October 4, 2024

Rave New World On Substack: HOW THE PHILLY AUTONOMOUS ZONE WON

This was the third time in as many months that the city had threatened to evict Camp JTD and Camp Teddy—twin encampments in Philadelphia that have been protesting the city’s housing inequality since the start of the summer. Formed by a coalition of local activist groups OccupyPHA, Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, and Workers Revolutionary Collective, these camps are staffed by volunteers and activists, who give out free food and other mutual aid to a couple hundred homeless residents.

“Unlike other encampments that are regularly swept by police, these occupied territories have tenaciously held their ground by positioning themselves as no-cop autonomous zones with a specific list of demands. At the top of that list: the city must transfer some of the vacant properties that it currently owns to a community land trust, so that these homes can be redistributed to the people as permanent low-income housing.”

https://ravenewworld.substack.com/p/how-the-philly-autonomous-zone-won