ORGANIZING SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES: SQUATTING’S MATERIAL PRACTICES AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Dominika V. Polanska Institute for Housing and Urban Research, Uppsala University, Sweden

Abstract diversification will be used to illustrate the importance of organization of social and spatial boundaries. I will The prerequisites for squatting are somewhat also discuss the reverse effects of the refinement of different from other social movements. Most squatters the boundaries resulting in the creation of hierarchies tend to live (literally reside) in their movement and and processes of exclusion, seclusion, inflexibility and risk being overwhelmed and burnt-out by the intensity impenetrability faced by squatters in the studied case. and emotional involvement of this kind of activism. The fact that squatters’ struggles revolve around a The material for this study is based on 20 physical place, which in itself is a form of protest, and semi-structured interviews with squatters’ activists that the most involved activists are expected to locate conducted in 2013. The theoretical framework of the their everyday lives to this place, puts a lot of pressure study is combining a social movement approach with on the squatters and the way they handle their social organizational theory. I argue that squatting, as any relationships or more material practices and needs. social movement, should be analysed as intersecting social orders of networks, institutions and organiza- The aim of this article is to examine how social tions, as it needs to create organizational measures, and spatial boundaries are regulated and organized by use dominant institutional order(s) and/or create squatters and to discuss how the spaces within squats new shared norms and beliefs, alongside founding its are regulated and how the boundaries are negotiated by activity on networks of trust, horizontality and reci- the squatting activists in light of these spaces being the procity, in order to function smoothly and not exhaust ‘embodiment’ of the squatting movement requiring its current resources (social, symbolic, material). some special organizational measures to create order and avoid conflicts that could lead to the movement’s Keywords: squatting, social movements, organi- decline. The squatting movement in Warsaw will serve zational theory, boundary drawing, social and spatial as an example, and its recent development and internal relationships

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La Organización de los Límites Sociales y Espa- horizontalidad y reciprocidad de modo de funcionar ciales: Prácticas Materiales y Relaciones Sociales correctamente y no erosionar sus recursos (sociales, del Movimiento Ocupa simbólicos y materiales) actuales.

Resumen Palabras clave: Ocupaciones, movimientos sociales, teoría organizacional, delimitación, relacio- Los prerrequisitos para llevar adelante una nes sociales y espaciales ocupación son distintos a los que requieren otros tipos de movimientos sociales. La mayoría de lxs ocupas Introduction suelen vivir (literalmente residir) en su movimiento y arriesgarse a ser superadxs y desgastadxs por la inten- If squatting is defined as collective use of property sidad emocional de este tipo de militancia. El hecho without legal permission, most researchers of de que las ocupaciones involucran lugares físicos, squatting would agree that the foundation of this kind lo cual es precisamente una forma de protesta, les of collective action is to self-organize and self-govern genera mucha presión a lxs ocupas y a las formas en a material space where “the social and spatial are que manejan sus relaciones sociales u otras prácticas y mutually constituting and inseparable” (Martin and necesidades materiales. Miller 2003: 144). There are a multitude of views on the understanding of squatting including: aiming at El objetivo de este artículo es examinar cómo se distributing economic resources in a society in a more regulan y organizan los límites sociales y espaciales egalitarian way (Corr 1999); enabling and providing en una ocupación, y debatir sobre cómo se regulan self-help (Katz and Mayer 1985); or counter-cultural los espacios y se negocian los límites en su interior, and political alternatives (Lowe 1986); providing considerando que las ocupaciones encarnan al movi- housing alternatives (Wates 1980), and as an expres- miento y que requieren de medidas de organización sion of a Do-It-Yourself culture (McKay, 1998). It is especiales para crear orden y evitar conflictos que also seen as a struggle for a better society (Kallenberg pueden llevar a su fin. Aquí utilizamos el movimiento 2001); a manifestation of political/ideological activism ocupa de Varsovia como ejemplo, mientras que su (Della Porta and Rucht 1995); a counter-cultural reciente desarrollo y diversificación serán utilizados expression of the middle classes (Clarke et al. 1976) or para demostrar la importancia de la regulación de as a social movement creating alternatives to capital- los límites sociales y espaciales. Además discutiremos ism (Squatting Europe Kollective 2014). However, los efectos negativos derivados de una determinación its most common definition is to create a space that estricta de los límites, que pueden resultar en la gene- is commonly managed and in some way allow for ración de jerarquías y procesos de exclusión, seclusión, the squatter’s collective and private life. Many squats inflexibilidad e impermeabilidad que lxs ocupas sufren around the globe oppose local and global processes en este estudio de caso. of urban restructuring, gentrification, privatization of public spaces and ‘accumulation by dispossession’ El estudio se basa en 20 entrevistas semi-estructu- (Harvey 2005), by opening up spaces that ought to radas realizadas a ocupas en 2013. El marco teórico be managed and used collectively. Mayer paints a busca combinar la perspectiva de movimientos sociales background picture of squatters’ struggles and writes con la teoría organizacional. El argumento principal es that neoliberal forms of dispossession lead to “the que las ocupaciones, como todo movimiento social, conversion of common, collective, and state forms deben ser analizadas como órdenes sociales entrela- of property rights into exclusive private property zados de redes, instituciones y organizaciones, pues rights and the suppression of rights to the commons” necesitan crear reglas organizativas, utilizar el orden (2013: 3). She further concludes that in light of these institucional dominante y/o crear nuevas normas, a la changes squatting has taken on new political meaning vez que deben alimentar sus relaciones de confianza, in opposing the logics of capitalism.

