Let Gaza Live! – Barricade Theme for Palestine

Palestinians stage protests along border with Israel - ABC News

As the Barricade we struggle against all oppression and for freedom for everyone! We had events for Rojava, the liberation of non-human animals and against repression. As a collective inspired by raccoons and anarchism it was an absolute no-brainer to pick the Palestinian struggle as our first theme to kick off 2024.

To be honest, there is no way of even explaining a fraction of the cruelty, and the motivation behind it in a short blog post. Fact is however the following:

Israel has been conducting a genocide for almost 4 months now, aiming to ethnically cleanse Gaza by all means. The entire society of Gaza is the target, from hospitals to civilians, and from journalists to mosques: nobody is spared from the horrific bombardments. At the moment of writing more than 31,000 people have been killed ; on average 250 more people are killed daily by Israeli bombardments. Due to the Israeli blockade of food and humanitarian aid 90% of the population is living in a state of acute food crisis. This is a clear campaign to make Gaza unlivable, in order to force the Palestinians to leave their homeland!

the Barricade Theme

Until the end of March, all of our donations that do not go towards the kitchen (buying food we cannot get from the dumpster, replacing equipment) or the library (10% of donations to replace damaged or lost books) will go to support the Palestinian struggle. Every cent you donate on Sunday evenings directly helps! We have not decided on where exactly the donations will go, but want to make a direct impact and not throw more money into the abyss of Western humanitarian NGOs that waste money in their bureaucratic structures. If you have any suggestions*, let us know!
*We prefer to donate to either direct humanitarian aid for Gaza, or to the radical Palestinian movement in the Netherlands or in Palestine.

We also want to organise events, together with [Workers for Palesine](https://www.instagram.com/workersforpalestine.nl/). We are still open to people organising events, this can be a talk, a movie screening, or something completely different. If you want to organise something, let us know or just come talk to us at ACU.
We have also set up some resources for all of you who are interested in the struggle:

ll these lists are always incomplete, so let us know if you have any suggestions!

FREE PALESTINE

 

Posted in General | Comments Off on Let Gaza Live! – Barricade Theme for Palestine

Barricade theme forest occupations – solidarity with all threatened forests!

In the fourth quarter of 2023 the Barricade theme was forest occupations. We raised some substantial money that we will donate to support forest occupations all over Europe and had events like the screening of a forest occupation documentary, with a discussion afterwards featuring an activist from the occupation in the documentary and a spokesperson from Ameliesweerd Niet Geasfalteerd.  Underneath you can find a little text by the forest occupation mobilisation group who trains people in the Netherlands and helps mobilise for threatened forests all over Europe. Up with trees, down with capitalism!
Love and Rage,
the Barricade

 

What’s up?

Our forests are under attack! This is probably not news to you but maybe it is good to remind ourselves though, that deforestation is rampant. Annually in the Netherlands, 18.5 km² of forest is being cut down. Looking to our neighbours; the German government’s infrastructural development plan still includes 840 km of new highway, many of those planned in places where there are now forests. In France, the building of a new highway through old-growth forest is already well under way. But it does not stop there. Forests are also under attack for factories, like the woods around Grünheide in Germany, pseudo-highways, like in the German Leinemasch, or infrastructural developments, like in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Our forests are under attack and their cries for help aren’t heard. It’s up to us to amplify their voice​​​​​​​.

What’s the problem?

A forest is an ecosystem centuries in the making, which cannot easily be replaced. The replanting of trees is by far not enough to compensate for the dramatic loss of our forests. Not only do reforested trees compensate for much less CO² than older trees, but also industrially planted forests have a lower biodiversity than older forests.

In the Netherlands there is a long tradition of trying to save forests and occupying them, including the decades-long struggle for Amelisweerd, the struggle against the Schinveld NATO base or the 2022 Sterrebos occupation. Over the last decades we had the time to develop a lot of skills and expertise in protecting forests, ranging from fighting and winning court cases, to public demonstrations and organising forest occupations. Currently there is no active forest occupations in the Netherlands and many forests are not directly threatened with clearing this winter. In other countries however, there are more trees to protect than climbing harnesses available. Often there is a lack of resources, and most importantly people.

