BOND PRECAIRE WOONVORMEN

The BPW helps and participates in the “ReTakeTheCity” weekend in Amsterdam on October 25-26 and 27. We call on everyone to participate in the inspiring program as well.

Read more about the set-up, the program and check it out below facebook event.

(ReTakeThe.City, because we need to reclaim control of the city. Unfortunately, we do not make the city, but it is formed by the interests of real estate speculators, project developers and foreign investment funds. Living in the Netherlands, and especially in a city like Amsterdam, is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Furthermore, tourism is putting pressure on the city centre, tenancy law is being made more flexible and there is less and less free space for culture due to evictions and commercialization. And how are we going to speed up the much-needed climate transition and ensure that it takes place justly? It is high time that we build movements that can offer countervailing power. With ReTakeThe.City, we want to contribute to organizing and mobilizing bottom-up responses to the housing and climate crisis.

In the workshops and discussions we want to ask the questions needed to formulate these answers. We want to strengthen the structures of resistance and make them more sustainable. Develop handles, formulate requirements and forge plans.

We start on Friday evening (at 19.00) with presentations from the 'militant research' network of activist researchers from different countries. At 21:00 the monthly Ru Paré Open Mic starts, this time hosted by Temporary Toon with the theme 'whose city belongs to?'

On Saturday we start with lunch and then a plenary opening. Parallel workshops will take place in the afternoon and in the evening we will end with a plenary session with speakers and music. Details about the program to follow.

Location: Ru Paré (Chris Lebeaustraat 4, Amsterdam). Read the full program below. English Below.

Geen fotobeschrijving beschikbaar.

~ENGLISH-

ReTakeThe.City, because we must reclaim control of the city. Unfortunately, we do not make the city but it is formed by the interests of real estate speculators, project developers and foreign investment funds. Living in the Netherlands, and especially in a city like Amsterdam, is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Furthermore, tourism is putting pressure on the city center, tenancy law is being destroyed through flexibilization and with the eviction of places like ADM and increasing commercialization there is less and less free space for culture. And how are we going to speed up the much-needed climate transition and ensure that it takes place fairly? It is time to build and strengthen movements that can offer counter power. With ReTakeThe.City we want to contribute to organizing and mobilizing bottom-up responses for the housing and climate crisis.

In the workshops and discussions we want to ask the questions that are needed to formulated these responses. We want to strengthen the structures of resistance and make them more sustainable. Developing tools, formulating demands and forging plans.

We start on Friday evening (at 7 pm) with presentations from the “militant research” network of activist researchers from different countries. The monthly Ru Paré Open Mic starts at 9 pm, this time with Temporary Toon as host and ReTakeThe.City as theme.

On Saturday we will start with lunch and a plenary opening as kick-off. Parallel workshops take place in the afternoon and in the evening we end in plenary session again with speakers and music. Details about the program will follow!

Location: Ru Paré (Chris Lebeaustraat 4, Amsterdam)

We want to use the last weekend of October in Wijkcentrum Ru Pare to make plans for taking back the city. We have devised a program of workshops, debates and presentations, in the hope that people will participate who want to organize themselves and prepare actions to regain a city that is accessible to everyone who wants to live, work (or collaborate) and want to entertain. That it is no longer your wallet that determines whether you belong there, but the neighborhood and its residents. (Dutch version at bottom)

We are explicitly organizing this as the start of a series of meetings, because we don't think you can solve anything with just one-off meetings full of chatter. Above all, we need to initiate a process of self-organization and research and planning, and we would like to hear from the participants how we can best do this and what more content should be added.

RETAKETHECITY full program (english below)

Friday 25

We start on Friday October 25. During the day 'militant researchers' from different European countries come together there to work on their research into the 'International Landlords' and what we can do about them. They present and discuss their findings Friday evening from 19-20.30 hours and public (language: English, translation into Dutch possible).

Activists and (neighborhood) movements are trying to map out what financial forces are active in their respective cities and how they affect the housing rights of the local population. In particular, research has been conducted into the internationally operating 'large international landlords.' Rita Silva from Portugal talks about Apollo, Manuel Gabarre (Spain) about Blackstone and Knut Unger (Germany) about Vonovia. We will hear about the consequences of entering these types of companies for living conditions. Such companies are less active in some European countries. This also includes the Netherlands, which still has a relatively large and protected social housing stock. The question (which will be discussed) is whether this will eventually fall prey to 'the market' or not. And of course we also talk about the possibilities for structural alternatives, which we have summarized under the heading Socialize Housing across Europe.

