Amsterdam (The Netherlands): Mass arrest attempt during the Bellamystraat 135hs squat action, Communique from the new inhabitants

By: fawda - November 25th, 2012  Filed under: Communique, News

This text was spread during the squatting action of the Bellamystraat 135hs today. There was a lot going on and some confusing messages came out, so just to be clear: the action was succesful and in the end no one got arrested. It was NOT a resquat of the earlier evicted house on number 33 of the same street.

Statement by the new inhabitants of Bellamystraat 135hs

To everyone interested,

As long as there is emptiness and a need for housing, people will squat. The dutch ‘kraken en leegstand’ law, that should be aimed not only at banning squatting but also at fighting emptiness, is only being enforced partly. While the state evicts squats in a law and order fashion, where the law is the law and nobody can get around it, the other part of the same law is treated like it doesn’t even exist. The state once again shows it’s real aim: while repression is constantly rising capital is still being defended. [Read More]

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Amsterdam (The Netherlands): November 2012 Joe’s Garage program

By: Hlulome - November 1st, 2012  Filed under: News

Get ready, a European Strike is announced for November 14th. Would governments fear a global insurrection? The deepening crisis is spreading like a plague. Chaos hasn’t reached the Netherlands yet. The Dutch government has never spent so much money on security per capita as now. Travelling anonymously is becoming a luxury. Your moves and communications are being traced, recorded and analysed. And you still worry about your privacy?
Another fear is visible, in Greece. The one for every migrant walking in the street. Golden Dawn has infiltrated all layers of society. The myth of a superior race hasn’t yet vanished. International solidarity is more needed than ever for Greece for those fighting fascism and facing repression on a daily basis. In the Netherlands, refugees are building camps in cities. There is lots of work to be done in front of your own door. Your active participation at Joe’s Garage is also welcome. Choose your day.

This month, Joe’s goes out again, to the Bajesdorp Festival and to the Krugerplein to celebrate a sustainable Transvaalbuurt. Further, you can drop by on a benefit night; for the Osdorp Notweg refugee camp, for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Campaign, for the people getting arrested on November 14th, for the Roomtuintje Oostbos and for the ZAD in France. You can inform yourself about Zapatistas at the Infonight Zapatista Indigenous Communities in Chiapas, or you can join the cosy cinema on sunday night with Loners, Freedom Ahead or Jonas will be 25 in the year 2000. Joe’s Garage is open six days a week, thanks to you. [Read More]

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Amsterdam Squatting: Crime or Creative Space Use?

By: fawda - October 15th, 2012  Filed under: essay, News
Joe’s Garage, autonomous social centre in a squat in Amsterdam Oost

When one door closes, another door opens. Well, that’s hardly ever the case, but who gives a shit anyway? Certainly not the Amsterdam squatter who didn’t hold a key to any front door in the first place.

The Dutch squatting ban has fueled countless discussions over the past two years. Squatters have been around in The Netherlands as the front runners of social action since the early 1960s. As part of a broader political force, the squatting movement in Amsterdam in particular was a direct response to the tremendous housing shortage the city still faces to this date, characterised by high rents and a large number of vacant or abandoned properties. [Read More]

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Amsterdam (The Netherlands): October 2012 Joe’s Garage program

By: Hlulome - October 1st, 2012  Filed under: News

If you are ever standing under the rain, in front of a closed door at Joe’s it is because nobody has volunteered to open the space, cook some food, make coffee. We do everything D(o)I(t)Y(ourself) and your active participation is really needed in this squatted social center. We are swinging back into action after the summer and your energy is needed now more than ever! Contact Joe’s now! Email to joe [at] squat [dot] net

Another serie of benefits is announced in October: DJP Defend Job Philippine, Kurdish Dutch Cultural Centre Amsterdam (KNCCA), Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Campaign, Red Nose Delicious Arab Spring, Zapatista Autonomous Community. And Jeffrey will of course be back with a film from Olivier Assayas, Cold Water.  Keep an eye on-line for updates. [Read More]

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Netherlands: Police threatens websitehost without court order

By: fawda - September 29th, 2012  Filed under: News

[PRESS RELEASE] – Thursday evening, september 27th, the Utrecht police called PUSCII, the hoster facilitating the Bikefest 2012 website. In this call the hoster was put under pressure to take the site offline. The officer mentioned he had a court order to take the site down as it was calling out to disturb the peace. No such order was ever shown.

Bikefest is an event focused on durability, bicycles and ‘Do It Yourself’ bikerepair and maintenance. The fourth edition of this event was planned to be held in Utrecht for the first time. Previous editions in Scheveningen and Amsterdam have never led to any troubles, nor did they disturb the peace.

