Welcome Home: a book conversation with Clarrie Pope

Friday 8th March 2024: Welcome Home, a book conversation with Clarrie Pope, event organized by Supernormal, queer feminist collective that hosts literary events around Amsterdam. Door opens at 19:00.

Squatting, gentrification, care work, living with activists, Rihanna, Trotskyite dogs, capitalist cats, being in love with your hot and (mostly) unavailable flatmate – WELCOME HOME, a graphic novel by sisters Clarrie and Blanche Pope, weaves all these topics (and, if you can believe it, more) into an impactful yet humorous narrative about housing struggles in London.
We’ll be talking to Clarrie about making the book, the experiences behind it and how those experiences relate (or not) to the Amsterdam squatting scene. So: whether greenwashing developers make you incandescent with rage or you simply have some strong feelings about cats/dogs/the music video for Te Amo to work through, come join us for the discussion!
There’ll be books on sale afterwards. Clarrie will sign yours for you, if you like!
Bonus: afterwards there’ll be (vegan) cake AND music inspired by two important characters in the book (Rihanna and Gianna Nannini) curated by DJ Jenny Woolworth <3

Supernormal, queer feminist collective https://supernormalbooks.nl/
Welcome Home, Clarrie Pope https://www.clarriepope.com

Film screening: Une île et une nuit (An Island and One Night)

Sunday 3rd March 2024, Film screening: Une île et une nuit (An Island and One Night) * 2021-2023 * 100 min * multi-lingual (11 languages) * no subs * Free or pay what you can * doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30.

Around a campfire travelers, vagabonds and pirates tell their stories, share their dreams and adventures. From language to language and story to story they tell their tales of how they reached this imaginary island which could be a reality. The island comes under threat from the forces of development, capitalism, technology and gentrification.
A film made organically, collectively and non hierarchically by the inhabitants and users of a community called Le Quartier Libre des Lentillères, located in Dijon, France facing eviction and development as well struggling against all borders.
The Quartier Libre des Lentillères was born out of a demonstration in 2010, in Dijon, at the end of which a hundred people cleared and then cultivated quality land left abandoned and threatened by a real estate project. From there was born the Pot’Col’Le, an open and collective gardening dynamic based on the exchange of knowledge. The Jardin des Maraichères, managed on a self-employed basis, supplies weekly non-profit markets at free prices. At the crossroads of these two large plots, dozens of small allotment gardens are intermingled. In the midst of all this, busy farms, a dynamic of building huts and maintaining places open to all for walks, for workshops for the exchange of diverse knowledge, concerts or atypical parties. From all this is born a colorful neighborhood, mixed collectives fed by several hundred people.
However, all these dynamics are threatened: the SPLAAD (Société Publique Locale d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise) and the Grand Dijon want to destroy this creative boiling that produces a neighborhood as we want to live it, outside the established frameworks, to replace it with a real estate project of “eco-neighborhood”: the “ecocity of market gardeners”. The first phase of construction has begun on the industrial plot of land of the former slaughterhouses, but we intend to oppose the work of the second phase of construction which concerns the Quartier libre des Lentillères. We are more determined than ever to fight so that solidarity prevails over business. Join us!

Une île et une nuit https://piratesdeslentilleres.net/
Quartier Libre des Lentillères http://lentilleres.potager.org/
https://radar.squat.net/en/dijon/quartier-libre-des-lentilleres

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

VoKu benefit + Documentary Screening “Hotel Mokum” for ZZW Rafelrand Mobilization

Thursday 30 November 2023, VoKu benefit + Documentary Screening for ZZW Rafelrand Mobilization. Food served from 7pm, screening Hotel Mokum (Yannesh Meijman, 2023, 30′) starts at 9pm, no reservation.

“ZZW Rafelrand” is one of the last frayed edges of Amsterdam, mobilizing under “Nightingales & Chickens: Unite! 4 de Laatste Rafelranden van Amsterdam”, in light of its threatened eviction starting in June 2024. The rafelrand has been a colorful patchwork of communities on Zeeburgereiland in the East of Amsterdam for over 40 years. Part of its communities is the ZZW student community of 235-people existing for 20 years. We have communal gardens, a give-away shop, organize skillshares & OnsEiland Leven community events. The DIY character of the ZZW community emerged in close relation to its surrounding frayed edges, among which artist community Fort Knox, the trailer community One Peaceful World, rockabilly club the Cruise In, to name but a few.

In light of the threatened eviction of the whole neighborhood, our mobilization is focused on bringing attention to our case, fighting against the erasure of Amsterdam’s frayed edges and its (young) creative spaces of counterculture and self-organization. Donations will go to sticker & flyer printing for ADEV (in collab with Krektek & Kloki) and for printing upcoming sticker & flyers.

We will cook a vegan dinner, while we introduce you to ZZW Rafelrand! Afterwards, there will be a screening & discussion of Mokum Kraakt’s documentary “Hotel Mokum”.

