This year the businessmen are at the annual real estate party Mipim in Cannes (11 to 14 March) not only. For the first time in 25 years of undisturbed real estate deals in the spring sun on the Côte d'Azur, they will meet some of their 'end users': The victims of megalomaniac property developments, displaced persons and displaced persons who saw their affordable housing on the floor go for a hotel, football stadium or expensive tower block, and the people who are forced to to live without rights and in uncertainty.
The 'European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and the City', of which the BPW is a part, organizes on Wednesday 12 March an international protest against large-scale speculation projects, which are often prepared (and celebrated) at Mipim, the annual mega conference of the global real estate business.
Groups from various places in Europe such as Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Geneva, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Milan, Padova, Rhine-Ruhr-Metropolis, Utrecht, Wallonia and several French cities will be present to express their disapproval of speculation.
In a 'tribunal' they will indict a number of Mipim visitors on the basis of issues from their country. This concerns real estate and financial companies that violate the right to housing and the city with their activities. The charges will deal with the consequences of serious and current situations surrounding housing and urban privatization. In particular, its impact on people's lives.
Several French trade unions, ATTAC, neighborhood organizations and tenants' organizations are also present at the protest.
From the Netherlands, the Bond Precaire Woonvorm and speculation research collective SPOK present to press charges against respectively vacancy manager Camelot Europe who makes an extraordinary contribution to the ever-increasing precarization of living in the Netherlands. And against the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, whose directors have no business at an international real estate party: they would be better off staying at home to work on real solutions for the dire housing shortage in Amsterdam and the gigantic (office) vacancy.
The tribunal will take place on Wednesday 12 March at 3:00 pm at the Marché Forville in Cannes. There will also be live music from 5:30 PM. Prior to the tribunal, at 11:30 am, there will be a press conference by the European Action Coalition at the location: 15, Avenue du Prado in Cannes.
More information:
The charge against Camelot (in English)
The charge against the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (in English)
Video/animation antimipim of the European coalition (English):
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