Amsterdam: 66 apartments squatted

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]

Amsterdam: Understanding and resisting the corporatisation of the university

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]

Amsterdam: Spinhuis update

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]

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

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]

Amsterdam: Response to UvA board threats to legal action

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]

Amsterdam: Vechtstraat/Amstelkade eviction account

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]

Amsterdam: 16 squatted apartments evicted on Vechtstraat

EDIT story here

Amsterdam: The refugee group ‘We Are Here’ opened a new building

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Wednesday night (July 9th), after the eviction of the VluchtMarkt, of the VluchtHaven, and the short tent-camp in the Oosterpark, the ‘We Are Here’ group opened a new building on the Linnaeushof 4, Amsterdam: the VluchtOpvang.

The building is owned by the speculator W.M. Honselaar Onroerend Goed BV. The same company facilitated the eviction of the social space of the VluchtMarkt (Ten Katestraat 49) by signing a contract agreement with the owner, ‘Peters and Van der Vloodt’, to develop an hotel. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Undeportables on the streets again…

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Half of Amsterdam’s 200 + rejected asylum seekers, will likely be evicted from two buildings this week. In their 2 year long political struggle they exposed Dutch deportation polices as the worst of northern Europe, and stopped even worse policies, generating support from many unexpected corners. But with crucial parliamentarians silenced by social democratic leaders, soon they will sleep rough again, in fear for deportation.

Untill now, unified under the banner We Are Here, they occupy three buildings:

First a former prison, end 2013 turned into a temporary mayer’s-shelter for undeportables, evicted from a squat. During spring the mayor started to arm twist the undeportables into ‘voluntary deportation’. But then the facts about their undeportability started to shine in his face: Deportation destinations were indeed much more dangerous then thought, foreighn embassies obstructed deportation routes, new wars broke out, and many refugees could prove that crucial parts of their rejected stories were indeed true. [Read More]

Amsterdam: VluchtHaven update

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Van der Laan have announced that the eviction will take place on Thursday, July 10. He also said that anyone who will be found still inside will be arrested by the ‘foreign police’.

Lawyer Pim Fischer appealed (urgent appeal) against the verdict of the court on the eviction about the Vluchthaven. The verdict and the next steps were discussed on Friday together with the group of refugees living in the building. The lawyer also asked for suspension of the sentence (and thus delaying the eviction) until the appeal will take place. [Read More]

Den Haag: City wants to evict De Vloek on January 5th, 2015

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Today, July 2 2014, a process-server delivered a letter from the municipality to De Vloek free space. The letter states that we have to vacate the premises before January 5th, 2015. If the city gets its way, then one of the last squatted free spaces in The Hague will disappear.

The city already let us know in a letter that De Vloek has to move aside for a Top Sailing Center. Currently, this sailing center is located in the Nautical Center across from De Vloek. The Nautical Center, which has been built especially for sport sailing, was completed in 2006 but has been mostly vacant for years. Many other building in the area are also vacant. There is certainly enough room for sport sailing. More new construction is simply unnecessary, and our free space will most likely have to disappear to make room for more vacant buildings. [Read More]

Amsterdam: VluchtMarkt to be evicted on July 8th

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The Vluchtmarkt (Ten Katestraat 61-63) has lost the court case against the state, and it will be evicted next Tuesday, July 8.

The verdict of the Vluchtmarkt court case is negative. The judge argued that although the people who live in the squatted buildings are undocumented migrants who have no right to work, to welfare and to a roof, this is a social problem that does not have to fall on the backs of private owners.
The judge evaluated the ‘proportionality’ of interests between the squatters and the owner, and ruled that the owner has the right to access its properties at any time. [Read More]