The Flying Pig Hostels Amsterdam Pig Multmedia

Picture this: Forcing open the front door of an empty house -that’s not yours-moving in your bed and table and dialing the number of the police to let them know you now made that house your home. -Yes, that’s right without paying rent..- Strange? Not at all, it’s what the world calls squatting. This is legal in Holland and besides squatting being socially accepted in Amsterdam it actually forms a big part of the city’s cultural and social life.

Basically, Amsterdam is full of squat buildings. You can recognize them by their green, red or yellow painted window frames with pamphlets in front of the window accompanied with the squat sign -a circle with an arrow- which tells everyone that the building is being squatted. People from all over the world with various back grounds find their home in these buildings. From students who can’t afford an expensive apartment -they are usually leftwing art students-, many Spanish who come to Amsterdam, to work a bit, smoke a lot and live together to people who are staying illegally in Holland. The main reason for squatting was and still is ‘affordable living for everyone’. Over the last 30 years the living situation has hardly changed; students and people with a moderate income still have a hard time finding a decent place to live. At the same time there are thousands and thousands of empty floors-mainly above stores- and -office- buildings in the city. Thus squatting is still going strong and remains very necessary. For example just recently an old villa next to the Amstel river got squatted. This villa is a monumental building from the 17th century which used to be home to Dutch nobles. It comes with ballroom, huge garden and a long driveway -only the guards are missing!- Now it has been turned into a studio and living for artists and art-students. Imagine yourself celebrating your birthday or drinking beers with your friends in a 300 year old ballroom with chandeliers! You want to know how it works? Of course the painted picture at the beginning of this article has been simplified a bit. Squatting is not just breaking into an empty house and taking it over. When you find that empty building, keep your hammer in your bag for a while because first you need to sort out some legal shit. Has the house really been empty and un-used for over a year? Who owns it? What do the city-council papers say about the building? There are special squats all over town who will inform you, help you with finding a lawyer and who usually have some background information on owners. If you have all the background info on the place and it really has been empty for more than a year, this will be the time to get out that hammer -figure of speech of course-. Don’t worry, people from other squats will usually help you out. You need to move in at least one table, a bed and a chair. After this is done the police will pay you a visit and make a note that the place is now squatted. Your lawyer then contacts the owner and puts the ball in his corner. He could decide to take it to court and then the judge will decide if the place has been legally squatted or if you will be evicted. However, some owners don’t do anything while others just leave it for a while before taking action. That’s the tricky part about squatting; You never know exactly what will happen. Some owners do send big, ugly looking guys to scare you or to kick your ass. However, this is not socially accepted and highly illegal too!

Give away-shop
Squatting is way more than just cheap living. As I said earlier, the squats form a big part of the cultural and social part of Amsterdam. Loads of squats in town serve food on the side. Helpful volunteers will cook your biological, vegetarian meal. It’s affordable dining with a laid back atmosphere. Moreover, it’s good healthy food served with a message: there’s plenty of food in the world. So let’s share equally for in other parts of the world people are starving. Let’s together try to stop this situation -Fair enough I’d say!- The best example of the squat-philosophy is the give away-shop: It’s a shop where you can get what you want without paying for it. You take what you need while you bring in what you don’t need anymore. Money laundering Squatting first started in the sixties and made it’s name in the seventies. Back then there was a huge shortage in affordable places to live so people occupied empty houses as a form of protest against the rich and the criminals who just used their property for speculation or money laundering. In those days the police often used violence against these squatters and some of them were even killed in the riots. On April the 30th in 1980 -when the Dutch Queen Beatrix was being crowned in Amsterdam- the streets were filled with demonstrating squatters and the police had to use tear gas to break up the crowd. Some of the buildings from those days are still squatted by the former anarchistic squatters with their long hair and radical ideas. With the only difference that they are now in their forties and often raising kids. Some of them even bought the squat, or started renting it legally! These days squatting is a lot less dangerous and better organized. Nonetheless the message remains the same; a home is a form of social welfare which is really necessary for every one. In the line of this approach some squats offer Dutch lessons to illegals and for example bakery ‘Wieteke’bakes her own bread, muffins, pizza’s and other delicious food every Wednesday morning to sell it in the afternoon. Or on a chilly day you can relax and warm up in a squatted sauna. Drink a herbal tea, smoke a joint and just wander around butt naked in their garden. Furthermore, a lot of artists have their studios in squatted buildings and they also often organize exhibitions in a squatted church. If you need to use the internet you can go to an internet squat. And last but definitely not least, there are movies to watch, bands to hear and of course parties to go to. The parties are non-profit, you pay as much entrance fee as you can afford and drinks are cheap.

Squat Village
Right outside of Amsterdam there’s a whole village overtaken by squatters, called Ruigoord. Ten years ago the old inhabitants had to move out because of big money-plans; right on spot Amsterdam was going to build a harbor. This whole project took years and years slowly squatters moved in -amongst them of writers and artistswho turned the place into a cool hangout. They organize poetry readings, jazz evenings and techno parties. After all these years the harbor has now finally been built -it has not brought in any money yet, because all the container ships go to Rotterdam- thus most of the artists, poets and squat families had to move out. However, part of this squat village has been legalized live in now and a few of the original squatters remain. Just last summer the town successfully celebrated its 10th anniversary with a weekend full of parties.

