In May 2008 women from Walbrzych went on a hunger strike.
They protested against evictions from empty houses they had squatted.
Over a dozen women took part in the hunger strike.
Over 360 families faced a similar situation.
Currently, thousands of people are waiting for social housing.
Many families are living in squatted flats - and most are threatened with eviction.
MOTHERS' STRIKE
The transformation of Walbrzych began with the closing down of the local light and heavy industry.
Allegedly unprofitable industries were closed and 25.000 jobs slashed.
When the coal mines were shut down,
many companies with mostly female workforces were closed, too.
The restructuring also affected the institutions of social care.
Many company-run nurseries and pre-schools were closed down.
In 2004, the first factory in the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone was opened.
The SEZ was supposed to be a perfect solution for the city and its jobless inhabitants,
and it was supposed to provide everything for investors:
Subsidies, no taxes for 20 years, and a large and cheap labor force.
The city has almost no income from investments in the zone.
High unemployment, especially among women,
leads to the frequent exchange of workforces and violations of workers' rights.
In fact, job agencies employ the SEZ-workers, who get unstable, temporary, and low-paid jobs.
"Welcome To Hell - Walbrzych"
It's difficult to find any permanent job with decent pay and the chance to get retirement later.
You get a job through an agency for one month, and then you're fired.
At the company Prodak it is like this, for example:
You work for less than a month, and then you wait for a phone call for two months.
The girls work for 2 or 3 days, and then they wait for 1 or 2 months.
It's like being a call girl. They call you to come to work.
And the same with employment contracts:
Every week you get a new contract, or you get paid just for what you have worked.
I went to register at the job center,
and they made big eyes at the amount of old paper I presented. I told them, I had more at home.
Sometimes you work for a week, then you stay at home for two weeks.
The salary was what it was.
Sometimes you worked only for 1 or 2 days, that's it.
My friend worked for one day, and they never called her back.
I was told on the phone to come for a health and safety training, not for work.
The training meant that we had to work on the line for 11 hours.
11 hours of so-called training, and after that they didn't call at all.
"Porcelain Factory Ksiaz"
I worked in Ksiaz, and I had to make 500 stickers.
It is like transfer pictures...
Yes, I was paid 2.50 Zloty per hour, for 500 stickers.
I am cheeky, so I told the manager: "Please, stand there and I will throw them to you."
Then I took my apron off and walked out.
Did the job center offer you any internships?
Yes, they offered me an internship as a maintenance worker,
but I have already been waiting for it for 2 months.
Despite the fact that I've already taken many training courses,
and there is no work in these professions, so I asked why do I need these courses?
I'm a beautician, and I've done a computer course,
I can operate a cash register, I have a drivers' licence,
but I cannot work in my profession and have to work as a maintenance worker.
They take everyone on a half-year internship, then they take the next people,
and they don't extend the contract.
There is no reason to go to the job center. They treat people badly.
I had no one to look after my children, and they deliberately sent me to work.
I wanted to do a beautician training, but I was told that is not for me,
that I had to work and could not take a training course.
Did they offer you any jobs?
No, I had to find them on my own.
So you did not get a single offer?
The city authorities do not see women's care work.
Cleaning, cooking, bringing up children, repairing the flats, and keeping accounts,
all that is not seen as economically valuable.
For maintaining a society that kind of work is essential.
That leads to an ignorance in social policies
and economic changes on the local and the national level.
The main problems are constant lack of livelihood, lack of work,
unstable and low-paid jobs, and homelessness.
They lead to problems with childcare, health problems, and social exclusion.
For half a year I could hardly sleep.
I worked night shifts and took care of my children during the day.
I had great co-workers. When I fell asleep at work,
they hid me behind the machines. So I could sleep and wasn't so tired.
Just a nap for a few minutes was enough to get rest. But it was still tiring.
I would like to work to be with people,
but I can't because I don't know what to do with my 2 kids.
I live alone, and have no family here.
My daughter Wiktoria is 5 and in kindergarten.
I registered my 2-year old son Marcin there 2 years ago, but he won't go before this September.
However, kindergarten is only open from 8am to 3pm.
I won't find a job like that.
Most mothers here stay at home, and they feel depressed about the situation.
There is no work, there is nothing here, and everyday life pulls them down.
We wanted to create a common space for mothers and children,
so that they can come and talk.
We had asked about such a space already in the past,
but they told us straight away that we didn't need it.
It's really difficult to find a job, especially since they ask how many children you have.
If you have no kids at all, you can somehow manage.
But if you have kids, they reject you because you will go on sick leaves etc.
In one place they was a surprisingly tough regime.
