ADEV

Amsterdam dances for something: The annual demonstration for a social Amsterdam

What started as a demonstration for the safeguarding of Vrijplaats (“free space” ) De Valreep in 2013, is today an annual manifestation by and for the vrijplaatsen. “Amsterdam Dances For Something” (ADEV) takes place every year in the third weekend of October. Underground soundsystems, squatters and subversives come together on Dam Square to march through the city in a procession of vehicles and demonstrate for a present-day issue. From “ADM Stays!” in 2017 for the safeguarding of the ADM, until “Squatting Lives!” in 2022, with the ten squatting commandments for the city. By now, every year thousands of visitors take part in the demonstration. Not only a parade of counterculture and resistance, but above all a manifestation for the radical imagination and exercise of an alternative. In its festive display, ADEV calls for utopian dreams and permanent change; it exposes what Amsterdam once was, what it still is and what it can be.

How it started: Vrijplaats De Valreep
At the end of July 2011, a group of local residents squatted the former Animal Shelter in Amsterdam East, with the wish to bring new life into the building that had been vacant for four years. “Op de Valreep” became a symbol of local cooperation and bottom-up self-organization. The goal was to create an accessible meeting place, open to everyone, with self-organized activities outside the commercial circuit. The local volunteers formed a diverse group of people with the shared desire to provide a welcome and warm space to people of different ages and nationalities and various interests. The initiatives at de Valreep were therefore characterized as a colorful assemblage: from gardening to music lessons and from debate to raging parties. De Valreep grew into a socio-cultural center with an almost daily program. The 'how' and 'what' of the activities were a reflection of the initiatives from the neighborhood. It resulted in a creative, surprising and connective place, free of profit and commerce.

The fact that De Valreep had a project plan and an investor to continue to exist independently of subsidies was never taken seriously by the municipal district of Amsterdam East and project developer OCP

The Struggle for permanence of de Valreep
The municipal plan to transform the empty sight of the Polderweg area into what is now the Oostpoort did not go as smooth. In the meantime, the squatters showed that they knew what to do with the monumental building on the vacant lot. In October 2012, the municipal district of Amsterdam East gave the collective Op de Valreep permission to stay until at least February 2014. The enterprising group focused on legalization of the building and indicated that it had enough hold to purchase the building from the municipality. The fact that De Valreep had a project plan and an investor to continue to exist independently of subsidies was never taken seriously by the municipal district of Amsterdam East and project developer OCP. Amsterdam wanted to evacuate at all costs. The summary proceedings of the squatters were in vain.

De Valreep was evacuated on the morning of June 17, 2014. At 7:30 AM the first armored shovel broke through the meter-high barricades of the squatting center. Squatters were chained to the building: “You can't evict ideals, squatting continues!” The peaceful resistance lasted for no less than thirteen hours. At 8:05 PM the last chains were cut loose; it marked the end of de Valreep.

Dance for the Valreep. Dance for the Underground.
ADEV emerged as an initiative from de Valreep. When it became definitively clear in 2013 that the squat would be cleared, the collective “Op de Valreep” called for a demonstration; a collective dance through the city for the safeguarding of the underground.

“We would like to ask all our supporters to join us in opposing commercialization and social destruction and to support honest alternatives. Not civil servants, but citizens. No real estate bosses, but local associations. Give your own interpretation to a different Amsterdam, together with us, on October 19.”

A colorful and creative parade of sound systems and subversives passed through the city, for a free and social Amsterdam. Since then, ADEV takes place every year.

The parade encourages inspiration, self-organization and creation instead of consumption.

ADEV is born!
More than just a demonstration, Amsterdam Dances For Something was created as a direct response to Amsterdam's largest commercial event, ADE. Specifically when ADE happens, ADEV takes place too. During the ADE weekend, the colorful parade of soundsystems brings a different vibration to the center of Amsterdam. The Dutch dance scene could once only be found in the underground, free from commerce and regulation. But its fruits have been accumulated by and for market forces, regulations and profit motives. In its manifestation, ADEV reclaims this fertile soil, brings the music of the underground to the streets, and lays disruptive claim to the city's public space and monoculture. ADEV dances for connection and proliferation of creativity and subculture. The parade encourages inspiration, self-organization and creation instead of consumption. “That we are not just going to dance, but that we are dancing for something.” Every year, ADEV – a creative name-play of ADE – responds to the city's current political playing field.