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But opposing the logics of capitalism is not so tion of public spaces and housing and are explicitly easy, especially for collective actors whose goal is to anti-capitalist in their collective framing. Creating self-organize and self-govern a common space by commonly-governed (horizontal) spaces is a way of making visible the capitalist mechanisms causing resistance to the capitalist system. urban inequalities (Martínez and Cattaneo 2014). The prerequisites for squatting are also somewhat different Reconfiguring squatting in Warsaw began around from other collective actors. Squatters (not all) tend 2008 with some internal conflicts and divisions in to live (literally reside) in their movement, and risk two of the long-lasting squats (Elba, 2004-2012 and being overwhelmed and burnt-out by the intensity Fabryka 2001/2-2011). It culminated with the eviction and emotional involvement of this kind of activism of both squats in 2011 and 2012 causing strong sup- (Owens 2009: 262). The fact that squatters’ struggles portive reactions among the media, other left-wing revolve around a physical place, and that this place is activists and the local public. The outcome of the in itself a form of protest, and that the most involved eviction of Elba was the establishment of a new squat, activists are expected to locate their everyday lives to the initiation of negotiations with local authorities on this place, puts a lot of weight on the squatters and a new social centre (opened in 2014), the initiation the way they handle their social relationships or more of cooperation with the tenants’ movement and the material practices and needs. strengthening of the profiles of the city’s squats (see Table 1). The case of squatting in Warsaw (1.7 million inhabitants) is not only interesting because until Opening of a new squat in re-privatized 2011 recently it has been an under-researched part of building (still existing in 2015) Europe, but also as the squatting scene in the Polish 2011 Eviction of Fabryka squat capital city recently underwent a process of broadening 2012 Eviction of Elba squat of claims from a more cultural to a political focus and Demonstration gathering 2000 supporters a re-configuration resulting in different squats having 2012 against the eviction/publicity different and complementing profiles (Polanska 2014; 1 Opening of a new squat in municipal Polanska and Piotrowski 2015). Squatters have been 2012 present in the city since the second half of the 1990s, building (still existing in 2015) however, squatting attempts intensified and gathered 2012 Talks with district authorities larger numbers of activists after 2000. At the time of Talks with city authorities (together with 2012 writing (October 2015) there are three squatted spaces tenants` organizations) in Warsaw – two squatted buildings and one squatted Squatting attempt of privately owned 2013 land – as well as one legalized social centre. building, lasted more than 3 months Talks with the Ministry (together with 2014 Squatting in Poland is ideologically driven and, tenants' organizations) to some extent, need-based as many of the squatters Opening of social centre ADA (Aktywny are relatively young, well-educated, but in precarious 2014 Dom Alternatywny/Active Alternative forms of employment (temporary, self-employed in House) small businesses, students) and in need of affordable Table 1. The chain of events since 2008 housing, especially since the financial crisis of 2008. Polish squatters oppose the processes of privatiza- This chain of events resulted in the split of the 1 While still limited in the 1990s (Żuk 2001), squatting in groups in Fabryka and Elba and considerable re- Poland escalated in the 2000s (Piotrowski 2011; Polanska 2014) shuffling of squatters in the city initiated by the and more or less temporary squats have been active in the last five years in a dozen cities. I acknowledge that buildings have emergence of new squats and profiles; new members been occupied illegally in Poland during state socialism, but joined in as new squats were opened, along with new consider these practices to be of a more individual character allies and brokers joining in support of the struggle. lacking collective and explicit political framing.

