Round and round we go....

So here I am again.
I have not really worked out why I have decided to start this blog. Maybe it’s out of boredom.
So don’t get too attached to it as it may end sooner rather than later!
I’m both writing this for you and for me. I don’t want feel obligated to spend time doing this.

Seems to be some kind of reoccurring theme within my life!!
Things coming into being then fading without a thought that they ever existed in the first place.
I’m missing home some what, but I been reflecting on the last few years and I’m glad I’m not back there. In Melbourne. Surrounded by frustration and confusion. La di dar… hehhee..

So what’s been going down since I last made a post???
Well to be honest not much. I’m existing here in Holland, just. Well in body maybe but the cold weather and fucking shit snow is keeping me inside allot.

We went squatting the other day for a few friends of mine. Sorry I don’t have a photo.
I was part of the “cracking crew”

The dutch squat in such a weird way. I’ll just break it down for you quickly so my story make sense.

Basically how it work is… If a building has been empty for a year ( as explained in my last post ) it’s ripe and legal to be squatted.

So a bunch of people rock up to the building and the “cracking crew” breaks open the place. 1 or 2 or more people run through the building and make sure it’s not packed full of shit ( this could make it harder to prove the building is not in “use” which is a condition of it being empty for a year) Once that has been sorted the ok is given and 20 or so bodies come in side.
Almost as soon as the all clear is given ( mind you this whole process takes around 30 seconds) the police are called and told the building has been occupied.
We then setup and table, bed and chair to show the police that the building is now lived in. ( stupid as it may sound this is also a condition) then a nervous wait ensues for the cops to arrive to give the nod that everything is in order.
From there the cops will either leave and contact the owner or decide that some law has been broken and try to arrest either everyone or just one or 2 people.
It’s a dicey situation but 9 out of ten times it works out ok.

Anyways… I was part of the cracking crew responsible for breaking open the door.
We rocked up at around 1 in the afternoon on a fucking cold day to the outer part of some industrial estate. The building in question was built at a time when the Dutch economy was at a high point but was never occupied.
That’s right!!! A brand new fucking building that has never had an occupant.
Personally I was against the idea of squatting the building for a place to live.
None of the windows you could open and everything was glass!!! It was like a big fucking fish tank!! Anyways..
We rocked up and tried to Jack open a roller door in a most crude manner.. and we failed..
All 30 of us had to turn around and leave with in a matter of 30 seconds.
Such a pain in the ass to pull yourself out of bed on a sunday after pissing on in one of the squatted bars in town the night before on “freedom” beer!! Fucking bio organic Belgium beer. It’s sickening but comes for around $140 a stubie so I can’t complain really..
After the first 5 it does not really matter and at 300 mils it just flows and you don’t notice the bitter bite it has.


Anyways… after last Sunday I feel less solidarity with the people who were attempting to squat the building.
It’s funny you know when you unofficially formalize shit.
The like squat group here in the town where I live is a cool bunch of people.
But like all unofficial groups, unofficial hierarchies tend to form and often things go astray because fresh ideas are held back by the dominating behavior of others.
Anyways.. To cut a fucking boring story short. 1 or 2 people tend to run things in the group re: planning for the squats. Sometimes allot of talk and bullshit get discussed.
In the 1 and a half years since I have known and squatted with this group, Every time we do an action with this mob they fuck it up. In the only country in the world where squatting in legal this crew has managed to fuck up many many squatting actions.
I’m not talking about the whole Leiden Crack group. Just this crew who comes to it and is involved and who we just tried to squat a building with last sunday.
I mean fuck me.. 1 and a half years!!
This sunday they are going to squat another building… Good luck to them.. I’m sleeping in!

Is that cruel ?? is that mean.. You think so??? Well fuck you too ehhehee…
Anyways..

So over the last 3 years I’ve be hanging out in Europe land.
I spent some time in London with a few mates of mine and squatted a mad fucking house.

Check it out.. here is the pic.





We had to do all the internal wiring ourselves. Was a cool learning experience.






The place lasted a year before it was evicted apparently the idiots at Lambeth council decided to strip the place bare.
Something that is common all over the world.
You see councils would rather strip a place bare, smash the toilets, remove the wiring pour concrete in the drains and generally fuck the place up rather than have someone live in it.

Don’t even try and make sense of it.. We live in an irrational world and individuals and groups such as government institutions are not immune from acting in irrational ways, In an irrational world their actions seem rational within the context of the insano fucken environment in which we live. So anyways…


Don’t we know better??? Capitalism states that the user pays!!!
Yeah, and if you can’t pay fuck it, you have to sleep on the street. They can’t have people trampling over their right to control privet or so called public housing for that matter.
The system just don’t work that way!!!


In other news I’m going to be squatting a place in around 3 weeks.. Call my ass paranoid but I don’t want to give any more details away till then. Wait for the update. This place is amazing!!!!! And it has a shop down stairs!!

Squat BAR!!!! ! YES!!! Beer, music and uncomfortable advances all witnessed from behind the bar!!!

Stay tuned!!

Bye now!

Here we are.

So here we are….
My name is luke and I’m an oZstraylian from Melbourne.
I hope you will enjoy my journey and my photos.

I’ve started this blog cos I want to keep a visual and text archive of my thoughts on politics and the squats that I both stay in and help to maintain all over this wide world.

In short I like to take photos of these places, the people who I encounter and record their stories and their ideas. I’d like to keep this fresh in my mind so come back on it when I want to reflect on my experience.

So this is more for myself than for anyone else, but you are all welcome to join me.

I’ve been on the go now for 3 years visiting different squats and place around Europe and now I have settled down for a bit in a town I have come to both love and hate.

I live in a city called Leiden, which is about 20 min outside of Amsterdam on the train and about 10 min from Den Hague, you know the place where Slobberdan ( however you spell his name) is hanging out right now along with a few other genocidal fuckers.



This is the house where I now live! Yes it’s a squat.
It’s been squatted now for over 10 years and it’s owned by the city council.
Back in the 80’s the Netherlands was a heaven for squatting. If a building was empty for more than a month it was ripe to be squatted!! All nice and legal. They have changed the law now, so we have to wait a full 12 months but this building is a left over from the good old days!



Below is a pirate radio station where I have a program once a week.
You can listen on the net if you want. I’ll post the address soon.

Well, I'm going to leave this as my first post. Sorry it's a bit short but i don't have time right now to make it any longer.

I really look forward to posting more stuff soon!