Afterwards (from 21:00) there will be the Open Mic in Ru Pare led by Temporary Toon Subject: Whose City?/ReTakeTheCity Edition

Saturday October 26 26

Saturday, October 26 (morning and afternoon): The European Elephant in the Hall

Officially, the European Union is not about housing policy, because that is a competence of the member states. But in reality, much of the regulation in the EU favors privatization and commercialization (and financialization) of housing. Yet little attention is paid to this on the part of housing activists, who often already have enough to do. To tackle this elephant by the trunk, a number of housing activists released a first manifesto of demands over the past year, accompanied by a video subtitled in several languages (see: announcement BPW)

This topic will be further explored and discussed during two workshops on Saturday 26 October. The aim is to make a substantiated analysis of European policy and formulate requirements that promote the socialization of housing.

The first workshop is from 11-12.30 o'clock (ie before the official opening of the event), the second from 2-5 p.m.

Language: English

Saturday is here 12:00 walk-in-with-lunch and to 13:00 let's kick off with a exposé of Angela Wigger (political economist of Radboud University in Nijmegen)

The Merciless Market and Its Counterparts

The neoliberal capitalist economy has made the city an economic battleground and housing a merciless market. This has enormous consequences for the city and who still has and does not have access to it. Angela Wigger, political economist at Radboud University in Nijmegen, explains how this came about, what the situation is at the moment, and what we can expect for the near future.

Then starts a series of 2 x 3 workshops: about tenants, the refugees in our midst, housing corporations and housing cooperatives, the costs of climate policy, and labeling the green zone between the Nieuwe Meer and the Haarlemmerweg as an Amsterdam “Zone À Défendre” (ZAD)

The participants in the militant research network starts as early as 11:00 with its own workshop on the EU and the real estate market. This is accessible to everyone and goes from 14:00-17:00 further. The aim is to formulate a series of requirements at European level to enable the desire for socialization of housing throughout Europe.

The other workshops are:

1) How can we use cooperative models to achieve results in the housing struggle?

Home seekers and tenants are certainly interested in new, more direct forms of control over their homes. This may not be an option for everyone, but for those who value autonomy and sharing, cooperative housing models offer starting points for creating tailor-made control – usually not in the short term, but certainly in the somewhat longer term. This can be a weapon against further gentrification and sale, but also against further degradation strategies of the housing associations.

In this workshop, two types of cooperatives are discussed: the cooperative that aims to realize new construction and the cooperative that wants to take over the management of existing corporation property.

How do you approach both one and the other model to achieve a realistic chance of success?

Can we also use such an approach as a means of action in the proposed demolition/new construction, in which corporations and other owners focus on precarious temporary housing?

2) How do we take back the corporations? From tenant to customer and back again

Over the past fifteen years, the financial position of tenants has deteriorated further as a result of a combination of lobbying by commercial real estate interests, right-wing crisis policy (the landlord levy), EU policy on state aid, new rent and rent legislation, and further residualization of the housing of the corporations. As a result, a large part of the tenants have run into financial problems.

What requirements do we set and how can we work on taking back a substantial influence on the policy of the boards/administrators of the housing associations? What means of action do we have and how can we organize ourselves to enforce the desired results (no gentrification/no sale/no passing on the costs of sustainability to the tenants, etc.)?

Can performance agreements play a central role in this? Or are they part of a repressive-tolerant system? These and other questions and possible solutions are discussed in this workshop. The occupation of the Borgerstraat 75 may and can serve as inspiration!

3) Solidarity with people without residence permits

The repressive migration policies of the EU and the Netherlands are causing ever greater misery. Large groups of migrants, if they manage to enter 'Fortress Europe' at all, are forced to live as undocumented migrants in very bad conditions. Some cities and regions try to improve this situation with plaster solutions, but that is often not enough to give undocumented migrants their basic living conditions, let alone a pleasant life with self-determination.

In 'taking back the city', the theme of exclusion of undocumented migrants (and other victims of the system) should be paramount. First of all, there is, of course, the need for political demands for structural change in migration policy. In addition, neighborhood movements and housing activists can also give support to undocumented migrants a permanent place in their action programme. For example, by imposing the requirement to make good, accessible housing a priority for everyone. Working with migrant groups, involving them and getting involved in their struggle is what we are going to talk about in this workshop.

4) The myth of 'sustainable heat': traps, resistance and alternatives

Energy company Nuon/Vattenfall is building a biomass heat plant in Diemen. This heat plant will become dependent on wood pellets (pressed pellets) from felled forests from abroad, and is intended for Amsterdam district heating.

What can we do to stop the plans, and how can we build clean alternatives together? Mischa van Amsterdam Fossielvrij takes you into the world of corporatism, greenwashing and other obstacles on the way to sustainable alternatives to natural gas.

5) A “Zone À Défendre” for Amsterdam

Between the Nieuwe Meer and the Haarlemmerweg lies a beautiful green zone, sandwiched between the ever-expanding Amsterdam and the growth monster Schiphol. The Lutkemeerpolder is part of this green zone, which is in danger of falling prey to the megalomania of the Amsterdam metropolitan region. According to the municipality, a new distribution center must be built here, for which the fertile clay soils of the polder must be sacrificed. At the same time, the program agreement of the 'green' and 'progressive' municipal council, which took office after the municipal elections in March 2018, contains beautiful sentences about making Amsterdam more sustainable and shortening the food chain by stimulating agriculture in the vicinity of the capital. Theory and practice are therefore at odds with each other here.

What would it be like if we labeled the green zone between Amsterdam and Schiphol as a “Zone À Défendre,” analogous to the French examples of protecting precious natural areas from the relentless march of progress? Wouldn't this ZAD fit seamlessly into the municipality's stated aim for local food production?

From 5-6 p.m. let's keep one plenary session to discuss next steps, followed by a joint dinner (18:30)

At 20:00 there will be a public program full of stunning examples of city-conquest from below at home and abroad. The campaigns against Vonovia in Germany and Blackstone in Barcelona will be discussed. We hear from one of the initiators from Berlin of a campaign to expropriate houses from speculators, and we look ahead to the International Action Week for Housing for All, at the end of March 2020. There will also be music, and of course the local campaigns for the Lutkemeerpolder and Borgerstraat are discussed.

Discussion leader: Chris de Ploeg

Sunday 27 October

Sunday 12:00: Lunch and an exposé by Boudewijn Rückert about the housing struggle through the ages

Boudewijn Rückert, experienced housing activist and chronicler of urban developments in Amsterdam, tells how housing in Amsterdam has been a battleground for centuries and how organized movements that have confronted the exploitation of the housing shortage have achieved great success in the past. Boudewijn gives a sketch of those movements and ends with the observation of VVD co-worker Stef Blok that we are now done with public housing and that everything else can be left to 'the market.'

Afterwards, at 14:00, we get the big debate on the Fearless Cities. People from all over Europe who have had experience working with progressive local city councils will have their say.

Who is afraid of the fearless city?

Since the election victory of the action party Barcelona and Comu in Barcelona (headed by former housing activist Ada Colau) and similar developments in Madrid and other Spanish cities, "municipalism" or "communalism" has been back in the spotlight. Amsterdam has also joined the company of the Fearless Cities and issued a fine statement about administrative pretensions that should bring about a fairer city. Meanwhile, there are extensive experiences of social movements and their activists with these progressive local authorities. What does it bring, and what is the price that movements have to pay for their participation? What is the difference between the situation in – for example – Barcelona, where the campaign really came from the bottom up, from the neighborhood movements that had arisen from the square occupations, and the situation in Amsterdam, which is completely top-down?

We hope to get answers to these questions, with the input of activists from Spain, Greece and Germany.

Discussion leader: Fatima Faid (The Hague City Party)

Language: coal english steen

All this in Ru Pare, Chris Lebeaustraat 4 in Amsterdam

The spoken language is usually Dutch, sometimes English, and translation is always possible.

Admission is free, donations are greatly appreciated.

For more information: https://retakethe.city/

Dutch version

Definitive program ReTakeTheCity

We want to use the last weekend of October at Wijkcentrum Ru Pare to make plans for taking back the city. We have devised a program of workshops, debates and presentations, in the hope that people will participate who want to organize themselves and prepare actions to regain a city that is accessible to everyone who wants to live, work, cooperate and have fun there. That it is no longer the wallet which determines whether you belong there, but the neighborhood and its residents.

We explicitly organize this as the start of a series of meetings, because we don't think that you can solve anything with just one-off meetings full of chatter. Above all, we need to set in motion a process of self-organization and research and planning, and we would like to hear from the participants how we can best do this and what other content is needed.

We will start on Friday, October 25th. During the day, 'militant researchers' from different European countries will come together to work on their research into 'International Landlords' and what we can do about it. they will present and discuss their findings on Friday evening from 19-20.30 hrs to a larger audience (working language: English, translation into Dutch possible).

