In a recent Guardian op-ed, Jessica Reed wrote about Jeudi Noir, a group of Parisian housing activists, who—for the past two-and-a-half months—have been squatting in a piece of real estate fit for a king, literally. Place des Vosges, located in the chic neighborhood of Le Marais, is the oldest square in Paris. Originally named Place Royale, this beautifully-manicured square was built by Henri IV to celebrate the wedding of his son Louis XIII. Jeudi Noir has taken over 1 Place des Vosges, which has been vacant for over 40 years. Their goal is to bring attention to the housing crisis as well as bring light to the fact that one out of 10 buildings in Paris are vacant, many of which could be used for low-income housing, student housing, or for the number of homeless Parisians who have recently started building tent villages along the Seine.

Jeudi Noir has gained attention through their surprisingly-festive actions. After clicking around their website I found several videos of the activists, along with a guy dressed up as some sort of Disco Stu, showing up at marches, real estate agencies, and apartments for rent and throwing impromptu parties. Maybe this fun, creative protest is what has gained them support from not only the public, but also from members of France’s Green and Socialist parties (both of which may sound like small-potatoes movements here in the U.S, but are veritable political parties in France.)

Perhaps this is the sort of action we should be taking at home. New Yorkers, like myself, could put Jeudi Noir’s suggested party kit to good use. In 2006 Picture the Homeless conducted a survey of vacant property in Manhattan and found that there are 24,000 potential apartments in vacant buildings and lots in Manhattan alone. (Keep in mind, that that number does not include all five boroughs.) Picture the Homeless believes that the vacant property that they’ve assessed could house the city’s entire homeless population, which according to Friday’s Department of Homeless Services Daily Report is at roughly 37,487 people.

Jeudi Noir’s mission statement rightfully points out that the right to housing does not coincide with the right to property. What kind of right do landlords with vacant properties have to keep people in need of shelter locked out? Or banks to kick families out of their homes? As Reed eloquently points out in her piece:

It might be hard to immediately sympathise with squatters—the right to own property runs so deep in modern western society that anything challenging the status quo is bound to make waves. I would, however, question the intentions and principles of those willing to let their own buildings decay uninhabited for 40 years while homeless people die every winter from exposure. How to rationalise that? I struggle to find any excuse for leaving the most impoverished section of the population out in the cold, when buildings go unused and unlet for very long periods of time.

In Phoenix, more than 20,000 people marched on Saturday to protest the indiscriminate attacks and race-based raids conducted by Sheriff Joe Arpaio against residents of Maricopa County. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

• On Sunday, more than 25,000 people took to streets in protest against the government’s labor policies when the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions, or Türk-İş, staged a wide-ranging demonstration called “Democracy and Rights for Livelihood, Peace and Freedom.”

• A group of Greenpeace activists interrupted a speech by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff in Vancouver on Friday when several protesters stood up and began chanting loudly against his stance on Canada’s oilsands.

• More than 7,000 workers at steel giant ArcelorMittal’s plant in Algeria will intensify a strike aimed at forcing the management to revamp the ageing El Hadjar complex. Workers went on strike on Tuesday to protest the planned closure of the coking plant, which employs 320 people.

• Worker blockades of the Belgian breweries of Anheuser-Busch InBev, which began after the world’s largest beer maker announced it planned to cut 263 jobs out of its 2,700 Belgian workforce, were set to continue into a second week after the collapse of mediated talks last Thursday.

• Monday marked the third day of a hunger strike by students demanding housing for homeless tsunami survivors in West Aceh district in Indonesia.

• Jordanian prisoners in Iraq, most of whom are university students, drivers and traders, have embarked on an open hunger strike to press for their release.

• Hundreds of Proshika employees in Bangladesh staged a sit-in in front of their head office for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday and also held a protest march against police barring them from entering the building in the city’s Mirpur.

• In India, leaders of all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana Saturday began a hunger strike to demand that the central government immediately initiate the process for formation of the state.

• British graffiti artist Banksy popped up with 4 new murals on the Regent’s Canal in London last week, one of which was this protest of global warming denialism.

• More than 1,000 people marched in Islamabad on Friday as part of a nationwide campaign that took place in 53 other Pakistani cities and towns to protest both Taliban bombings and the American drone strikes.

