Delft: Under a Bridge, Rotterdamseweg 364 squatted

By: fawda - May 28th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

So then…
Under a Bridge

The building under the bridge, here at the Rotterdamseweg, has been vacant since 2017. During this period we have never seen any activity happening in the enormous warehouse. Unlike the typical trolls that usually settle under bridges, we are a set of neat students and former students looking for a place to make for ourselves. Over the past few years we have developed the idea of reopening this place to Delft and giving it a purpose again.

The hall under the bridge is not privately owned, but by the province of Zuid-Holland (and therefore a bit by us all). It is meant to be left vacant and finally for demolition. We are open to conversations and will accommodate proper plans for the future. Until that time we’ll take this opportunity to create a lively place for ourselves to reside and for anyone who wishes to join.

Already over a longer period, the situation about housing has been a hot topic. Instead of focussing on an “anti”-tone, the opposing, we want to propagate a narrative that is based around sound that is “in favour of”. Under the slogan “Niet lullen maar poetsen!” [meaning something like: “Don’t blab on, just mop!”], we aim to contribute and assist in finding a solution to the problems as explained below. In a cheerful and constructive manner, we organize this new space in Delft where there is room to live, experiment, meet up and organize. We offer Delft the opportunity to expand her repertoire with the 1500m² under the bridge. In the manner of e.g. cooking or dwelling, lectures or music. Initiative and enthusiasm are welcome Under the Bridge, to appropriate the space and make it a place for us all! [Read More]

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Amstelveen: Krakenburg, big squatted terrain next to the Uilenstede campus

By: fawda - May 22nd, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

Statement by the Krakenburg collective, squatting the terrain at Laan van Kronenburg 12, next to the Uilenstede campus. The action was revealed on 19 May. The terrain is owned by Mytylstichting Amstelrade and not by the municipality as originally stated by the squatters:

The piece of land has been empty for almost 10 year, and belongs to the municipality who hasn’t been able to use it due to the noise from mass polluter Schiphol. This is unacceptable in times of housing crisis and so we are taking matters into our own hands. We want to make a beautiful place with a shared garden, where everyone can get involved to transform it into an anti-capitalist space that everyone can enjoy. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: AFGA Squats Kanaalstraat 128

By: fawda - May 18th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

Statement by AFGA after squatting Kanaalstraat 128, owned by the family Uit den Boogaard.

On the 14th of May, we revealed Villa Mina to the world. This beautiful house has been vacant since at least 2017. The Anarcha-Feminist Group Amsterdam (AFGA) has been an active part of the squatting scene here for a few years.
The time has now come to find a house specifically for WLINTA* (Women, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Trans, Agender) people and to find our space. We desire a house free of sexism, machoism, transphobia, etc while more WLINTA* people are finding themselves without homes or unable to pay their rent around us. This building is thus a home for WLINTA* people only, and the new political space for AFGA.
The lack of affordable housing and the rising cost of living has made it increasingly difficult for working-class people to survive. Many of us live from paycheck to paycheck. Years of austerity policies and cuts in public services like social housing have created this “crisis”. This was a political choice, which has had fatal consequences. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Store squatted on Kalverstraat on kingsday. Takland founded

By: fawda - April 28th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

Yesterday on the birthday of the king, there was a suspicious puppetshow in Taksteeg, a side street from the busy shopping street of Kalverstraat. In this puppet show, the mayor, the king and a member of parliament were talking about how to make the city more wealthy. Their conclusion, in six months, all of the people in the city should be evicted and all of their homes should be converted to hotels. They were so happy with this plan that they started partying to an André Hazes junior techno remix. At this party, the MP sneaked out and went to the people, the MP told the people about their plans, and pleaded for a revolution and the beheading of the king. After a lot of screaming and rioting of the people, the guillotine was brought out, where the king met his faith, and the people reclaimed their city.
After this revolution, another city was also being reclaimed. Right above the puppet show, a banner which read “geen woning geen koning” (no home no king) was dropped. An old store had been squatted, right in the rich tourist and yuppy center of Amsterdam. The building has been empty for more than three years. The cops came, asked a neighbour how long it had been empty and told the squatters that they were not going to speed evict, and the regular procedure will happen. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: update from Binnenkadijk 478

