SPCC A Casa Amarela

Since i came back to lisbon it has been a huge learning process. It has been a really hardcore one here at SPCC. I met a lot of amazing people, from which i learned a lot. The most positive balance i can make and i also learned is that we can take things more lightly when you are facing a problem, conflict, a misunderstanding. We had a LOT of problems so far. Most of them will continue. But none of them stopped any of our ideas and plans to happen. It took a long time for me to realize it. I had become a more negative person here, when i always were the opposite.

Yesterday we had an amazing day. Everybody was going crazy painting or making something to color up and make the squat more fun and comfortable, others were coking some really delicious meals. Danilo, our "google guest" turned to be an AMAZING painter. He did a couple of paintings in the first floor,they were nice but the one outside it was really fucking good. It looks like he gave everything to that wall...Isa (japan) did some amazing "mobiles" in the "war zone" with garbage, including mirrors, Karina painted a welcoming message in the stairs before you reach the hosting floor, moura painted the anarchist flag and wrote some political phrases in the front of the building. Now the building as a peace from a lot of people from all over the world.

On another note, i've been re-amazed with the kind of people that attend to events like Boom. When i was younger and still at school i met and was friend with a lot of persons from the psy trance movement (i also started to enjoy trance since that time), and somehow (not really sure why) i broke my contact with that "tribe". It's really refreshing to see that most of the values are still there, and there are a lot of interesting people from all over the world to meet. We had a lot of people from boom, a lot of them came out of the blue (without request, or came with CS'rs along the way, heard about the place in boom, etc) and the amazing thing was that they where all so different from each other but in the end respectful and tolerant towards difference, something really hard to see and feel in other "tribes" (i kinda don't like this word, but i need to use it). Really refreshing persons.

The guys from GAIA are really nice. They came by and droped their stuff from the freeshop because they had to move from they old place. I would like to work with them somehow.

I'm organizing more photos, not only mine but from some of our guests. And tomorrow maybe i'll post them on the gallery.

<3

we all went crazy this weekend. the result is a lot of painting done, so the truck way in now looks like a war zone, complete with a plane with a cannon, and all kinds of things hanging.

our italian guest has also been painting all over the place, and painted an AMAZING and huge picture on the side of the building. we painted another part of the stairway, and the fact that we're painting more is adding to the life of the place. we also had many visits, a lot of live music, great food and spontaneous workshops on DIY solar.

the stage is ready, and i think we'll be having gigs soon.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

So yeah, today i went out in the area to speak with the locals to know more about what's going on with the demolishing thing.

A cinema company, 3 (or 4) residential houses and a junkyard are being cleared out or have been (cinema and junkyard). I asked some locals if they knew something about it, and confirmed that it was what we knew since the beginning: TGV (high speed train) works are starting soon. Also some news on the web and newspapers that i checked confirm it: works will start in September. This only means that we have to work faster to make few of our initial goals to happen.

We need to speed up the stage to have concerts and bigger (and more open) events. A lot of people are contacting us to cooperate with us:

-Chapitô students return from holidays with full energy;
- Epiderme project contacted us to use the space for their project (check it here, they seem really cool http://www.epipiderme.blogspot.com/);
- Chili Com Carne will have their intervention in late september: color up the first floor with their AMAZING artists;
-- Gaia also lost their place, and they are going to give us stuff from their freeshop.

We don't know the future yet. If we will try to squat again, or rent a warehouse, or whatever. For sure we will continue to do our things, so expect soon some more hardcore activity (i hope).

Stay tuned folks!

Love <3

I feel like a new man right now. I knew I was in a self improvment process, but I lived some experience wich accelerated it. I'm like a lot of people, always angry on a lot of things, and feeling that my action won't be enough. But I don't care now. It doesn't have to be enough for anything but myself and the people around me.

I just lived two weeks at SPCC, and I'm sad to read that the destruction plans are starting faster than everybody thought. But it's not a big deal, just a part of the all thing and a new born to come. I know you were not uncomfortable with the destruction delay.

A movie about the project and the people I met this august is on the tracks, it will be published here as soon as possible. I hope it will be free software only, but I have a lot of issues to solve for that.

So guys, keep on rockin' until february so we can all celebrate SPCC one year birthday, I'll bring the cake.

Fodes!

currently, from what i heard, people that live in the squatted land around where we live got a notice to leave in 6 weeks. this means that, if we get a notice, it should be with the same time (hopefully).

luckily, work only started at the other end of the area where we are. they still have to demolish a lot of buildings. so this means that we can, with some confidence, make plans about a month ahead.

therefore, we're working on getting events started in september. the stage is nearly finished and we already have several people interested in participating. so we now have a clearer idea of what the window for planning is.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

yup. one of our new guests found our place through google. he said he googled "squat lisbon" and found our place. this opens up our house to a whole new "scene". for now, our guests have been CSrs, HelpXers, hitchhikers, boomers, homeless people, referrals and friends, and now, we have our first googler!

i guess our greatest wealth remains our excess of tribes mixing together and creating a permanent exchange and growth of our community.

yesterday i got home and had H calling me to go with the car to the old construction place. they had demolished everything! it was time to start scavenging! we found so much stuff it was insane. there was a huge styrofoam airplane from an old tv studio, we managed to take back its wing and some camouflage stuff (great party deco!). a lot of useful, useless and just funny stuff! N also showed up during the night and dropped off a lot of furniture, couches and a bed. soon, we'll have too much stuff, since T told me that PAGAN was being evicted, and they were sending over their free shop stuff.

now what i think this signals, is the beginning of the destruction of the neighboring areas. since we're already over 6 months into our deadline, i'd say we should start getting our minds ready for the great eviction party and sweeping this mandala back into dust.

check out how post-apocalyptic cyberpunk M looked with the stuff we found!

