Is it true that translation creates the basis for a new commons? If so, how? The video essay How Do Animals and Plants Live? is an inquiry into the forcible eviction and immediate demolition of the self-organized anarchist-supported migrant squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki, Greece, in July 2016. An on-site interview with a young West African migrant, detailed exploration of the bulldozed ruins of the old orphanage, and performative translations from a Greek-language children's schoolbook (How Do Animals and Plants Live?) that the filmmakers found (amid the rubble when they broke into the site)—these elements are all interwoven with strikingly relevant yet unexpected visuals sparked by questions translated directly from the book. Such visuals pointedly wonder: how is this possible? While extrapolating on the assertion that “no one is illegal,” the essay actively yet unobtrusively demonstrates the continuing viability of such anarchist principles as self-organization, autonomy, solidarity, assembly, and direct action, in relation to ongoing migrant struggles, at an historical moment when the status of the refugee has become a global paradigm.

r who gave speeches against the Ethiopian government.
Sally was an aristocrat, a dignitary’s daughter, and an Embassy brat. Her father’s posting as an Ethiopian diplomat meant that the family lived in various countries before settling in Canada in 1968. Selamawit Dawit – Sally to her friends – went to Carleton University in Ottawa and was a bright, outgoing young student with many friends and hopeful suitors. In the summer of 1973, Sally traveled to Ethiopia on holiday. She never came back. In a few short months, Sally’s life changed drastically. She went from being a party girl obsessed with clothes and perfume to a communist and women’s group leader who gave speeches against the Ethiopian government.