What can I do?

The most straightforward thing you can do is to go and support an occupation. Occupations are cold, often uncomfortable places to live and often they do not go hand in hand with studying or working full time. If you have the capacity to go to an occupation, build a tree-house, go dumpster diving, do some dishes or do a night watch so the police cannot enter the occupation without anyone noticing – go and do it! Most occupations are very welcome to newcomers and it is a great chance to join a community of people that care for the forest and each other. See also the info-group on Telegram for a list of active occupations.

If you cannot go, there is also a lot to do from home. You can collect some warm clothes and dry socks to send over with the next people going, organise info events to spread the call for help or simply post your support on social media to reach more people. Even better, organise and/or particpate in soli demos – a simple banner hanging will already do a lot!

Finally, if you do not have time, but instead some money to spare, you can donate it to an occupation. There is always a need for money to buy food, building materials, SIM cards, or pay legal fines for occupying a forest. Every euro helps and in the words of a German occupier: “Twenty euros in building materials and some creativity can make a nice platform, a barricade, or some warm pairs of socks.”

To keep you up to date, we have an info group on Telegram, where we can share information about events, trainings and organise people and material going to occupations. Here you can find out how you can help the forests that are currently threatened. Sometimes you can sign a petition, contact a particular government representative or blast call the helpdesk of the company that supplies machines for clearing the forest.

No single forest paved over! Are you with us?

Telegram info channel for info active forest occupations: https://t.me/+2dxIJTAPRdIzY2Nk

A sneakpeek into past forest occupations:

– https://redhetsterrebos.nl/en/sterrebos-occupation/

https://waldstattasphalt.blackblogs.org/

Posted in General | Comments Off on Barricade theme forest occupations – solidarity with all threatened forests!

Barricade Themes – Anti Repression and Housing Crisis

At the Barricade we have quarterly themes. Every quarter we pick one struggle, or one initiative that we think deserves some attention and more importantly: some money. During the weekly dinners at ACU we collect donations. As you might know, not all of these donations go towards the kitchen upkeep: In fact 20% of our donations go straight to the Library and events and 50% of our donations are donated to grassroots organisations and movements in line with the quarterly theme. We also often have events that fit with our current theme.

Our last quarterly theme was ‘Anti-Repression’:
The past winter has been characterised by a new upsurge in arrests, intimidation, legal procedures and psychological terror against activists both in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. This cannot continue! We decided to give the donations of last quarter to the ‘Antirepressionsgruppe Rheinisches Revier’ (AntiRRR). They have been supporting activists since the beginning and are the backbone of many resistance projects in the Rhineland, such as the infamous Lützerath or Ende Gelände. If you want to also support Antirr, check their website or talk to Barricade volunteers on Sundays. You can also support anti-repression work closer to home, such as Buro Jansen & Janssen.

For the new quarter, our theme is the Evergreen of the Dutch Activist movement: the housing crisis. No matter if legal procedures against shitty landlords, squatting or neighbourhood projects to make the situation a bit better, the Barricade is on your side. If you have ideas for events or organisations/movements to donate to, send us an email, or talk to us on Sundays.

Always remember: Wet of geen wet …

Posted in General | Comments Off on Barricade Themes – Anti Repression and Housing Crisis

Food Autonomy Festival #7 at ADM Noord

Last weekend the Barricade cooked at the 7th edition of the ASEED Food Autonomy Festival (FAF). This years FAF in Amsterdam was hosted by ADM Noord, a stronghold in the Dutch squatting scene for more than 25 years! They have struggled through the 2010 law effectively prohibiting squatting, a violent eviction and countless attacks of the municipality.
What could be a better place to host a festival against industrial agriculture? We were enthusiastic to support a festival dedicated to the sharing of knowledge about the dangers of industrial fertilisers, the capitalisation and privatisation of food production. With a mix of dumpster dived and bought food, the Barricade raccoons and a lot of volunteers from the festival dished out more than 500 plates over the course of Saturday and Sunday despite the intense heat in the kitchen. Needless to say that the festival loved the food, especially the famous breadballs.

