• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Dadusc, Deanna (2016) The Micropolitics of Criminalisation: Power, Resistance and the Amsterdam Squatting Movement. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent, Utrecht University. DOI Link to record in KAR http://kar.kent.ac.uk/60556/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html The Micropolitics of Criminalisation: Power, Resistance and the Amsterdam Squatting Movement By Deanna Dadusc Supervisors: Professor Phil Hubbard; Professor Dina Siegel; Dr. Phil Carney; Dr. Damian Zaitch This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology University of Kent Utrecht University July 2016 101.074 words ii Acknowledgments This thesis is a collaborative work, bringing together multiple experiences of different groups, people and collectives I have encountered from the first day I lived in Amsterdam, in August 2008, and later on in Kent. Acknowledgements seem reductive for expressing their role and presence in each step of this process, as all these encounters have not only made this work possible, but are its constitutive elements. In first place, this thesis was inspired by, and is dedicated to, all those who, all over the world, are engaged in autonomous struggle, including squatters, queers, hackers and migrants who make of their bodies, minds and everyday practices an act of resistance to any form of government. Phil Carney and Phil Hubbard, you have been the most engaging and engaged teachers I have ever met. I am glad I had the privilege of being guided by you through this process. Thank you for your patience and passion, for never letting me down, and for trusting in my capacities and potentialities even in the most difficult times. Hanneke, Trude, Giulia, Eleni and Arnaud, you are not only PhD buddies and fabulous homies, but also great friends. Learning with you and from you was an amazing experience and I never felt alone. Joyce, Daniel, Wendy, Clara, Alex, Leo, Aris, Aarianna, Alv, Virgi, Lara, Teun, Sofi and Sofia: I will never stop being astonished and inspired by the strength and passion for everything you do. Thank you for all the joys and the troubles we shared. Amir, I have shared with you most of my Amsterdam journey, from the very first days. Without you I would have not fell in love with this city the way I did, nor I would have had such curiosity and enthusiasm for the theories and philosophies you introduced me to. Moira and Maite, you always have the capacity of finding me where I am lost and bringing me to new safe spaces. Thank you for letting me through the difficult times. This project would have not been possible without the Squatting in Europe Kollective, Edward Dee and Miguel Martinez: thank you for making it possible to bring academia iii and activism together, and for creating great platforms for encounter and for contestation. To all the people who lived, crashed at and crossed the legal, legalised, tolerated or criminalised spaces that throughout these years provided inspiring environments for discussing and developing this project: our spaces might have disappeared physically and virtually, but they will continue existing in all the relations and encounters that they made possible. Mamma e papa', il vostro amore incondizionato mi ha sempre dato la forza e la gioia di vivere e di crescere. Anche se sono stata lontana in tutti questi anni, non ho mai smesso di amarvi e di portarvi con me in tutte le avventure, le gioie e le sfide di ogni giorno. iv Abstract This research analyses how the criminalisation of the Amsterdam squatting movement works. The key research question addresses how criminalisation operates as a technology of government, what kind of relations of power are constituted through this processes, and how these are experienced and resisted. By paying attention to the relationship between politics, ethics and affects, the focus of this project is on the micropolitics of criminalisation and its resistances, where affects, everyday lived experiences, and embodied relations of power and resistance play a central role. The analytical framework conceptualises power relations as heterogenous, productive and constitutive forces rather than simply repressive and oppositional ones. This enables to analyse how criminalisation works by deployment of legalistic tools and policing practices, by engendering contested moralities around private property and the uses of urban spaces and by constituting specific modes of experiencing, acting and resisting. Moreover, this perspective unfolds the complex relations between criminalisation and resistance: the focus is placed on the active and creative power of heterogenous struggles that counter relations of power by means of protests and direct actions, as much as by experimenting subversive conducts, social relations and modes of life. This project engages with Activist-Research, aiming at producing a platform for collective reflection on how to resist criminalisation. Here resistance is not intended as an object of study, but as an epistemological perspective: namely a mode of unmasking, knowing and analysing how power operates. The empirical materials presented in the form of Intermezzi (between chapters) and Boxes (within chapters) constitute composite and collaborative process of reflection and narration. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... iii Abstract .......................................................................................................... v Prologue Squatting Goes On. ........................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 9 1. Squatting in the Netherlands ....................................................................................................... 10 2. 2010: The criminalisation of squatting .................................................................................... 12 3. Research aim and outline .............................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2 Regulated Tolerance and Squatting: legal, political and economic background ................................................................................................... 21 1. Right to housing versus the right to property ........................................................................ 22 ...................................................................... 25 3. The liberal turn and regulated tolerance ................................................................................ 30 Squatters3.1 Art 429 movements ................................................... and housing................................................... struggles ............................................... 34 4. The creative city and the co-optation of squatting ............................................................. 36 5. Regulated tolerance: critical reflections .................................................................................. 38 6. The decline of tolerance ................................................................................................................. 40 7. The criminalisation of squatting ................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 3 The Criminalisation of Social Movements and the Micropolitics of Power and Resistance.................................................................................... 45 1. The criminalisation of social movements ............................................................................... 48 1.1 Squatting, protest, and Political Opportunity Structures ................................................ 48 1.2 Beyond protest ..................................................................................................................................... 52 2. Micro-politics, affects and counter-conduct .......................................................................... 56 2.1 Conduct .................................................................................................................................................... 58 2.2 Affect and potentia............................................................................................................................. 59 2.3 Counter conduct and counter power ......................................................................................... 64 3. The Micropolitics of Criminalisation

Load more

  343

Copy Link