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All these aspects, and in particular the loss of the squat in Warsaw between 1995 and 2013. Interview space that Fabryka and Elba provided, the inflow of questions included information on both individual new members and the re-shuffling of the scene, put motives, experiences with squatting and collective significant pressure on squatters to regulate social and strategies, organizational practices and internal and spatial boundaries. external relations within a specific squat along with its general characteristics. The length of respondents´ Moreover, the development of the squatting scene squatting activism (that is living or being active at a in the city in the last five years was accompanied by squat) varied from 6 months to 14 years. Interviews the growing right-wing rhetoric and mobilization were conducted with nine men and eleven women in the country, particularly in the capital city. Since (see more in the appendix). The quotations used in the financial crisis of 2008, right-wing mobilization the article are anonymized and numbered to not and rhetoric has gained new ground in the country reveal any sensitive data about the respondents (to (Ekiert and Kubik 2014), and far outnumbers not facilitate connection of particular citations with left-wing mobilizations. Warsaw is home to Poland’s the list of interviewees, the numbering in the quota- largest right-wing organizations and the place where tions and appendix is not synchronized). Interview the annual independence marches, gathering all kinds material was cross-referenced with material produced of conservative, nationalist and right-wing mobiliza- by squatters and about squatting in the media and tions, take place. The number of participants in these on the Internet. However, in order not to reveal any marches has been steadily growing and there have been sensitive information about squatters or how squats some attacks on the city’s squats during past marches. are organized physically, some sources have been excluded from the presentation here (for instance The aim of this article is to examine how social visual material or material where existing squatters or and spatial boundaries are regulated and organized squats can be identified). by squatters and to discuss the unintended effects of these demarcations. The squatting scene in Warsaw The material has been transcribed and systemati- will serve as an example, and its recent development cally coded by the author (content analysis) developing and internal diversification will be used to illustrate themes. Some of the themes found in the interviews the importance of organizing social and spatial reflected the questions posed to the respondents, boundaries. I will analyse how everyday practices of though other themes also appeared. The main themes creating social and spatial boundaries became crucial found were: definition of activism, identification of for the movement’s functioning in light of its growth main problems, solutions to the problems, the material and broadening of claims, internal profiling and the dimension, emotional work, decision-making, cultural activities of the city’s other actors. As these boundaries and historical context, relations, conflicts, and media/ are not fixed, I am especially interested in how they public opinion/dominant discourses. These themes are negotiated and organized among squatters. I will were divided into sub-categories, and the theme of also discuss the reverse effects of the refinement of interest for this study is the one on the relationships the boundaries resulting in processes of exclusion, along with the material dimension of squatting. seclusion, inflexibility and impenetrability faced by However, this does not exclude features of the other squatters in this case. themes as they are interconnected, in particular the theme of conflicts, decision-making, problems arising, The material for the study is based on 20 semi- and emotional work. The analysis presented in the structured interviews with squatters in Warsaw study is based on the two themes, relationships and conducted in 2013. Interviews were carried out material dimension, and in particular on the intersec- with members of different Warsaw-based squats (see tion of these two and how they are organized on an Polanska 2014 for more on the selection process). All everyday basis. In the analysis, differences between of the respondents were either active or living in a specific squats (existing and no longer existing) were

Volume 9, Number 1 2016 33 SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES strategically under-emphasized to focus on similari- In studies focusing on Poland we find Żuk’s ties and common mechanisms of ordering social and (2001) study that illustrates the origins of squatting spatial relationships in squatting. in Poland and explains it as a new phenomenon in the Polish context, but connected to the development I begin with a presentation of previous squatting of an alternative culture in the country in the 1980s. research, then present the theoretical framework of Polanska (2014) examined the more recent forms the study by combining a social movement approach of squatting in Warsaw and argues that squatters’ with organizational theory. In the next section I political activity was highly influenced by their present the analysis and examine the organization willingness to cooperate with other collective actors. and negotiation of social relationships and space by Furthermore, Polanska and Piotrowski’s (2015) com- squatters. Lastly, the findings are presented in the con- parison of squatting in two Polish cities, Warsaw and clusion, and I argue that the social orders of networks, Poznań, shows that there are some differences in how institutions and organizations intersect and result in squatters in different cities cooperate with other social partial organization of social movements, in particular movements, and how the local dynamics, stability of in squatting, since one of the main goals of squatters the squats and ideologies affect alliance building. is to collectively manage material spaces and social relationships so they can last and are not completely None of the studies on squatting in post-socialist exhausted. However, as I will show later with the societies examined how squatters organize and regulate help of organizational theory, everyday organization the social and spatial boundaries. Even if these bound- of social and spatial boundaries could result in some aries are acknowledged as utterly important for the reverse effects. functioning of squats, few scholars studying squatting have actually given their full attention to these The challenges of commonly managed spaces: divisions, even if many of them touch upon it. Owens’ previous research on squatting (2009) work on the Amsterdam squatters’ movement is one of the exceptions, bringing the dominant Squatting emerged in post-socialist societies after public-private divide to the fore. Owens discusses the collapse of the socialist regime. Poland is pointed the importance of fixed movement boundaries, par- out as exceptional in the development of squatting, ticularly the importance of a common distinction of mostly due to the location of the most longstand- public and private within the squatting movement, ing squatting centre – Rozbrat in Poznań – that was in relation to the longevity and decline of squatting. opened in 1994 (Piotrowski 2014). Unfortunately, The author concludes the movement’s decline was an the phenomenon of squatting in post-socialist milieus effect of a radicalization of the narrative of squatting has not yet caught the full attention of researchers and the neglect of the important boundaries between who have instead focused on the development of public and private spheres of squatters. According to squatting in Western contexts, ignoring this part of Owens, if the ideological goals of a movement are in Europe (cf. Jacobsson 2015). There are, therefore, a conflict, and the boundaries between the public and limited number of studies on squatting in Central and the private spheres are not balanced, the movement Eastern Europe (CEE), either published quite recently runs the risk of exhausting its emotional depot and or only available in languages other than English. declining. Decline in itself is an unintended effect of Among the studies directly focusing on squatting is a movement’s activity, and Owens provides a detailed the study of Piotrowski (2011), which argues that the insight into the emotional boundary work done by squatting movement in CEE encountered difficulties Amsterdam’s squatters to find balance in a period of in its expansion due to limitations in finding broader decline. support, the small size of left-wing movements and the phenomenon’s novelty in this part of Europe. De Moor’s (2012) unpublished comparison of two squats in France and the Netherlands concen-