• Hundreds of demonstrators rallied on opposite sides of an Israeli-Gaza border crossing on Thursday to protest at the blockade of the strip imposed by Egypt and Israel. In Gaza, about 100 international activists staged a rally with some 500 Gazans, chanting and carrying signs denouncing the blockade. A small number of anti-Zionist, Orthodox Jews were among them.

• Hundreds of relatives of prisoners in a Mexican jail protested the expected transfer of inmates to make way for a film shoot with director Mel Gibson next year.

• Internally displaced people at a campsite in Nakuru, Kenya demonstrated along a highway to protest their poor living conditions following the onset of rains and demanded building materials.

• Dozens of Jordanians held a sit-in near the Egyptian embassy in the Jordanian capital on Sunday to protest Egypt’s plan to construct a steel wall along its borders with the besieged Gaza Strip.

• Thousands of people in Hong Kong took to the streets on New Year’s Day to demand full democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The Chinese government ruled in 2007 that the territory cannot directly elect its leader until 2017 and its legislature until 2020.

• Police detained dozens of people at an anti-Kremlin protest on Thursday, including 82-year-old Lyudmila Alexeyeva, one of Russia’s most respected rights activists.

• Greenpeace activists posed as the Four Horsement of the Apocalypse and rode through downtown Copenhagen yesterday to remind world leaders of the consequences of inaction on climate change. Each represented one of the potential impacts of climate change: death, pestilence, war and famine.

• The G77, a group which represents 130 developing countries, staged a walkout at the UN Climate summit yesterday to protest what they called inadequate aid offers from rich countries.

• Saharawi non-violent activist Aminatou Haidar, known by many as the “Saharan Gandhi” entered the 29th day of her hunger strike yesterday. Doctors say she may be hours away from death, a risk she is willing to accept unless her single demand—to be allowed to return to her country—is met.

• Iranian men are posting pictures of themselves on the Internet wearing women’s head scarves in an effort to protest the recent arrest of a male anti-government protester, who was shown in a press photo wearing a female garment. Bloggers believe the photo was manipulated to embarass the man. So they are showing that there is nothing wrong with women or veiling.

• Native Hawaiians staged a protest yesterday morning near the Hawaii State Capitol over alleged attempts by Hawaii’s U.S. senators to sneak the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act onto one of the large federal appropriations bills. They say it reduces Native Hawaiians to a tribal status and does not address the true issue of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

• Dozens of children from a Jewish Sunday school marched from Boston Common to the Hyatt Hotel in center city, chanting denouncements of Hyatt’s firing of 98 housekeepers in August. Upon reaching the hotel, the leaders of the march read a statement to hotel workers before handing over a petition.

• 1,000 homeowners occupied the lobby of 1 Chase Plaza, in New York’s financial district, where JPMorganChase has offices, to protest the bank’s broken promise of modifying troubled mortgages.

• Gay rights activists marched in front of New York State Sen. Carl Kruger Brooklyn home Sunday to protest his decision to vote against gay marriage. Organizers of the event say they intend to protest at the homes and offices of many of the 38 senators who voted against the bill.

• British Airways cabin crew voted to strike for almost two weeks over Christmas and New Year in protest over cost-cutting measures introduced by the airline.

More than 5,000 people packed the streets of downtown Chicago yesterday morning, chanting, marching and rallying outside the American Bankers Association conference on the third and final day of what was billed as the "Showdown in Chicago."

• For the fifth straight day on Monday, students staged a peaceful sit-in at the University of Vienna to draw attention to overcrowding of lectures and to demand more of a say in how Austria’s higher education institutions are run.

• In Jordan, around 200 people staged a one-hour sit-in on Sunday at the Professional Associations Complex to protest against an assault on veteran opposition leader Leith Shbeilat by anonymous individuals earlier that day.

• Cabin crew for the Spanish airline Iberia went on a two-day strike this week in protest against a four-year wage freeze, which forced the cancellation of more than 400 domestic and international flights.

• Five people were arrested and released, and two were injured — one bleeding from his mouth — after more than 120 people were forcibly removed from the House of Commons in Ottawa on Monday after interrupting question period with a climate-change protest.