On friday the municipality of Utrecht sent a letter to the location where Bikefest was to be held. Herein it orders the eviction of the building, based on firesafety regulations. It seems unlikely this is the true reason, as the building is a stable construction of steel and concrete, has many escape routes and has several extinguishers placed throughout the building. [Read More]

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Amsterdam (The Netherlands): September 2012 Joe’s Garage program

By: Hlulome - September 1st, 2012  Filed under: News

Will Joe’s Garage open 6 days a week in September? Are you ready to give some of your time, put some creativity and subversion into Joe’s? We are waiting for your active participation, there is plenty to do, cooking and helping every monday and thursday with the Volkseten Vegazulu people’s kitchen, running every tuesday the Kraakspreekuur Oost (Squatting Assistance), (de)socializing every wednesday afternoon during the the Lonely Collective Day Cafe, helping out every saturday afternoon at the Give Away Shop, programming, organizing film/info nights every sunday. Come along with your ideas. Click here and get involved at Joe’s Garage. Keep an eye on our program and on Radar, more events will be announced. You also can get involved a bit further in the neighbourhood, at the Valreep, at the Bajesdorp, at the Roomtuintje Oostbos, the recently squatted gardens in the Dapperbuurt, on the Pieter Vlamingstraat 86.

The coming benefits this month: Leonard Peltier,  Screen Print Studio, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Campaign, Volkskeuken Zeeburgerpad 22, Anarcho Queer Punk Festival. Films to be screened: Incident at Oglala, Diamonds of the Night, The Miners’ Hymns. [Read More]

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Netherlands: Squatting not dead yet

By: sisulscz - July 16th, 2012  Filed under: News

You might think that squatting in the Netherlands has died a death since criminalisation in 2010. But that’s simply not true!

All over the country unused buildings are still welcoming new inhabitants and things are still happening:

  • Whilst things have become tougher in Amsterdam with the new mayor who says a law is a law and must be enforced, squatting continues, with two new places successfully cracked this weekend in the east of the city. You can read the neighbourhood letter of one place, Ringdijk 8, here. It was squatted by a large group and welcomed by neighbours. Earlier in the day, fifty squatters helped to take another building, on Pieter Vlamingstraat 98, which has stood empty for years. [Read More]
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Netherlands: Conversation with filmmaker João Romão on Dutch squats

By: sisulscz - June 11th, 2012  Filed under: Interviews

By Our man in Amsterdam
A new documentary on the squatters’ movement by João Romão, a Portuguese economist and activist living in Amsterdam, has just been released. Squatted Freedom, a one-hour limited-budget film, combines archival footage and interviews with current and former squatters to examine the history and politics of the movement as well as the wave of recent, violent evictions of squats in Amsterdam.

Squatted Freedom is a fascinating film. The story of the squatters’ movement, past and present, is both captivating and inspiring. Violent confrontations between police and squatters have been taking place since the 1980s and continue into the present. Squatted Freedom reaches its climax during an intense standoff and eventual confrontation between squatters and riot police attempting to evict a prominent Amsterdam squat, a scene which Romão and his colleagues were lucky enough to capture on film. [Read More]

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Dutch government wants to silence critic on queen

By: Rosa - April 26th, 2012  Filed under: News

Comrades,

Today saw our dear server Squat!Net unreachable for several hours due to a court order directed at http://grotebroek.nl. The public prosecutor didn’t take kindly to a picture (mirror) of a poster announcing the Hang The Queen Party at this legalised squat in Nijmegen (NL). Considering this an insult to the monarchy and thus a felony offense, they ordered the datacenter colocating our server, Leaseweb, to take down the site.
[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Persistent resistance at the 01-11-2011 eviction wave

By: liberation - November 1st, 2011  Filed under: News

Today, the 1st of November 2011, there were quite a few squats on the list to be evicted in Amsterdam, including a popular social centre and squats where the owners did not start a courtcase yet.

After the successful “reclaim the hood” manifestation (posting in dutch language, but with photos) the squatters in Amsterdam started preparing for the “eviction circus” on 1/11/11, and that went very well.

It took the cops more than a full 12 hour day to evict more than five squats where people were inside with lockons (photo from webcam). This was a clear victory for the squatters.

[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Report from the Court Case

By: baveugel - October 25th, 2011  Filed under: News

On Wednesday the 19th of October we presented ourselves at court. The Gemeente Amsterdam realizing they did not have a strong case, ours was a civil court case. In the current climate after the illegalization of squatting in 2010, this is quite unusual. Most of the times squatters have to open a court-case against the state to fight for their right of habitation.

On the plaintiff’s side, two lawyers and their clients were present. It was easy for us to figure out who was who at first sight – the meagre man on the left from us a City Council representative, in fact Mr. Van Dijk, coordinator of Real Estate Administration at the Stadsdeel Zeeburg; the stout man to the right the former renter, Mr. Drenth from Drenth Autoschade B.V.

[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Reclaim the neighbourhood

By: fawda - October 21st, 2011  Filed under: News
't Blijvertje

Demonstration, Sunday October 30th, 14.00 @ ‘t Blijvertje, with music, speeches, food and a mobile exhibition we speak out to stop the demolitionpolitics and to preserve a fun, diverse and affordable neighbourhood. In 2007, ‘t Blijvertje, a little neighbourhood centre situated in a squatted apartment at the Third Oosterparkstraat opened its doors. This action marked the beginning of a long campaign against the demolition of social housing, the displacement of tenants and the demolition of beautiful buildings. [Read More]

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