34 Human Geography DOMINIKA V. POLANSKA trates on how the squatted spaces are produced and Movements’ organizing activities: theoretical negotiated and how squatters operationalized spatial, framework temporal and social boundaries. It concludes that the ideology of transcending the division between The theoretical framework of this study consists what is perceived as public and private and creating of a combination of social movements’ theory and an open environment, overshadowed squatters’ need concepts originating from organizational theory. In for privacy, intimacy and peace, wearing the activists the specific case of Poland and Warsaw, squatting is out over time. The more successful squatting example considered a social movement which, in one form demonstrated more extended spatial and temporal or another, uses occupying of buildings as a political delimitation and a greater possibility of withdrawing tool. Squatting has previously been conceptual- from what was constructed as the public or common ized as a social movement (Martínez, 2013; Europe to the private sphere. Even if De Moor treats the Squatting Kollective 2014) emphasizing squatting as production of space in squats, the study lacks an a form of urban social movement in the European organizational perspective in its approach. context, since its activities mostly take place in urban areas and are directed towards urban issues. This desire Moreover, Thörn (2012) deals with the publicness to change or influence urban issues can be expressed and openness of squatting by suggesting an additional in squatters’ attempts at controlling urban environ- type of squatting: the ‘place politics of open space’. ment (Pruijt 2007), or at influencing urban policies This squatting type involves an identity related to a (Martínez 2013), which can also be observed among well-defined material space and an openness of the Polish squatters. The size of the movement in Poland squat to the public. Thörn argues that the Scandinavian might be smaller, however, size should not be the sole examples of Christiania and Haga and their different determinant, but the very character/specific feature of outcomes for urban restructuring demonstrate the the examined collective action and actors. The Polish importance of material conditions, and in particular squatting movement fulfils the criteria inherent in the importance of clear physical boundaries. Thörn’s, the definition of social movements by building social Owens’ and De Moor’s analyses demonstrate the networks and alliances (Polanska 2014), creating importance of clear boundaries in spaces that are open common frames to legitimate squatting actions and and commonly managed. In the case of Owens and by involvement in political activity as “squatting chal- De Moor, they also show the significance of balance lenges housing shortages, urban speculation, absolute between the (continually shifting) public and private private property rights, and the capitalist production spheres of activism. Nevertheless, apart from squat- of urban space as it is conducted by the State and ting’s decline, no other unintended and somewhat private interests” (Martínez 2013: 870). controversial effects of social and spatial boundary making is discussed by the authors, such as the securi- Furthermore, social movement scholars have tization and fortification of squats or the reproduction been studying the role of space and place for social of hierarchies and specific derogatory social cat- movements since the end of 1990s (Martin and Miller egories. Neither do they present analyses of squatting 2003; Nicholls 2009; Polletta 1999; Sewell 2001) and combining the social movement and organizational concluded that space, among others, should be under- perspective, helping us to understand how collective stood as both shaping/constraining/enabling collec- actors organize their everyday activities and how tive actors, and as shaped and produced by collective access to resources is regulated or how (unintended) actors. Moreover, one important argument in this hierarchies are created in (horizontal) organizations. research field is the inseparable character of the social Combining these two theoretical frameworks, along and the spatial, as they are co-dependent (Martin and with an analysis of HOW spatial and social relations Miller 2003: 144). are practiced in everyday interactions, will be the contribution of this study. The creation of what scholars have calledfree spaces, or spaces “that are removed from the control

Volume 9, Number 1 2016 35 SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES of dominant groups” (Polletta 1999) by the social the intersection among these three social orders, where movements, are important to study as they need a features of each order are to be found in squatting (see high degree of organizing and regulating to fulfil the Figure 1). The value of this approach is in the focus needs of the individuals and groups involved. This on how interaction is organized socially and spatially study will focus on how the spaces within squats are and to recognize that informal and non-hierarchical regulated and how the boundaries are negotiated by networks include elements of other social orders in the squatting activists in light of these spaces being the their everyday functioning. ‘embodiment’ of the squatting movement requiring some special organizational measures to create order According to Ahrne and Brunsson, organization is and avoid conflicts that could lead to the movement’s defined as a formal order composed of five elements: decline. membership, hierarchy, rules, monitoring, and sanctions. All of these elements are used to achieve a total orga- Following Haug (2013), I argue that there is a nization; in partial organizations only some are used need to distinguish between mobilizing and organiz- in creating order. They can be used in different degrees ing activities of social movements to better grasp and in different combinations, but only when all five social interaction and regulation of collective space elements are used do they form a total organization. within social movements. Haug claims that the recent Organization, in this perspective, is a decided attempt turn among social movement scholars to study ‘social to create order and differs from institutions that are movements as spaces’ instead of ‘as actors’, included more informal and build upon shared beliefs and the neglect of dimensions of collective space, face-to- norms. Networks are also different from organizations face and other social interactions, particularly orga- and refer to social orders, building on personalized nizing in social movements. As social movements are trust and lack of hierarchy along with informality composed of more or less loosely organized networks and reciprocity of relationships. The use of these of individuals, groups and organizations, and their five organizational elements varies among different relationships are characterized by informality and organizations in degree, time, and specific mix. In this sometimes lacking or contested objectives, it is particularly important to study how these relationships are organized and regulated. Establishing social relationships is a way of creating a social order within a network, along with establishing spatial boundaries.