• In New Zealand, nearly 2,000 courts and justice department staff staged a one hour strike yesterday morning to protest the Justice Ministry’s refusal to engage in meaningful pay negotiations.

• Catholic schools will close across Queensland today as teachers take to the streets over a pay dispute. Their 24-hour strike follows a rally by state school teachers outside Parliament House yesterday over their pay campaign.

• All local trains of Mumbai on the Central and the Harbour lines were running behind schedule as motormen went on strike in protest against overwork and fatigue.

• Four people protesting Massey Energy’s mountaintop removal mining practices were arrested Wednesday morning after linking their arms together with plastic pipe and duct tape, briefly blocking a private road to the coal company’s office in southern West Virginia. The protesters are affiliated with Climate Ground Zero and ranged in age from 22 to 81 years old.

• A trio of activists from the environmental group Avaaz.org disrupted a press conference yesterday in Washington DC held by city officials from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who were attempting to highlight the city’s role as the venue for the G20 summit later this month. The activists held a sign that read, “Why is the greenest city silencing green voices?”, before being escorted out.

• Hundreds of AT&T workers in Danbury, Connecticut went to work wearing t-shirts saying “prisoner of AT&T” to protest the expiration of their contract. Bosses sent them home without pay, but the workers are threatening to file a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board over arbitrary suspensions.

• Hackers temporarily shut down Australian PM Kevin Rudd’s website last night in an apparent protest of government proposals for a mandatory internet filtering system.

• On their first day back to work, US Senators were greeted by 40 climate activists, who built miniature windmills and made mechanical noises in the middle of the Hart Senate Office building until interrupted by the Capitol Police. At that point, a 50 ft banner dropped demanding that the Senators “Get to Work” for “Green Jobs Now”.

• About 20 frustrated parents at NY Public School 123 in Harlem picketed outside the school yesterday to protest what they said was preferential treatment for Harlem Success Academy 2 charter school, located in the same building.

• More than 270 faculty members from the University of California have signed an online petition in support of a walkout later this month to protest budget cuts.

• Thousands of the mostly female porters from the slums of Ghana’s largest city, Accra, halted their routine job of carrying loads to protest the government’s intention to evict them.

• Union workers for Kaiser Permanente picketed at the Kaiser Roseville Medical Center in Sacramento, California on Wednesday to protest company plans to slash 1,350 jobs statewide to offset enrollment losses and declining margins.

• Teachers from a school district in Kashmir are staging a sit-in to protest discrimination and marginalization by school administration.

In a dramatic act of civil disobedience today, six national education leaders blocked the main entrance of the U.S. Department of Education in an effort to protect the endangered Washington, D.C. school voucher program.

• Protests are being planned for Thursday’s dedication of the new Cheney International Center on the University of Wyoming’s Laramie campus.

• Sudanese police have detained 40 women protesting outside a courthouse in support of a female journalist on trial for wearing trousers in public.

• Hundreds of pilots from India’s Jet Airwaves went on strike yesterday, canceling nearly 120 flights, to protest the dismissal of two senior pilots last month by the airline.

• Between 30 and 50 protesters marched with signs in an area known as Cargo City at Miami International Airport on Monday to support Amerijet workers, who went on strike over a week ago to protest for low wages, poor benefits and unsafe working conditions.

• Up to 5,000 workers at four coal mines in Hunan Province, Central China, have been on strike since the 22nd of August over new contracts.

• Some 50 retired miners in the western Russian city of Zverevo have held a protest near the local highway demanding free utilities from the local government.

After the authorities evicted a Minneapolis woman who staged a months-long, public fight to stay in her foreclosed home, dozens of activists broke into the house, opened it back up and helped her move her belongings back in.

• Labour unions at KGHM in Poland held a two-hour strike on Tuesday to protest a government proposal to sell a 10 percent stake in Europe’s second-biggest copper producer.

• Approximately 19,000 taxis in Honduras joined the general strike late last week, asking for the return of Manuel Zelaya.

• In Greece, nearly 600 immigrant detainees are on a hunger strike protesting the Greek policy of transporting migrants from the cities to remote places before deportation.