I was shocked. The people really worked like robots.
Every week we got a new contract, and mothers got fired.
I was fired because I took a one-day leave to take my sick child to the doctor.
So the kids can't even get sick.
In order to get a pension I have to work at least twenty more years,
but where should I work?
There are many empty flats in Walbrzych.
Almost in every tenement house you can find one empty flat.
They were built for workers before or after the war, and they were not renovated since.
In most flats there is no bathroom.
The toilet is outside, and there is no hot water, gas, or sewage system.
It all happened when my father died. They took the children away from my mum.
They said that we lived in poor conditions,
and that my mum was not able to take care of 9 small children.
So the "best" was to take the kids to the orphanage.
Then my mum was evicted to the shacks on Osiedlencow Street.
The flats there are in awful condition. There is neither electricity nor gas.
I don't want to live there with my kids.
My friend Magda told me about an empty flat, so I went there.
I applied for that flat at the Public Housing Agency, but I was told to leave the flat.
I said I won't leave the flat. Where should I go?
To qualify for social housing you need to collect a number of points.
The more points you get, the bigger your chances to get a flat.
You get points, for example, for being homeless for more than 6 months,
but it has to be confirmed by the homeless shelter or the police.
Every year only 50 renovated flats and 50 flats needing repair are provided,
although much more people need a flat.
Occupying an empty flat is sometimes the only solution for mothers,
who otherwise have to stay in a homeless shelter,
or leave their children in an orphanage.
The city authorities and the company responsible for social housing
try to get rid of the problem of illegal squatting, rather than to solve it.
In my situation I was forced to squat this empty flat.
My parents had left me, I had no place to live. I was alone, and I had to occupy this flat.
I got three eviction orders, and I was convicted with 3 years probation.
They did not kick me out, because they would have to give me substitute housing.
Why can't you rent a flat?
Because the flats are too expensive.
We are not sick and abnormal, we just can't afford to buy a flat.
We have families with 3 or 4 members, and we can't get permanent jobs.
The jobs we can get are casual, for a week or a month.
Who will give us a loan to buy even a flat we have to renovate?
The housing situation is difficult, and noone solves it.
I know that only a few social housing flats are provided per year.
My mother died, and my father moved to a smaller flat.
He de-registered us, and I was left on the street with two children.
I had no other choice but to just occupy this flat.
I applied to the Public Housing Agency,
and they let me live in the flat and connected the utilities.
I had to paint the window frames, replace the window panes, and repair the ceiling.
There was straw, and the plaster fell down into the soup.
I spent money on the renovation of this flat,
so I could live in decent conditions with my kids.
And I can't even stay in this flat until I get social housing.
The city authorities themselves have, actually, encouraged people to take over empty properties
by saying that if you find 3 empty flats, you may live in one of them.
Yes, they told us that if we find 3 empty flats, we may renovate one of them.
I occupied an empty flat because my previous flat had only 20 sqms,
and I was expecting a second baby.
The electric wires were burnt.
A local police constable visited my neighbour. She was not there, so he knocked at my door.
He looked around and said: "Oh my god, what is happening here!?
Why is the furniture standing in the staircase?"
I described my situation, and said that I was waiting for the electrician.
He advised me to take over one of the bigger, empty flats.
He asked me where I will bathe my daughter? "In the coal bucket?"
I did not hesitate. On the next day I occupied an empty flat a friend had told me about.
It was in her block, and it was renovated.
The previous owners, a married couple, had died.
So on the 14th of February I moved in.
One person told another, and the news spread that it's faster to get such flat.
So girls with small kids took over such flats, as long as they had the guts.
You really have to have courage to go through all this.
Somehow the Public Housing Agency undeliberately allowed us to do this.
I applied at the registration office, and registered in the flat for 5 years.
On the 30th of March city mayor Kruczkowski told me to leave the flat
and go to a homeless shelter.
The water supply was cut off although I have 3 little children.
For 3 years I had no running water. I had to buy water in a supermarket,
or sometimes a neighbor gave me a bucket of water for the kids.
I received a 3-month sentence with 2 years probation,
and my husband received a 6-month sentence with 2 years probation.
Squatting is treated as a crime.
Criminal and civil proceedings were started in order to evict people.
The company responsible for social housing charges double rent.
Letters to the electric and gas company are being sent,
demanding that electricity and gas in such flats does not get connected.
The court gives you a fine.
Finally, people who occupy a flat without permission lose the right to social housing.
I did it for my kids, but it turned out that what I did was not for me but the council.
I removed the mold in the flat, I put in new windows.
If they see that you renovate a flat, take care of it,
they push you down and try to evict you rather than help.