Hotel Mokum (Yannesh Meijman, 2023, 30′), in Dutch with English subtitles.
Hotel Mokum is a documentary about a collective that squatted the abandoned Hotel Marnix in the heart of Amsterdam on October 16th, 2021. Over six weeks the collective transformed the hotel into a home, a self-proclaimed free space and an oasis in a city smothered by hypergentrification. At the height of its popularity, Hotel Mokum got evicted under the guise of fire safety. The story of Hotel Mokum is rooted in protest: against both the housing and cost of living crises, as well as the criminalization of squatting in 2010 that led to the eviction of over 300 squats in Amsterdam alone. The film combines documentary footage, archival materials, and constructed scenes to create a complex and intimate portrait of a hopeful collective and the city they are working to reclaim.

Find ZZW Rafelrand events on Radar https://radar.squat.net/en/amsterdam/zzw-rafelrand
Join our mailing list: zzw [at] riseup [dot] net

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Joe’s Garage 18th birthday, 18 years Pretoriusstraat 43


[nederlands] [english] [français]

On September 16th 2023, we celebrate Joe’s 18th birthday on the Steve Bikoplein and at Joe’s Garage.

Joe’s Garage on Pretoriusstraat 43 has been squatted for 18 years. Join us this Saturday, September 16th, for performances, music, coffee and cakes, food and more… Bring your friends & comrades and spread the word around your squats and further! Starting at 2pm/14:00 hrs. Interested in helping out? Send an email! FULL PROGRAMME:

FAJADJA
ASOCIAAL KABAAL
Peikor
Bas Punkt & Tijdelijke Toon
Jan Modaal
Big Future Raffle with Prizes!
Bleeding Eye Cabaret by Bloody Vag (18+)
DJ Trashy Lords, Van Kulo & Molok, Vudopia, Dj Matters, CnB, Bloody Hool, Bass Punk, Loosen Skroo rec.
and more…….

18 years Pretoriusstraat 43 / Joe’s Garage in the East of Amsterdam.

On September 25, 2005, Pretoriusstraat 43 was squatted by the Amsterdam-Oost squatting group as a protest against long-term vacancy, criminal money laundering practices and real estate speculation.
For 18 years the house has been a place for a living group on the upper floors, and in 2008, after 3 years of residence and the eviction of Pretoriusstraat 28, Joe’s Garage moved to the Pretoriusstraat 43 ground floor.
The Amsterdam-Oost squatting group has now been present in the Pretoriusstraat for more than 20 years. Joe’s Garage is a political / social center, run by a broad volunteer collective. Independent, in solidarity and non-profit. A place where the ‘cold wind from the market’ does not blow, a meeting place for many.
Joe’s is also 18 years old, with more than 1800 (people’s) kitchens (Voku’s), more than 1000 openings of the give-away shop, countless film evenings, music performances, language cafes, the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and of course, every Tuesday evening for 18 years, the housing / squatting assistance hour (KSU Oost) for help & info.

18 years squatted, 18 years precarity!

Now that we are coming of age, it’s time to say: This property, this place will & can never again appear on the speculative real estate market. Pretoriusstraat 43 deserves a stable future after 18 years!
We as residents and the Joe’s Garage collective will do everything we can to claim this future !
We cannot do this without your support & solidarity to achieve this. Don’t leave PS43 to the market, but to our community of solidarity !

RIGHT TO THE CITY !

Solidarity and greetings,
Residents & Joe’s Garage collective […Lees verder]

Benefit Voku in solidarity with the squatted neighbourhood of Prosfygika

Monday 17 July 2023, Benefit Voku in solidarity with the squatted neighbourhood of Prosfygika. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

“Prosfygika”, or otherwise refugee homes, is a complex of residential flats built in 1930’s to house refugees resulting from the Asia Minor conflict between Greece and Turkey. The buildings are situated on a central avenue of Athens, surrounded on either side by the police HQ and the supreme court, in a heavily gentrified area . After years of abandonment, Prosfygika has been increasingly reclaiming its original purpose as many refugees, migrants, poor, greek and foreigner working class people have sought to resolve their need for housing by squatting the empty flats.

Communıty of Squatted Prosfygıka https://sykaprosquat.noblogs.org/
Info-night and benefit for Prosfygika in 2014 at Joe’s Garage https://joesgarage.nl/archives/9989
– Statement from Community of Squatted Prosfygika in November 2022: https://joesgarage.nl/archives/16341

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Benefit VoKu for Prosfygika & music by Rembetiko Against The Machine

Thursday 26 January 2023, Benefit Voku in solidarity with the squatted neighbourhood of Prosfygika with music performance by Rembetiko Against The Machine. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

“Prosfygika”, or otherwise refugee homes, is a complex of residential flats built in 1930’s to house refugees resulting from the Asia Minor conflict between Greece and Turkey. The buildings are situated on a central avenue of Athens, surrounded on either side by the police HQ and the supreme court, in a heavily gentrified area . After years of abandonment, Prosfygika has been increasingly reclaiming its original purpose as many refugees, migrants, poor, greek and foreigner working class people have sought to resolve their need for housing by squatting the empty flats.
(Info-night and benefit for Prosfygika in 2014 at Joe’s Garage https://joesgarage.nl/archives/9989)

Rembetiko Against The Machine – A session with rebetiko tunes from the 1930’s till the early 1950’s. The period between the 1st and 2nd World Wars had a crucial role in the development of the Greek bouzouki players and the texture of the genre. We are gonna perform rebetiko tunes from each period. Looking forward to see you there and enjoy the night with this unique atmosphere!!!

