Binz (cast)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Binz remains

The Binz was a former factory building occupied from 2006 to 2013 in the industrial quarter of the same name in Zurich's Wiedikon district . Due to the size of the occupied area and the duration of the occupation over several years, despite several expired eviction periods, the Binz was repeatedly the subject of political debates and media reports.

characterization

Partial view of occupied Binz in August 2010.

The Binz, a multi-part factory building with large halls, is located at Üetlibergstrasse 111 / 111a and has been occupied since May 2006. The squatters see themselves as a “culture and living collective”. In a newspaper interview in 2009, one squatter summarized this as follows: “ Three years ago we decided to move in here. Not primarily to live for free, but because we wanted to create a self-managed cultural and living project. “Similar to the Red Factory, the Binz should be“ a place where culture is not consumed, but created with the participation of visitors. "

Around 40 people live in seven smaller shared apartments of around five people each, arranged around the kitchen and living room "rooms". There are also several inhabited caravans behind the factory building (see Wagenplatz ). Living together is not organized and structured hierarchically or according to plans. Fixed point, however, are regular meetings in which discussions are held until a consensus is reached - without votes in which majorities are used. The fact that this works is the fact that it has been in existence for several years, " the best proof ", according to one squatter. According to their own statements, the "Schoch family" also consists in part of people who could definitely afford rental apartments, but many have chosen the occupation type of housing purely for political and socially critical reasons.

Another 100 people work regularly on projects in Binz. The area serves as a rehearsal and performance location for film and theater groups and has several workshops where, among other things, sets for plays or art events are built. Concerts and parties are held regularly in a separate hall, and people are also invited to public kitchens on a regular basis . Apart from these dates and activities, the Binz, which also has a sports room, a climbing wall, gardens and five sun terraces, is a popular meeting place for alternatives to leisure activities and is the scene of various other activities and initiatives that are simple and simple Need space.

history

(Painted) display board of Color Metal AG in the attic of the Binz.

The Color Metal AG factory halls built in 1894 were acquired by the City of Zurich in 1983. They wanted a multi-purpose building for various municipal and cantonal administrative and administrative activities as well as a district prison on the site. These projects failed due to restrictions under building law. As a result, the area was rented out for temporary use , but was vacant again at the beginning of 2006, as the city now wanted to set up a temporary freestyle park. In May 2006 the building complex was finally occupied by a group. The urban freestyle project was abandoned in 2007 due to objections from a neighbor in the building permit process.

Meanwhile, the city of Zurich signed with the squatters a Gebrauchsleihevertrag , the three years to June 2009, a "good cooperation" of the occupiers and the city allowed. In April 2009, the city handed over responsibility for the area to the Canton of Zurich. Shortly thereafter, he announced the demolition of the area on July 1, 2009, but assured the occupiers in personal discussions that this would begin in September or October at the earliest. The demolition date has plans for the property, which as soon as possible as part of a revision of contaminated sites redone , moved further and should be sold to a property developer. A demolition was now no longer considered to be an absolute necessity; it should first be determined to what extent a contaminated site remediation would be necessary. An agreement was reached with the occupiers to continue to tolerate the occupation under certain conditions:

  • no obstruction of the exploratory work (necessary for the remediation of contaminated sites)
  • The area will be cleared on August 1, 2010
  • Provision of a "security deposit" of CHF 20,000 for the disposal of the "bulky waste" required in the course of the clearance

The squatters agreed, with the exception of the eviction date, which in their opinion should only be discussed after the exploratory work, and offered to raise the money by the end of 2009. As a result, they received an urgent payment request to transfer the money by the end of September 2009, otherwise it would be vacated immediately. The request to transfer 20,000 francs for any clearing costs without a clear legal basis, although the area still contained numerous machines, vehicles and materials at the time of the occupation, was viewed critically by the occupiers, but they came to this request - on their own Way - after. On September 28, they brought 400,000 five- centime coins in eight wheelbarrows to the bank in a media-effective campaign. The tedious counting showed that there were even 209 coins too many - after all, the occupiers were supposed to be charged a "counting fee" of 2,500 francs, which they refused.

The squatters have also tried to attract public attention again and again, especially since summer 2009, with other protest actions, such as hanging an oversized banner with the inscription "Binz remains Binz" on the Zurich town hall and the erection of a sculpture in front of the Kunsthaus . The binzbleibtbinz.ch website was also set up in summer 2009 and is no longer online today.

Riots and looting

On the night of March 3, 2013, after an illegal party, there was an unauthorized rally against the planned evacuation of the occupied Binz area in Zurich Wiedikon. Shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday evening, the organizers of the party asked the guests to go to a rally against the eviction on the street. The situation escalated when moving to the city center. The police used tear gas, rubber shot and water cannons against the demonstrators. The riots caused major property damage and three shops were looted (two Coop branches in Uetlibergstrasse and Langstrasse, and a bakery at the SZU Binz stop). The Zurich police chief Daniel Leupi described the violence and destruction train as criminal in a communiqué; the Binz activists would have more than discredited themselves. The damage in the course of the riots was estimated by the Zurich city police at around one million francs. Goods worth 75,000 francs were stolen from the looted shops.

The occupation ended on May 30, 2013. The squatters voluntarily left the area due to an eviction threat from the city authorities. Some of the residents moved on to the occupied cooking area.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zürcher Landzeitung: “Family Schoch” defends itself. August 12, 2009.
  2. ↑ Zürcher Landzeitung: “Family Schoch” defends itself. August 12, 2009.
  3. ↑ a b Neue Zürcher Zeitung : cultural center and temporary living community. July 18, 2009 (accessed August 10, 2010)
  4. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger : Singer plays a war witch. August 5, 2009 (accessed August 11, 2010)
  5. ↑ Zürcher Landzeitung: “Family Schoch” defends itself. August 12, 2009.
  6. ^ Binz - occupied since May 2006. ( Memento from August 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on August 10, 2010)
  7. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger: Fünfräppler campaign is expensive for the Binz occupiers. September 29, 2009
  8. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger: Binz-Occupier: "We don't pay more." October 9, 2009
  9. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger: Binz occupiers erect a sculpture in front of the Kunsthaus. July 21, 2009 (accessed August 11, 2010)
  10. ^ Binz remains Binz: media communiqué. ( Memento of September 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on August 10, 2010)
  11. ↑ binzbleibtbinz.ch. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009 ; accessed on February 4, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Nocturnal riot in Zurich: looting and property damage during demonstration (accessed on March 3, 2013)
  13. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Damage millions after the Binz riots . (accessed April 1, 2013)
  14. ↑ Jan Jirát: «So, that's it. We have a lot to do". WOZ, June 6, 2013, accessed February 3, 2017 .

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 21 ′ 38 "  N , 8 ° 31 ′ 5"  E ; CH1903:  681551  /  246096