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Successful protest in Leiden: “You will regret every minute you force us to work for free”

Trees decorated with balloons with flyers in the centre of the square right in front of the DZB forced labour centre.

On November 27th, 2013, in front of the forced labour centre DZB in Leiden some 45 people have warned politicians, civil servants and employers against using forced labour. The protest took place during the ceremony of awarding the ‘Eureka’ prize by the management of the centre. The protesters gave speeches, chanted slogans, handed out flyers (this had been forbidden by

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Making the forced labor center ungovernable

Flush forced labour through the toilet.

The struggle continues against the forced labor center DZB in Leiden, where welfare recipients must work without receiving real wages. After successful actions on May 1st and 2nd, the emphasis of Doorbraak’s actions in these coming months will be on undermining the governability of the center.. The original text in Dutch(june 21st, 2013) Translated into English by Jaap On May

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What the Dutch Black Pete-debate is really about

Pierre le Noir.

In the past three weeks we have published two very widely read and discussed articles by Doorbraak activist Matthijs van de Sande about the racism of Black Pete: “Black Piet and racism: some critical (and spiced) notes” and “Racism is not an opinion”. We do not want to deny you his contributions to the Belgian discussion about ‘our’ blackface tradition.

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The political Left is not always averse to forced labour

Labour was central to the Sovjet system.

It is striking that Dutch socialist organisations show relatively little interest in the emerging battle of the unemployed against forced labour. Although the more established social-democrat parties and unions are now sparingly showing some solidarity, none of them is taking a principled stand against forced labour let alone more in general against forcing people into wage slavery. “Everyone to the

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Iranian Uprising and Arab Spring also inspire refugees

The new generation of struggling refugees appears to be influenced and inspired by, among other things, the Iranian Uprising of 2009 and the Arab Spring and Occupy movements of 2011. It seems that the spirit of autonomous and decentralised resistance that predominated in all these movements is also visible today among the new refugee movement in Western Europe. We talked

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Two years of refugee struggle against migration control

Demonstration on maart 23rd, 2013, in Amsterdam. (Photo: Jan Kees Helms)

In the summer of 2011 a courageous battle of homeless refugees deprived of their rights started which has continued at full power to this date. It is time to assess the results of what went before and the course of this battle, as seen through the eyes of the Doorbraak activists who have been involved. The original text in Dutch(july

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Successful second celebration of Labour Day in Leiden

The protest-toilet was also present again.

Today Labour Day was celebrated for the second time on the square in front of the DZB forced labour centre. Yesterday May 1st, the management of the centre unexpectedly declared a day of leave. It was an attempt to prevent an increase in contacts between the forced labourers and the activists who were planning to celebrate this day together. The

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Success in Leiden: fear of May 1st celebration results in unexpected leave for forced labour centre

No forced labour!

In Leiden today some 25 people celebrated Labour Day on the square in front of the DZB (1) building. Similar to last year, there was music, food and drinks, and a few short speeches. There were only 7 forced labourers present though: the management had sent them all home, completely unexpectedly at 10:00 a.m. This is a small victory! The

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We’re in the same boat, so let’s row together

Integration into garbage collection.

If you compare the forced integration of refugees and immigrants with the reintegration obligation of the unemployed, you will find striking similarities. With regard to both of these groups, the state through its repressive and disciplining policies distinguishes between ‘desirable’ and ‘useful’ on one side and ‘undesirable’ and ‘redundant’ on the other. This is an analysis of a political-demographic approach

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Black Pete is sooo 1850

The Black Pete figure is outdated. Soon this racist figure may become a museum artifact in an exhibition on 19th century colonialism. Because the black house slave of the white master Sinterklaas is sooo 1850: the year in which the teacher Jan Schenkman blew life into the figure through his book “Sint Nicolaas and his servant”. The social movement which,

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