The Micropolitics of Criminalisation: Power, Resistance and the Amsterdam Squatting Movement

341 Pages·2017·6.67 MB·English

by  Deanna Dadusc

The Micropolitics of Criminalisation:

Power, Resistance and the Amsterdam
Squatting Movement

De Micropolitiek van Criminalisatie: Macht, Verzet en de
Amsterdamse Kraakbeweging
(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit
Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. G.J. van der
Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in
het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 26 april 2017 des
middags te 12.45 uur

door
Deanna Dadusc
geboren op 8 juni 1984 te Milaan, Italië
Promotoren: Prof.dr. D. Siegel
Prof.dr. P. Hubbard
Copromotoren: Dr. D. Zaitch
Dr. P. Carney

The degree is awarded as part of a Joint Doctorate with the University of
Kent.
This thesis was accomplished with financial support from the University of
Kent
ii
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. VI
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... VII
PROLOGUE SQUATTING GOES ON. ....................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 9
1. SQUATTING IN THE NETHERLANDS ................................................................................................ 10
2. 2010: THE CRIMINALISATION OF SQUATTING ............................................................................. 12
3. RESEARCH AIM AND OUTLINE ......................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2 REGULATED TOLERANCE AND SQUATTING: LEGAL, POLITICAL
AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................21
1. RIGHT TO HOUSING VERSUS THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY ............................................................... 22
2. SQUATTERS’ MOVEMENTS AND HOUSING STRUGGLES................................................................. 25
3. THE LIBERAL TURN AND REGULATED TOLERANCE ...................................................................... 30
3.1 Art 429 ................................................................................................................................................ 33
4. THE CREATIVE CITY AND THE CO-OPTATION OF SQUATTING ..................................................... 36
5. REGULATED TOLERANCE: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ...................................................................... 38
6. THE DECLINE OF TOLERANCE .......................................................................................................... 40
7. THE CRIMINALISATION OF SQUATTING .......................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER 3 THE CRIMINALISATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE
MICROPOLITICS OF POWER AND RESISTANCE .............................................................45
1. THE CRIMINALISATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS .......................................................................... 48
1.1 Squatting, protest, and Political Opportunity Structures ........................................... 48
1.2 Beyond protest ................................................................................................................................ 52
2. MICRO-POLITICS, AFFECTS AND COUNTER-CONDUCT ................................................................. 55
2.1 Conduct .............................................................................................................................................. 58
2.2 Affect and potentia ....................................................................................................................... 59
2.3 Counter conduct and counter power .................................................................................... 64
3. THE MICROPOLITICS OF CRIMINALISATION ................................................................................. 68
3.1 Private property, conduct and criminalisation ............................................................... 69
3.2 Criminalisation and moral ordering .................................................................................... 76
3.3 Cultural Criminology and Criminalisation ........................................................................ 77
4. RESISTANCE AND CRIMINALISATION ............................................................................................. 79
5. SUMMARY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................... 82
CHAPTER 4 EPISTEMOLOGY AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................87
1. “TO ALL THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS: THE ZOO IS DOWN THE ROAD” ............................................ 89
2. STUDYING RELATIONS OF POWER AND RESISTANCE ................................................................... 92
2.1 Participatory observation and Participatory Action Research ............................... 93
2.2 Activist Research: Research alongside Movements ....................................................... 97
2. QUEERING METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 99
2.1. Embodied methods, affects and events ............................................................................ 100
2.3 Composite narrations and heterogeneous voices ........................................................ 105
3. ETHICS AND VALIDITY .................................................................................................................... 108
4. SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 111
INTERMEZZO I: A NEW SOCIAL CENTRE ............................................................. 113
i. Home making: toward different ethics ................................................................................. 117
ii. Every day (and night) ................................................................................................................. 119
iii. Urban Deserts ................................................................................................................................ 120

iii
CHAPTER 5 THE MICROPOLITICS OF SQUATTING .......................................... 123
1. SQUATTING: ANNO 2015 ............................................................................................................... 125
2. THE POLITICS OF SQUATTED SOCIAL CENTERS.................................................................... 128
2.1 WinterJasmijn .............................................................................................................................. 131
2.2 Antarctica ...................................................................................................................................... 134
2.3 Op de Valreep ............................................................................................................................... 139
Box 1: ADEV Manifesto .................................................................................................................... 147
3. DIY SPACES ...................................................................................................................................... 148
3.1 Free Shops ...................................................................................................................................... 148
3.2 VOKUs: people’s kitchens ........................................................................................................ 150
4. THE MICROPOLITICS OF HOME MAKING ..................................................................................... 153
5. COUNTER-CONDUCTS AND AFFECTS: POLITICAL AND ETHICAL PRAXIS. ................................ 158
6. CRIMINALISATION AND MORAL ORDERING ................................................................................. 161
INTERMEZZO II: THE STRUGGLE ............................................................................. 169
CHAPTER 6 THE POLITICAL AND MORAL ECONOMY OF THE
‘SQUATTING AND VACANCY ACT’............................................................................ 175
1. KRAAKVERBOD: THE SQUATTING AND VACANT PROPERTY ACT ........................................... 175
1.1 Vacancy ........................................................................................................................................... 180
1.2 The privatisation of ‘vacancy’: anti-squatting .............................................................. 183
2. RESISTING CRIMINALISATION IN COURT ...................................................................................... 187
Box 1: Schijnheilig .............................................................................................................................. 194
2.1: Korte-geding - Fast procedure ............................................................................................. 196
2.2 “The master’s tools cannot dismanel the master’s house”: Criminalise us! ..... 198
3. CRIMINAL COURT-CASES ................................................................................................................ 200
Box 2: Eviction and court case of the Lange Leidse ........................................................... 200
4. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................... 206
INTERMEZZO III: BEHIND BARRICADES ....................................................................... 209
CHAPTER 7 EVICTIONS AND THEIR RESISTANCES: POLITICS, AESTHETICS
AND ETHICS ............................................................................................................................ 214
1. NUISANCE, PUBLIC ORDER AND MORAL ORDER ................................................................. 215
2. THE ECONOMICS OF EVICTION ...................................................................................................... 220
3. EVICTION WAVES ............................................................................................................................. 224
3.1 A chronicle of evictions and resistances ........................................................................... 227
3.2 The last eviction waves ............................................................................................................ 232
3.3 The aesthetics of evictions ...................................................................................................... 234
4. FORCED INVISIBILITY AND ITS RESISTANCES .............................................................................. 235
5. EMERGENCY (SPEED) EVICTIONS .................................................................................................. 239
Box 1: Weesperzijde 150 ................................................................................................................. 241
Box 2: Schoolstraat eviction and speed eviction.................................................................. 245
6. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................... 249
INTERMEZZO IV: CUSTODY AND IDENTIFICATION .................................................. 254
CHAPTER 8 ARRESTS, IDENTIFICATION, AND MONITORING ............................... 262
1. PREVENTIVE VIOLENCE AND ARRESTS ......................................................................................... 263
2. RESISTANCES TO VIOLENCE ....................................................................................................... 267
3. STOP AND SEARCH ....................................................................................................................... 271
Box 1: Preventive Stop and Search and Counter-actions ................................................ 271
Box 2: Identification and threats ................................................................................................ 275
4. IDENTIFICATION AND MONITORING ............................................................................................. 277
4.1 Resisting identification ............................................................................................................ 280
5. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................... 283
iv
CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 289
1. THE MICROPOLITICS OF SQUATTING ............................................................................................ 290
2. THE MICROPOLITICS OF CRIMINALISATION................................................................................. 292
3. POTENTIA AND POTESTAS ............................................................................................................... 297
4. SQUATTING CONTINUES: ‘KRAKEN GAAT DOOR’ ......................................................................... 298
5. CONTRIBUTIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ................................................................................ 300
ANNEXES .................................................................................................................................. 305
ANNEX 1: LEGAL ACTS ....................................................................................................................... 305
ANNEX 2: EVICTION LISTS ................................................................................................................. 306
ANNEX 3: OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR VAN DER LAAN .................................................................... 308
ANNEX 4: ELLERMANSTRAAT ............................................................................................................ 311
ANNEX 5: IDENTIFICATION ................................................................................................................ 312
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 313
SAMENVATTING (DUTCH ABSTRACT) .......................................................................... 333

v
Abstract

This research analyses how the criminalisation of the Amsterdam squatting movement
works. The key research question addresses how criminalisation operates as a
technology of government, what kind of relations of power are constituted through this
processes, and how these are experienced and resisted. By paying attention to the
relationship between politics, ethics and affects, the focus of this project is on the
micropolitics of criminalisation and its resistances, where affects, everyday lived
experiences, and embodied relations of power and resistance play a central role.

The analytical framework conceptualises power relations as heterogenous, productive
and constitutive forces rather than simply repressive and oppositional ones. This
enables to analyse how criminalisation works by deployment of legalistic tools and
policing practices, by engendering contested moralities around private property and the
uses of urban spaces and by constituting specific modes of experiencing, acting and
resisting. Moreover, this perspective unfolds the complex relations between
criminalisation and resistance: the focus is placed on the active and creative power of
heterogenous struggles that counter relations of power by means of protests and direct
actions, as much as by experimenting subversive conducts, social relations and modes
of life.

This project engages with Activist-Research, aiming at producing a platform for
collective reflection on how to resist criminalisation. Here resistance is not intended as
an object of study, but as an epistemological perspective: namely a mode of unmasking,
knowing and analysing how power operates. The empirical materials presented in the
form of Intermezzi (between chapters) and Boxes (within chapters) constitute composite
and collaborative process of reflection and narration.

vi
Acknowledgments

This thesis is a collaborative work, bringing together multiple experiences of different
groups, people and collectives I have encountered from the first day I lived in
Amsterdam, in August 2008, and later on in Kent. Acknowledgements seem reductive
for expressing their role and presence in each step of this process, as all these encounters
have not only made this work possible, but are its constitutive elements.
In first place, this thesis was inspired by, and is dedicated to, all those who, all over the
world, are engaged in autonomous struggle, including squatters, queers, hackers and
migrants who make of their bodies, minds and everyday practices an act of resistance
to any form of government.
Phil Carney and Phil Hubbard, you have been the most engaging and engaged teachers
I have ever met. I am glad I had the privilege of being guided by you through this
process. Thank you for your patience and passion, for never letting me down, and for
trusting in my capacities and potentialities even in the most difficult times.
Hanneke, Trude, Giulia, Eleni and Arnaud, you are not only PhD buddies and fabulous
homies, but also great friends. Learning with you and from you was an amazing
experience and I never felt alone.
Joyce, Daniel, Wendy, Clara, Kostas, Leo, Aris, Aarianna, Alv, Virgi, Lara, Teun, Sofi
and Sofia: I will never stop being astonished and inspired by the strength and passion
for everything you do. Thank you for all the joys and the troubles we shared.
Amir, I have shared with you most of my Amsterdam journey, from the very first days.
Without you I would have not fell in love with this city the way I did, nor I would have
had such curiosity and enthusiasm for the theories and philosophies you introduced me
to.
Moira and Maite, you always have the capacity of finding me where I am lost and
bringing me to new safe spaces. Thank you for letting me through the difficult times.
This project would have not been possible without the Squatting in Europe Kollective,
Edward Dee and Miguel Martinez: thank you for making it possible to bring academia
vii
and activism together, and for creating great platforms for encounter and for
contestation.
To all the people who lived, crashed at and crossed the legal, legalised, tolerated or
criminalised spaces that throughout these years provided inspiring environments for
discussing and developing this project: our spaces might have disappeared physically
and virtually, but they will continue existing in all the relations and encounters that they
made possible.
Mamma e papa', il vostro amore incondizionato mi ha sempre dato la forza e la gioia di
vivere e di crescere. Anche se sono stata lontana in tutti questi anni, non ho mai smesso
di amarvi e di portarvi con me in tutte le avventure, le gioie e le sfide di ogni giorno.

viii
Prologue
Squatting Goes On.

In 2010 the Parliament declared squatting a crime 'because squatting is a violation of
private property rights'1. Politicians claimed that squatters are criminals because they
want to live for free. ‘They are lazy people who do not want to work’. ‘They are
parasites of law-abiding citizens who work hard to pay their rents or to buy houses’.
‘Most of them are foreigners, who come to Amsterdam to have fun, use drugs, and live
at the expenses of Dutch society and welfare’. ‘There is nothing political in the
squatters’ movement’2.

From October 1st, 2010 we had to choose between being homeless or criminals. This
isn’t a choice. We won't live on the streets or in the prison. As one year ago, we will
not shut up. As one year ago, we will not silently look at our homes being evicted, at
our friends being arrested, at our neighbourhoods being turned into deserts. We will not
let rich people becoming richer and the police protecting all this injustice. As one year
ago, we will not demand for our rights to be respected. Nobody has ever listened,
nobody will ever answer. Instead we will take action. We will take direct action to
smash, with our own hands, everything that destroy us. As one year ago we will not
observe from a distance. We will go to the streets, raise our voices, and show our
presence, talk to each other and show to the city that something different than their
politics is still possible3. Now, more than ever, it is time to radicalise our performance
in the political theatre4.

October 1st, 2010, the day the Squatting Ban became effective, was the last of several
days of action against the criminalisation of squatting. Then, many new houses were
squatted, we occupied the Dam square with tents and slept there for one night. We

1 http://www.nrcnext.nl/blog/2011/10/03/een-jaar-kraakverbod-wat-heeft-het-opgeleverd/
2 https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-31560-3.html; http://vvdamsterdam.nl/article/541/
3 http://kraakverbod.squat.net/?p=100
4 http://kraakverbod.squat.net/report1.html/
1
wanted to make clear that if they were going to make all these people homeless, then
we would take over the streets. During the demonstration against the squatting ban, a
house on the Spuistraat, just behind the Royal Palace, was squatted5.

The police reacted by blocking the street: horses, then a line of riot cops, then anti-riot
vans, then more riot cops, then riot cops with dogs. The police charged us with horses,
but we created a compact block protecting the entrance to the house. I had been in these
situations before, but each time it feels like the first. The horses pushed us from all
directions. They thrust our block toward the wall behind us. I felt so small, squeezed,
and unable to move. I could not breathe. Someone behind me screamed: “Idealen
ontruim je niet! Kraken gaat door” (You cannot evict ideas, squatting goes on!).
Someone else shouted: 'All the way right! And now left!’ The group was moving in one
direction and the other, but without leaving the spot. We tried to hold each other’s arms
as to keep the block as compact as possible.
Image 1 Police charging the protesters during October 1st demonstration.
Source: Alex Kemman.

With all the pushing and pulling, the group’s shape changed and I ended up in the first
line. I felt the horse’s legs, its muscles against my breast. The horse’s force against
mine. The group, behind me, pushing me toward the horse. A flow of images of broken
legs and bleeding wounds mirrored all those situations where police brutality

5 Occupation of a house on the Spuistraat during October 1st 2010 demonstration
onderzoeksgroepradicalestromingen.blogspot.com
2