Amsterdam: two houses owned by Blackstone squatted during the ADEV demo

By: fawda - October 22nd, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News, Press release

No free spaces without a free Palestine

Amsterdam, October 21st – We have squatted these 2 buildings (Prinsengracht 804 et 806), despite the city’s (and the police’s) best attempts to make it very difficult, because we believe that ADEV(Amsterdam Danst Ergens Voor – Amsterdam dances for something)’s call to ‘disown stupid property’ is a call to action.

These buildings, owned and left empty by a massive american investment firm called Blackstone, some (though not all) of whose crimes you can read on the banner, are definitely, by all definitions, stupid property. But we want to stress that, in a capitalist system that puts corporate giants over human life and dignity, ALL PROPERTY IS STUPID AND ALL PROPERTY IS THEFT. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Amsterdam: Hotel Mokum is dead, long live Hotel Mokum

By: fawda - November 30th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Dear Friends,

Let’s start with thank you. The support and solidarity we have received over the past six weeks, but especially this weekend, has been overwhelming. On Saturday, we were harshly evicted, with police brutality and a demonstration of power. More on this later, but for now: so much love for everyone who stood there with us. And especially so much love for the people who voluntarily exposed themselves to state violence, prosecution and very literal physical violence by the police. Many thanks to Extinction Rebellion and Comrade Twingo without whom the eviction would have been a lot easier for the police. Thanks to everyone who helped us ensure that Hotel Mokum could not be quietly swept away. But also thank you to everyone who supported us in any other way, this weekend and for the past six weeks. You are all so amazing and so fucking brave and we couldn’t have done this without you. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amsterdam: Take back Mokum! Hotel Marnix squatted during ADEV

By: fawda - October 16th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

During the ADEV (Amsterdam Danst Ergens Voor) demonstration on 16 October 2021, former Hotel Marnix was squatted on Marnixstraat 382. Statement from Pak Mokum Terug! action group :

Amsterdam is in crisis. Housing is unaffordable. People with low and middle incomes are being chased out of the city. There is no room for young people. The commercialization of the center has attracted masses of tourists who make the city unlivable, while property owners, investors and large companies enrich themselves endlessly. There is no room for alternative culture. Amsterdam is losing its soul.

We, the collective Pak Mokum Terug! (Get Mokum Back!) are young Amsterdammers who have had enough. We no longer want to accept the trend that our city can only be inhabited by the rich. That economic and commercial interests are all-important. That we cannot shape our city, its culture, the way we live, ourselves. Therefore we claim the city, we claim the space for the people of Amsterdam, we take back Mokum. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amsterdam: “Free” Space and Squatting. No More Caged Chickens

By: fawda - September 8th, 2019  Filed under: essay

Free Space Now. The slogan of ADEV in 2018 – an annual street rave organised by squatters and artists in the city of Amsterdam. The slogan refers to a lobbying initiative called the Free Spaces Accord (vrijplaatsenakkoord). Inspired by the looming eviction of the ADM and by the new ruling coalition of the municipality’s rhetoric in support of counter-culture, the stated aim of the Accord is twofold: the legitimisation of existing Free Spaces (vrijplaatsen) and the stimulation of new Free Spaces.

The initiative emerges from an influential part of the Amsterdam squatting movement. This loosely defined faction, which includes the ADEV organisation, the Free Spaces Accord, parts of the ADM community, and many legalised squats, believes in integration with the city, rather than attempting to oppose the authoritarian power structures and the social degradation they are responsible for.

This faction campaigns for “the fringes”, hoping to secure a few buildings where a small minority (elite groups?) of artists and “free thinkers” can escape the rat race and be “free”. Only then, the argument continues, can such people make a contribution to the city and – according to one end of the faction’s political spectrum – to capitalism and wealth creation. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , ,