Speech about the ADM situation at the Jetlag (experimental circus- and music) festival on July 22 2018:<\/p>\n
Just great that you are all here
\nIn a time wherein gentrification and commercialisation are preached by administrators and companies
\nNot only as an all-embracing credo
\nBut even worse, every time is used as a methodology for the design of our city, our culture and our society<\/p>\n
The public space has been sold to greed and commerce Renting is unaffordable
\nSocial housing is prehistoric
\nPeople are kicked out or forced to move
\nSocial and cultural initiatives are expelled from the city Hardly any squats are left
\nAnd the last Cultural Free Spaces like ADM
\nAre threatened to be pulverised<\/p>\n
I hereby appeal to opposition
\nOpposition against the sale of the city!
\nFor a city without wilfulness loses her attraction
\nAnd degenerates into humdrum
\nCome and resist against the exclusion of our culture!
\n<\/p>\n
And today I am living 20 years and 282 days at the ADM one of the last principle, struggling zones of opportunities which has succeeded to stand up to this date now
\nOn the basis of cultural and politically relevant social ideals<\/p>\n
But when it comes to Amsterdam’s Board of the municipal council, this will end
\nThey want to consent to the plans of the alleged owner
\nEven before an independent research has been undertaken whether these plans are possible at all
\nAnd even before investigating what the financial and economic interests are for the future of Amsterdam<\/p>\n
And if the Amsterdam\u2019 Board persists in its statement then ADM is really declared dead
\nAnd then it can be evicted from Xmas onward<\/p>\n
We do not want to be chased!
\nWe want to be appreciated for our culture!
\nWe want to save Amsterdam for a blunder of enormous size!<\/p>\n
Because Amsterdam will then donate 100 million euros to the malicious owner
\nOn top of that Amsterdam also loses 400 million euros
\nBecause she does not buy the entire terrain to solve future space problems in the city<\/p>\n
But especially Amsterdam loses the ADM community
\nAnd loses an unprecedented invention-location
\nFor creators and inspirational doers, thinkers and free spirits in which money does not play a primary role<\/p>\n
People,
\nWho are bringing life into soulless urban landscapes
\nWith their own life philosophy and another way of viewing<\/p>\n
People,
\nWhose spirit and mindsets are a great cultural heritage that has to be preserved.
\nNot just in history books
\nBut also in reality of now and the future<\/p>\n
For decades places like theaters, galleries and social centers are a structural part of the cultural spectrum
\nSo are squats and Cultural Free Spaces
\nOnly the first ones are recognised by everybody and have a permanent place of manifestation
\nWhile the latter have been declared illegal and are constantly chased out
\nThis has to stop!<\/p>\n
We do not want attenuation of the city
\nWe want a city in which everyone can work and live on his or her own way
\nWhere there is always affordable space
\nWhere there is cooperation and color or age do not matter,
\nwWhere everyone happily adds dynamism
\nBut where gentrification is ruled out principally<\/p>\n
We claim our permanent place in society
\nWe say fuck off with the norm
\nBecause the norm is the gentrification worm<\/p>\n
For 20 years ADM has been fighting
\nFor maximum movement space for the individual
\nAgainst corruption and capitalism
\nAgainst human disgracefulness and corporate greed
\nAgainst liberal municipal policy, inequality and exclusion
\nAnd for freedom in the mind
\nAnd for freedom in doing and acting
\nAnd for freedom in shaping your own space
\nAnd with that ADM is a rule-free nobodies everymansland<\/p>\n
And with that,
\nWith that ADM is a symbol
\nA symbol for the freedom of everybody in Amsterdam and beyond<\/p>\n
But the struggle for that freedom hasn’t been over yet
\nBecause the counter forces are greater than ever
\nAnd our fight is also your fight<\/p>\n
A struggle that can not only be executed by the ADM-rs themselves anymore
\nA struggle that also affects you and all of Amsterdam<\/p>\n
Join in to keep pearls of freedom like ADM
\nAnd especially to build new ones<\/p>\n
Not only ADM is under threat of eviction,
\nIt’s our culture that’s under threat of extinction<\/p>\n
Reclaim free-space
\nViva ADM!<\/p>\n