Cracking Under Pressure: Narrating the Decline of the Amsterdam Squatters' Movement (Solidarity and Identity)

291 Pages·2010·1.5 MB·English

by  Lynn Owens

ty “Drawing effectively on activists’ voices and combining a sophisticated So Lynn Owens S
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What goes up must come down, and social movements are no excep-
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tion to this rule. Most academic studies have focused almost exclu- k
sively on the emergence of movements, paying less attention to their i
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decline. But decline is an important, and active, period for any mo-
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bilization, as all activists know. Cracking Under Pressure: Narrating the
U
Decline of the Amsterdam Squatters’ Movement broadens and enriches so-
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cial movement theory through a close investigation of the fate of the
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squatters’ movement in Amsterdam. Responding to the housing short-
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age of the 1960s, the movement emerged in the late 1970s, peaked in r

the early 1980s, and then fell into a period of prolonged decline. Lynn P
Owens explores how movements decline, focusing on the subjective r
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exp erience and culture of decline. Activists use narratives of decline
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to give meaning to events and to manage the emotions of participants s
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as they negotiate the complex relationships between culture and poli-
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tics in the movement. Activist stories define and defend the movement e
while it struggles with the contradictions of decline.
Lynn Owens is Assistant Professor of Sociology,
Cracking Under Pressure
Middlebury College.
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ISBN 978 90 8964 059 8 n
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Narrating the Decline of the Amsterdam
Squatters’ Movement
www.aup.nl
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CrackingUnderPressure
SOLIDARITYAND IDENTITY
Recentsocial,culturalandeconomicdevelopmentsinWesternso-
ciety are at the basis of increasing cultural and ethnic diversity.
People’ssocialandculturalidentititiesarebecomingmorevaried.
What are the consequences of these developments for social
bonds and solidarity? Finding answers to this question is the aim
oftheseriesSolidarityandIdentity.
editors ofthe series
Prof. dr. J. Burgers, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rot-
terdam
Prof.J.C.Rath,InstituteforMigrationandEthnicStudies,Universityof
Amsterdam
previously published
Minghuan Li, We Need Two Worlds: Chinese Immigrant Associations in a
WesternSociety,1999(isbn9789053564028)
AafkeE.Komter,JackBurgersenGodfriedEngbersen,Hetcementvande
samenleving: een verkennende studie naar solidariteit en cohesie, 2000/
20042(isbn9789053564370)
Clementine van Eck, Purified by Blood: Honour Killings amongst Turks in
theNetherlands,2002(isbn9789053564912)
Joanne van der Leun, Looking for Loopholes: Processes of Incorporation of
IllegalImmigrantsintheNetherlands,2003(isbn9789053566008)
Marc Hooghe, Sociaal kapitaal in Vlaanderen: verenigingen en democra-
tischepolitiekecultuur,2003(isbn9789053566435)
AafkeE.Komter,Solidariteitendegift:socialebandenensocialeuitsluiting,
2003(isbn9789053566459)
Marco van der Land, Vluchtige verbondenheid: stedelijke bindingen van de
Rotterdamsenieuwemiddenklasse,2004(isbn9789053566787)
FrankJ.Buijs,FroukjeDemantenAtefHamdy,Strijdersvaneigenbodem:
radicale en democratische moslims in Nederland, 2006 (isbn 978 90
53569160)
Irma Thoen: Strategic Affection? Gift Exchange in Seventeenth-Century
Holland,2007(isbn9789053568118)
Talja Blokland: Oog voor elkaar: veiligheidsbeleving en sociale controle in de
grotestad,2008(isbn9789089640437)
Cracking Under
Pressure
Narrating the Decline of the
’
Amsterdam Squatters Movement
Lynn Owens
Cover illustration: Inversion of the international symbol of the
squatters’movement
Coverdesign:Neon,designandcommunications|SabineMannel
Layout:japes,Amsterdam
isbn 9789089640598
