Polder till death (a few reflections on the NYE demo)
Hier kun je discussieren over Polder till death (a few reflections on the NYE demo).
This text can only begin by saying that we are very happy everyone is out and that this spectacle at least for now does not seem to have heavy consequences for anyone. However, there is a need for reflection – not only on the behaviour of the police, because this unfortunately does and did not surprise us in any way, but also on the way in which we and those around us have acted in the midst of it. Why were we there? For us, this question can be answered in the most simplistic of terms: we were there because we are in solidarity with people that are locked up, here and everywhere else, with or without papers. We were there because prison and the system behind it disgusts us and we want to destroy it. We were there because we want to put solidarity into practice, instead of having it remain an empty slogan that can be used without thinking about its meaning.
What is solidarity? For us, solidarity is not just standing in front of a prison on New Years Eve shouting slogans to make the people inside feel a little less miserable. It is also sticking together in moments of stress, whether the cause of the situation is one you agree with or not. It is making it clear to the cops that there is a clear line between them and us, that they are our enemies.
It is definitely not siding with the cops, parroting their demands, attempting to participate in the arrest of people by asking “those who did this” to make themselves known. You cannot speak of solidarity and then demand that people hand themselves over to the police. To state that those who wrote on the vehicles belonging to the guards should turn themselves in, “step forward now”, is not only mimicking the dirty tricks the cops tried to play on us (dividing a group of people in the “good” and the “bad”) but also following the line of thought of domination, in coherence with a system that locks people up because they did something “bad”. For us, this yearly demonstration is not only in solidarity with people that are locked up, that is to say all people locked up, not just immigrants, but also a clear statement against prisons in general. We are against prison, we are against anyone being locked up. Putting certain people in prison will not prevent others from being arrested. Only after the cops had admitted that “those responsible” handing themselves over did not imply that everyone else could go, people let go of this idea and the witch-hunt that came with it. In other words, people trusted the cops. We do not understand this. They are our enemies and we do not want to enter in a dialogue with our enemies. For us it is incomprehensible and unacceptable that people seemed to be willing to help the cops, sided with their demands and believed whatever they said. This is dangerous and naive.
It needs to be clear that the only ones responsible for this situation are the cops and the system they serve. To state that those who wrote on the vehicles are responsible for the locking up and possible deportation of the immigrants present at the demo is speaking the language of our enemies, a discourse that divides people based on assumed innocence and guilt or legality and illegality. This perspective disables any possibility of agency on the part of the immigrants present. It assumes that “the immigrants” do not have any individual choice, cannot for themselves make the decision whether to participate in a demo that may or may not involve risks. This is a citizenist, leftist approach, for which all those who leave in search of something else are poor, helpless creatures that need to be saved. To be an immigrant does not imply you cannot fight against and attack the world that oppresses you, whether in the country you left from or the one you have arrived in. Oppression is everywhere – but those who fight it are as well. In other words, everyone always has a choice.
Moreover, if it had not been for people writing on cars, they could have found another excuse to harass and possibly arrest us. It should not be forgotten that this demonstration had not been announced – something the servants of the state generally do not appreciate very much. If it had not been the markers – something they used as an excuse, which was then mindlessly believed by some – they would have come up with something else; fireworks that were too loud or thrown against the wall, people being partly masked, or simply the fact that the demo had not been announced. When you do not ask permission but take what you want you can expect these kind of things to happen, you cannot expect or promise that a demonstration like this will undoubtedly be “safe”. We are not saying that this situation was inevitable, only that it should have been taken in account. The fact that cars were written on was merely a good opportunity for the cops to do what they had probably been wanting to do anyway. It should not be forgotten that, as much as they are our enemies, we are their enemies as well. Even if some people had turned themselves in, they would have still tried to arrest everyone, to identify everyone present at the demo and collect as much data as possible. Why would they arrest a handful of people for writing on a car – this is writing some slogans on vehicles, not murder – if they could get their hands on information concerning over a hundred people?
