Per Bobby: "It's an apt metaphor: ascending. RIP Steve Englander."
Englander, ABC No Rio's longtime director, died on Dec. 12 from complications related to a rare lung disease that he had been battling. He was 63.
Late last week, ABC No Rio announced a memorial fundraiser in Englander's memory:
In honor of Steven, we are starting this funding campaign to help make ABC No Rio, and Steven's legacy, live on for generations to come. Any donation, big or small, will help us open the doors to our permanent home to inspire and nurture the next generations of DIY artists, dreamers, and co-conspirators.
Find the fundraiser at this link.
3 comments:
NO HOUSING ! NO PEACE ! Steven Englander was a former squatter who got an affordable apartment in Umbrella Haus because of street fights and years of resistance to evictions which resulted in a deal with the city to turn over the squats to the tenants. Over this time hundreds of people were arrested and faced criminal charges , including me. I believe that this enabled him to continue his campaign for a new ABC NO RIO. I remember ABC as a center of Anarchist organizing and not whatever it may turn out to be now that it is legal and funded by whoever put up the money for its new building ? Will the new incarnation be the same ? Didn't ABC used to have some apartments ? What the youth [ ABC was in the past a youth oriented community center ] of NYC today need more than anything is housing. 1 in 7 students in the city now live in shelters or temporary housing. How many young people will now benefit from this rebuilding ? I have no idea but I would like to suggest that a fundraiser , in his honor , be used to modify the project to include some communal housing for young students. This probably will not happen but it would be better than raising more money for a building that may cater to older people and may not attract youthful Anarchists like it did before and promote resistance to big real estate and a city government government that gentrified the LES and East Village ? I actually admired Englander and loved the old ABC NO RIO but really hope that you give some thought to what I say here. Now more than ever NYC and America needs to help promote and organize resistance to the soon to be in power Trump anti-democratic dictatorship from young people. It would also be great if the old skool Housing fight , which most of the squatters gave up when they became apartment owners , took to the streets again like we did in the past. Comments are welcome but please put your name on them so everyone knows who made them
Here is a good example of what I said before about NYC housing and the need for militant Housing protest and ABC No RIO apartments....https://gothamist.com/news/evictions-rise-at-nyc-public-housing-complexes-under-private-management-report-finds
From a new report just put out by Associated Press....Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness — one of the areas that was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities. Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago and New York City, according to HUD, while it rose less than 8% in the remaining 373 communities. Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33% jump from last year.
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