Women*Squat Athenes

Statement on the eviction of the Women*squat in Strefi Hill, Exarcheia.

On the 25th of may 2016 we started the occupation of the Women*squat. A project of living together among women* with or without paper as well as an open space to organize through an anti-racist, radical anti-patriarchal queer feminist perspective.

This project started earlier within the occupation of Themistokleous 58, under the name Woman*space. After 3 months, the desire and the need for more space, as well as internal issues with the main occupation led us to open a new house.

The Woman*squat, in the continuity of the Woman*space, was an act of creating a safer space for immigrant women*, who in addition to the harsh reality that most immigrants have to face, have also to deal with specific oppressions due to their gender (sexual harassment, abuse, trafficking, gender discrimination and violence).
The Woman*squat was also a space for self-organization of women* with very different backgrounds in the living space that was non-mixed. In addition, assemblies, events, discussions, projections, bars, were meant to take place inside a dedicated space within the occupation. This public space, the Down Down, was open to queer* feminist groups to organize.
Unfortunately, this house got evicted. The 16th of June 2016, the cops, helped by well intentioned neighbors, entered the house and took 6 people including 3 children. The 3 adults have been charged. The trial will take place on the 28th of June.
The experience of organizing among radical and migrant women* was extremely enriching, empowering and inspiring. We learned a lot from each other, became closer to already existing feminist and queer groups as well as individuals and groups that got interested by the project and visited us.  This experience gives us the strength to continue the struggle.
We strongly believe in the self-organization of women* (we believed in it before and only got strengthened in this position) and, as any group fighting oppression, we are not pleasing the oppressor.
We welcome solidarity of comrades to stand together against the racist patriarchal state, its laws that protect private ownership, that chase immigrants, persecute and prosecute in the name of bourgeoisie, nations and phallocrates without borders.

Gathering and protest in front of the Court on Tuesday 28th of June at 9:00 am


Our liberation is in our own hands, and women*s spaces are everywhere : where women* gather without male domination, where solidarity bumps out, to fight patriarchy by struggling against sexism, racism, capitalism and the bourgeois national state!


No border No gender

Women*space Athens calls for solidarity

For over six months, we have been working to establish a place where women*, queer, trans, and nonbinary people can meet and organize in a safe environment. Away from the usual male dominated spheres, this project is organized with a radical, antiracist, antipatriarchal, and queer feminist framework to fight for the liberation of women*, with and without papers.

Our project has been highly successful in bringing together many diverse women* living in Athens. We forged a community which is welcoming to migrant women*, who must not only endure the harsh realities that most migrants face, but also must navigate the specific societal oppressions that come with their gender and the intersection of their gender with their race, nationality and religion. Through self-organization, we regularly hold assemblies, events, discussions, film screenings, and moments for casual socializing. Twice we have been forced to relocate our project: one time due to manarchism and the second time by the police, directed by the logics of property and ownership. Despite this, we will continue to resist all efforts that prevent us from taking up the space in society that belongs to us.



Besides creating this space within the city, one of our main points of action has also been to participate in networks supporting women* without papers that are incarcerated in the Elliniko women*’s detention centre of Athens and cannot enjoy access to any such spaces. During the last year these women have fought for their freedom and the improvement of the horrible living conditions through hunger strikes, resisting deportations, refusing to go back to their cells, taking out their mattresses and disrupting the normal function of the detention centre. These struggles have been met by the vicious and revengeful reaction of the state and the police, which includes beatings, criminalization of resistance and the complete indifference towards basic rights, such as communication with the outer world and medical care. At the same time, the solidarity movement that has emerged around those struggles has managed to break the silence and invisibility surrounding the only women’s detention centre in Greece, through actions in the streets, continuous contact with the detained women, the dissemination of their own word, their material and legal support. From phone cards and clothes to trial expenses and housing after their release, the women*’s needs are ongoing and impossible for the people in solidarity to cover.



At the moment, some women* from our project, including migrant women and children, are in urgent need of support for legal housing and medical costs. While we continue our struggle to transform empty buildings into lively squats, the existing housing capacities cannot provide safety or fulfil the pressing housing needs of migrant women and their families arriving in Athens or former detainees that have been released from Elliniko detention centre and have nowhere to stay. Seeing as they are in imminent danger of homelessness, we have decided to rent some spaces as a temporary solution until alternative accommodation is found. Apart from that, we intend to establish a network of solidarity lawyers that will take up the legal representation of detained women and create a fund to pay the legal expenses that they themselves are unable to pay. We also seek funds to cover the cost of a lawyer for those of us who were arrested during our last eviction.

We need your solidarity, in the form of words, actions, and monetary support.



If you are able to contribute in any way or would like more information, we welcome your contact at ----@----.--- (adresses mails interdites sur le forum)



 No one is free until everyone is free.


Women* spaces are just the beginning.