Ilias Konstantinidis: guitar, vocals
Giannis Leloudas: bouzouki, vocals
Argyris Papadimitriou: bouzouki, baglamadaki, vocals

Statement Community of Squatted Prosfygika
ON THE ATTACK ON PROSFYGIKA OF L. ALEXANDRA

On the morning of 22/11, the forces of repression entered the 7th block of the squatted neighbourhood of the Prosfygika arresting comrade Kostas Dimalexis and then, in the afternoon of the same day, in the 6th block, arresting 79 of its defenders. The media once again did government propaganda.

There are more than 400 people living in the Prosfygika – The community of the squatted Prosfygika consists of about 150 adults and 30 children. We propose to organize society outside the state capitalism. We are the birthplace of the popular uprisings of December 2008 and the anti-monetary struggles of 2010-2012. We do not and have never believed in parliamentary fairy tales.
We promote the model of social self-management; we organize ourselves in direct democratic processes in our general assembly and in the regular and extraordinary procedures. We create and operate structures for living, education and and internal economy. At the same time we organize and participate in the struggles of the oppressed, because we fight until the collapse of this tyrannical and unjust regime. Until the whole world becomes one a community of equality, freedom, solidarity and social justice. […Lees verder]

Woonstrijdfilmmiddag

Woensdag 20 juli 2022, filmmiddag over woonstrijd in Oost, vanaf 16:00 tot 18:00.

[english] [français]

We gaan aan de hand van beeldmateriaal van bewonersacties van de kraakgroep Oost en de Huurdersvereniging Oost in gesprek over vele jaren van verzet tegen deze nog altijd voortdurende aanval op goedkoop wonen.

Op het programma staat ook een nieuwe film over Frans Ondunk, voorzitter van de Huurdersvereniging Oost, maar ook bekend als de sheriff van Oost, die op dagelijkse basis het vuur aan de schenen legde van de huisbazen.

In de geschiedenis van Amsterdam Oost hebben de kraakbeweging en de lokale huurdersvereniging met de regelmaat van de klok dezelfde boodschap uitgedragen. De vastgoedeigenaren van wie de panden werden gekraakt waren vaak dezelfde als die van de panden waarin huurders werden geterroriseerd.

Speculanten gebruiken nog altijd leegstand en verkrotting om huurders uit betaalbare woningen te jagen en zo veel mogelijk winst te persen uit onze wijken. De politiek heeft de wooncrisis doelbewust aangewakkerd. Het gentrificatiebeleid, de veryupping, het mengen van wijken was vijandig tegen de eigen bewoners. De wooncrisis is onder de aandacht van de politiek, maar ze zijn niet bereid te doen wat nodig is om het op te lossen.

Wat nodig is is organisatie van onderop, bewoners die zich uitspreken en samen zich organiseren voor hun buurten. De Huurdersvereniging Oost en de kraakgroep Oost zijn altijd dat soort organisaties geweest. Hoe ziet de toekomst eruit? […Lees verder]

Demonstration against all evictions and state repression

Callout for a demonstration on Friday 25th of February, 19:00, Leidseplein, Amsterdam.

We are calling for this demonstration as a response to the eviction of the Waldeck Pyrmontlaan, the court case of our arrested comrades, the repression at the housing demo in Leiden and every other time the police used their violent means to protect the rich and structures of oppression. These speed evictions and police repression concern all of us, not just the anarchists or the squatters.

Since the last housing protests, more people seem to be losing faith in reformist approaches and the false promises of politicians. Squatting is widely supported, rent strikes are called for and people everywhere are taking direct action against gentrification. Politicians from volt and groenlinks were drowned out of demos and were unable to promote their fake promises.

Fighting for our own solutions- without relying on the state or making demands of the government is seen as a viable solution. As more people are embracing anarchist tactics and methods of organising, the state’s response seems to be to repress it before it can spread. A whole arsenal of tactics is employed to attempt to shut us down, break bonds of solidarity and scare people away.

From police violence at demonstrations, evictions, preventive searches, sending informants and so on. This repression must be met with a collective response. Our rage, like our movement, will not be contained or repressed.

Let’s come together and show our rage. Come prepared, come in block if that makes you feel safer. There will be a sound system, speeches, a march and good spirit! Everyone is welcome, email us with any concerns or questions you might have.

We envision:
A world without police and prisons
Cops and cameras of campus
Free meals
Free public transport for everyone
Decolonising the university
Cancelling of all debts
Free housing for everyone that needs it

Autonomous Student Struggle
https://radar.squat.net/en/autonomous-student-struggle
https://astudentstruggle.noblogs.org/