And, perhaps a more interesting question: why did we let them get away with it? Why did we wait? The idea that we could have had any influence on the situation by negotiating with them or partly obeying their demands has been proven untrue so many times that by now we should know better. Once the cops were there the moment of negotiating was already over, it was them deciding what would happen next, not us. Some people however did not wait, and managed to get away during the moments of chaos that were created. However uncertain the outcome of a moment of chaos, of a breakout attempt, we should never forget that even in situations like these we do have some agency.
However unlikely they may seem sometimes – for example being on a military terrain practically surrounded by cops carrying machine guns – the possibilities are always there. In this specific situation it would have been nice to try out this possibility at an earlier stage; perhaps more people could have gotten away, perhaps it might have just shown a clearer attitude towards the cops, discouraging them a little in the assumption that they have complete power and control over us.
This is not – not only – about immigrants, this is about all of us who get fucked over by this alienating system on a daily basis. We understand that for some people present at the demo the risks of being arrested weighed heavier in the sense that the arrest could have bigger consequences than for others. We do not deny this and once more, we are really happy that everyone is out. However, it needs to be repeated that no one except the cops is responsible for what happened – putting the blame for whatever consequences this night had or will have on anyone else is nothing but finding excuses for the behaviour of the cops in the wrong places. They are cops – this is what they do. This is precisely the reason why we do not feel inclined to lament their behaviour, to make formal or legal complaints about the way they treated us, for this implies entering in a dialogue with the state and thus refining their projects of repression. We are not interested in this: being beaten less hard still means being beaten. We want to fight all the facets of repression, whether they come in the obvious form of a cop with a machine gun or the less obvious form of a legal system that promises you “justice”. And this fight is one that everyone, with our without papers, can participate in – this is not about saving people or being vanguards, this is about fighting together against our common enemies.
Some anarchists
Reflectie of selfserving bullshit
Allereerst: goed dat mensen de moeite nemen om te reflecteren op gebeurtenissen en acties om er lering uit te trekken. Alleen lijkt deze 'reflectie' lijkt mij niet zozeer een bespiegeling over de afloop van de nieuwjaarslawaai demonstratie maar eerder een hoop retoriek, vage beschuldigingen en insinuaties. Wat betekend het als jullie beginnen te zeggen dat jullie niet verrast zijn door het optreden van de politie? Ik kan het vast invullen voor jullie: Niks, het betekend niks, 'it does and did not surpise us in any way' is retoriek. De schrijvers laten even weten dat het door de wol geverfde activisten zijn op wiens analyse de lezer maar moeten vertrouwen.
We were there because we want to put solidarity into practice, instead of having it remain an empty slogan that can be used without thinking about its meaning.' Wie doen dit dan? Andere deelnemers aan de demonstratie? Waren die daar niet to put solidarity into practice? Wees eens duidelijk in plaats van vage beschuldigingen te uiten. (En for the record: 'to put solidarity into practice', hebben we het dan over het taggen van een auto? Of bewust zijn van, en omzien naar de diverse groep mensen met wie je daar bent?)
'What is solidarity? For us, solidarity is not just standing in front of a prison on New Years Eve shouting slogans to make the people inside feel a little less miserable.' (Wat deden jullie daar dan!? Oh wait...) Solidariteit kan van alles zijn, ook voor een migrantengevangenis gaan staan met een groep mensen om de mensen binnen zich voor een moment minder rot te laten voelen (en misschien daardoor net ietsje meer kracht vinden om bijvoorbeeld een deportatiepoging te weerstaan). Maar daar hoeft het natuurlijk niet bij te blijven: stuur een brief, organiseer een demonstratie, verhinder een deportatie, steek een bouwkeet in de fik, voor alles is een moment.
