The Barricade – Utrecht

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:

• a reading list with items available for free online, or through our library
• a list of podcasts that you can listen to wherever, whenever
• a list of movies so that netflix and chill becomes a tiny act of resistance
• a list of instagram accounts to check out
  and
• a list of things you can do in everyday life to support the Palestinian struggle.

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

FREE PALESTINE

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/

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 …

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!

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