Utrecht: Nov. 29th/30th, squatters gathering weekend

By: fawda - November 24th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Coming 29 and 30th of November a squatters gathering will take place in Utrecht! This weekend will be filled with workshops and discussions, including a LOK (landelijk overleg kraken – a meeting and discussion on squatting between people from different cities). Due to the recent wave of evictions we have seen in Utrecht, but also in different cities in the Netherlands, we feel it is time to all meet up to exchange ideas and discuss the future of squatting.

Practical points:
– The LOK part of this gathering will start on Saturday at 12:30 and will take up most of the day.
– Workshops on Sunday will start at 11:30, breakfast will be available before.
– For people that do not know where to go, gather on Saturday at 11:30/Sunday at 11:00 sharp at ACU (Voorstraat 71, Utrecht). There will be people to help you on your way.
– If you plan to spend the night, be aware that there are a limited amount of mattresses and blankets available so bring your own! [Read More]

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Den Haag: December 26-27-28, Action Days for De Vloek and autonomous spaces

By: fawda - November 19th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Because more and more autonomous social centres are being threatened and evicted, an Action Weekend will take place on December 26-28 in The Hague. The city of The Hague wants to evict De Vloek social centre in January 2015. Sometimes you have to fight for what you love, and now is the time! Stop the eviction of De Vloek, defend autonomous spaces and social centres.

Time and again, autonomous social centres have to step aside for yuppie projects. This year, De Valreep in Amsterdam was evicted to make room for a luxury Grand Café, and now the city of The Hague wants to evict and demolish De Vloek social centre to build a sailing centre. Everywhere you go, beautiful initiatives that have been built from the bottom up have to disappear for yuppies. The world should not revolve around the interests of real estate developers, but around people. That is why we are organising three days full of demonstrations and actions on December 26-28. [Read More]

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Emmen (NL): Squat!net benefit

By: sisulscz - November 18th, 2014  Filed under: News

Huize Spoorloos in the Netherlands is doing a benefit with four bands for Squat!net on November 22nd, 2014.

Huize Spoorloos
wilhelminnastraat 33
Emmen (NL)

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Amsterdam: Rent Rebels, screenings and discussion with activists from Berlin

By: Hlulome - November 15th, 2014  Filed under: News

On the weekend of the 21th and 22nd of November we are welcoming people from Berlin to screen with us the very recent film about the Renter Rebels in the Berlin, a quite popular and diverse movement that emerged in the last couple of years and that struggles against massive gentrification and forced evictions of renters that take place at high pace. That weekend shall serve as space for discussion and exchange with the people from Berlin, about experiences being made in struggle, the urban restructuring that goes on in Berlin, and the self-organisation of all kinds of people to fight against it. Besides of being inspirational the events shall also be a space to come together and exchange ideas and experiences related to the unacceptable housing situation in Amsterdam and necessary housing struggles. Descent housing in its various forms and shapes and the city itself is not for profit but for us, the people, and a basic need of everybody independent of social status. [Read More]

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Den Haag: December 6th, demonstration. The City Belongs To Us! De Vloek Will Not Go!

By: fawda - November 9th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

On Saturday December 6, a demonstration will take place against the approved plans of the city of The Hague to evict social centre De Vloek, and for the preservation of squatted social centres in general.

The city of The Hague wants to evict and demolish De Vloek in January 2015 to make room for a sailing center. There is already enough space for sport sailing in the harbor, but De Vloek must nevertheless step aside for the latest prestigious real estate project which nobody is looking forward to.