Activists and (neighbourhood) movements try to map out what financial forces are active in their respective cities and how they affect the housing rights of the local population. In particular, research has been done into internationally operating 'large international landlords.' Rita Silva from Portugal talks about Apollo, Manuel Gabarre (Spain) about Blackstone and Knut Unger (Germany) about Vonovia. We will hear about the consequences of the entry of this type of companies for living conditions. In some European countries such companies are less active. This includes the Netherlands, which still has a relatively large and protected social housing stock. The question (which will be discussed) is whether or not this will eventually also fall prey to 'the market.' And of course we will also be talking about the possibilities for structural alternatives, which we have summarized under the heading Socialize Housing across Europe.)

then (from 21:00) in Ru Pare there is the Open Mic, under the leadership of Temporary Tone, with the subject: For whom is the city?/ReTakeTheCity edition

Saturday 26

Saturday 26 October (morning and afternoon): The European Elephant in the room

Officially, the European Union does not 'deal' with housing policy, which is a competence of the Member States. But in reality, much of the regulation in the EU is in favor of privatization and commercialization (and financialisation) of housing. Yet there is little attention for this on the part of housing activists, who often already are busy enough. In order to catch this elephant by the trunk, a number of housing movement activists issued an initial manifesto with demands last year, accompanied by a film subtitled in several languages (see: on website BPW).

During two workshops on Saturday 26 October, this subject will be further explored and discussed. The aim is to make a well-founded analysis of European policy and to formulated requirements that promote the socialization of housing. The first workshop is from 11-12.30 hrs (ie before the official opening of the event), the second from 14-17.00 hrs. Language: English

Saturday there will be a walk-in at 12:00 with lunch and at 13:00 we will kick off with an exposé by Angela Wigger (political economist of the Radboud University in Nijmegen).

The merciless market and its counterparts

The neoliberal capitalist economy has turned the city into an economic battlefield and housing into a merciless market. This has enormous consequences for the city and for those who do and do not have access to it. Angela Wigger, political economist at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, explains how this came about and what the current situation is, and what we can therefore expect for the near future.

after that a series of 2 x 3 workshops will start: about tenants, the refugees in our midst, housing corporations and cooperatives, the costs of climate policy, and labeling the green zone between the Nieuwe Meer and the Haarlemmerweg as an Amsterdam “Zone À Défendre” (ZAD).

The participants in the militant research network will start their own workshop on the EU and the real estate market at 11:00. This is open to everyone and will continue from 14:00-17:00. The aim is to formulate a series of requirements at a European level, in order to make the desire for the socialization of housing possible throughout Europe.

The other workshops are:

1) How can we use cooperative models to achieve results in the housing struggle?

Home seekers and tenants are certainly interested in new, more direct forms of control over their homes. This may not be an option for everyone, but for those who like a high degree of autonomy and sharing cooperative housing models offer a starting point for achieving – usually not in the short term, but certainly in the somewhat longer term – tailor-made control . This can be a weapon against further gentrification and sale, but also against further degradation strategies of the housing corporations.

In this workshop, two types of cooperatives will be discussed: the cooperative that aims to realize new construction and the cooperative that wants to take over the management of existing corporation property.

How can we use both models in order to achieve a realistic chance of success?

Can we also use such an approach as a means of action in the proposed process of demolition, followed by new housing, in which corporations and other owners are focusing on precarious temporary forms of housing?

2) How do we take back the corporations? From tenant to customer and back again

Over the past fifteen years, the position of tenants has further deteriorated financially as a result of a combination of lobbying by commercial real estate interests, legal crisis policy (the landlord levy), EU policy on state aid, new rental and price-fixing legislation , and further residualisation of the housing units of the corporations. As a result, a large proportion of tenants have been placed in financial difficulties.

What requirements do we set and how can we work to reverse the essential influence on the policy of the management/administrators of the housing corporations? What means of action do we have and how can we organize ourselves to enforce the desired results (no gentrification/no sale/no passing on of the costs of sustainability to the tenants, etc.)?

Can performance agreements play a central role in this? Or are they part of a repressive-tolerant system? These and other questions and possible solutions will be discussed in this workshop. The occupation of the Borgerstraat 75 can and may serve as an inspiration!

3) Solidarity with people without residence permits

The repressive migration policies of the EU and the Netherlands are causing increasing misery. Large groups of migrants, if they manage to enter 'Fortress Europe' at all, are forced to live in very poor conditions as undocumented migrants. Some cities and regions try to improve this situation with plaster solutions, but this is often not enough to give undocumented migrants their basic living conditions, let alone a pleasant life with self-determination.

