83 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
83 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS
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There exists a national anarchist network in the Netherlands
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who meetings are very poorly attended (about 15 people every
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meeting). Its members don't do very much. They don't even
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have a publication. This network is a kind of informal meeting
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place for folk who call themselves anarchists and who don't
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even have a political programme. The name of the network is
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Landelijk Anarchistisch Samenwerkingsverband (National
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Network of Anarchist Co-operation) or LAS.
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In the North of the country, there is a regional organisation,
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the Noordelijk Gewest van Vrije Socialisten (Northern Region
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of Libertarian Socialists) or NGVS. It's members organise,
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every year over Easter an informal demonstration. It is a
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tradition which goes back to the 20s. In those days the anti-
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militarist movement was quite strong. In 1933 it's members
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bought a plot of land as the authorities had banned their
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meetings. Although there had been a law in favour of
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conscientious objection dating back to 1923, many refused to
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take advantage of it and were sentenced to 2 years
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imprisonment. There was therefore a strong mobilisation out
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of which was born the NGVS, but now most of its members
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are of the older generation.. Their quarterly, Recht Voor Allen
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Van Onderop (Justice for the Underdogs) is of very poor
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quality. There is also a rival grouping in the North, the
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Noordelijk Genootschap van Vrije Socialisten (Northern
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Association of Libertarian Socialists) who also put out a
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quarterly publication Recht Voor Allen (Justice for All). To
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explain the rivalry between the groups would take a lot of ink
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and I imagine that even those most closely involved probably
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are unaware of its causes. The majority of those who are
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members of these groups are real ageing anarchist working
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class militants
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There are two other publications. These emanate from the
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younger generation. There is the quarterly AS (anarcho-
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socialist) which is published in Rotterdam. This is a
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publication coming from an independent group of intellectuals.
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Nearly all its editors are academics. The contents of this
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publication are theoretical. Many of its editors are members of
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a political party. Theirs is a fairly revisionist anarchism which
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they call 'pragmatic'. They favour a... 'Libertarian State'!
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Then there is Buiten de Orde (Out of Order) the publication of
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a formerly anarcho-syndicalist group. The group is called Vrije
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Bond (Free Union). It's not an anarchist publication in the
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strictest sense of the term but it's adherents publish articles on
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anarchism. One of its editors puts forward a 'post-modernist
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anarchism' that is to say he makes a distinction between
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anarchism and anarchy. In his view anarchism as an ideology
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is dated. In Amsterdam there is De Raaf (The Raven). This is
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the quarterly of the group called the Anarchist Federation of
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Amsterdam (FAA). Recently, our group Vrije Socialist has
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been collaborating with this group. De Raaf publishes articles
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coming from a wide range of anarchist groups and individuals.
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In Amsterdam there is also a weekly alternative paper which
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sometimes publishes articles on anarchism, NN (this means
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nomen nescio, unknown suspect). The contents of these
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articles are also post-modernist.
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PETER ZEGERS (Vrije Socialist - Amsterdam)
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Contacts
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* AS, BP 43, 2750 AA Moerkapelle.
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* Buiten de Orde, BP 1338, 3500 BH Utrecht.
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* De Raaf/FAA, BP 51217, 1007 EE Amsterdam.
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* LAS, BP 189, 7800 AD Emmen.
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* NGVS/Recht Voor Allen, BP 48, 8430 AA Oosterwolde.
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* NGVS/Recht Voor Allen van Onderop, BP 37, 8426 ZM Appelscha.
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* NN, Van Ostadestraat 233n, 1073 TN Amsterdam.
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* Vrije Bond, BP 61523, 2606 AM Den Haag.
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* Vrije Socialist, BP 713, 1000 AS Amsterdam.
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