Amsterdam Squatters Outline

Hannah Presley 

Amsterdam Squatters Outline (Final Presentation) 

Intro: 

-Attention Getter: Imagine you’re on summer vacation and touring Europe. You’re in Amsterdam and you see a building painted bright blue with a picture on it. It’s one of the coolest buildings you’ve ever seen with a restaurant, bar, art center, and living space all in one. However, none of the people there pay rent for living or business, everyone is a squatter. What you have just stumbled upon is one of the few famous Amsterdam squats. 

-Preview: My name is Hannah Presley, I am going to examine the Amsterdam Squatters movement and apply everything we have learned in this class from units 1, 2, 3, and 4. I am credible because Vrooman is a great professor and he gave us awesome resources that I was able to study. 

Body: 

-Unit 1 and 2: Schemes, Tropes, POT, and Fallacies

• Picture 1

• rhyme scheme "say" and "stay", catchy, words stick, to the point
• black, red, and white: deep saturation, stand out, serious, red = blood and power
• diagonal line = words stand out, looks like a flag
• capital letters in bold = demand. They mean business.
• example in establishing the structure of reality = no matter what occurs, the squatters will stay in place. This is the rule; they will not give up no matter what.

• accident fallacy = no matter what they say, the squatters will stay. If a solution is found, the squatters will still stay. NO exception. 

• Picture 2

• black, red, and white = symbolic colors of movement, associated with anarchy
• capitalized letters = loud/clear
•  bottom text = graffiti look associated with defiance (2 meanings: You do not define us. You are supported, welcome, and in this together.) 
• fuck = intensifier, adds strength 
• quality loci premise = those who oppose/do not fit the model of capitalism are better bc they are unique. 
• division quasi-logical argument = breaks down why squatting is good/better than capitalistic housing. Autonomous lifestyle = free of oppression, hierarchy, and authority.
• anecdotal fallacy/misleading vividness weak analogy = capitalism is bad bc it does horrible things when you don’t fit model. Capitalism = bad for squatters, but other people have success w/capitalism and wouldn’t change it

-Unit 3: Toolbox 2

• Tragic frame 

• Late 1970s- 1980s, squatters = violent. Protesting → rioting. 
• April 30, 1980, violent riot at the coronation of Queen Beatrix. 600 people wounded. ‘No house, no coronation' (Amsterdam Coronation Riots, Wiki). 
• Social problem = cost of housing. Sacrifice = disrupt important gov events/people get hurt.

• Comic frame 

• Tragic → comic frame. >rioting and <about community/resisting capitalism.
• OT301 = film academy, alternative cultural centre, stage for music, cinema, vegan restaurant, and artists workspace (The Most Famous Amsterdam Squats). 
• Not about overthrowing gov but working together to create safe home/work space for those who can’t afford. 
• Harmonious living does not come from capitalistic way of paying for home. 
• Protestors know that they nor model are not perfect but creates space free of societal oppressions.

-Unit 4: Social Movements

• Social Media 

• Only one found was on Twitter. 
• If everyone was posting like this person there could be some serious change. 

• The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

• both on bottom of society and had to be careful about how they used their voice for cause
• madres = helpless and not a threat to gov, mistake
• squatters = burden and unfit for society bc no solution
• Both wanted lives back to normal, or at least find a new normal
• madres = matching headwear to identify each other/hide position 
• Squatters = living in fear of squat forcefully evacuated by police, could easily turn violent

• MeToo

• MeToo = speak up, get justice, create awareness, and make sure that other people stop having go through horrifying experience
• Victims fight back to stop normalizing problem by telling their stories. Brings awareness, sends message to current/ potential future predators, and their actions cause mental/physical harm to victims forever 
• squatters fight for justice and to stop normalizing squatting not being a legitimate form of housing 
• squatters wanted to change the cost of housing or make squatting legal 

Conclusion: 

• Movement, small issue → widespread movement. 
• Tragic and comic frames, strategic signs and banners, and connections with other movements, squatters made a statement to the whole world. 
• Ultimately failed, but connected people all across city and country. 
• The tactics needed to be stronger and things could have ended differently. 
• A successful movement ends in majority of audience realizing there’s a need for change. Squatters were able to get some outside support, there wasn’t enough power from within to create long-lasting change.  

References: 

"Amsterdam coronation riots." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

     Amsterdam_coronation_riots. Accessed 2 May 2020. 

Bouvard. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. SR Books, 1994.

Carlson, A. Cheree. "GANDHI AND THE COMIC FRAME: 'AS BELLUM PURIFICANDUM.'" 

     Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 72, no. 4, Nov. 1986. EBSCOhost, 

     doi:10.1080/00335638609383787. Accessed 2 May 2020. 

Leung, Rebecca, and Robert Williams. "#MeToo and Intersectionality: An 

     Examination of the #MeToo Movement Through the R. Kelly Scandal." 

     Journal of Communication Inquiry, vol. 43, no. 4, Oct. 2019. 

     EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0196859919874138. Accessed 2 May 2020. 

"The Most Famous Amsterdam Squats." What's Up With Amsterdam, 

     whatsupwithamsterdam.com/amsterdam-squats/. Accessed 2 May 2020. 

"Squatting in the Netherlands." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

     Squatting_in_the_Netherlands. Accessed 2 May 2020. 

Vrooman, S., Dr. (2015, February). Some Informal Argumentative Fallacies 

     [Chart]. Retrieved from http://faculty.tlu.edu/svrooman/fallacies1.htm 

Vrooman, S. S., Dr. (2013). Perelman's Rhetoric of Argument [Chart]. Retrieved 

     from http://faculty.tlu.edu/svrooman/perelman.htm 

Vrooman, S., Dr. (n.d.). Rhetorical Devices for Vrooman's Rhetoric Class 

     [Chart]. Retrieved from http://faculty.tlu.edu/svrooman/schemes2.htm