'It is also sticking together in moments of stress, whether the cause of the situation is one you agree with or not.' Wat hier eigenlijk gezegd wordt is: sticking with US in moments of stress. Jullie moeten met ons solidair zijn... Ik kan natuurlijk niet voor anderen spreken maar ik denk niet dat ik te ver ga als ik zeg dat de meeste deelnemers aan de lawaaidemonstratie daar waren in “in solidarity with people that are locked up, here and everywhere else [..] without papers.” Niet perse in solidariteit met mensen die een auto van een gevangenisbewaker wilden beschadigen en, toen ze daar niet mee weg kwamen, met zoveel mogelijk mensen gearresteerd wilden worden. Niet perse solidair met mensen die, terwijl ze wisten dat dit voor sommige deelnemers aan de solidariteitsactie kon betekenen dat ze voor maanden (laat dat nog even tot je door dringen: maanden) in de cel konden verdwijnen, nog steeds niet de solidariteit konden opbrengen om te zeggen: 'Laat mij er maar voor opdraaien, ik ben zo stom geweest om van alle dagen van het jaar dit moment te kiezen om een auto van een bewaker te taggen.' (So what, dat het waarschijnlijk niet had kunnen voorkomen dat iedereen gearresteerd zou worden? They didnt even try.)
'They are our enemies and we do not want to enter in a dialogue with our enemies.' Blablablaa. Zeg dat tegen de mensen die op de auto aan het schrijven waren: Wipe that clean! We do not enter in dialogue with our enemies!
En kom nu niet met [This] is speaking the language of our enemies, a discourse that divides people based on assumed innocence and guilt or legality and illegality. Er is niemand die dat zegt of heeft gezegd, meer retoriek. De kritiek, die niemand publiekelijk geuit heeft overigens, die er zou kunnen zijn is: dat je onhandig bezig bent als je op een zwaar gemonitorde plek als de Schiphol bajes op nieuwjaarsnacht auto's tagt en daarmee de mensen om je heen in gevaar brengt. Ja, het is de smeris die het kwaad doet, maar hun gedrag is (zoals jullie zelf ook zeggen) tot op zekere hoogte voorspelbaar. En for the record: Prima als die auto's getrashed worden!
Iemand heeft iets stoms gedaan, kan gebeuren, heat of the moment, verkeerde inschatting, een leermoment zullen we maar zeggen. Maar om in plaats daarvan anderen gaan te beschuldigen van 'siding with the cops, parroting their demands, attempting to participate in the arrest of people' ... Om zulke shit te zeggen! Damn! With comrades like these, who needs the cops?
Some anarchist
hitting the nail
Thx for this reaction! it hits the nail right there.
With comrades like these, who needs the cops? Indeed.
En dan heb ik niet eens over de misselijkmakende titel: "polder jezelf maar dood".... Stelletje minkukkels, sterf zelf maar snel uit...
Is er een reden dat je je zo
Is er een reden dat je je zo aangevallen voelt? Je blaast namelijk hoger van de toren dan de tekst hierboven.
Er veranderd niets met keer
Er veranderd niets met keer op keer dezelfde groep mensen met dezelfde drama. Wat ben ik blij dat ik dat van een afstand bekijk. Waar kan ik de popcorn afleveren? http://www.popcorn.nl/consumenten.html
eens
Ben het met je eens. De demo was positief bedoeld. Voor vluchtelingen. De marechaussee is om de hoek en de demo is elk jaar. De auto werd beklad terwijl de werknemers aan het toekijken waren. Ja natuurlijk het is het gedrag van de politie. Maar 1+1 is 2 en als voor het oog van een werknemer je een auto wordt beklad, terwijl heel waarschijnlijk de marechaussee toch al paraat staat is het heel erg waarschijnlijk dat er opgetreden gaat worden. Is het dan heel erg om in het belang van iedereen (vooral de meest kwetsbare aanwezigen) de schade zo veel mogelijk te beperken? Nee. Als je je hier door bepaalde dogma's laat leiden in plaats van solidariteit en humaniteit, inderdaad. What the hell.
re:
Zie ook eerder:
Mass arrest noise demo Schiphol, https://www.indymedia.nl/node/31222
New Years solidarity noise demonstration was attacked, https://www.indymedia.nl/node/31224
New Year´s demo Schiphol (photo's and statement), https://www.indymedia.nl/node/31245 .
FTP
The act was right but at the wrong time. Righter time and right place:
https://en-contrainfo.espiv.net/2016/01/07/italy-homemade-bomb-placed-in...