Squat the City!
Without actions, there is no ADEV. “Dance outside the lines. Partly made possible by the squatting movement.” Squatting is primarily a form of action that draws attention to problems surrounding housing speculation and vacancy. With the new 'Squatting and Vacancy' law – better known as the Squatting Ban – in 2010, not only squatting would be pushed back, but also vacancy and speculation would be tackled. The consequences of the new legislation were devastating for squatting Amsterdam: while the first part of the new law has been harshly enforced in recent years, over the last ten years vacancy and speculation are still given free rein.

Almost ritualistically, there is always an action during ADEV. The theme of squatting is a central theme every year. ADEV 2016 danced for Bajesdorp, for squatters, and for the initiatives 'Right to the City', 'Faircity' and action group 'Niet Te Koop' (Not For Sale). ADEV danced several times against the eviction of the ADM. In 2022, the dance protest celebrated its 10th anniversary. They wrote 'The 10 squatting commandments for a livable city', which were left together with a life-sized mascot at the starting event on Dam Square. The manifesto of the squatting commandments was addressed to the municipality of Amsterdam.

The squatting movement helped to combat the housing crisis and make the city more livable in the 1970s and 1980s. By making squatting illegal, citizens have been deprived of an effective and legal form of resistance. Rapid evictions make it more difficult for squatters to build relationships with other action groups, collectives and the neighborhood, and to establish a vrijplaats that positively adds to the city. As such, squatting is more necessary than ever. “Law or no law, squatting continues!” Without critical citizens, the city will lose its soul rapidly under neoliberal policy. With the squatting commandments of 2022, ADEV called on the municipality to take the lessons of history to heart. And to legalize squatting and curb real estate speculation.

The Free Space Agreement
In 2018, ADEV danced through the city for the sixth time in a row, this time for vrije ruimte (“free space”). “Free Space Now!” Since 2018, vrije ruimte has taken a more central place in the debate on urban planning, following the 2018 municipal Coalition Agreement. In the Coalition Agreement, the new municipal council urges for the importance of protecting the rafelranden (frayed edges) of Amsterdam. It says: “Amsterdam is unique because of its long tradition of counterculture. The city is developing and this is putting this culture under pressure.” In response to this, the Vrijeruimte Akkoord (Free Space Agreement) was written by initiators of ADEV and a group of people with years of experience in free spaces such as ADM, Bajesdorp and Ruigoord, as well as researchers and cultural workers. The aim of this initiative was to hold the municipality accountable for its promise and to prevent vrijplaatsen from disappearing from the city forever.

The manifesto of the Vrijeruimte Akkoord  was used as a basis for drawing up the municipal free space policy.

With a catchy media stunt, the initiators drew attention to the municipal promise to protect. The agreement was presented during ADEV 2018, with a call for dialogue between various stakeholders and advocates of the making of the city. The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema was also invited. The purpose of the agreement was twofold: to legitimize and safeguard existing free spaces and free zones, and to stimulate new ones. The campaign had impact. Because of the initiative of the Vrijeruimte Akkoord, the Expeditie Vrije Ruimte (Expedition Free Space) was set up: a department within the municipality in which civil servants are concerned with safeguarding and encouraging free spaces. The manifesto of the Vrijeruimte Akkoord  was used as a basis for drawing up the municipal free space policy.

The campaign is a good example of ADEV's direct actions for permanent impact, in addition to its annual event. Sometimes with more and sometimes with less success. The fact that free space is now included in municipal policy is both a curse and a blessing. Since squatting is still illegal, there is on the one hand a necessity for municipal cooperation in the field of keeping free spaces. The permanence of free organized space is essential to prevent free spaces from being swallowed up by gentrification. On the other hand, to be wanting to regulate an essentially ruleless, self-organized space is a fundamental contradiction, a contradictio in terminis.

During the corona pandemic, initiators of ADEV made the documentary 'Pas op de vrijplaats’ (Step on/Beware of the Free Spaces) in which free space-residents, experts and a spokesperson of the municipality (councilors refused to cooperate) question the municipal free space policy and reflect on its impact. But ADEV 2018 did not just dance for free spaces. For the second time in a row, people danced against the threat of eviction of the ADM. Despite several actions to preserve the 21-year-old vrijplaats, the ADM was violently demolished on January 7, 2019. With the brutal eviction, which had to make way for the development of 'port companies', the municipality ignored two urgent requests from the United Nations. ADEV therefore started 2019 with ‘Het Hek van de Dam’ (‘The Fence of the Dam', a Dutch saying meaning that the wild beasts can now run free), a theatrical commemoration ceremony for the destroyed free spaces, conjoined with the call to "open up the free space again".