e-isbn 9789048506446
nur 741
©LynnOwens/AmsterdamUniversityPress,Amsterdam2009
Allrightsreserved.Withoutlimitingtherightsundercopyrightreservedabove,
nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both
thecopyrightownerandtheauthorofthebook.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 11
DocumentingDecline 20
DefiningDecline 24
WhytheAmsterdamSquatters’Movement? 34
ChapterOverview 36
1 Radicalization:TheBirthoftheSquatters’Movement 43
Squatting:IndividualActorBasisofaMovement? 45
FromSquattingtoSquatters 54
FromSquattertoSquatters’Movement 63
Radicalization 68
QueenforaDay 81
MistakeorFirstSignofDecline? 83
Conclusion 84
2 LuckRunsOut 89
HardeningNarratives,HardeningTactics 91
FearItself 92
UncheckedRadicalizationandtheLossofBoundaries 97
TheLuckyLuijk 100
RetakingtheLuijk 103
HoldingontotheLuijk 111
NoMoreLuck,NoMoreLuijk 115
Who’stheBoss? 116
YouCan’tLiveinaSymbol 121
GenderDivides 123
TheLuijkasaSignofDecline 126
Conclusion 129
3 HolidayInn,WijersOut 133
WijersLives 136
LifeintheWijers 139
HolidayAwayfromHome 144
Strategy 152
WijersOut,HolidayInn 159
5
SquattingorShopkeeping? 160
WijersDecline,WhyDecline? 164
Conclusion 166
4 DeathintheMovement,DeathoftheMovement 171
FortressofSolitude 174
KokFights:DeathintheMovement 177
DeathandtheMovement 180
TheMovementisDead!LongLiveMovement! 184
RestoringtheMovement 187
FromOZGtoPVK 196
CollapsingOldBuildings 206
VisionoftheNewMovement 208
CrazyThursday 210
FeelingDecline 214
Conclusion 216
5 TheEnd:Now,Near,orNever? 219
AreWeDeadYet? 221
TheDeclineofaPoliticalMovement 225
TheAscendanceofaCulturalMovement 228
SiloDown 230
TouristTraps 237
Squatters:fromTouriststoTouristAttraction 239
BreedingGroundsofContentmentorContempt? 242
TheDeclineofDecline 247
Conclusion 248
Conclusion 253
TheDeclineofNarrativesandNarrativesofDecline 255
StrategicCrossroadsandIdentityCrises 257
WhenCultureandPoliticsCollideandCollude 259
Emotions,PublicandPrivate 261
DeclineasDoubleEdged 263
DefiningMoments,DefiningMovements 267
Decline:TheOffer 270
Listofphotos 275
References 277
Index 287
6
Acknowledgements
Thisbookpresentsastoryaboutdecline.Ascentralasdeclineisto
thenarrativeofthebook,thenarrativeofwritingthebookactually
embodies a very different trajectory. Things do not always get
worse. In this case, all the substantial improvements comes from
help and assistance offered by others along the way. Whatever
staying power this book might have directly follows from their
contributions. I, of course, accept the customary blame for all er-
rorsandpoorthinkingcontainedwithin.Withouteveryone’shelp,
therewouldhavecertainlybeenmore.
First,I want to thankEric Duivenvoorden.Withouthim this book
simply would not exist. Part of this is due to his tireless efforts to
study and collect the movement. Eric’s vision led him to spend
over a decade of hard work assembling the archive, which I, as
wellascountlessothers,usedtoexplorethesquatters’movement.
Eric collaborated in making the documentary that helped frame
my initial questions, as well as serving as the framing device for
theintroductionofthisbook.Finally,Ericwrotethedefinitivehis-
tory of squatting in the Netherlands, a work that allowed me to
deepen my understanding of the movement and to focus my in-
vestigation.Thus,myintellectualdebttohimisimmeasurable–I
couldnotknowwhatIknowwithouthisefforts.Andyettheseare
not myprimary reasons forneeding to acknowledgehis contribu-
tions to this project. Instead, I must thank him for his generosity
as a person and friend. When I first contacted him for informa-
tiononthesquatting archive,heinvited meto Amsterdamtosort
through the extras that were not being transferred to the Interna-
tionalInstituteofSocialHistory(IISH).Uponarrival,Ericwasout
oftown, but hesent a friend to meetmy wife and me and take us
back to his apartment, where a bed, a bottle of wine, a bouquet of
flowers,andamaptothecityawaitedus.Heoffereduphishome
tous,totalstrangers,justtohelp.Sincethatfirstvisit,Ihavebeen
backtoAmsterdammultipletimes,andErichasalwayswelcomed
me into his home and life. Not even the time when I accidentally
set his carpet on fire could test his patience and kindness. He,
7
along with Margreet and Sam, never made me feel like I was in-
conveniencing them, even when I know I was. Thank you, Eric. I
only hope the time comes when I can at least start to return the
favors.