Since social movements are organized as networks and not formal organizations as such, with the help of organizational theory I argue that they should be understood as partial organizations (Ahrne and Brunsson 2011). I use this term somewhat loosely to point to the elements of organization and institution- alization in non-hierarchical and informal networks. Organizational sociologists Ahrne and Brunsson (2011) distinguish three forms of social order: organizations, institutions and networks. My goal is to understand how these three are interrelated in the case of squatting and how social relationships and space are Figure 1. Squatting in the intersection of three social orders of organizations, organized among squatters. I place squatting in institutions and networks.

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study they are analysed in order to understand how social and spatial boundaries are organized and how they are used by social movements. I will argue that although squatters avoid hierarchical organizing and prefer horizontal forms of decision making, in their everyday social and spatial practices they create hierarchical orders related to access to power and resources. Therefore, the more common focus of social movement studies on collective actors’ identity is substituted here with the organizational theory’s emphasis on access, resources and hierarchical orders.

Squatting, and other social movements should be analysed in the intersection of three social orders of: networks, institutions and organiza- tions, as they in their everyday practices include elements of these orders. Since one of the main goals of social movements is to manage social rela- tionships and material resources in a way that does not wear them out over time, they need to create organizational measures, use dominant institu- Figure 2. Social categories of members and non-members and access to tional order(s) and/or create new shared norms resources. and beliefs, alongside founding their activity on networks of trust, horizontality and reciprocity, in decision-making (symbolic resource) and access in order to function smoothly and not exhaust their to shared resources (material resource) the particular current resources (social, symbolic, material). category of a member held. Organizational theory stresses the role of resources in the study of self- How boundaries are organized by squatters is organized and self-governed collective action, where the main question of this study. Organization of collective actors strive for collective benefits (Ostrom boundaries might be context-specific, and depend on 1990). The access to resources is of particular impor- the specific functioning of a social movement, or the tance, as are the outcomes of regulations of access and context in which it is active. However, with the help the type of resulting interactions. of organizational theory the goal is to outline more general aspects of organizing and refining of spatial Firstly, there were the residents of squats, and their and social boundaries in social movements. number varied over time and between different squats. Secondly, there was the category of the team/collective Negotiation and regulation of social boundaries where residents of squats were included along with people frequently visiting squats and being active Social relationships among squatters in Warsaw in the squats, but not living there. This category of were principally organized through membership. In membership was fluent, and was based on the implicit the interviews, different kinds of social categories of assumption of commitment and frequent activity. people associated with and active in the squats were Another important category was guest, encompassing distinguished. These are summarized in Figure 2 in visitors that attended the activities offered by squats relation to their access to resources in the squatted – a type of temporary member. Guests could also be spaces. The closer to the core (residents) at the bottom people visiting squats for longer periods of time, but of the figure, the more trust (social resource), power with the status of a guest (that is with limited influence

Volume 9, Number 1 2016 37 SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES over decisions taken by the residents or the collective). for the new resident, just before s/he is accepted as Guests could also be individuals or groups cooperat- a resident, or just after. That period was most often a ing with squatters and using their facilities for their month, but could also last up to three months. The activities, much like tenants’ activists (Polanska 2014). decision was taken by the sitting residents, and the The division between the residents, the team and the vetoes were allowed. In some cases the veto must be guests was clearly demarcated at the organization of explained and a reason given, and in some cases it was meetings and the influence over decision-making: enough to use the veto power. In the case of one of the Warsaw squats the probationary period took place In general, our meetings have three parts: before the formal decision was taken: The first one is a time for the people from the outside because not all the events in XX Besides, persons who want to join the [name of squat] are organized by us, but also team, or rather that want to live in XX [name by people we give our place to. We have time of squat], at the moment, also after some to talk with them, with the people who email unpleasant experiences, are subject to a proba- us or send us messages on Facebook. We talk tionary period that can only start once some about the things they want to do, etc. This persons from the team already know that is the first part of the meeting. Then, when person. So it’s not that anyone can come right we start talking about our internal things, off the street and enter a probationary period, the people from the outside are not there and no, you first should have been coming here for we start talking only in the group of team a while and been active, so that everyone can members. The last part is only for the people get to know you, and only then you can be in who live in the squat. (2:10) probation, which I think does not have any defined limits. I think the maximum period Haug (2013) analysed meetings in social is one month; this is the maximum time that movements as infrastructural tools that include the you can spend here with guest status. And three social orders of organization, institution and then a decision is made whether or not such a network, helping movements synchronize their activi- person can join the resident team (6:3-4). ties. The organization of meetings within squats, and their division in different parts, serves as a clear dis- Yet another social category was that of support- tinction between members and non-members, and the ers. This category included people only sporadically categories’ access to information and decision-making. visiting squats, or who have never been to a squat, but Haug emphasizes that meetings help to stabilize social supported the cause and cooperated or sympathized relationships in more informally organized groups of with squatters and their grievances. The category of activists, and “create[s] a social order that facilitates supporters was not strictly defined in relation to space, collective action and fosters social change” (2013: as it was almost never threatening to cross what was 707). perceived as the squat’s spatial boundary or was inter- preted as non-threatening in general. The supporters To become a resident of a squat one needs to pass were described as belonging to the public sphere, or as a set of rules: one needs to be active within the squat public figures, broader public or acquaintances. and part of the collective, that is, only somebody known to the residents can be accepted as a resident. The most interesting category threatening to Commitment becomes crucial for acceptance as a access and benefit from squatters’ common resources, member of the resident team. One often needs to and being excluded from the membership classifica- be part of the collective before becoming a resident. tion, was that of what I would like to call the undesir- Another important factor is space and the availability able outsiders. Examples of such undesirable outsiders of space at the squat for yet another resident. Given were people with criminal records or drug/alcohol that this is the case, there is a probationary period problems. Encounters with them were described as

