My Old Squatted House in Old Amsterdam \ stacker news ~art

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415 sats \ 13 comments \ @bitcoingraffiti 4h art

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Before squatting was banned in 2011, I had occupied the first floor of this house in Amsterdam in 2006 with a girl whom I had met at the local squatting headquarters in Amsterdam East.

The floor had been completely stripped so it was pretty basic but quite adventurous. We had to make our own kitchen, shower and toilet. We were evicted pretty quickly, and then found another squat on the other side of town where we eventually could stay for 5 years.

Back in the days you could open a house if it was empty for over a year. You'd have 'right of house peace' if you could get in a chair, table and mattress (by law) which you'd transport with a cargo bike (bakfiets). The breaking of the door would usually happen on a Sunday (when police presence is low) by a specialized team and a show of force of about 30 other squatters, just in case the police would pull a trick.

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32 sats \ 6 replies \ @optimism 3h

I've lived in Tsaar Peterbuurt and De Pijp (next to the brewery) between 1998 and 2005 (not squatted tho - skyhigh rents.) Coming back to Amsterdam feels pretty much like "coming home" to me, even after 2 decades.

111 sats \ 5 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti OP 3h

Cool. Amsterdam-Oost is amazing. It's also my home, despite not living there. I took over from you when I came in in 2006.

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @optimism 3h

Oost had a bit more of a dark vibe to it back then, lot of charm. Oud Zuid was quickly becoming yuppie space and although the food and bar (and coffeeshop) scene was pretty awesome there, I still more fondly look back to my time in Oost.

100 sats \ 3 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti OP 3h

Oost has always been very magical and a nice mix of stuff.

I'm afraid though all of Amsterdam has now completely turned yuppie. It's really sad.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 3h

I was strolling around the city on a thursday afternoon this summer. It felt like "Amsterdammers" now means "dudes walking around the city with a buggy because he had to take time off taking care of the kid so that his partner can earn the insane amount of money required to pay the mortgage". lol

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 1h

Where's a place that still has that same vibe?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 1h

I honestly don't know - not sure if it is possible to have nowadays. Good old bad times?

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 1h

Really interesting, thanks for the post.

Would love some details. So...squatting was NOT banned before 2011? How did they get you evicted? Why did the homeowner leave it empty?

And how did you "make our own kitchen, shower and toilet" - what specifically did you set up?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti OP 1h

There's more info below. I'll make a bigger post soon, but here's some info on your questions.

In this place we got evicted because we were noobs, they claimed to have a building permit and the owner started stripping the floor below us, where they almost came through our floor. We decided to leave before we'd be involved in an eviction court case.

Homeowners can leave places empty because e.g. they want to kick out all the renters (social contracts) so they can renovate the place and sell it for big bucks. In our case the building was also part of a maffia network that used real estate transactions to laundry money. The headquarters kept records on homeowners and ownership and historical transactions are publicly available, so we could figure out what was going at our (potential) squat.

The kitchen, toiler and shower were pretty basic. Just some wooden pallets with nails in them. I am no carpenter so it was not that great. The toilet's walls were curtains and we had to flush it with a bucket of water.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @02d769cb73 2h

the local squatting headquarters in Amsterdam East

interested to know what a squatting hq is, and how it works, as i have no idea or experience of any of this

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti OP 1h

I know, I gave minimal details, because there's too much to tell. I can make a bigger post one day about the history of squatting in NL. But here's some more juice.

Squatting is a subculture overlapping with groups like socialists, anarchists, anti-fascists, animal activists, punk, etc. The community in Amsterdam used to be highly organized with different headquarters (kraakspreekuren) around the city.

These kraakspreekuren (squat talking hours) were usually held in strongholds: big houses or streets where a lot buildings would be occupied. Usually the main organizers, leaders would live in these places and these spots would host give-away shops, cheap vegan diners, bars etc. They were public social spaces where they'd also teach how to find and open up a building.

The community was highly structured/organized. Once you 'belonged' or squatted with a specific headquarter or within a certain area (they were keeping records of available houses), they'd want you to also contribute into aiding other squatters; i.e. opening up new houses, show up at emergencies, have your house available so that it could used as a gathering point for Sunday squats, etc... It was not obligatory to participate, but within the culture everyone helps everyone, so it's frowned upon to just use the kraakspreekuur to get your house. 'Wild' squatting they used to call that.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 14m

Why was squatting banned in 2011?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti OP 42m

Small english documentary to get an impression.