The issue of the exclusion of undocumented migrants (and other victims of the system) should be at the forefront of 'taking back the city.' First of all, of course, there is the need for political demands for a structural change in migration policy. In addition, neighborhood movements and housing activists can also reserve a permanent place for support to undocumented migrants in their action programmes, for example by laying down the requirement to make good, accessible housing a priority for everyone. Collaboration with migrant groups, involving them and getting involved in their struggle is what we will be talking about in this workshop.

4) The myth of 'sustainable heat': traps, resistance and alternatives

Energy company Nuon/Vattenfall is working on the construction of a biomass heat plant in Diemen. This heat plant will be dependent on wood pellets (pressed pellets) from felled forests abroad, and is intended for district heating in Amsterdam.

What can we do to stop the plans, and how can we build clean alternatives together? Mischa van Amsterdam Fossielvrij takes you into the world of corporatism, greenwashing and other obstacles on the road to sustainable alternatives to natural gas.

5) A “Zone À Défendre” for Amsterdam

Between the Nieuwe Meer and the Haarlemmerweg there is a beautiful green zone, wedged between the ever-expanding city of Amsterdam and the growth monster Schiphol. Part of this green zone is the Lutkemeerpolder, which threatens to fall prey to the megalomania of the Amsterdam metropolitan region. According to the municipality, a new distribution center is to be built here, for which the fertile clay soils of the polder will have to be sacrificed. At the same time, the program agreement of the 'green' and 'progressive' municipal authorities, which took office after the municipal elections of March 2018, contains fine phrases about making Amsterdam more sustainable and shortening the food chain, by stimulating agriculture in the vicinity of the capital. Theory and practice are therefore at odds here.

How would it be if we were to label the green zone between Amsterdam and Schiphol as a “Zone À Défendre,” in analogy with the French examples where precious nature reserves are protected against the ruthless march of progress? Wouldn't this ZAD fit in seamlessly with the municipality's expressed desire for local food production?

from 17:00 to 18:00, we will hold a plenary meeting to discuss the next steps, followed by a joint dinner (18:30).

At 20:00 there is a public program full of amazing examples of city conquest from the bottom up in the Netherlands and abroad. The campaigns against Vonovia in Germany and Blackstone in Barcelona will also be on the agenda. We hear one of the initiators from Berlin of a campaign to expropriate houses of speculators, and we look forward to the International Action Week for Housing for All, at the end of March 2020. There is also music, and of course the local campaigns for the Lutkemeerpolder and the Borgerstraat will be discussed.

Moderation: Chris de Ploeg

Sunday 27

Sunday 12:00: Lunch and an exposé by Boudewijn Rückert about the housing struggle through the centuries

Boudewijn Rückert, an experienced housing activist and chronicler of urban developments in Amsterdam, explains how housing in Amsterdam has been a battlefield for centuries and how organized movements that have sought to confront the exploitation of the housing shortage have achieved great success in the past. Boudewijn gives a sketch of these movements and ends with VVD-corifee Stef Blok's observation that we have now finished the housing of the people and that everything else can be left to 'the market.'

then, at 14:00, we will have a big debate on Fearless Cities. There, people from all over Europe will have their say, who have had experience of working with progressive local city councils.

Who is afraid of the fearless city?

Since the election victory of the action party Barcelona and Comu in Barcelona (headed by former housing activist Ada Colau) and similar developments in Madrid and other Spanish cities, 'municipalism' or 'communalism' has once again come to the limelight. Amsterdam has also joined the company of Fearless Cities and issued a fine statement on administrative pretensions that should create a fairer city. Meanwhile, there are extensive experiences of social movements and their activists with these progressive local governments. What does it yield, and what is the price that movements have to pay for their participation? What is the difference between the situation in – for example – Barcelona, where the campaign really came from the bottom up, from the neighborhood movements that had emerged from the square occupations, and the situation in Amsterdam, which is completely topdown?

We hope to get answers to these questions, with the input of activists from Spain, Greece and Germany.

Moderator: Fatima Faid (The Hague City Party)

Language: Stoancole English

All this in Ru Pare, Chris Lebeaustraat 4 in Amsterdam.

The language will usually be Dutch, sometimes English, and a translation is always possible.

Admission is free, donations are highly appreciated.

For more information: https://retakethe.city/

en_GBEN