Anarchism in Rotterdam
I experienced an equally disturbing and hope-filled situation with people in an art supply store, which led me to finding RoodKapje.
Roodkapje is an art center local to Rotterdam, Netherlands; recommended to me by the person who provided the hope in that art supply store debacle. Racism is alive and hell, old white men are sad and lonely. Water is wet.
I asked her where I could find more people like her, and this was the place that came to mind for her. So I went. But before I did, I did my due diligence. Internet research.
I checked out their website: branded font isn’t legible, even in art standards. It could have been a barrier, but I pushed through with the thought of a supportive and imaginative environment waiting for me.
They have programs that support co-collaboration and inter-collaborative efforts such as curated events, workshops, residencies, and creative studio access (you can take tours of the place, but it is still unclear whether they will allow you to use their resources without committing to one of their programs).
On the surface, this seemed to align with my skin-splitting urge to practice and materialize my art.
I also found a printing studio equipped with the tools I need to dive into my explorations-in-waiting. I read about the director of this studio space and how he got his start with Roodkapje. I felt, this would be a great intro into the space and how it ultimately functions (especially since this studio produces printed and digital advertising for Roodkapje, as well as its own projects). So I put all the things I’ve created and gathered through my migration into a shopping bag, set Genesis up for success at the hotel, and walked my tired and hungry bones to the Roodkapje headquarters.
We ended up meeting each other at the burger restaurant attached to the organization, by chance. I left my hopes and aspirations with this person, when I should have insisted on going into the building and meeting more people. That's on me.
Boy oh boy…
I’m going to let the conclusion of our interaction speak for itself. Our in-person conversation and interaction means nothing, according to Señor Dennis Munoz Espadina. So I won’t include it. Dust in the wind.
1/29/25, 6:37 PM - Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them. Tap to learn more.
1/29/25, 6:37 PM - Lucien M.: Lucien Michaux
1/30/25, 11:43 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: IMG-20250130-WA0000.jpg (file attached)
1/30/25, 11:43 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Hi Lucien!
I asked around and I got multiple people that told me you should check this place out. Its a new squatted space in Rotterdam.
1/30/25, 11:43 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: IMG-20250130-WA0001.jpg (file attached)
1/30/25, 11:44 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Perhaps they can provide housing or know people in their network?
1/30/25, 11:55 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: https://www.pauluskerkrotterdam.nl/#
Theres also this place in the center of Rotterdam that supports young and older people that have questions about housing, health and other things free of charge.
1/30/25, 11:55 AM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: (I think the website can be put in English)
1/30/25, 12:00 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Theres also the Anarchist Library in Rotterdam that host events and talks and have a lot of queer community. Tmrw they have an event from 8 to 10.
1/30/25, 12:01 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: IMG-20250130-WA0002.jpg (file attached)
Adres is Catullusweg 11
1/30/25, 12:13 PM - Lucien M.: What is a squatted space, exactly? I don't understand how this functions as housing.
1/30/25, 12:18 PM - Lucien M.: I can't lose access to infrastructure. I'm disabled. Can this squatting space provide maintained, calm, pest free, furnished housing with heat and warm running water?
1/30/25, 12:48 PM - Lucien M.: I came here (Holland, specifically) for the functional infrastructure. It's easier to live and thrive in a city with a strong infrastructure. I can't choose a situation where I potentially lose the very infrastructure I need to care for myself. I only got me to care for me. If I don't have the support of a functional infrastructure, I will quickly descend into illness and eventually death. That's how this works, unfortunately.
1/30/25, 12:50 PM - Lucien M.: Actually, I'm already experiencing chronic illness with my gastrointestinal, body mobility, and sleep issues.
1/30/25, 12:50 PM - Lucien M.: So yeah... closer than you think when you're displaced and housing insecure.
1/30/25, 12:26 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: All of these points Im not sure off, you would have to get in touch. From everything that you shared with me yesterday this seemed to me a good place to start from.
1/30/25, 12:57 PM - Lucien M.: How do I get in touch? Is there a number I can call on Whatsapp? Or is it IG?
1/30/25, 1:00 PM - Lucien M.: So wait. Do you have any experience with a squatting space? Have you stayed at one? Visited one? Cause I only have the context of being homeless in America to understand the word squatting. So what can you tell me about how it functions in Rotterdam?
1/30/25, 1:13 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: The Anarchist library has an Instagram with the name “zilvervisjes”. The other event doesnt really have an instagram page I think. The Pauluskerk has a phone number and its location in the center.
1/30/25, 1:19 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: I dont know what squatting entails in the US, but here its buildings that have been occupied by people who want to combat the housing crisis. Usually they are bare and not in a too good shape, but thats not always the case.
I understand you have specific needs, the infrastructures of the NL are probably better than in the states. Still they are struggling and not up to the tasks of providing to everyone. Thats the sad reality we are in.
If you dont want or cant rely on self initiated or grassroots projects than perhaps the Pauluskerk is the better option. If not there, then maybe they can point to the right direction.
1/30/25, 1:44 PM - Lucien M.: I'm curious... and please be honest. Have you considered hosting us in your home? If you have, please let me know what is stopping you from extending the invitation to Genesis and I after our conversation.
If you haven't considered hosting us, why? And if you need some time to answer that question, please don't be shy and say so.
This sad reality is only a reality because we are forcing each other to rely on the governments and systems that are hell bent on killing us. I've been trying to outrun the systemic genocide of people indigenous to lands all over the world. Not possible without support from people. All the infrastructure in the world can't make up for their absence. But all the connections can't make up for functional infrastructure either. Two sides of the same coin, as they say.
The pipe water is better here. Much better. I shouldn't need money to access it. But I do (currently). Once my money runs out, I'll no longer have access to the actual life giving resource that is water. I'll no longer be able to safely and adequately house myself and my dog. We will be actively living on the streets. This is a choice I should not have to be forced to make, again.
