Solidarity, Betrayal, and Hotel Rembrandt

This article was supposed to address solidarity between leftist groups in Amsterdam; after the eviction of Hotel Rembrandt squat, I would like to address the unsurprising governmental betrayal amidst another great action by homeless students for other homeless students.

The Hotel Rembrand near Artis was abandoned for more than a year when a group of homeless students (Autonomous Student Struggle) decided to squat it in October. The goal: giving a roof to other homeless students. Indeed, the place was huge and who needs another hotel in Amsterdam? Unfortunately, that’s not what the landlord had in mind: he made a complaint, the judge ruled a speed eviction without a hearing. Authorities apply the ruling without hesitation.

The way in which the situation at the Hotel Rembrandt squat was handled by authorities is, to me, the most disheartening eviction so far. All the authorities involved in the eviction: the police, the State prosecutor, the mayor, the landlord - decided that the comfort of tourists in a thousandth Amsterdam ho(s)tel was more important than the situations of dozens of homeless students. Nobody questioned the ruling.

Don’t pretend you care about our safety: you push us back in the streets - from couch to couch, bridge to bridge, unsafe situation to unsafe situation.

When homeless students came together to find a direct solution to the housing crisis - which could have directly helped dozens of students - why would authorities choose to evict without any communication or help to the squatters? The supposed reason: safety. Don’t pretend you care about our safety: you push us back in the streets - from couch to couch, bridge to bridge, unsafe situation to unsafe situation. If you do care about our safety, look at the urgency of the situation which was clearly highlighted by this action. Act upon it, seize the hotel, start the construction, or let us do the construction. Give us a permanent place to stay.

Do not let another corporation make a profit off rich tourists in Amsterdam, while the youth living in Amsterdam - the famous pech generatie - is living outside in your streets. You evicted us for ‘safety’: safety for who? Safety for you, your buildings, your profits, your ‘calm neighbourhoods’, your cars that you move when we drop a banner. Stop pretending that safety is for us, stop pretending you care for us. All your actions have proven otherwise: this government is heartless of the precarity of the youth living in the Netherlands.

But - oh no - there is still one young person we care about in the Netherlands. Dear Princess Amalia, sorry I forgot about you and your precious <3 social life <3. We have understood it is more important than the housing of the students who used to live in your previous student home. Do not worry, we’re with you - not having a house makes it very difficult for us to make or see our friends. Also going to school or trying to graduate. Or staying warm and safe during winter. I guess we’re in the same boat. Right?

Hotel Rembrandt is the perfect example of the activist behaviour and the authorities’ reaction that has been happening for years. People care for each other because the government does not offer them a soon solution, and when a solution is found by the people - the government crushes it. Who does it protect? What does it protect? Not the homeless students - is the answer I have so far.