Pffrrt!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are such a good joke! I'm so happy I wasn't there at this action which you fucked up and I really feel sorry for the people who have put up with you. People could wonder wether you're agents provocateurs but the truth is: you're just plain stupid!
When I read the statement of AGA I was already wondering, there was something missing. They were quiet about some detail but now you brought it out in the open with this ridiculous statement.
It's a classic one - people think they are strong because they are in a group so they can get away with stuff. The truth is: they are weak because the group doesn't have a chance to get away or disperse. So the whole group get's attacked and locked up. When you continue using this kind of actions as a cover for stupididity and bringing other people in danger (for which they did not ask) you just help bringing these actions to an end, because less and less people will want to join. Your whole display of empty militantism can't hide your stupidity. In fact you are helping the authorities more then anyone. Now you reflect on that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBHOL1PcPR8
Trieste is dat deze mensen
Trieste is dat deze mensen boven de 18+ zijn. Dat je dit gedrag ziet bij pubers is nog wel te begrijpen. Grow the fuck up, jullie pseudo anarcho pubers.
I don't believe in leaders
I think consensus is the key
I don't believe is stupid notions
like representative democracy
whether or not it works
I know it is the case
that only direct action
can save the human race
so when I see you in your voting booths
then I know it's true
I'm a better anarchist than you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvlWSnLxrrc
Serieus, valt het niemand op?
Serieus, valt het niemand op? Hoe is het zo ver gekomen dat de politie meer dan 100 mensen oppakt voor 1 stift en 2 auto's, en iedereen alleen maar op elkaar zit te zeiken?
Jullie houden je bezig met nutteloos geklets, met de politie als lachende derde. Constructief bezig zijn betekent die klootzakken terug pakken.
I think both are true:
I think both are true:
1. you cannot put peoples lives in danger with a stupid act during a demo esp. when refugees involved who run the risk of long term detention and deportation (if you want to attack the state or its representatives, there are plenty of ways to do so at any other moment and any other place, take that effort to prepare and do it safe and properly!)
2. you cannot ask people to give themselves up to the police, this is cooperating with their system of control and 'justice', and after all: it won't help, the cops will then still arrest everyone.
one solution: talk about what (not) to do before you go to a public action that involves a lot of people. Take direct action and sabotage the prison and deportation system and those responsible at other times. (there's too little of that by the way, so I'm looking forward to it). If things go wrong: evaluate with the group involved afterwards instead of throwing mud in public which only pleases those readers whom this does NOT concern. Learn from mistakes and don't pile one mistake upon another.
Freedom and responsability
The best way to prove anarchism can work is to behave responsibly and consider the rights and freedom of others in your actions. Prove worthy of freedom by acting responsibly and considering the consequences of your actions for others. Actually, if you don't do it you are proving the prejudice that anarchism is the "law of the jungle" or the selfish freedom of individualist libertarians. Solidarity may be a noun in the grammatical sense, it is a verb in a practical sense and it goes both ways. Expecting, no, demanding solidarity from people after a coup of their initial action sounds pretty hierarchical to me.
Reflections of Rhythms of Resistance Amstrdm on NYE sol. action
https://www.indymedia.nl/node/31489
Reflections of Rhythms of Resistance Amsterdam on New Year's Eve solidarity action
We are writing this statement as Rhythms of Resistance (RoR) Amsterdam. RoR Amsterdam forms part of an international network of action samba bands that defines itself under the broad banner of anti-capitalist. We mainly use music and other forms of ‘tactical frivolity’ to show our rage and indignation. We have been supporting and organising many actions in our 15 years of existence and therefore very much feel part of the (autonomous) social movement in the Netherlands that critically opposes different forms of domination, discrimination, exploitation and oppression from an anti-systemic point of view.
From this perspective, we also joined the action organized during New Year's Eve, specifically as an act of solidarity with the migrants without papers being imprisoned in the detention centre at Schiphol. We think it is important that these solidarity actions are organized, and we value and appreciate the fact that AGA took the initiative to do so. With our collective, we organized an evaluation of the action and our participation in it. With this statement, we would like to share some of our critical reflections. We do this in the hope that a constructive critical exchange on how we organize and collaborate, and discuss the politics behind this contributes to better actions in the future and strengthens the critical movement that we are all part of.