Even though the plan to build a sailing center for the rich
was not defeated in the city council, our campaign is still not over. The city promised to look for a replacement space for us, but the question remains whether this will happen or whether this space will be affordable. A unique quality of social centres is that financial pressure on projects and initiatives is low, allowing for more freedom for development; freedom that is difficult to find anywhere else. But our struggle extends beyond the preservation of De Vloek. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: 66 apartments squatted

By: fawda - November 4th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Last Sunday a group of enthusiastic young people squatted 66 apartments on the Rijswijkstraat in Amsterdam. The flat was part of the failed New-West project which entailed some Housing Cooperations on the hight of their money-grabbing, privatized, Neo-Liberal Cocaine high, just before the financial crisis hit in 2009 and they were forced to cancel the project. As a result of this the flats where left to rot, until even the anti-squat where moved out.
Last Sunday a group of either recently, or almost evicted squatters decided that it was enough, and a group of ninety rode out to reclaim the space for the common interest. Since then the police has given no notice of eviction, but De Key (the official owner) has made a report to the authorities of “squatting”. A thing of note is that yesterday, a couple of people from the city came by pretending to give a fuck about our “health and safety” (yeah….). For the rest now, no news.

Cheerful greets & Squatting Will Stay!

update 04/11/2014 – 18:35 Only hours after the posting of this message we received letter for a court date……coming Friday.

Update 5/11/14 – the squat was today evicted by order of the mayor [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Understanding and resisting the corporatisation of the university

By: fawda - November 1st, 2014  Filed under: News

Two months ago the former Common Room of the Spinhuis was squatted. We see our action and presence in the Spinhuis as an act of resistance against the top-down run university. A university that is increasingly run by managers in a corporate manner, focusing on efficiency and output. Anything that does not directly lead to diplomas or a higher spot on the international rankings, is seen as a waste of time and money. We want to have an evening of discussion in our space, the day before the verdict of the university’s court-case against us.

We will first have several speakers providing a bit of background behind the neoliberalisation of higher education in the last decades. For instance, the financialization of the university (in particular the UvA) after the university took over the management of real estate from the Dutch state. Afterwards there will be space for discussion on what we can do about it. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Spinhuis update

By: fawda - October 22nd, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Spinhuis Newsletter Week 7
Dear all,

It’s been some time since the last email. Quite a lot of things have happened in the last week that require an update, but lets start with this week’s program. At this moment a group of people participating in the workshop Situationist psychogeography are confusing themselves and the tourists around them through the rain in central Amsterdam. This Thursday 20.00 we have an exciting storytelling evening with stories that you do not hear from the news or the papers, stories from people who occupied places and tried to change things for the better. Besides stories there will also be great klezmer music from Caspian Scratch! On Friday evening there will be music in the Spinhuis as well, with To Twelve (and maybe more) playing some funky tunes [Read More]

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The Hague (Netherlands): Call-out for international solidarity with social centre De Vloek

By: xxx - October 12th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

The city government of The Hague wants to evict social center De Vloek on January 5, 2015 to make room for a sailing center. Located in the harbor of Scheveningen, De Vloek was squatted 12.5 years ago and meanwhile has grown to be an essential social space in the harbor. There is already enough space for sport sailing in the harbor, but De Vloek must nevertheless move aside for the latest prestigious real estate project which nobody is looking forward to.

On Thursday October 16, the city council will make a final decision about whether or not De Vloek must disappear. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Response to UvA board threats to legal action

By: fawda - October 2nd, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

As many of you have probably noticed, the media have reported that we’ve received a letter from the UvA in which they threaten to take judicial action against our use of the Spinhuis. Firstly, we want to take away any fears by declaring that we will stay open for at least the next few weeks. If the board of directors of the UvA do indeed decide to follow up on their threat it will take a while before we will be evicted from the Spinhuis. In the meantime we we will continue offering a full programme (to be found below), especially because more and more people and groups come to us to organize events. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Vechtstraat/Amstelkade eviction account

By: sisulscz - July 24th, 2014  Filed under: News

Tuesday morning the police evicted the 16 squatted apartment on the Vechtstraat and Amstelkade (including the social centre De Strijd). 8 people were arrested and released tonight (july 23rd). This evening, during the noise demo in solidarity with the arrested, 3 people were arrested and are still detained.

– Background
[Read More]

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Amsterdam: 16 squatted apartments evicted on Vechtstraat

By: sisulscz - July 22nd, 2014  Filed under: Communique

EDIT story here

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