Shoutout to all the volunteers and raccoons, ASEED for organising the FAF, ADM for hosting, Rampenplan for helping us out with additional plates and most importantly all the hungry mouths that enjoyed our meals. See you next time!

Posted in General | Comments Off on Food Autonomy Festival #7 at ADM Noord

Black Bloc Event January 22nd

On Sunday 22 January the Barricade hosted AK-Utrecht who organized an info event about the black bloc tactic.
With many new faces in the anarchist scene we felt it was necessary to collectively refresh some of the cornerstones of autonomous tactics. AK-Utrecht and regularly organises informal meetings of local anarchists at ACU where you can get to know your new comrades, connect, learn and unlearn together and organise the collective struggles. At the event more than twenty people turned up to learn and have a discussion about Black Bloc tactics and get to know each other. Some were completely new and some quite experienced which led to nice discussions and learning also on the side of the organisers.
In the future, the Barricade will be hosting more strategic and tactical workshops, including one on data privacy and information as well as forest occupation strategy
Posted in Event | Comments Off on Black Bloc Event January 22nd

How a Barricade and some friends sued a bunch of industrialised nations

In November 2022, we held an event with Alex, a Barricade volunteer, climate justice warrior and coincidentally also a law student with a profound interest in making state level actors uncomfortable. Together with four other young people aged 18 to 31, he decided to go to court against industrialised nations complying with the European Energy Charter, which is a state-level treaty that is fundamentally at odds with protecting the climate according to the IPCC. Alex was nice enough to write up the tale for you to read it below.

Taking the ECT to a human rights court

Reflecting on George Monbiot’s words, the world’s financially wealthiest have come to shape the way the world operates. Money has indeed made the world turn around, with low levels of accountability for the world´s richest and high levels of greed. The reflection of the relentless exploitation of the world’s resources for the sake of money and power has manifested in a dangerous climate crisis.

Among all the different market sectors that the wealthiest have penetrated to generate profit, is the energy sector. A world with energy has definitely offered wonderful opportunities. Nevertheless, it is the combustion of polluting fossil fuels for energy that has triggered the immense climate crisis which is now close to causing irreversible damage to the Earth’s life processes. The IPCC has clearly stated that fossil fuels need to be phased out “as fast as humanly possible”. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy has gained mainstream attention in the Global North. But there is a very sinister law holding states behind in phasing out fossil fuels, for which not much is known.

When the West attempted to generate profit from the post-Soviet economies, a treaty was signed to ensure that energy investors would have a safe and stable investment environment. This is how the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) was created in 1994. Among its provisions, it includes that energy investors can litigate in private arbitration procedures against states which decide to phase out fossil fuels.

Lawsuits have therefore been popping up from energy companies invoking the ECT. German energy company RWE is currently suing the Dutch government for 2 billion following the latter’s announcements to phase out fossil fuels. UK Oil Company Rockhopper won more than 200 million euros from the Italian government, following the latter’s ban on drilling. Such lawsuits have already occurred in 12 European states and operate within a very non-transparent framework. The sums allocated to fossil fuel companies are not even necessarily made public. This is taxpayer money that should be allocated to fight climate change, instead of paying the polluters.

Membership in the ECT could result in claims from fossil fuel companies which amount up to 1.3 trillion (!) by 2050, creating a massive impediment to addressing climate change.

On June 21 2022, five European young people, aged between 18 and 31 at the time decided to litigate against the member states that have been compliant with the provisions of the ECT. These include: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. We are claiming that because of the barriers the ECT creates for phasing out fossil fuels, there is a delay in mitigating climate change. This delay is violating our right to life and right to privacy & family life (Articles 2 and 8 of the ECHR). All five of us have experienced extreme weather events, the frequency of which is increasing because of climate change. Julia from Germany, Damien from Belgium and Marion from Switzerland witnessed devastating floods, Maya from St Martin a deadly hurricane, and I experienced devastating forest fires in Greece.