I got a verdict from the court, and I was told to wait for social housing.
The Public Housing Agency was not allowed to evict me before I get social housing.
At the Public Housing office a woman told me they did not receive anything like that,
but I know those letters were delivered to them and to me.
Still, she said it was not true, and an offical told me to go to a homeless shelter.
People gave me furniture, a TV set, clothes for the children, and other basic things.
The Public Housing Agency threw it all away.
When I asked them where the things were, they said it went to the charity.
My things, that were in good condition, went to the charity?!
They just threw them away without informing me.
Now I'm homeless, I do not have my things, I have nothing.
What are the chances of getting social housing?
Well, they send me to the shelter.
I have lived there for 4 years, and I'm still waiting.
I will die before I get social housing.
Such policies led to the mothers' strike.
17 women occupying flats in the district of Bialy Kamien decided to protest through a hunger strike.
Electricity and water supplies were cut off in all squats in the city.
For a few days, women, their partners and kids occupied the council office in Bialy Kamien.
The strike lead to the re-connection of gas and water for all the women and their families.
But the issue of the legalization of the squats was not solved.
[Banner: For you nice houses, for us the basements]
People say the Public Housing Agency received the order directly from the top,
from the city mayor Kruczkowski.
That is why they cut off the utilities: because Mr. Kruczkowski gave his permission.
We asked at the Public Housing Agency why they cut off all the utilities.
They said they didn't know.
They had everything in their computers but they were not allowed to show it to us.
We started to shout and said that we will solve the issue in a different way,
and that we will talk to the media.
That's how it all started, when we and our kids were left without water and electricity.
I did not agree with that, so I demanded that the district councilor calls the mayor
or someone higher to come here and explain why it all happened,
that without any written order all the utilities were cut off,
even without notifying us.
From one day to the next they cut off everything.
They just wanted to kick us out onto the street.
We kept asking for the mayor to "lower" himself and come and tell us
what will happen with us. Noone showed up that day.
We decided to call the media and go on strike.
They pay fines, and they pay rents. So I am asking, why living there is illegal?
The mayor here is in his second term, so I am asking,
why for so long noone in this townhall has been solving the problems of these people?
On the next day, someone came to us. The mayor did not come until one week after the strike.
We didn't want to leave our flats, and we didn't give up.
I was sentenced twice. One sentence was with three years probation.
They went to court against me, claiming that I do not take care of my children.
And they wanted to take them away from me.
We were treated as if we were sick and abnormal, as mothers who don't want to work.
I was even called a thief who has stolen a flat together with furniture.
A person, who was supposedly living in this flat, appeared after 20 years.
She said that I had stolen her flat and her belongings.
I said I would leave the flat if she showed me any papers that she is entitled to live in this flat.
I still haven't seen any documents.
I couldn't take it any more mentally, and I wanted to leave the flat,
but I would have to rent one room for 1,000 Zloty.
How could I get money for that?
One person here said, if you can't get in through the door, get in through the window!
For those who just sit around, nothing will get better.
Because if you just sit around and don't fight, all officials will ignore you.
They just make promises and do nothing.
One person here said: It is like the dog - it wins when it barks;
a person who shouts, talks a lot and fights for his/her case will win... just like me.
I did fight. I constantly went to offices.
They told me that they will not connect the water supply to my flat.
They said: "Water in your flat!?" Two probation officers acted on my behalf.
Everywhere the answer was negative. They said, that I will not have water,
in the Public Housing Agency, in the townhall, everywhere.
I started to fight myself, and it turned out that after a month they connected my water supply.
So I believe that if you start something, you need to finish it.
If you start fighting for your squats, then don't give up and continue the fight.
After the mother's strike the Feminist Think Tank conducted participatory research in Walbrzych.
Collective meetings and discussions lead to the reflection of problems of living in poverty,
on how to start a public debate on it, and on how to resist.
Round table talks were held in the local council of Podgorze-district in May 2010.
We shared experiences, gained knowledge and started to fight together.
The women's collective meetings continue to be held regularly
as the women's social initiative - "Toddler Academy".
Participants: Malgorzata, Dagmara, Edyta, Dorota, Monika, Katarzyna
Cooperation: Agnieszka, Aneta, Beata, Katarzyna O., Katarzgyna P., Krzysztof, Malgorzata N., Malgorzata M., Marcin
Filmed by SzumTv and Feminist Think Tank
City pictures: Kasia Pawlik "Noita"
Protest pictures: Lukasz Giza, LJ
Funding: Filia Die Frauenstiftung
Film distributed with the Anarchist Review No. 12 www.przeglad-anarchistyczny.org