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

We went to the Utopia after boom this last weekend and entremuralhas. For me it was cool to be able to step back a bit from the squat. It's a bit exhausting to spend all of my days here at the squat, and handle everybody's problems, questions, and emotions. I knew that Utopia would be a great bet (although not as interesting as boom it self) because i know what i can generally expect from people that are attracted to events like Boom. Although it was even better than i expected, and i'm not talking about the conditions, line up, whatever that the festival offers. Being there reminded me that people can naturally be positive, nurturing, generous, tolerant towards difference and smiling without expecting something back. The variety of skin colors was amazing, a lot of interesting and beautiful persons, and way different than me. It was also cool to realize that i could contact the organization without any problem, and i was treated like someone they knew before and i actually set with them for some hours just talking and sharing some ideas about different subjects. I also ended up helping them because of some fire in the camping area, and a Japanese boomer got hurt. I also found my self picking up garbage from the tables on the chill out area, just because, without thinking and i also saw other boomers doing the same. In the dancefloor was amazing, music and smiles are the most cool drugs ever. Everybody was dancing, and you could feel the steps on the floor and the ground shaking. Everybody was smiling: some were using drugs, others alcohol, others neither one of those. Nobody was looking to how you dress up, how you dance, whatever. Just smiling and enjoying the music like a whole.A huge fucking tribe made of tribes. Meeting this place and these persons, gave me more energy to continue to do what we are doing in this squat.

I also notice that the "kids" are improving. Reaaaaaaaaaaaaally slowly, but better than nothing. Let's see. Personally i will continue to give everything that i can to this house and to everybody that comes in.

<3

after a short holiday, i came back to our place, overflowing with guests again. a lot of people from boom festival. the boom crowd has been a revelation to me (thanks T.). a lot of interesting, beautiful people, something that the underground scenes i've been part of lack terribly. i may have been part of the wrong scene for a while and missing out.

D gave me great feedback on how people were taking care of the guests. slowly, but surely, openness comes. i think the main issue is language. there are small conflicts because of misunderstandings, which then develop into full conflicts for no reason. but actually, it's been pretty good. the guys started cleaning up and getting the first floor ready, and also put gas in the generator (for the first time). they are also taking better care of our guests, a great improvement in my view. we still face the usual self centered mindset, but it is evolving positively. 6 months, it's about time, right? at least the coke high is being used productively.

i guess even though i extensively explain the differences between solar and gas, clean and dirty energy, it doesn't register, since what matters is cold beer. so now that we have a generator, it will be used often for such things. but since i chose not to put gas in the generator, it also makes everyone aware of the energy they spend, and how much that amounts to in the end of the month. in fact, if we were to have electricity all day using the generator, it would be somewhere around 400€ a month.

my choice to put a generator up was to fast-forward the concert infrastructure. if musicians bring their amps, we can have gigs now with cold beer.

as for the solar energy, i've been lazy. i should finish the new panel i have in the works. our first DIY panel is now giving less power, due to a broken cell. i tried to move it for efficiency, ended up fucking it up. we're back to about 80W of power, which works on sunny days, but definitely doesn't for future days.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

christoph's windmill is working and giving some power. in fact, it spins so fast sometimes i think it's going to take off. for now, i don't think it's giving off much power, but we're adding it to the main power system as soon as i get a proper diode.

the generator + stage circuit is also finished. we set up the drum kit, the stage, and soon the backstage should be done. in fact, we can have concerts there right now. i look forward to some artwork by CCC.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

it came to my attention that people are taking our personal journals so seriously they are mistaking them for the actual stuff that goes on at the house. these are PERSONAL journals, they represent a subjective, personal perspective of what goes on. the REAL, FACTUAL stuff can be read in our front page.

to date, we have hosted over 100 people from all over the world, held workshops on DIY and sustainability, had endless multicultural parties, restored an abandoned building from complete wreck to a working cultural center, including solar energy, dry toilets and plumbing, helped countless homeless people, provided free food, care and nurturing, and not a single time our open house paradigm failed. we did this with no private funding, no public funding, no rich family, yet we succeeded in having a squat that is not only tolerated by local authorities, but also recommended by local police to homeless people.

in less than 6 months, we turned a wreck into wealth, and we are quickly becoming a pit stop for travelers from all over the world. we are making people happier every day, with no property, no authority and funded only by our own work. without a single sponsorship or state institutional label.

if you, reader, choose to confuse my blog (or anyone else's for that matter) with the actual house, choose to confuse our personal issues with the main project, our personal perspectives with the actual house, then maybe you shouldn't visit at all. we do not need people that get caught up on personal issues between people. we need people driven by real ideas and willpower, not fear, insecurity and prejudice.

we do not need people that don't visit because the house is dirty. we need people that come visit to help us clean.

unfortunately, capitalism is great at eliminating everyone with that kind of mindset. so stay home, fearful, keep on consuming. keep watching big brother okupa, sitting in your couch, thinking about what it could be while you gray out into submission.

meanwhile, we'll continue working to make the world just a tiny bit more exuberant. don't curse the darkness, light a candle.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