• Some 2000 property tax collectors staged a sit-in in downtown Cairo demanding job reforms and a halt to what they called a crackdown on their independent union.

• In Australia, aboriginal elders and families from Ampilatwatja have set up a permanent protest camp outside their government-controlled community in protest against policies that have neglected their needs and desires.

• In Yemen, over 60 illegal Sudanese immigrants – now detained in Amran’s Central Prison – started a hunger strike protesting the silence of the respective authorities towards their plight.

• Shops, schools and businesses were closed across much of Indian Kashmir on Tuesday as separatist groups observed the first anniversary of a prominent Kashmiri leader’s death, who was killed when police fired on a protest march he was leading toward Pakistan’s portion of divided Kashmir in the disputed Himalayan region.

• Hundreds of students from Nigerian universities yesterday marched through the streets of Lagos in a peaceful protest demanding that the Federal Government sign the agreement it had reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities without modifications.

• Golden Arrow bus drivers in South Africa went on an illegal strike yesterday after allegations of racism in the workplace.

A day after protesters stopped logging trucks from entering a timber sale on the Elliott State Forest in Oregon, police dismantled the blockade and arrested upwards of 27 protesters. Organizers are vowing to continue the fight today with a march.

• Thousands took to the streets in Tehran yesterday, in defiance of the violent crackdown. The protests coincided with the anniversary of the student uprising of 1999, which was also suppressed, with hundreds of dissidents jailed, injured or killed.

• Police arrested 26 demonstrators at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday during a protest of federal HIV/AIDS policy.

• Greenpeace activists unfurled a protest banner at an Italian coal-fired power station yesterday to underscore the need for G8 action on climate change.

• Tens of thousands of Chilean government employees are on strike to protest unfair labor policies.

• A group of women protesting the poor living conditions they’ve endured since an earthquake hit their region of Italy were ignored by the visiting group of first ladies from the G8 summit.

• Students from across the Philippines are set to walk out of their classrooms today to protest the moves by the Arroyo regime to amend the Constitution.

• Residents Salsburgh, Scotland staged a sit-in protest on the main road through their village to voice their concerns over the safety of a planned bridge.

More than 1,000 British activists encircled a power station in Kent to protest plans for a new coal-fired plant.

• Social workers in Jerusalem are planning to go on strike in protest of a spate of violent attacks by clients and the state’s failure to protect them.

• Hundreds of Chinese homeowners protested outside government offices in Shanghai demanding refunds after a 13-story apartment building in a complex under construction toppled over.

• Scores of Jordanian trade unionists and politicians attempted to stage a sit-in before the Agriculture Ministry to protest the import of products from Israeli settlements, but were dispersed by police with reports of some being beaten.

• Hundreds attended the 23rd annual Fourth of July Music Festival near the site of last week’s anti-coal protest in West Virginia. Organizers hoped to raise awareness about the negative effects of strip mining.

• Tens of thousands of protesters staged a demonstration in Niger on Sunday against President Mamadou Tandja’s planned referendum to decide whether he can run for a third term.

• Lecturers went on strike in London’s East End over the axing courses that will hit hundreds of students learning English as a second language.

• Peruvian police used tear gas to clear demonstrators who had blocked traffic with stones and drums to protest their eviction from a settlement in the southern town of San Jose de Chilca.

• In Beijing,  about a thousand people publicly protested against government plans to install the controversial Green Dam filtering software on computers, in response to the call by artist Ai Weiwei for a day of boycott of the internet.

• The Abolitionist Action Committee, a human rights organization promoting nonviolent alternatives to the death penalty, staged a hunger strike for the past 4 days in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington D.C.

• Workers at the Malawi Telecommunications Limited on Wednesday went on strike protesting against what they described as an insignificant salary increase given the skyrocketing cost of living and increased responsibilities.

• Employees of India’s flagship carrier Air India have announced they will be on strike for two hours today in protest against the non-payment of salaries.

• In Indiana, couples in wedding dresses and suits filed through the Monroe County Courthouse yesterday to protest the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex partners.

• Five activists were arrested and held by police for 54 hours in connection with a 24-hour Vigil to End Torture in front of the White House, sponsored by the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC).