K: I guess A since it benefits most ppl in the group, personally im not sure, cheers.
M: It feels futile to fight for something which the majority of the group doesn't support. Therefore, whether A ('taking the offer'), B ('doing something else') or C ('discussing what else do to') - the group wouldn't have chosen fight when a seemingly easy option is at hand.
Still, I feel opportunistic taking the city council's offer.Others before us have struggled and made it possible for us to be here, have taken personal risks and made the step to publicly discuss squatting as a viable practice, independently of legality.
From my perspective, it feels hypocritical to take advantage of a squatted space when things are going well but to fail to stand up for the rights of squatters (which we all are by inhabiting and using this space) when things become challenging.Nobody gave this group a space when it needed it in the first place. People just took what they felt they needed. This is why we could grow. Otherwise we might have not gotten this chance.Fortunately, we've managed to be known as 'valuable' and, therefore, have been offered an alternative space.
Others who are not deemed worth supporting, who have not gotten and might not get the chance to prove themselves to the city council might not get an opportunity to be. It doesn't feel right to make freeculture dependent on the 'goodwill' of political bureaucrats. Squatting is empowerment and by giving up squatting it feels like we're giving up a vital part of this place's culture and of the general cultural landscape around us.
I would have hoped for the group to stand for to their kind and to take a step away from priviledge and dependency rather than towards it.
Nevertheless, I realise that I'm able to think about this more altruistically since I'm personally and professionally less dependent on the city of Enschede and its political environment. I don't see my distant future in this city and don't need political institutions to back me up. I understand that others within the group choose to be much more dependent on local politics than I do. Although I don't wish to be in this position, I respect the ways of others.
I wish to continue being part of Studio Complex. Therefore, I go along.
N: Hey everyone, i commit to vote for option A but actually just because i think my opinion shouldn't stand in the way of others.
Anyway i'd like to write down what's been going around in my head the last days.
I'm really disappointed that most people don't want to "fight" for our space. I don't mean to riot but there's legal ways, court-cases, publicity work, petitions and so on...
The possibilities we all had in our (last) space(s) we're just existing because in history people were willing to fight for the right to squat. The culture that flourished in the Netherlands because of this initiative build a basis for most of our personal development, be it artistic, political, social or musical and that most of us wouldn't be the person they are today without the "free spaces" we created in our history.
I totally understand that people get older, want more security and comfort but we still shouldn't forget why we have been able to do the things we wanted to do during the last years. Especially the use of the term "freedom" which have been used during the last meeting to describe the state we could achieve when we would buy or rent a building is totally opposed to the way I interpret it.
It's one of the false promises of capitalism. As soon as you own a building there are new rules and laws that have quite an impact on your "freedom". Squatting has always been providing quite a good basis for not having to play along the rules (be it housing/working, taxes, allowances etc.).
I totally understand that in case of just "work and produce as you please" you could call this "freedom" but to me there's a different connotation. And i think we all experienced this "glimpse of real freedom" in a certain way at studio complex or other spaces we've been involved at.
Besides all this it's nice to see that the city somehow values our efforts in some way and i hope we can make a good deal in the end. I wonder how the whole "living-situation" will change and what kind of influence this might have on the general feeling within the collective.