After the eviction, a part of the ADM group settled on the Slibvelden, and got the adjacent Groene Veld assigned as a temporary space, under the Expeditie Vrije Ruimte agreement. Nevertheless, the recurring debates, negotiations and uncertainties (and the separation between 'living' and 'creating') that surround ADM’s new home, indicate all too clearly that the conversation on vrije ruimte, vrijplaatsen and Expeditie Vrije Ruimte requires continuous pressuring and struggle in order to make permanent free spaces happen. and prevent them from being absorbed into municipal regulations.

It is telling – yet not surprising – that in the upcoming year, new frayed edges are in danger of disappearing, including the last rafelrand of Zeeburgereiland. The neighborhood has been a "white spot" in municipal urban planning for about fifty years, which is why artists and subversives settled there. The communities needs to make room for a newly build neighborhood in December 2024. I have been living on the rafelrand for three years, in the student community on the Zuiderzeeweg (ZZW) in the former asylum seekers' center. With the ZZW Rafelrand mobilization group, we build chicken onto our truck for ADEV 2023 – a symbol of communal care for our gardens and animals – and joined the demonstration with freetek soundsystems Kloki and Krektek for the future of Amsterdam’s frayed edges. While the entire neighborhood will be demolished, there might be a possibility for municipal-allocated free space in the new residential area. Ironically, a wonderful example of the discrepancy and guises by which Expeditie Vrije Ruimte operates (softly put) a bit too comfortably, as far as I am concerned.

A Demonstration in the Broadest Meaning of the Word
In 2022, ADEV danced for the tenth year in a row. A parade of thirteen vans and trucks were transformed into moving sound systems, decorated by various subversives, squatters and action groups from the self-organizing scene. Performances and theater were made on top and around the colorfully dressed vehicles. ADEV is a demonstration; so no permit is required. And it should remain that way. The manifestation claims the right to demonstrate every year. ADEV manifests itself as a demonstration in the broadest sense of the word.
The fact that ADEV takes place yearly is always a choice made by all the people who volunteer for it. While the demonstration has grown to around ten thousand visitors in 2023, it is organized by a relatively small group of people. The majority of the initiators take part since the very beginning, the time of the Valreep. But the older crowd is also ready for new people with new ideas and energy. Especially now that in recent years an energetic wind blows through the city as a new generation of squatters emerges. A nice example is the squat-action of Pak Mokum Terug! during ADEV 2021. The collective of young Amsterdam-people converted the former Hotel Marnix into the cultural center Hotel Mokum. Together with the Children of Mokum and other squatters, the action group Mokum Kraakt has since squatted several buildings within the Amsterdam-ring. They are committed to make squatting accessible to a wider audience and campaign against the gentrification and monoculture of the city center, the housing crisis, vacancy and the squatting law.

“Expropriated Property”
The eleventh edition of ADEV took place last October 2023. The demonstration started with a public meeting on Dam Square during which the Union of the Disowners got established. The board was elected: everyone became the board. The articles of association were discussed. The goal: to join forces in the fight against property. After the meeting, a demonstration was held for Palestine, following October 7, 2023: “No free city without a free Palestine!” During the manifestation through the city, two buildings on the Prinsengracht were squatted, owned by the large American investment company Blackstone, which further aggravates the housing crisis in Europe. Blackstone does not only invest in Israeli technology used by Israel's military regime, but also declared support for Israel in the form of millions of euros a few days after October 7. With its involvement in international mega-projects, the real estate company is responsible for several cases of humanitarian and climate-related crime. The squatters took 'expropriated property' as a direct call to action. They dedicated the squats to Palestine, to expose European-based companies as sponsors of Israel's genocide continuum. In doing so, they emphasized that the struggle for homes and dignity is fundamentally a struggle for the right to land and a struggle against displacement.

Beyond 11 years of ADEV
New radical left energy is welcome and necessary for ADEV. Not only to connect different generations and groups of squatters, activists and subversives. But also to provide a lasting and structural counter-voice as a self-organizing scene that responds to the changing city and exposes urgent issues. ADEV dances again every year, repeats itself, but also moves with the times. Always ready to dance for something. In the current suffocating Dutch political climate – with a fragmented, weakened and stale left – radical and supportive left-wing connections and alliances are desperately needed.

ADEV is a festive manifestation of a collective appropriation of public space and thus puts a crowbar – even if a temporary one – in between the cracks of the steel grip of the property regime (the prerequisite for social inequality, oppression and exploitation) that blows like an icy wind through the streets of Amsterdam. While the soundsystems blast during ADEV, the parade in its versatile form creates an opportunity to express radical and social left-wing connections, calls for creative dreams and resistance, and encourages self-organization for permanent change.

* All quotes written by ADEV (website, FB), unless otherwise stated.