* we use the term ‘women’ conventionally for practical reasons. We don’t recognize an essentialism of gender. The space is open for women, trans, intersex and people who don’t conform to gender binary.
We want to be aware as well that when we use the word women we describe a political category that consist of people with a very different social positions due to class, race, ethnicity, sexuality or physical ability.

Le Women*Space d' Athènes appelle à la solidarité!


Depuis plus de six mois, nous avons travaillé à établir un lieu où les femmes *, queer, trans, et les gens de genre non binaires peuvent se rencontrer et s'organiser dans un environnement sûr. Loin des sphères habituellement dominés par les hommes, ce projet est organisé dans un cadre antiraciste, radical, antipatriarcal, feministe queer, pour se battre pour la libération des femmes* avec ou sans papiers.

Notre projet a connu un grand succès en réunissant de nombreuses femmes* differentes vivant à Athènes. Nous avons forgé une communauté qui accueille des femmes* migrantes  qui doivent non seulement supporter les dures réalités auquelles la plupart des migrants sont confrontés, mais qui doivent aussi naviguer au travers des oppressions sociales spécifiques duent a leur sexe et l'intersection de leur sexe avec leur race, leur nationalité et leur religion. Grâce à l'auto-organisation, nous tenons regulierement des assemblées, des événements, des discussions, des projections de films, et des moments de socialisation décontractée. Deux fois nous avons été forcées de déménager notre projet, la premiere a cause des manarchistes [manarchism] la seconde a cause de la police. Malgré cela, nous continuerons de résister à tous les efforts qui nous empêchent de prendre l'espace qui nous appartiens dans cette société.

Outre la création de cet espace en ville, un de nos principaux points d'action a également été de participer à des réseaux de soutien aux femmes * sans papiers incarcérés au centre de détention pour femmes d'Ellinico a Athènes et qui n'ont pas acces a de tel espaces. Au cours de l'année dernière ces femmes se sont battues pour leur liberté et pour l'amélioration de leur horribles conditions de vie par des grèves de la faim, en resistant aux deportations, en refusant de retourner dans leurs cellules, en sortant  leurs matelas et en perturbant le fonctionnement normal du centre de détention. Ces luttes ont rencontré la réaction brutale et vindicative de l'Etat et la police, qui comprend des passages à tabac, la criminalisation de la résistance et l'indifférence envers les droits fondamentaux, tels que la communication avec le monde extérieur et des soins médicaux. Dans le même temps, le mouvement de solidarité qui a émergé autour de ces luttes a réussi à briser le silence et l'invisibilité qui entoure le seul centre de détention pour femmes en Grèce, par des actions dans les rues, en restant en contact permanent avec les femmes détenues, par la diffusion de leurs mots et par un soutien matériel et juridique. Des cartes de telephones et des vêtements aux frais de procès et de logements après leur libération, le cout des besoins de ces femmes* sont actuellement impossible a couvrir par les gens en solidarité.

À l'heure actuelle, certaines femmes * de notre projet, y compris des femmes et des enfants migrants, ont un besoin urgent de soutien pour un logement légal et des frais médicaux. Alors que nous continuons notre lutte pour transformer des bâtiments vides en squats animés, ces capacités de logement existantes ne peuvent pas apporter la sécurité ni satisfaire les besoin urgents de logements pour les femmes migrantes et leurs familles qui arrivent à Athènes, ou pour d'ancienes détenues qui ont été libérés du centre de detention d'Elliniko et n'ont nulle part ou rester. Par l'iminent danger de les voir vivre dans la rue, nous avons décidé de louer des espaces comme une solution temporaire jusqu'a ce qu'une solution altenative soit trouvee. A cote de ca, nous cherchons a creer un reseau d'avocats solidaire qui assureraient la représentation légale des femmes détenues et de créer un fonds pour payer les frais juridiques. Nous cherchons également des fonds pour couvrir le coût d'un avocat pour celles d'entre nous qui ont été arrêtées au cours de notre dernière expulsion.

Nous avons besoin de votre solidarité, sous forme de mots, d'actions et de soutien financier.

Si vous êtes en mesure de contribuer d'une maniere ou d'une autre ou si vous souhaitez plus d'informations, nous acceuillerons votre message au ----@----.--- (ADRESSES mails interdites sur le forum)

Personne ne peut etre libre tant que tout le monde n'est pas libre.

Les womens*space ne sont qu'un début.

* Nous utilisons traditionnellement le terme «femmes» pour des raisons pratiques. Nous ne reconnaissons pas un essentialisme de genre. L'espace est ouvert pour les femmes, trans, intersexe et les personnes qui ne sont pas conformes au genre binaire.
Lorsque nous utilisons le mot des femmes, nous décrivons une catégorie politique qui se composent de personnes avec un très différentes positions sociales en raison de la classe, la race, l'origine ethnique, la sexualité ou la capacité physique.