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‘troublesome’ and squatters did not wish to be associ- due to them, not to have them nagging. Why ated with this category of people; this might be the should we have policemen hanging around result of stereotypical views of squatters flourishing our backyard? And now they do not come in the public opinion (as drug-addicted, young and here, they do not enter inside; we talk with bored, revolting youth, not respecting legal regula- them through the gate if a need arises. (10:12) tions) (cf. Dee and Debelle 2015). Stories of undesir- able outsiders disturbing the peace of squatters were The stories of encounters with the police either tell recurrent in the interviews. Most often they referred about an open gate resulting in the police entering the to the outsiders crossing a boundary built up by the squat or talks with the police through a closed gate, squatters; either it was a spatial boundary or a social with a clear physical boundary keeping the squatters rule. An example from one of the squats: and the police apart. Squatters explained that keeping the gate closed was purely practical, it kept the police Yes, there is the gate. I would like it to from entering the squat. It also gave the impression of be possible for everyone to enter and I think control on the behalf of squatters “in order to show many of us would like that, but as it was us that we are not just some hobos whose place they can who moved into the ‘thieves’ gate’... well, the just enter at any given time and see what is happening subject of the gate... right now it always gets inside, but also for them to see that we grasp the closed, but each time that I leave it is open. matter, that we know we have rights and that they Part of the team that lives on the side that basically can’t do it” (3: 9-10). we’re in right now rather closes the separate flats. There are also the flats of persons that The last category is that of the undesirable outsider had already lived here before [the building represented in groups or individuals, who belonged to was squatted], and one of them is a flat of counter-movements or were hostile to the ideology of this courtyard alcohol group of bums and squatters, and perceived by the squatters as enemies. simple thieves. They even tell us themselves The threat of attacks of radical right activists on the when they are drunk “do not let us into your squats has recently resulted in securitization of the place”. They also have pals who are involved entrances of the squatted buildings. The annual Inde- in the same kind of practices and sometimes it pendence Marches in Warsaw, gathering the far right happens that these pals steal something from organizations and supporters in the whole country, us. For example, once they stole from the free- have grown in numbers since 2011 (2011: 10 thousand shop. But also there were worse cases (13:5-6). participants, 2014: between 70 and 100 thousand participants) and the one in 2013 was particularly Another type of undesirable outsiders were the violent towards the squats, as the two centrally located representatives of the dominant groups (exercising squats were attacked during the march. state power) that the free spaces were created to keep out. Mainstream politicians, some officials and the Negotiation and regulation of spatial boundaries police were included in this category. The encounters with the police were described as confrontational and The organization of access to the squats in Warsaw threatening, and there were stories told about open was characterized by different rules of access, and spaces being entered by the police, a reason why these above all by the use of rules and physical preclusion. spaces required constant control or occlusion. All interviewees confirmed that access to squats was limited at times. Squats were kept closed when there This is also one of the reasons why the gate were no public activities held there. Sometimes the is closed. Because for the police it is a signal access was limited when there were some activities that if the gate is open, then it means that taking place (concerts for instance) and the admission the place is not guarded. So this is somewhat was monitored by one or several of the members.

