In the weekend of 15-17 of May 2009 Holland's oldest squat "Freeplace Koppenhinksteeg" will celebrate its forty year anniversary. This will be celebrated with a forty hour long party which includes a demonstration on Saturday May 16th, departing from the Koppenhinksteeg at 14.00h. The demonstration is an important protest against the threatened closure of Freeplace Koppenhinksteeg. After an epic struggle of fifteen years to keep the Freeplace, the Leiden city council has decided to sell what is their property. That decision is in breach of a 2005 agreement between the council and the Freeplace, which included a contract for us to rent that space for a reasonable price. After the local government elections, the social democratic party (PvdA) and Green Left withdrew their support for that agreement: the whole deal was off! Since then the Freeplace has been battling the city council in several court cases, in town hall meetings, occasionally on the streets, and through thousands of letters of objection which supporters have sent to the council.

For forty years the Freeplace has been a rallying point of resistance, creativity and discussion. However the Leiden city council is on the verge of selling the buildings (comprising 1300 square meters) to a private investor to build luxury apartments, resulting in the eviction of the Freeplace. Since the end of the 60's, social and cultural activities have been taking place in the Koppenhinksteeg. It all started with anarchist artists who began a youth museum there. In the seventies, young people from a militant trade union occupied the buildings. Radical-left bookshop Manifest then came along in the 80's. Nowadays the buildings are still bristling with activities such as anti-racist organisation No One Is Illegal, cultural centre Bar & Boos, a martial arts school and the Eurodusnie collective which runs a highly popular Freeshop and a café with venue. Dozens of other grass-root initiatives, social, cultural, and/or political, conduct their activities in the Freeplace.

All of these initiatives add something special to the community. An average of 2000 people a week visit the Freeplace, which is 100% volunteer and self-managed, and politically independent. The initiatives point towards a different organization of society, one of solidarity and equality, where greed is not the guiding principle. Freeplaces like the one in Leiden are rare and almost everywhere that they do exist they are under attack by capital and its stooges. Therefore we fully understand that Freeplace Koppenhinksteeg is not an isolated case. We can see comparable developments elsewhere, in other cities and towns all over the world. From Brazil to The Netherlands squatters of wasteland and buildings are increasingly being prosecuted. Affordable housing and organisational spaces are sacrificed in the interests of big money. City councils say they are improving the city centre, but in fact they are rapidly turning it into the exclusive domain of rich property owners and mindless consumers.
In facing such circumstances, resistance is not an option: it is a duty!

What can you do?

• If you are in The Netherlands, join the demonstration on Saturday the 16th of May at 14.00.
• Otherwise, protest outside representations of Dutch government and capital.
• Send protest letters to the forces of evil, also known as the local government at Dit emailadres is beveiligd tegen spambots, u heeft javascript nodig om het te kunnen bekijken . Don't forget to send us a copy (bcc) as well at Dit emailadres is beveiligd tegen spambots, u heeft javascript nodig om het te kunnen bekijken - Keep informed by frequently visiting http://www.koppenhinksteeg.nl where you will find a small English section.