We lived in a car in the US for over a week. To try to slow the spending so I can afford a sublet. We were effectively squatting. It is illegal to live in your car, or any car/SUV, in the US. It is also the hardest thing I have ever had to do to survive.
I would never recommend that way of life to a person as a resource. It's a coffin. A physical and psychological coffin.
1/30/25, 1:47 PM - Lucien M.: Replace "illegal" with "criminalized." Squatting shouldn't be illegal. But we are actively being hunted by police forces with the goal of imprisoning homeless people. <This message was edited>
1/30/25, 3:42 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: https://www.instagram.com/joanacavaco.online?igsh=c204aGE5ZGdhbDhi
1/30/25, 3:43 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: A friend of mine told me that Joana works/worked for a LGBTI living room project in Rotterdam. You could contact her via Instagram, I don’t have her number sadly.
1/30/25, 3:51 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Hosting a complete stranger, and their dog, who perhaps needs really their own space and care is not within my means of giving. I can ask around for you and perhaps find you your ways for help/housing, but I’m not willing nor able to host you and Genesis.
1/30/25, 4:07 PM - Lucien M.: How long does it take for someone to turn from a "complete stranger" to a person you're familiar with? Sincerely?
After all you've learned about me, and I about you, we're still completely unfamiliar with each other? I don't feel so. But maybe I just connect with people differently.
Not having the ability to host a person and their dog due to lack of resources is completely valid. And while yes, we do need our own space eventually. We also need a space we can count on to be accessible. So if that means it's a room or a couch, as long as that space can hold us we can make it work.
It's wild. I grew up with a grandmother (who effectively raised me) who would host ppl all the time. Anytime someone was coming from Jamaica and needed a transitional spot until they got their paperwork/job situated, she would offer her home as a place to stay. And I don't remember it ever being a source of tension or conflict, other than people outside the home expressing their projections onto her choices. But she didn't care. She did what she could, cause she felt it was the right thing to do.
Experiencing the world as an adult where that level of community does not exist anymore is... devastating. Maybe it's only an immigrant community thing, but it's the kind of community care I've witnessed enough times to know it's possible.
IG is a terrible tool for communication. People are on there to showcase their lives/lifestyles. The person Sam, from the art supply store? She still hasn't responded to my messages and I asked about her digital art and areas to stay for access to a laundromat.
1/30/25, 4:09 PM - Lucien M.: I can try to message Joana. But I can predict what's going to happen there. It's happened too many times already. If she's not expecting my message, and she isn't up to speed with what I have going on, THEN it will be a complete stranger reaching out for something over the Internet. Which we can all agree comes with a degree of suspicion.
1/30/25, 4:09 PM - Lucien M.: Are you still suspicious of me?
1/30/25, 4:13 PM - Lucien M.: Yo... Her account is private. I can't even message her 😭😭
1/31/25, 2:04 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Hi Lucien, pardon for getting back to you so slow, Im busy with some things. I also asked around some more in my network, and people came back with possible starting points.
1/31/25, 2:06 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: So Joanna , that I dont have the phone number of, works for a non profit in Rotterdam called Humanitas. They have this queer open space called Hangout010
1/31/25, 2:06 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: https://www.instagram.com/thehangout010?igsh=dm10ZzhpN3Z0djF4
1/31/25, 2:10 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: This is the Humanitas website, it is a national organisation but they also operate in Rotterdam: https://www.stichtinghumanitas.nl/
1/31/25, 2:13 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Then theres another organisation called Zorgbelang: https://www.zorgbelanginclusief.nl/basisberaad/over-ons/
1/31/25, 2:14 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: They have walk ins on monday afternoons. Their adres is:
Hoogstraat 66A
3011 PT Rotterdam
1/31/25, 2:15 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Im sorry that all these sites are in Dutch, I didnt see an english language option. Im sure the people there can communicate in English though.
1/31/25, 2:18 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Then theres the municipality website that also gives some information for people in need of help:
https://www.rotterdam.nl/vraagwijzer
They have walk in hours every day in multiple locations and you can call them. The website is translatable.
1/31/25, 2:19 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: And again: the Paulus Kerk in the centre is a good place to look for leads and help.
1/31/25, 2:24 PM - Dennis Munoz Espadina: Just to react a bit to this question: I’m not suspicious at all. I just see that theres a lot of things going on in your life at the same time, and I feel like that you need professional support or guidance to set up a sustainable situation for yourself. Hosting you would not help you in the long run, and I would only do it from a selfish feeling of not feeling bad.
I didnt really talk about my life, but I have been in a position of having to care for others a lot these past years and I recognize my own limitation when it comes to what “ help” really entails.
2/2/25, 11:06 AM - Lucien M.: "Hosting you would not help you in the long run."
I hope one day you're able to check your ableism and see how your privilege distorts the truth in front of you.
I never said I needed long term help. Not once. How do you know what would be helpful for me in the long run? What assumptions are you making about my health and abilities to say such a thing? You're insinuating that helping me now, would somehow backfire in the future. Yikes. A very colonial frame of mind.
Suggestion: put Spanish down for a bit and learn about ecosystems. Maybe learn from an immigrant or two. Language won't connect you to those lost parts of yourself if you don't know what you're connecting to.
Smh. Good luck on your journey. We'll be just fine.*none of this digital conversation was edited. I saved a zip file from FedsApp (WhatsApp), downloaded it onto my drive, opened it, then copied and pasted the document in full. As of 1:01pm CET, this is the end of our correspondence. I turned off the app’s notifications. I don’t care to receive his response. I know all I need to know about the kind of person he is, and who he knows himself to be.
Signed,
Lucien Michaux