(A statement from Cultural Workers Unite)
Dear friend,
We want to let you know why Cultural Workers Unite participate in the squatting of Havenstraat 231, a vacant former community center in Rotterdam West:
On January 31st 2021, alongside Voor14 campaigners, Bond Precaire Woonvormen Rotterdam, KSU Rotterdam and other organisers, Cultural Workers Unite were involved in the squatting of Havenstraat 231 in Delfshaven.
We are still collectively occupying the building to make a statement about the growing inequalities in Rotterdam, with many residents being pushed further into precarity by low wages and unavailable/unaffordable/ill-maintained housing.
We protest the fast sellout of public property to real estate developers and housing corporations while opportunities for self-organized initiatives for housing or culture are diminishing.
We also protest the way in which the Gemeente devalues and disposes of self-organised cultural spaces and ateliers who have histories of being embedded within communities. These groups not only make local spaces for creativity but also play an integral role in the cultural diversity of our neighbourhoods.
We participate because we believe solidarity between activist groups in the city and solidarity for our neighbours and communities is integral to resist gentrification, to fight for a better standard of living and protect our self-organised cultural spaces!
We participate because we recognise the interconnected ways that cultural workers are dragged into the process of gentrification, in which we become complicit in raising the cost of living in areas and price others and ourselves out of work spaces and housing.
As Cultural workers we must ask ourselves:
- How can we actively and publicly refuse to be co-opted by real estate speculators and other gentrification forces in the city?
- How can we engage with our neighbours and use our positions and skills as cultural workers to resist gentrification processes?
- How can we re-orient our thinking and actions to align ourselves with tenants and worker struggles around the city?
If you want to find out more or get involved with Havenstraat 231, email: havenstraat231@riseup.net or visit: https://havenstraat231.noblogs.org/
See you soon,
CWU
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