By: fawda - March 28th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

We, the new residents of the apartment at Binnenkadijk 478, were approached by Alliantie on Monday 27 March and invited for a talk. By squatting this apartment, we are supporting a pre-existing struggle and protest around Alliantie’s plan to sell 140 social rental homes in the Entrepotdok complex (a unique project designed to jointly house social housing, housing groups and middle-class tenants), and to provide ourselves with housing in a city that has become increasingly unlivable for people with lower incomes.
Given the supposed mission/vision of Alliantie as a housing corporation to provide residents of Amsterdam with affordable housing, we hoped for a friendly conversation aimed at finding a solution that is beneficial for all parties involved. Unfortunately, nothing came of it. The flat had been vacant for seven months for no apparent reason (the previous occupants were evicted for bureaucratic/legal formalities) and no plans for the future were made public or even communicated to the residents. Coincidentally, shortly after the occupation, Alliantie informed the residents of the complex for the first time about various possible future scenarios for the apartment. This is not the first time such a coincidence has occurred. Despite the fact that Alliantie’s plans for the housing are in the early stages and are only ideas at the moment, they plan to evict us as soon as possible and thereby make us homeless. A curious approach for a housing corporation, which contradicts their own core values and, moreover, with usual legal standards that are applied to squatting cases. The right to housing is – at least in theory – only taken away from people if there is a concrete future plan for the housing in question (supported by evidence), which is also about to be implemented. This is clearly not the case for Binnenkadijk 478. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Binnenkadijk 478 squatted

By: fawda - March 26th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

The Binnenkadijk 478 apartment has been squatted in protest against the vacancy of rental properties in the middle of a housing crisis and has been occupied since Tuesday 21 March. The house is located in the Entrepotdok complex and the owner is the housing corporation de Alliantie. The residents of the complex are fighting against the Alliance’s plan to sell 140 apartments in the complex, an outrageous proposal that will reduce the social housing stock in Amsterdam and destroy a truly unique socialist project.
We have squatted the apartment to take direct action against the unjustified vacancy since the previous residents were evicted in September last year. We believe that no perfectly habitable apartments should be left vacant while so many, including ourselves, have to struggle to find affordable housing. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Woestduinstraat 72 HS Squatted – Social housing is Not For Sale!

By: fawda - March 26th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

For several days now, we have been occupying and living in Woestduinstraat 72 HS. Since the 25th of march we announced the occupation by means of a protest.
This social housing property has been vacant for a year awaiting sale. This action is a protest against the sale of social housing and the subsequent sell-out of the city, by housing corporations and the municipality. Lieven de Key has put this house on the market in a dilapidated state for a staggering 475,000. The house is on the ground floor and would have made a good home for seniors or those with mobility problems. But it is clear that Lieven de Key does not give a fuck about the residents of the city and cares more about gentrification and profit.
Since the 1990s, profit maximization has been the main goal of housing cooperatives. While housing cooperatives claim to build more social housing outside the center with the proceeds from sales, the overall share of social housing in Amsterdam is decreasing. Social housing associations are contributing to gentrification and original residents have to make way for people with more money. Housing is not being built for the working class and the social housing that remains is often neglected and left in a bad state. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Evictions continue, Squatting will too!

By: fawda - February 20th, 2023  Filed under: Communique

Another illegal eviction. Saturday afternoon we announced a new squat on Zeeburgerpad 22. Not much later we were forced to pack our bags and leave again. Thanks to the presence of a large number of friends outside, people inside managed to get away safely without getting arrested. But of course, no one is safe if they’re sleeping in the streets, so we’ll be back.
On the 18th of February, we made it public that we squatted Zeeburgerpad 22. Many people showed up to show support and protect the occupation.
We had already been inside for a week and had evidence of this. But as some of the members of our collective are in a vulnerable position we decided to force contact with the owner/ police by dropping a banner & speaking to the neighbours. It wasn’t the first time this place has been squatted, it was squatted in 2013 and again in 2018.
After the last eviction in 2021, some renovations took place but apart from that nothing much happened, the place remained empty. The daughter of the owner and Pablo ( the neighbour and owner of the company next door) showed up and provided us with some much-needed entertainment. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Statement about the illegal eviction at Noorderdwarsstraat 9

By: fawda - January 26th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

On the 24th of January, a squat in the center of Amsterdam got revealed by Autonomous Shelter, a squatted appartment on Noorderdwarsstraat 9. The same morning it got illegaly evicted.