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The conflicts between the organizational and squat. Warsaw squatters did not admit new residents if individual interests at the squats were reflected in the they were unknown to the group. A common assump- internal division of space (that could shift over time). tion was that potential residents had their chance of There were spaces described as public, like the concert introducing themselves to the squatters by participat- halls, toilets, cafés or shared kitchens, and there were ing in the public events or activities held at the squat. spaces that were described and used as private at different points in time. At one of the squats there Access to the spaces where the squats were located was a rule that the residential floor was restricted to was dependent on the activities held there at a given residents only: point in time. Meetings of the residents were mostly held behind closed doors, but when events open to The living area is basically localized in the the public were held, access to the squat was opened staircase that we’re at right now and at the but most often monitored. The rest of the time only fourth floor of the other one. And basically trusted persons could access the squat without permis- people that are not residents do not enter the sion. These persons were either trusted with a key or fourth floor unless they’re invited by someone. a code of access. Here is an example of how the access There are no doors or anything, but it just was organized in one of the squats: turns out like that, symbolically, that persons who do not live there do not hang in there Well, yes, we did shut ourselves because (10:9). we were simply afraid of unwelcome persons, actually the most of persons with radical right There were also spaces in the squats that functioned wing views, neo-Nazis, who could come to us, as semi-private or semi-public, depending on who was but also of the police and all kinds of other denied access to them at a particular point in time. unwelcome persons. So we shut ourselves out The semi-public spaces could usually be entered by the and when there were meetings of the team... residents of the squat and the collective, but visitors (of I don’t remember exactly, I think one had to for instance concerts) were often denied access to these let us know, shout out that you were in front spaces. The semi-private spaces were usually shared of the gate. For persons that we trusted, not solely by the squat’s residents, and others’ (including even from the squat, we had a code for the the members of the collective) access and use of these lock, to be exact we had a bicycle fastener and spaces was restricted (i.e. spaces connecting private such persons knew the code. And when there bedrooms, or rooms located on floors described as were open events, then it was simply open and private parts, but used commonly by the residents). everyone could enter. (12:7). They were shared by the residents of the squat, like the ‘living space’ pointed out in the quotation above, Reasons for enclosure could vary, but mentioned and members of the collective or other outsiders were most often were the concerns for security (attacks from not welcome in there. These spaces were monitored the right-wing activists, police entering), the need of or made inaccessible during public events, when the privacy (among residents and the collective), along guests were not expected to know the internal rules of with the inconvenience and unpredictability of visits access. made by the undesirable outsiders. Squatters pointed to their negative experiences when keeping the space As access to the squat was regulated and restricted, open for outsiders and the consequences they needed a person who wanted to access the more private spaces to face when private property or common rules were of squats usually needed to pass through the public and not respected by the visitors. Here is an example from semi-public spaces first. Access to the private sphere a squat that changed the squat’s policy over time from was often controlled directly through monitoring, and being open in the daytime to being open only when indirectly through membership, where trusted indi- public events were occurring: viduals were free to move without supervision at the

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Yes, but it [referring to the time when dealt with the division of space and the residents’ need the squat was opened to the public] ended of privacy and withdrawal. These conflicts revolved once there had been three serious thefts and around either the setting of rules regarding space or the of course one might say that we are becoming trespassing of existing rules, and sanctions that should bourgeois, that we are digging in, but at the be applied. same time we live here and giving trust to all the people at this stage of our activities... I am There is a more extreme example among Warsaw’s not saying that it is like this in general, but squatters where the need of privacy and some of the that in this particular case it ended with the logics of squatting have been kept. There is a squatted thefts of a couple of valuable things. Valuable land with a trailer-camp in the city, gathering former not even in the material sense, but disks, squatters in carriages, where the social and public computers, where there was data and we had function was eliminated on behalf of a residential to buy these things back from the thieves. And function. Residents of the camp moved to the place besides, when the gate is constantly open then when they realized their privacy could not be satisfied the local drunkards make use of that. They in a squat. Most of them were experienced squatters make use, but do not clean up – it is us that and one of the main reasons they moved to the trailer- later on have to look after those corners that camp was to find serenity and privacy in an environ- were pissed on (10:8-9). ment of like-minded people. Here, in the words of one resident, comparing his recent living situation to living De Moor (2012) argues that successful squatting at the squat: combines collective (ideological) and personal needs of squatters. One important personal need is to provide And it’s not possible to live for years in a privacy, intimacy and serenity for those who live at the place where tens of persons come and go, which squat. If this need cannot be satisfied by regulating and also always causes some conflicts. So this place demarcating space, squatters become drained and worn was a sort of like an old people’s home. Was, is. out. Squatters’ individual needs must be accounted for But in general it was a place where you could in their organizational activity and tensions between chill out, there’s peace and you don’t have to organizational and individual interests need to be discuss matters like a guest not flushing the balanced. It seems like this basic human need of toilet and what do we do about it. (3: 4-5). privacy is inescapable, together with the concern for private possessions (like in the example above) or other The camp offered an alternative kind of living, but shared resources that need some form of enclosure in without the pressure on being active and open to the order not to be drained out. When one of the Warsaw public. Every resident was responsible for the man- squats extended its activities to the neighbouring agement of their own carriage and the collective was building, and the former building was ascribed merely organized in the form of weekly meetings. It became a residential function, the squatters living in that part a pragmatic solution to the tensions that arose when of the squat celebrated their newly-won privacy: organizational, individual and group interests and needs collided at the squats. The rules regarding mem- From my point of view as a person who bership and categories of members were similar to the lived in the squat, I can say that in a way it was other squats, however, the monitoring, sanctions and even better because it also allowed us to have rules regarding shared spaces, and thus the imminent more privacy, because the parties moved to the conflicts, could be avoided to a larger degree. other side of the street (12:6). Conclusions The squatters testify that tensions and conflicts among the residents of squats and the members of The need for organization and establishing bound- teams or other persons coming from outside, often aries is a necessary negotiation that social movement

Volume 9, Number 1 2016 41 SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES actors use to order their social and spatial relationships. Organizational tools to order social The driving factors behind this need to create order in relationships: social movements are to be sought in the ways these Rules on engagement before becoming a movements are organized in amorphous and loosely member connected groups, without formal leaders and with Structure of meetings more or less constant shifts in membership (Ahrne and Guest and visiting rules Brunsson 2011; Haug 2013). I argue that they should Probationary period for new members therefore be analysed in the intersection of the social The practice of veto in admitting new members orders of networks, institutions and organizations.

