Wuppertal. Germany. In the night of July 14th to 15th, the alarm sirens howled over Wuppertal. Howling sirens, a memory of the monthly exercises during the Cold War in the Netherlands. But this time it was not an exercise. A few fragmented thoughts written down during a night of emergency in Wuppertal.
Continue reading Welcome to dystopia
On Saturday german cops once again showed their ugly face. Riot cops, flood lights, a helicopter in the air. In a park in Hamburg. For months now cops are attacking youths in parks and neighbourhoods, major parts of the left react with a deafening silence. In this scenario nobody should be surprised that the cops went after people after one of the most innocent demos that I ever went to: the Osterhoplz Bleibt demo in Wuppertal on June 12. The state doesn’t need actions in self-defense to protect a demo as justification for repression. The fact that the forest occupation in Osterholz and other actions for the forest are putting more and more pressure on municipal and state authorities is reason enough for the state to react with repression. On Saturday the cops didn’t only went after youths in Hamburg. In Düsseldorf the cops attacked a demonstration against the new state (anti) assembly law. The outrage was huge after the police attacks in Düsseldorf, that was perhaps the real surprise for me. Police violence is nothing unusual, the repressive state forces are structurally violent. Ask the surplus proletarian youths in your city. They know violent police practices like racial profiling, deportations and general harassment too well. People get beaten up by cops regurlarly. Düsseldorf was not an exception, it was business as usual.
Continue reading Police violence during demo against new state assembly law in Düsseldorf: Business as usual [Germany]
Amsterdam Nethelands. After the Pierson eviction in Nijmegen (part 4 in this series) in February 1981, I will return to the developments in Amsterdam. The first 3 parts on the housing struggle in Amsterdam can be found here: 1 – 2 – 3.
The experience of the deployment of the army during the Pierson Street eviction had changed everything for me. I had seen the ugly face of so-called parliamentary democracy in front of my own eyes. Standing right in front of a Leopard tank and seeing the snipers on the roof is something you never forget. I was beginning to realize that we have to change everything…. At the age of 15.
Continue reading Housing struggle in the Netherlands: The battle for Lucky Luyk [Amsterdam 1981 – 1982]
The first three parts (1,2,3) of our series “Housing Struggle in the Netherlands” dealt with the struggle for housing in Amsterdam. But at the end of 1980, a conflict over a parking garage in Nijmegen heated up. There, 14 houses were squatted that the city wanted to demolish for a parking garage. Usable housing in a city with a severe housing shortage. Once again, the army was deployed. For this article Riot Turtle also translated subtitles for the Dutch documentary film ‘Pierson Unknown’ (47 minutes, Eng subs)). You can find the film below this article.
Continue reading Housing struggle in the Netherlands: Tanks in Pierson Street
Amsterdam. Netherlans. 1980. The militancy of the Amsterdam squatters movement in 1980 had an impact outside the Netherlands as well. The images of tanks and militant clashes made a strong impression in Western Europe, with the result that squatters from Amsterdam were now welcome guests of their comrades abroad.
Continue reading Housing struggle in the Netherlands 1980: The battle for Vondel Street and the ‘Coronation Revolt’ on Tour through Europe
Greece. The colonels are back, but this time they are wearing suits and are not part of the military, but members of the governing Nea Demokratia (New Democarcy, ND) party. The repressive laws and the way Greek cops crackdown on disidents reminds of the military regime in the 1960’s and 70’s. A few videos from the crackdown on protests in solidarity with Dimitris Koufontinas in Athens on March 5 and 6, 2021.
Continue reading The ugly face of the Greek ND regime and its police state [Videos]
Facebook is censoring about any person, group or page that is posting something related to the hunger and thirst strike of Dimitris Koufontinas. In the past days Greek journalists, reporters, historians, civil society and political groups pages and streaming events have been suspended by Facebook. In Greece the wave of censorship on Facebook is carried out by the content moderation contractor Teleperformance, a company with ties to the Greek governmentand the far right.
Image above: Image of yesterdays demonstration in solidarity with Dimitris Koufontinas In athens. The banner says: “I was born on November 17th”. The image was taken by photo journalist Marios Lolos. This image was banned by Facebook. You can still follow lolos marios on Twitter: @lolosmarios
Continue reading Massive censorship by Facebook and the Greek state to suppress any content related to hunger and thirst striker Dimitris Koufontinas
A few personal words from Riot Turtle on Dimitris Koufontinas.
Continue reading A daily question: Is Dimitris still alive?
After the struggle for a squatted house in Vondel Street, which we reported on earlier, this second part of our series on housing struggles in the Netherlands looks at the action month of the squatters’ movement in April 1980. The action month reached its climax on Beatrix’s coronation day, on April 30, 1980. April 30, 1980 the biggest revolt that took place in the Netherlands after World War II. This piece tells about that April, we have also added the documentary film about April 30, 1980: “No Housing! No Coronation!” and added English subtitles. You can find the film below the article.
Continue reading No Housing! No Coronation! – The Coronation Revolt, Amsterdam 1980 [Video]
Amsterdam in the 1980’s, there was always something going on, not one day without some kind of action. The smell of revolt was in the air. There was an enormous housing shortage. The waiting time for an apartment was at least 10 years. They were mostly allocated through a distribution system of the city administration. Apartments on the “free” market were unaffordable. Young people either had to stay with their parents as adults, leave the city, or squat. At the peak of the Amsterdam squatter movement, about 22,000 people lived in squatted houses.
Continue reading Amsterdam 1980: The Battle for the Vondel Street squat: A Vondel Bridge too far [Video]
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