The European Court of Human Rights is currently addressing its first climate claims, brought by Portuguese youth, a group of Swiss elderly people and a former French mayor. Its judgement is impatiently awaited by many people who are hoping to hear that climate change inaction constitutes a violation of the right to life. Such a judgement would constitute a landmark case and can open the way for many further claims against climate inaction based on human rights. It would also give a lot of hope for the Court finding a violation of human rights in our case. We are currently still waiting to hear whether it is admissible – fingers crossed.

Started with George Monbiot, so ending too: “Or this could be the moment when we begin to see ourselves, once more, as governed by biology and physics, and dependent on a habitable planet. Never again should we listen to the liars and the deniers. Never again should we allow a comforting falsehood to trounce a painful truth. No longer can we afford to be dominated by those who put money ahead of life.”

Further links:

Interview: https://www.sustainabilityforstudents.com/post/youth-led-climate-litigation-the-ect-and-climate-victims-in-the-eu

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2R12bqsofeGD4y8nvREc0O?utm_medium=share&utm_source=linktree

Posted in Event, General | Comments Off on How a Barricade and some friends sued a bunch of industrialised nations

Anarchist Book Fair Amsterdam

The fifth annual Anarchist Book Fair will take place on the 27th and 28th of November 2021 at the Dokhuis (Plantage Doklaan 8). That’s right! It will be two full days of stands and workshops of anarchist collectives from all around the Netherlands and nearby countries. It’s going to be great! Knowledge is power after all! Are you looking for comrades? Come to the Anarchist Book Fair Amsterdam! Are you looking for anarchist books and zines? There’ll be all that and much more: clothing, buttons, publishers, distro’s, workshops, talks, and vegan food!
The Barricade will be there on saturday with a stand full of awesome zines, and sunday evening The Barricade will be cooking in ACU, come check it out!

November 27th and 28th 2021
Plantage Doklaan 8

anarchistbookfairamsterdam@riseup.net
anarchistbookfairamsterdam.blackblogs.org
Instagram: @anarchistbookfairamsterdam
Facebook: Anarchist Bookfair Amsterdam

Posted in Event | Comments Off on Anarchist Book Fair Amsterdam

Abolish Frontex Info Night

You can join the info talk to learn more about Frontex and the international Abolish Frontex campaign, following on the Barricade VoKu sunday 7th of November!

Frontex is the European Union’s border agency and is a key actor in enforcing the EU’s deadly border regime. It is responsible for systemic human rights violations through its operations; deportations; and cooperation with repressive regimes in third countries. In the last fifteen years, Frontex has grown in power and budget enormously and it is now the best paid agency of the EU.

This has to stop. Frontex is an essential part of the EU’s inherently racist, colonial and capitalist border policies and contributes to the horrific way in which migrants are treated. It is not enough to reform or improve Frontex, or to replace it with more of the same. It’s time to abolish Frontex and the system it represents. Come to our info night to learn more about Frontex, the international Abolish Frontex campaign and join the struggle!

Come for dinner and info! A las Barricadas!

Posted in Event, General | Comments Off on Abolish Frontex Info Night

Anarchist Halloween Dinner Party

Join the Vrije Bond Utrecht on October 31st at ACU (Voorstraat 71 Utrecht) for rescued food by The Barricade and an informal, distinctly spooky, anarchist hangout. Costumes encouraged.

18:00 walk-in
19:00 food served (approximate times…)

Ps: we always welcome people who want to join cooking, cleaning, or
dumpster diving. To help out please mail to: barricade@riseup.net

Posted in General | Comments Off on Anarchist Halloween Dinner Party

Peter Storm will present an introduction to the anarchist thought-world, namely his booklet ‘Het Anarchisme: Ideeën, Concepten, Praktijken’. See also: https://peterstormt.nl/

Posted on by thebarricade | Comments Off on 19-09: Peter Storm presents his new booklet (in Dutch)