Amsterdam: Solidarity actions with anarchist spaces

The lower banner reads a message against the redevelopment plans in a community of squatted buildings: ‘Tabakspanden stays in our hands!’

In January several actions took place in solidarity with the evicted and threatened spaces in Greece:

• On five houses and social centres banners were placed with solidarity messages for Villa Amalias and later also the other squats.

• On the 17th of January a banner drop took place in the city centre; the banner read: ‘Against state and fascist plans, Villa Amalias will stay a squat!’

• Anarchist poster-newspaper ‘Zwart behang’ appeared on the 18th of January with a text on the recent developments in Greece, calling out for solidarity.

• On the 24th of January comrades made a solidarity demo at night. Note that it has been very difficult for anarchists in the Netherlands to openly announce a demo and then actually make the demo without being beaten up/arrested by the police. This one was mobilised silently:

On the 24th of January at around 19.30, shopping night, we held a demo in the Kalverstraat, a shopping street in the city centre of Amsterdam. We were 20 people with banners and flags, we screamed slogans and handed out leaflets, and in the end we set off some fireworks. For 20 minutes we disturbed the normality of the consumption-society. Read the distributed leaflet below:

Solidarity with anarchist spaces!

In the past months the Greek State raided several squats, because they cannot any longer bare the resistance that is being organised from these buildings. From the squats, actions happen against the rising of neo-Nazis, crisis-capitalism, and the huge repression by the State. In this squats, actions and structures are being built for a free, solidarious world.

The European crisis hits exactly the people with less money, and as soon as they resist the State strikes back. In this case the people don’t let it happen without hitting back, they take to the streets, and resquat the buildings.

That is why we are here on the street now, to let our solidarity be heard, our solidarity with the threatened anarchist spaces and everybody who is rising up against the fascists, the capitalism and the authorities, worldwide.

Even in their wildest dreams they cannot take these buildings from us; they are and will stay ours!

‘Rebellion is dignity. Repression is terrorism…
Freedom knows no borders.’