How can urban grassroots networks collaborate with each other to stop forced evictions?

In this interview (one more from our World Social Forum 2011 series from Dakar), Elizabeth Santos of the Red Metropolitana de Inquilinos y Movimientos Sociales de Caracas (Network of Tenants and Social Movements in Metropolitan Caracas) talks about the different tactics allied networks have used to resist and fight forced evictions in Caracas, Venezuela. Those tactics include advocating for stronger legislation to protect families at risk of eviction to on-the-ground, rapid-response actions organized via an SMS network of solidarity. One example of this is sending text messages to alert activists about imminent evictions and invite them to form a human chain around the house of a family being unjustly evicted. “We’ve stopped many evictions this way,” says Elizabeth in her interview.

Elizabeth also talks about the Zero Evictions Campaign in Venezuela, part of a global effort spearheaded by the International Alliance of Inhabitants to stop forced evictions in cities around the world. The collaboration between this global campaign and local efforts in Caracas also provides an example of how networks at both levels can work together to bring visibility to unjust evictions through online actions like petitions, video sharing, and targeted newsletters. 

Watch the interview (in Spanish – help us translate!):

Visit https://blog.witness.org/category/campaigns/forced-evictions/ to learn more about WITNESS’ global campaign on Forced Evictions in the Name of Development.

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