Over the last few years several squats have been shut down which has cost the city the loss of a lot of living places, studios and nice party-spots. Luckily the city council realized that we need these squats for a good cultural life. Slowly they have started to provide buildings for artists and other creative people to squat but still the scene has changed. It is no longer as lively and vibrant a scene as a few years ago. Lots of these legalized workplaces have a different atmosphere than the original squat philosophy intended. The scene is less anarchistic and offers less freedom. But there is hope on the horizon. With all those currently empty offices in the city the squattersscene will hopefully grow again. Because as much as Amsterdam needs it’s lawyers, smart economists, and rich of the rich we also need our left wing, pierced, idealistic and colorful squatters. Squatting makes Amsterdam more critical of itself, more affordable, more interesting and definitely more alive!

Anti-Squat??!!
House-owners usually aren’t excited at the thought of their property being invaded by squatters. Thus a new phenomenon has arisen; Anti-Squat. To avoid an empty house being squatted, house owners rent out their property to young people or students for only short periods. -Usually this deal is made up to last for a few months- Because you have a lot of rent protection in Holland as a tenant they’ll let you stay in the house for free or for only a little bit of money to get around these rent rules. This way the owner doesn’t have to worry about squatters and the tenant has his cheap living. -With the only downfall for the anti-squatter he can be kicked out of his house with just 4 weeks notice- It’s a really popular way of living, for the obvious reasons, even though it goes completely against the whole idea behind squatting; the ‘lots of houses for everyone’.


Vrankrijk
Spuistraat 216
Big colourful squat, with bar.

Bakker Wieteke
Plantage Doklaan 8-12
Fresh bread every Wednesday, food on Sundays. The bakery is located in a former school. The building has been transformed in appartments and studio’s for artists. The former gymnasticsroom is a two floor gallery now.

Sauna het Fenomeen
1e Schinkelstraat 16 -Tuesdays Women’s day-

OCCII
Amstelveenseweg 134
A music stage where you can listen to and watch many punk bands and smaller local bands tuning away. Some parties are held here too. Google Occii and you will find their program.

Afrikahuis
Oostelijke Handelskade 19
A huge squat located east from Central station. Cinema and food on Tuesday -the Operatian Theatre- and occasional parties are offered here. The place has an amazing view which makes dining here on a nice summer-evening quite special.

www.radar.squat.net
On this site you can find what’s happening in several squats in Holland. -the site is in Dutch though-

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A Dutch Cop Of Coffee

First of all I want to clarify this article is about real coffee! No green ‘coffee shops’ but on where to go for a good mug of black brew. A typical Dutch coffee is fairly weak and very black. It’s traditionally served in a white cup on a saucer accompanied with a cheap looking cookie wrapped in plastic. This style of coffee you can find all around the Netherlands but if you are a bit more critical when it comes to your caffeine: Below you’ll find a short list on cozy, warm places serving good espresso’s and cappuccino’s.

Gary’s Muffins is initiated by an American by the name of -surprisingly enough- Gary. The coffee is not the greatest but their brownies definitely make up for that. Jum, Very tasty. Good bagels too with of course all kinds of delights on it. Basically it represents the typical American coffee bar right in Amsterdam. There are several locations all over town. The location on the Reguliersdwarsstraat is open all night! Chill with a cup of tea and a muffin at 3 o’clock in the morning -Or coffee if your night has just started-.
Prinsengracht 454;
Raadhuisstraat 18;
Jodenbreestraat 15;
Reguliersdwarsstraat 53

Coffee Company probably has the best coffee in town! Just join the locals while they read the morning paper at the huge, wooden tables. A great variety in coffee and they sell the beans too. Their cookies aren’t that great though and the only food they serve are prehistorical looking wrapped sandwiches. They too have several locations all over town. Leidsestraat 60;
Haarlemmerdijk 62;
1e van Helststraat 5.

Brandmeesters -just around the corner from the Uptown hostel- sells coffee, tea cups, espresso machines up to CD’s with a coffee-theme. They roast their own beans which results into amazing coffee. Very good coffee but no food served. This is the place to be for the real coffee freaks among you. van Baerlestraat 13.

Latei has a special place in an Amsterdam’s heart! Good coffee, amazing chocolate pie, comfy chairs not to mention the interior! Go check it out. Good breakie and lunch too. >> Zeedijk 143.

Vertigo in the Vondelpark is a very cozy cafe in a beautiful spot. Great sandwiches and lunches. It’s not a typical ‘coffee’ place but a good place to warm up and relax in the middle of the park. >> Vondelpark 3.

In the Coffee Connection you can taste the love and attention in every cup of coffee they make. Little expensive, tiny place. But here it’s all about the coffee! >> Nieuwezijdskolk 33.