Okupa Che

Okupa Che is an anarchist self-managed social centre on the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Mexico.[1] After the 1999–2000 UNAM strike, participants squatted the Justo Sierra auditorium and offices in the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (School of Philosophy and Letters) on 4 September 2000.[1][2]

The centre self-organises an infoshop, vegetarian cafe, library, summer school and various workshops.[3][1] It also provides space for a pirate radio station and an art gallery.[4] The centre has run campaigns such as opposition to the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2003 in Cancun and support for the victims of the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping.[4] In 2012, it hosted events connected to Yo Soy 132.[1]

In 2014, the Federación de Estudiantes Campesinos Socialistas de México (FECSM, Federation of Socialist Peasant Students of Mexico) made a violent attempt to take over the centre and was repelled.[1] UNAM then stated it wanted to repossess the auditorium and the anarchist occupiers refused to leave.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d e Gavin, Brown; Anna, Feigenbaum (29 March 2017). Protest Camps in International Context: Spaces, Infrastructures and Media of Resistance. Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-4473-2944-2.
  2. ^ Rodríguez, David (4 August 2016). "PGR libera a 6 jóvenes okupas del Che Guevara". Quadratín CDMX (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  3. ^ Valadez, Blanca (13 March 2018). ""El 'Che' es de nosotros y nadie nos lo va a quitar"". Milenio (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b González, Robert; de Santiago, Diego; Rodríguez, Marco Antonio (2020). "Squatted and Self-Managed Social Centres in Mexico City: Four Case Studies from 1978–2020". Partecipazione e Conflitto. 13 (3): 1269–1289. doi:10.1285/i20356609v13i3p1269.
  5. ^ HERNÁNDEZ, LILIAN (23 March 2016). "Ultras se declaran en alerta máxima; ocupan el Che Guevara desde 2000". Excélsior (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2021.