As you guys showed interest in knowing more about the squatting scene in Amsterdam, so I decided to write the first instalment on my life as an aspirant squatter in Amsterdam. I am recalling this from memory. Note this was only my experience. The history of squatting in the Netherlands started in the 1960s and lasted till 2011 when it was finally prohibited by law. I only witnessed the last 5 years of this remarkable epoch of this subculture. Beyond my story, squatting history is hallmarked with big battles against the state/establishment that might pique your interest.

1. Geen Woning Geen Kroning (No Housing No Crowning; 1980): A major riot when squatters attempted to stop the inauguration of Queen Beatrix as a protest against the housing shortage.
2. Vondelstraat Rellen (Vondelstraat Riots; 1980): Military intervention to remove the barricades and enforce the eviction of a squat at the Vondelstraat that became a major shelling point to express dissatisfaction with authority.

Episode 1: The Squatting Manual

My adventure started by attending my first kraakspreekuur (KSU; squat speaking hour) in Joe's Garage, the main headquarters of the squatting community in Amsterdam-East at the Pretoriusstraat. A German guy called Momo led this group and he taught me the basics on a Tuesday night on how to find and open up your own apartment. Momo was a great guy. A computer hacker in his early 30s, brown hair and glasses. He ran an online squatting forum and a private squatting email server. Eloquent, smart, educated, charismatic, he was the Morpheus of my personal hack my own house journey. I got the basic information this evening and ‘The Squatting Manual’ (English Guide: De Kraakhandleiding. This little self-published booklet that looked like a miniature pulp magazine contained all the information on how to pirate your own house. From finding a potential house, how to open it, how to connect utilities to make the home liveable, etc.. I was told to never let the manual fall into the wrong hands and burn it if the police would ever capture me one early morning.

The first stage of finding a potential squat is to survey the streets in the area where you want to live. Everyday I went out on my bike through Amsterdam-East with a notebook to pen down all the addresses that appeared empty. By law a place needs to be empty for at least 1 year to make the squat legal. However you can't do in depth research on all the locations that seem unoccupied. You start out with ~100 addresses, but by checking them on different days and different times, you can quickly strikethrough 80%-90% of your potential targets. You check for moving curtains, lights, you put matches in the doors to record whether doors are being opened, you ask the neighbors (most valuable) what's the situation with that place and introduce yourself as the nephew of the previous renter, etc…

Once you've got about 5-10 addresses that are clearly empty and verified empty for over a year, you have to research the finer details of the target location. Are there any renovation permits out, who are the owners, why is it empty, and how long is it likely to remain empty, etc. This first stage took me about 1 month of daily work, surveying and researching for about 2 hours a day.

Finally, I was down to 2-3 targets and I checked back in with the headquarters at KSU Oost. They actually kept a list of potential squats and I hit a match they had in their database. You might ask why they didn't give me this information beforehand. Well, the reason is that aspirant squatters need to prove their worth, seriousness and willingness in order to keep the community pure with individuals who can dedicate themselves to the squatting life. It's a tight-knit community that highly depends on cooperation and mutual protection against maffia and police. The so-called 'wild’ squatting, opening up a house without the oversight of a KSU headquarter, was frowned upon and considered unethical and egoic.

That's it for episode 1. I hope you enjoyed this. In episode 2 I'll tell you about the day we broke into the apartment at Ruyschstraat 32, one of the 3 targets on my survey list.

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