The use of specific organizational tools and measures Table 2. Organizational measures to order social relationships reflects the need to control, direct and make the func- tioning of social movements sustainable over time. The Social boundaries are interconnected with spatial fact that a movement does not have stable members boundaries (Martin and Miller 2003; Nicholls 2009), and formal hierarchies might make it more prone to in particular in squatting, as access and belonging to the avoid inertia, but accentuates the need to organize community of squatters is often defined in relation to in order to control the shifts in membership and the space. The organizational elements of rules, monitor- unpredictability they entail. Organizational theory ing, sanctions, and membership were used by Warsaw’s supplements social movement theory well when it squatters to keep order and regulate spaces in squats, combines perspective on networks and institutions and are summarized in Table 3. There were clear rules with organizational analysis. Ahrne and Brunsson regarding access that were associated with particular (2011) highlight three main reasons why networks (more or less temporary) activities taking place at the or institutions become organized. The first reason is squat. Access to the squats was often monitored during the desire to change the way the present social order periods when the squats were open to the public. functions and is organized, the second is to create However, based on one’s membership status, some more transparency and accountability and the third is members were entrusted with keys and codes to facili- to create a clearer order “that is easier to understand tate access. Some sanctions were also used in relation and explain” (2011: 95). to trespassing of space and visitors or members risked reprimands or exclusion, depending on their status as In the case of the Warsaw squatting movement, members and the severity of trespassing. changes occurred after 2008 when the squatting environ- ment was re-organized into new squats, new members joined in, and new profiles were developed. Addition- Organizational tools to order spatial relationships: ally, the increasing threat of attacks from the right-wing Rules of access environment resulted in a heightened pressure on the Monitoring of access squatters to create order within the movement and Restriction of access between the diverse groups. Even if the attempt to Division between members in access organize was not aimed at creating outward transparency Use of internal divisions of space or creating hierarchies or formalizing responsibility, there Sanctions for trespassing was a need within the movement to create a social order to better understand the changes going on and protect Table 3. Organizational measures to order spatial relationships itself from external threats. The social categories that were used by the squatters with the aim of creating a social Material, social and symbolic resources are order and to distinguish between members and non- important in the self-organization and self-governing members were important, and the boundaries between of spaces by collective actors as they are exhaust- them were regulated and monitored closely by various ible. However, governing of common resources is organizational measures. The tools used by the squatters often associated with the problem of trespassing and are summarized in Table 2. free-riding (Ostrom 1990), be it shared or private material or immaterial resource. Despite the will to define squatting outside of the private space logic, 42 Human Geography DOMINIKA V. POLANSKA there is a clear division of space within squats that is social and spatial boundaries established by squatters constructed as not fully shared (cf. Owens 2009; De resulted in their reproduction. It demonstrates that the Moor 2012) and aims at keeping in and protecting squatting movement, as any other movement, is part the resources (material, symbolic and social). In the of institutional norms and conceptions that might be case presented here, the consequences of this division taken for granted and perceived as ‘natural’, and for in space and social relationships occurred over time that reason being difficult to question and continually and as a response to thefts, damage, trespassing and reflected by the movement due to these questions’ counter-movement attacks, but also internal processes energy-demanding nature. going on at/between different squats. Organizing social and spatial relationships becomes a way of Acknowledgements controlling unintended and unexpected events in the future and consolidating the movement. However, the I would like to thank the funders of my research; consequence of creating hierarchical orders (of access the Baltic Sea Foundation (grant no. 2185/311/2014), to resources) and contributing to social and spatial the Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2010-1706), exclusion in a broader context is a controversy that and the Institute for Housing and Urban Research the movement needs to make visible and address. at Uppsala University. Special thanks to Zosia Hołubowska for helping me with gathering data for Moreover, the construction of inflexible and derog- this study and to all activists that have taken part in it. atory social categories associated with the trespassing of

Appendix

Interviewee No. of squats interviewees have been Gender Age Length of squatting active in activism 1 Woman 38 6 months 3 (one in another city) Woman 28 5 years 3 Man 28 10 years 2 (several abroad) Man 26 2 years 2 Woman 33 9 years 2 Man 27 6 years 3 (one in another city) Woman 32 13 years 2 (one abroad) Man 27 8 years 3 Man 26 11 years 2 Man 27 8 years 6 Man 35 14 years 1 Woman 35 4,5 years 4 Woman 27 11 years 2 Man 36 5 years 3 Woman 32 4 years 1 (+ one social centre) Woman 34 6 years 1 (+ one social centre) Woman 44 4 years 1 Woman 26 2 years 1 Man 26 2 years 2 Woman 27 6 years Men = 9 30,7 years 6,55 years Women =11 Volume 9, Number 1 2016 43 SOCIAL AND SPATIAL BOUNDARIES

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