Social La Casa Invisible (Malaga)
Centro Social - Casa de Iniciativas (Malaga)
Indymedia Estrecho
Precarios en Movimiento (Malaga/Sevilla)
Centro Social Sin Nombre (Sevilla)
Oficina de Derechos Sociales de Málaga
Oficina de Derechos Sociales de Sevilla
Coordinadora de Inmigrantes de Málaga (CIM)
Ateneu Candela (Terrassa/Barcelona)
Oficina de Derechos Sociales de Terrassa
Exit-Barcelona
Universidad Nómada
Traficantes de Sueños Madrid
EPA Patio Maravillas, Madrid
Oficina de Derechos Sociales del CS Seco de Madrid
Eskalera Karakola, Casa Pública de Mujeres, Madrid