Solidarity demo in Estonia
Squatters from Estonia - 31.10.2009 00:46
On 29th of October around 15 people gathered in front of the Dutch embassy in Tallinn, to support the dutch squatters and to show their discontent with the possible law that would make squatting illegal in Holland.
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Stop het kraakverbod!
On 29th of October around 15 people gathered in front of the Dutch embassy in Tallinn,
to support the dutch squatters and to show their discontent with the
possible law that would make squatting illegal in Holland.
We held a banner reading "Stop het kraakverbod" and gave out leaflets.
Also the following letter was given to the embassy worker who promised
to foward it to the ambassador:
"To the Embassy of the Netherlands,
to the Parliament of the Netherlands,
and to anyone else concerned.
AN APPEAL TO REASON
--------------------
It has come to our attention via our Dutch friends
that the Government of the Netherlands has proposed a bill
which - if passed - would make squatting empty buildings a felony,
regardless of how long the building has stood empty.
If this bill should become law, it would threaten thousands of people
with the loss of accommodatio, many social centers created out of squats
would have to close, and thousands of new "criminals" would be created
out of nothing.
In our opinion, squatting should remain legal, as it promotes
efficient use of otherwise wasted land and property, by letting people
(on the condition that they take good care of the premises)
use and repair abandoned houses instead of letting them rot.
Out of solidarity with people like us in your country,
we urge you to do everything within your capability to counteract this bill,
since it is unjust, unproportional and wasteful at its core.
To inform you about the likely results of banning squatting,
we would like to submit a series of illustrative photos from Estonia,
where differently from the Netherlands, squatting is *not* clearly legal,
and abandoned buildings often decay for tens of years -
wasting all effort put into their construction.
Squatters can change this, maintaining life and activity
in places which would otherwise decay and become hazardous to people.
Yours sincerely,
squatters from Estonia."
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