[Squat!net]

Despite the continuous efforts by the government to keep squatted spaces under the threat of repression and eviction, new autonomous and creative projects keep on emerging in Amsterdam. On March the 1st, the buildings on the Vechtstraat 1, 5, 7 were squatted.

A new social centre, De Strijd, on Vechtstraat 7, opened just two weeks after the occupation. The ongoing workshops (language classes, martial arts), vegan kitchen, and give away shop immediately transformed these buildings from objects of real estate speculation into spaces for the experimentation of radical politics. The support of the neighbours and the large participation of many groups of activists show the vital importance of creating autonomous and collective sites of struggle to contrast the political desertification of the city. [Read More]

As a squatted social center, how do we communicate to the outside world? Where do you find us on-line and where do you NOT find us? We are not here to provide passive intelligence to state intelligence agencies, or to make their task easier. Making ourselves visible on a website hosted by a radical and political server is a first necessary step. Being able to reach other activists and squatters, not only the ones based in the Netherlands, is something we would not want to miss. In the will to be an open space for political initiatives, we want to reach further than the neighbourhood, further than a city and its squatting scene.

Being a squat and having a squat scene active and visible on decent platforms may have some importance in these times of repression. Reading about houses being squatted and evicted is one thing, being able to find each other, not only on-line, knowing which are our public events has its importance to strengthen us all. [Read More]

Since 2010, the anti squat law is stating house owners would get fined if they leave their buildings empty for more than six months. Well, years later, not a single owner has been fined. That’s is no surprise knowing the City of Amsterdam. Parallel to that, 15% of office buildings in Amsterdam are officially empty. The reality would be the double.
Amsterdam is gearing up to evict squatters these coming days. The house on Swammerdamstraat 12 will be evicted for a fourth time in a few years. Let’s hope this ‘monument’ won’t make place to a sand yard for the coming years. Other squats in Amsterdam who received the eviction announcement are Bessemerstraat 23 (El Taller), Cornelis Drebbelstraat 35 (LaRage), Simon Stevinsstraat 25hs (Willem Beukels Alternatief).
On May 31st, activists and squatters were taking over the empty office building on the Jan Tooropstraat 29. The door magically opened and within minutes, the refugees from the Vluchtkerk moved in. Off course, Eberhard van der Laan the apathetic mayor was again forced to show a bit of concern. Lucky us, there weren’t any comment from the Dutch squatting expert Eric D. that day. [Read More]

Welcome to post gentrification. Forget about affordable housing, these words are gone from the vocabulary. In Amsterdam, the price per meter square is higher in social housing than on the market price. Tenants are waiting in temporary housing for a proper one. These anti-squatters, also called “guardians” to preserve their image, haven’t been given the rights of a normal tenant. They even pay to guard houses. Not only young people and students live in this precariat. Anti-squat companies have seen their benefits exploding in recent years, while former social housing corporations have been cashing big money and forgotten since long about their social purpose.
People who can’t afford to live in the city have to go. They are denied the right to live in the city, they are made feeling guilty and ashamed of being social tenants. Our policy makers want people to move around in this monetary driven housing market. Social dramas on individual scales are common, people can’t sell back their house, the money they make is used to pay back mortgages. In Germany, a group like Recht Auf Stadt put back these issues on the political agenda. Some political parties have now an opinion about that. In the Netherlands, the discourse is still the same, “there is no problem”. SNS nationalised, the Russian roulette game has reached money lender Rabobank. For how long? [Read More]

‘There are still squatted houses in Amsterdam…”, that is the shocking gossip recently reported in the Dutch media. Is the zealous mayor of Amsterdam such an incompetent politician in matters of housing policy and in cracking down on squatters? These last years, the city of Amsterdam did evict numerous squats but failed in eradicating our political structures, in making squatting history.
Not only squatters and activists, many individuals are daily becoming conscious and organized, building networks, taking action, sharing skills, bringing out solidarity here and there. The State could erase the (legalized) social centers from the map, call out extraordinary laws, reopen re-education camps (read – feed us more television). People would still have the will to throw down the State, disrupt the money making machine.
End of April, fiscal paradise the Netherlands will finally reach world news with a fresh new young king. The media and various intelligence services are already trying to decrypt early signs of a popular revolt, starving as they are for sensation. That makes it no surprise this racist local government has no intention to lift a finger for the migrants squatting a church these last months. Opportunist politicians feeling concerned about undocumented people only brings more anger against the apathy of the State. [Read More]