This appartment had been empty since four to six years, according to the neighbors. The neighbours were all supportive, bringing us tea and chatting with us. The beginning of the action went really calmly. We provided cops with documents showing that we had been living there since the 21st of February, and neighbors told us they could indeed confirm our house peace if the cops asked them.

After over an hour of waiting we suddenly got the message that they would evict us and that we had 5 min to leave. 5 police vans appeared and suddenly 30 cops were standing in the small street. When we asked why they wanted to evict us they first stated “because squatting is illegal”. Only after, one of them told us it was for heterdaad, meaning that they claimed to have caught us in the act.
This is total bullshit as all our documents and the statements from the neighbors showed that we had house peace. [Read More]

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Ghent: The Pandemistes occupy ‘t Vredeshuis!

By: fawda - January 20th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

Peace, love and a little revolution.
Since January 2023 we occupy ‘t Vredeshuis!
The government tries to sell our public places without us noticing.
But the Pandemistes are back from never gone! We take direct action and fight against the privatization of our city!
‘t Vredeshuis was a place for international solidarity with a lot of organisations involved. We continue with this mission from bottom up and work together with organisations like Rojava Congres Gent, Woman life freedom, …
The biggest changes in the world came out of small initiatives from big dreamers. We take back ‘t Vredeshuis and welcome everyone to fight
together for what is ours: THE CITY!
Come join this new social-cultural centre! there’s a lot of space for a lot of projects!

Friday 20 january, reception, grand opening: https://squ.at/r/96ld [Read More]

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Amsterdam: first squat action of the year, Spui 11

By: fawda - January 6th, 2023  Filed under: News

Yesterday, a new building was announced as squatted, a small manifestation was held on the Spui and flyers were distributed to the public. Police have been on site and said they were not planning to evict. The building housed the music store Hampe and Berkel for 179 years, last year they closed due to the corona crisis. The property will house people who would otherwise be homeless.

Some squats in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL/squated/squat
Groups (social center, collective, squat) in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL
Events in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/NL

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Amsterdam: building from russian oligarch squatted

By: fawda - October 31st, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Today we are announcing our new home at Vossiusstraat 16. The police just arrived! Come and support.

We purposefully decided to squat this building, owned by Russian billionaire Arkadiy Volozj. As everyone knows, the Russian army invaded Ukraine this year. This is just the latest in a list of Putin’s crimes, against Ukraine, against LGBT people, in Syria, and many more. With this year’s invasion, the Russian state is finally widely denounced as criminal, genocidal, and as an authoritarian state. Volozj, who founded Russian propaganda site Yandex, has been placed on the sanctions list of the European Union since the invasion, as the EU determined he “is supporting, materially or financially, the Government of the Russian Federation and is responsible for supporting actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”.

Yet this house was not frozen until a few weeks ago, because it’s owned through a company on the Virgin Islands. The billionaire’s lawyers contacted the government to inform them of his property here, but the government didn’t send it on to the department responsible for sanctions. Clearly, the Dutch state doesn’t see it as a priority to curb billionaires and oligarchs. National sanctions coordinator Stef Blok claimed that the Dutch housing market just isn’t interesting to Russian oligarchs. That’s obviously bullshit.
About 9000 properties in the Netherlands were bought through companies in tax havens. 6000 houses are owned by companies that through shady constructions are untraceable. In total, they own 10.5 billion euros worth of properties. It’s clear: There is no housing shortage, there is an excess of rich people. [Read More]

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