Of course, I need to thank my professional supporters. Charlie
Kurzman first suggested studying the movement’s decline, help-
ing me turn what seemed like a liability – a movement long past
its glory days – into an advantage. Along the way, he gave me all
the rope I needed to hang myself, while still encouraging my
thinkinginproductivedirectionstohelpmeultimatelyescapethe
noose.JamesJasperansweredarequestfromanunknowngradu-
atestudent,unwittinglysigningupforalong-termprocessofpro-
viding advice and help. Everyone at the IISH provided significant
assistance in directing me to the nooks and crannies of the ar-
chivedinformation,nottomentiontheimportantworktheydoin
simply storing and maintaining all their collections. I cannot ex-
press enough my gratitude to Mary Ann Clawson, as well as the
entireWesleyansociologydepartment,whowentfaroutonalimb
and gave a clearly unqualified applicant a chance at a wonderful
job. Wesleyan provided a fertile setting to complete this work. I
was sad to leave, but happy to move to my new colleagues at Mid-
dlebury. Special thanks go to Rebecca Tiger, whose sympathetic
ear and comfortable floors have proven invaluable, and Laurie Es-
sig, who not only takes me to school every day, but also provides
justthesortofwarm,dependablefriendshipneededtosurvivethe
cold Vermont climate. My editors, Erik van Aert at Amsterdam
University Press and Sandy Thatcher at Penn State University
Press, have been extraordinarily supportive of this project, not to
mentionpatientwithafirsttimeauthorwhoworksatapaceoften
somewhat slower than desirable. Jaap Wagenaar at AUP guided
me through the final stages of publication with great care and at-
tention. Bart Plantenga’s shrewd editing helped me clarify and
elaborate my ideas, and overcome my tendency towards murki-
ness. Thanks to Milla for her excellent photo. Additionally, there
are simply too many students, from UNC, Wesleyan, and Middle-
bury, to thank by name, but it was the joys of sharing the class-
room with them that got me through this long march. When
thingsseemedbleak,atleastmystudentswantedtobelievethings
wouldworkoutforthebest.
8
My family never faltered, even as I frequently did. My parents,
Emmett and Linda Owens, were always there when i needed
them. My wife, Kay, suffered through what must have felt like a
never-endingstory,fromgraduateschooltodissertationtofinding
a job to publishing the book. She was even willing to quit her job
and come to Amsterdam with me as I did this research, which
shows just how much she was willing to sacrifice to support my
work.Perhapsmostimportanttothisbookissomeonewhounfor-
tunately did not survive to see its completion. My uncle Brooks
Warren left the United States to move to Amsterdam around the
sametimeIwasborn.Irarelysawhimgrowingup,buthehelda
specialplacein mylife.Iwasalwaystoldhow similarwewere,so
to build a connection to him, I developed a deep interest in Am-
sterdam and the Netherlands; every grammar school project on a
foreign country gave me another excuse to learn more. When my
mother returned from her first visit in 1981, she brought back
Dutch chocolate and chotchkes, but also stories of squatters and
their struggles to find and make and keep a home. Sadly, Brooks
took ill and died nearly twenty years ago, ironically at just about
thesametimethesquatters’movementwasfightingwhatseemed
likeitsfinalbattles.Squattingsurvivedthismoment,emergingin
a new shape. Likewise, my relationship with Brooks survived his
death, and I feel closer to him now having spent time living and
learninginthecityhesoloved.
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