yes! No-Frills Guide to Squatting 1 Talk to successful squatters. 2 Find a suitable abandoned “To live now as we building. think human beings 3 Learn about current owner­ ship. Bussana Vecchia, Visit Liberated should live, in defiance of all that 4 Move in silently, or squat pub­ Places licly to call attention to home­ is bad around us, lessness and speculation. ... and come home inspired with ideas for free living. Here are a few is itself a marvelous Mik we recommend: victory.” e E verett- L Get Debt Free ane Work in an Ecovillage (gen.ecovillage. Howard Zinn org), or join a solidarity work camp historian and author Say good-bye to predatory lenders. to help grow local food or build a Transfer balances from high- Get Stuff free space in a community. Volun­ ­interest credit cards to one with a teers for Peace, is an example: low rate, or take out a loan with a Free local bank or credit union. www.vfp.org Practice Clothing Exchange: Get your Your Voice Pay off old debt as quickly as pos- friends together to swap clothes Spend a weekend touring local fam- sible and avoid new debt by keeping that you don’t wear any more. Add Change all locks and never ily farms (call ahead) or join a farm track of your expenses. Decide 5 a potluck and special theme. leave the place empty during tour and talk to the people who grow Speak up when you hear some­ where money spent adds to your your food. Find farms at www. the first days. body perpetuate a gender-, race-, or happiness and where to cut spend­ Free Cycle: Give away what you localharvest.org, ask at your farmers other stereotype. ing. www don’t need or want. Get what you Get essential services con­ .dil uvi market, or check the phone book. 6 .co m do. Free and local: www.freecycle.org nected and have mail sent to Sing out loud, on the street, on Question assumptions: Do you you at the new address. Visit City Repair installations in the your break, in a community choir. need or want a (second) car? Do Free ads: Find things others want next city you visit—or in your own you need pre-processed foods or a column in a local or to get rid of, or advertise your own: 7 Embellish, repair, and main­ city. Find a list at www.cityrepair.org Write could you make it yourself? Could ­national paper, or in a blog. tain the space: put up cur­ you share instead of own? Could www.craigslist.org and some local newspapers and websites. tains; remove trash; paint. Stay at Bauen, Buenos Aires, Tell yourself how your day you buy used? Do you need it? , which was reclaimed by would look in a liberated world. Dumpster Dive: Get a head- 8 If the owners appear, nego­ its workers after the country’s 2001 Start a zero-interest lending circle tiate a stay in exchange for with your friends or colleagues. Set lamp, gloves, and a pole with a financial crisis. The hotel also offers Tell your friends. maintenance. Have a trans­ up a monthly contribution and take hook. A step stool helps, and with free meeting spaces for area activ­ port plan ready in case of evic­ Vote. turns in using the fund created by a buddy it’s more fun. See www. ists. Phone + 54-11-4372-1932. tion. all of you. freegankitchen.com for tips Stick notes on products in and recipes. Visit a squat like Christiania, a for­ 9 If the police come, it’s helpful your store that are produced or Ditch the dollar. instead n mer military base in the center of ki marketed unethically. It’s called to appear settled by showing a S hat of buy, join a or Couch Surfing: Stay in exotic cit­ Eli n ’s capital, Copenhagen utility bills, mail, and a tidy, guerilla communication, and timebank, or start one: wikipedia. ies or remote outposts for free. (www.christiania.org). Or the idyllic furnished feel. there are lots of variations ... org/wiki/Local_currency Or bring the world to your living village of Bussana Vecchia in Italy room: www.couchsurfing.com 10 Research adverse possession Christiania, Denmark (www.bussana.com), once abandoned Learn more: Your Money or Your after an earthquake, then squatted by or other state laws that could Life, co-authored by Vicki Robin With the money you save, support artists in 1960 and lovingly restored. eventually give you title to the (see Can We Talk) offers nine steps others who are creating free spaces: Wikipedia’s listing of squats is at property. to change how you earn, spend and local organic food, fair trade goods, wikipedia.org/wiki/squatting save money. Co-op America has union-made, green energy, local Get more advice at www.geoci- info on living green without spend­ arts, your favorite non-profit. ties.com/squattersguide and ing more: www.coopamerica.org More ways to find freedom in the Winter 2008 www.sftu.org/hnj.html issue of YES! Magazine, Liberate Your Space. Back copies at YesMagazine.org/store. Interactive online version and printable PDF of this Guide at YesMagazine.org/DIYfreedom. Related articles at YesMagazine.org/LiberatedSpaces. yes! ... And Walk On Learn Just walked out, and searching for Toss a what can be next? Find a mentor. Activism Walked out successfully? Be a mentor. Map Your Flower Bomb Carrie Ellet at Girls for a Change has Rosa Parks was not only an activ­ some tips: Freedom Here are some quick ways to ist, but a trained activist. If you beautify a highway median, are a first-time organizer or a vet­ Don’t be afraid to ask someone you Point out liberated spaces in your an abandoned lot, or a park­ eran looking to hone