Regarding the preparations, we appreciated the ‘briefing’ given at the MKZ on the rights of detainees, the organization of the ‘arrestantengroep’ and the lawyer. However, in retrospect, we feel that the level of confrontation with the police should also have been discussed and collectively decided upon. RoR holds that establishing a confrontation level collectively is part of collective decision-making process about participating an action. As the confrontation level was not discussed and agreed upon beforehand, people ended up in a situation they might have chosen to avoid if they had known in the first place. From the statement published on Indymedia, we understand the position of 'some anarchists' on police confrontations. However, not communicating this beforehand basically means enforcing one's strategies and tactics on the rest of the activists present. This is an anti-democratic practice that according to us does not have a lot to do with anarchism or creating alternative practices for the 'new society' we are struggling for. Additionally, this situation is very detrimental in the construction of political alliances. We understood that several people were not willing to join an action that had the potential of escalation and as a consequence might not join a solidarity action with migrants without papers in the future. Not all people standing with undocumented migrants are anarchists, and several of us who are anarchists apparently do not share the same interpretation of what solidarity means. In the building of a broader pro-migration movement these differences need to be acknowledged, discussed and negotiated, but not denied and done away with in an authoritarian and purely ideological way.
As RoR, we have participated in several ‘high risk’ actions and do not avoid confrontation with the police. We share the political view that the police are mainly there to protect the state and corporate interests which need to be abolished. Additionally, we agree that the police forces acted in a totally outrageous and disproportionate way. However, we also think that in the definition of our confrontation level, we need to use tactical and political criteria based on a historical and contextual analysis. 'Solidarity' from our perspective means at a very minimal level listening to those whom you are in solidarity with and acknowledging their specific conditions, needs and demands. From this perspective, we cannot pretend that the situation of undocumented migrants is the same as that of documented folks. We know this reality also through the composition of our own collective. Taking this difference into account is something else than 'denying their agency' or 'victimizing' them. It is simply acknowledging the more precarious situation of undocumented people in the face of our current failing system (which was the reason we were there in the first place). Denying this is just a demonstration of 'privileged' position of some self-proclaimed radical activists. Therefore, we were astonished and angry that several activists 'upgraded' the confrontation level with the police at several moments during the action without any apparent consultation. Was this asked to the undocumented activists present? Was it negotiated with them and the rest of the activists present? We know for a fact that it was not.
So then, what kind of solidarity is this? Can we define our solidarity without taking into account the opinions, demands and situations of the people we are in solidarity with? In any case, this type of solidarity in practice led to the sad and ironic situation that our action in solidarity with imprisoned undocumented migrants actually put more undocumented people, against their will, in danger of being incarcerated.
The above makes clear that we strongly oppose the view voiced in the statement published on Indymedia that using a tactics based on the opinions, demands and specific conditions of migrants is the same as 'parroting the police'. We can actually state exactly the opposite. The people that wrote on the cars merely provided the police with what they wanted: an excuse to arrest us and the migrants without papers to intimidate and to create fear. In that context, one can ask which tactics actually played into the strategy of the police? Stating that the same situation would have emerged if the cars hadn’t been tagged is mainly hypothetical, not grounded on a historical analysis (nothing happened in previous years at the same action) and is therefore too easily used to legitimize and cover up a tactical and political fuck-up. And for the record, nobody 'forced' the arrest of the people who did the tags. Several different strategies were discussed and people even volunteered to take the blame and be arrested. These proposals were all done away with, based on the purely abstract and ideological claim that 'we do not and cannot negotiate with the police', again without taking into account the will of the undocumented activists present.
We hope that these reflections will bring all of us in a stronger position where everyone is more aware of the various opinions, demands, situations within the group, so that we can be better aligned as a whole in our fight for a better world.
ROR Amsterdam
korte video
korte video van een speech tijdens de demo voor de gevangenen (je hoeft geen fb account te hebben om de pagina te kunnen bezoeken)
https://www.facebook.com/WijZijnHier/videos/vb.423445664355669/108708680...