IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 30/11/2013 - 23:07

URGENT PRESS RELEASE:
Political – cultural center ACU closed because of Invasion of Fascists

Dear visitors of ACU,

Today we have made a hard decision. Because of recent incidents in our place and within our collective we have decided to close ACU until further notice.

We have had trouble for a long time within our collective. Internal struggles have created an internal split up. On one side there are people who want to keep ACU to its roots, as part of a living political and squatter movement. And with its core activities and values based on an anarchist/queer/equality/anti-oppressive ideology. On the other hand there are the people who want ACU to become a mainstream party place, only accessible for those who fit the normative standard and who have enough money to spend.
These different points of view and goals have led to a number of conflicts within our collective. Because we want our communication to be open, and our visitors to understand our decision we will give a short overview of the recent incidents:
- There have been incidents of racism, sexism and other types of discrimination within ACU, and we have failed to address these and/or resolve the underlying problems.
- There have been incidents of racism, sexism and other types of discrimination between volunteers.
- Over time power-structures and positions of power have been created by people, and even though there have been multiple attempts to dismantle these, none of these attempts have succeeded.
- Attempts by volunteers to raise awareness on/and counter-act sexist, racist and other oppressive behavior have been actively sabotaged by other volunteers.
- Political activities have been actively sabotaged by some volunteers.
- Attempts to raise political awareness in ACU have been actively blocked and sabotaged by some volunteers.
- Money belonging to the whole collective has (continuously) been spend without informing the rest of the collective, and against all pre-made agreements.
- Certain volunteers have and keep breaking rules and agreements made by the whole collective, and this has remained without consequence.
- There have been several incidents of aggression between volunteers, and these incidents have always remained without any consequence. There have been threats and intimidation towards other volunteers.
We can keep making this list longer and longer but we think that everyone gets the point. All the problems mentioned here have led to a grim atmosphere in ACU and within the collective. Volunteers feel no longer safe to be in ACU and/or safe to express their opinion. People who speak up are being ridiculed and/or silenced.
In the current situation we feel that we cannot solve these problems within our collective. The problems have become so big that we think that it is no longer responsible to keep ACU open, and thus forcing this situation on our volunteers and visitors. Therefore we have decided to close ACU until further notice. Unfortunately this will mean that all planned activities will be cancelled. We hope that one day we will be able to open ACU again, restored to its former glory.