your skills, admire. Set up a way of work—estab­ area with Google’s new map func­ ing strip. Make sure to use here are some places to go: lish consistent meeting times and fre­ tion—put community centers, ­locally appropriate seeds. Just Walk quency. Decide on a goal or timeline co-housing, flex-car stations, farm­ The Highlander Research and that will signify the end of your men­ er’s markets, gathering spaces, Flowering Eggs Education Center supports grass­ Out ... toring relationship. Be honest about and free events on the map. Blow out an egg and carefully roots leaders of all ages with tools what kind of time you can give. If it Kick your TV addiction. Or your shop­ fill the eggshell with compost for building broad-based move­ turns out you can give more, great! ping habit. Or screw up the courage 1 Create a Google account. and seeds of local flowers— ments for change. But if you can’t meet your promises, to leave a soul-crushing job, school, or ­perennials or drought-resistant www.highlandercenter.org this can be damaging to the relation­ 2 Go to maps.google.com ­relationship. Here’s how to get started: ship. Be sincere in empowering your Free Your annuals are best. Cover the hole with light-weight paper if The Ruckus Society provides mentee to make progress in their Click on my maps and find the geo­ Bring together one or two people 3 Inner Space necessary. Carry your seed eggs environmental, human rights, 1 goals. Instead of leading, ask ques- graphic area you want to work on. who have walked out from an institu­ with you and toss when you and social justice organizers with tions, listen, open your networks, and tion, societal norm, or dysfunctional Save the map and give it a name How can you liberate your inner see a likely spot. tools, training, and support for share your resources. Learn more 4 mindset, and some others who are people will be able to find. space in the midst of a busy day? direct interventions. about a mentor program for young still rounding up the courage to do so. Here’s how mindfulness can be Fukuoka Seedballs www.ruckus.org activists at www.girlsforachange.org Bring food and drinks. 5 Mark your liberated spaces, draw part of everyday life, creating spaces Mix equal parts of seeds and lines to show safe bike paths, add where you can feel your heart’s dry compost, then add clay. Earth Activist Training graduates Start with a talking circle, where every­ images or stories. ­desire, your true passion, your burn­ Spray water over the mixture, have done bioremediation in New 2 one can briefly share their com­ ing question: and knead until it just holds Orleans, started community gar­ plaints, passions, and 6 Overlay free content offered by ­together without crumbling. dens, set up camps desires. Google, such as transit maps. Simply stop for a few seconds Roll into quarter-sized balls for major mobilizations, and throughout the day. Pause and feel and dry. Easy to carry in your helped restore watersheds. E-mail your map to your friends, Encourage each par- 7 yourself in the moment. Listen pocket. The seeds sprout once www.earthactivisttraining.org 3 hand out fliers with the web to what you really long for in that ticipant to take the ­address, or put it in your blog or on rain or sprinklers hit them. ­moment. Learn to do this again and The Rockwood Leadership Pro- “walk-out challenge,” your website. Google’s step-by-step committing to doing one again throughout the day: before you Read David Tracey’s Guerilla gram teaches activists organiza­ guides help you do all this. get up, as you get out of the shower, thing—even if it is just Gardening (2007, New Soci­ tional as well as inner skills to when you leave work, as you get on for a day—from turning ety Publishers) for tips on support their on-going work. your bike, at dinner. Let those pauses off the TV, to going car- edible landscapes, sod sofas, www.rockwoodleadership.org add up. From this new space, surren- free, to quitting school or a der to your deep longing. and other green delights. destructive job. There is no better way to experience the joys of car-less living than without a car. Lend Author Gunilla Norris writes about 4 Set a time to meet again the car to a friend or park it in a different mindfulness in everyday life in Invit- to share stories and make part of town for a week to make space for ing Silence (2005, Rider & Co.). the next round of commit­ creativity and your community support to ments. Invite people to bring kick in. Stick the money you save in the a friend. piggy bank and treat yourself to something Anti-Advertising Agency activists fabulous at the end—maybe a cool bike polled residents living near 10 Oakland bus stops 5 Repeat—until everyone is as light, or a transit pass? And whyu not bring a car free day to your city. Europe has a great regarding what advertising tactics they found free as they want to be. www.mobilityweek.e most bothersome. The team designed bus bench concept: illustrations for each neighborhood. The agency Check out Shikshantar’s network mission is to question the strategies of today’s in India at www.swaraj.org/shik- marketing media by co-opting the tools and shantar and connect with people www.YesMagazine.org/discuss44 structures they use. Also check out the billboard at www.berkana.org Download our Discussion guide Liberation Front at www.billboardliberation.com and start a conversation antiadvertisingagency.com