Squares crack down on squatters

Are we witnessing an end to the climate of tolerance for squatters? A number of Dutch political parties hope we are. On its front page, De Volkskrant reports that the Christian democrats of the CDA and ChristenUnie and the liberals of the opposition VVD are proposing to make squatting a punishable offence, with penalties of up to one year in prison. The Amsterdam daily explains that traditionally squatting "has been viewed as a means of combatting social injustice." On this basis, it was technically illegal, but tolerated in buildings that had been empty for more than a year. The newspaper interviews a squatter in the town of Den Bosch, who deplores the current wave of "callous neoliberalism" and "rampant egoism," which "has made solidarity a thing of the past." He believes that a ban "will destroy an entire culture. You have to think of the cultural centres … and weggeefwinkels [secondhand shops where the merchandise is free], as well as music venues like the Paradiso and De Melkweg, which started out as squats. The movement has given us a lot of good things."