Workshops

This is the place you will find all the workshop for the coming year.

We have no more space for workshops! The schedule is all filled up. We hope you will enjoy all the great talks people have prepared for you!

Radical history city tour

Old time member of the Anarchist Group Amsterdam is gonna guide you to just a few locations of the rich radical political history of the city of Amsterdam. Ever wanted to go to the building where the International Anarchist congress was held with Emma Goldman, Malatesta and Rudolf Rocker? Want to learn where a heroic arson attack happened to disrupt the system of the nazis to round up the Jewish population of Amsterdam? And who knows where the military start to shoot on a huge revolutionary crowd in 1918 leaving 5 dead and injured dozens? How could the squatters of the Kalenderpanden resist a 4 hour standoff with the riot police shooting over 250 teargas canisters on them?

This walking tour will be around 2-2.5 hours. The talk will be in English.

Saturday 15-18h; English

DIY book binding

Welcome to our bindery: you will bind your own little book and learn a bunch about paper, signatures, endpapers and binding a bookblock. DIY!

Saturday & Sunday 14h-16h; English

Vrije Bond Intro and Background

De Vrije Bond is the Anarchist federation in the Netherlands and Flanders. It’s grown quickly and is the biggest organisation of it’s kind that this area has seen in a long time! How did the Vrije Bond come about? What does it look like, how does it work and what can you do with it? This workshop explains all this and more. It also gives you the opportunity to meet other members and interested parties.

Saturday 12h-13h; Dutch

Mega Unerhört! Adbusting with police and military

Adbusting: This is term for the politically motivated alteration of advertising posters. If you do this with police or military posters, you risk house searches, DNA analyses and reports to the Terror Defense Center in 2018/19. Thanks to the bold public relations work, it was possible to make the authorities more ridiculous than adbusting ever could because of their exaggerated and disproportionate actions. In the meantime there are several decisions that the opening of advertising showcases and the hanging up of own posters is not punishable. We will tell the unusual story of this rare success and show lots of photographs of real adbusting, and together we will explore the possibilities and limits of adbustings. BBSC website

Saturday 12h-14h; English

Action Medic’ing 101. The basics

The numbers concerning police violence don’t lie: it’s currently the fourth year in a row in which they’ve increased and it doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. As actively organising anarchists or activists it appears like there’s almost no possibility to avoid it- everyone in these circles seems to have experienced violent repression at some point. If you’ve ever wanted to learn the basics of how to medically support your comrades during moments like these, this is the workshop for you. We will go over the ways in which we can deal with commonly seen injuries at protests and actions, so we as a community can learn to provide care for those in need, and how we can be stronger together.

Saturday 12-14h; English

What is the point of writing fiction and Independent Publishing?

Tariq will be discussing what he regards to be the value of fiction, and the importance of publishing, in relation to other more conventional forms of activism that many regard to be more important, with reference to his own work, particularly High John The Conqueror, and the evolution of Zero and Repeater Books. This talk would cover both the nature of creativity (for all the budding writers), but also the politics of the publishing world (for would-be indie publishers), and how we differ from the major mainstream imprints.

Saturday 12h-14h; English

Facing Whiteness

For white people, whiteness and belonging to the majority appears as “normal” and not particularly relevant, it is mostly not named. At the same time, white people have numerous advantages through racism and carry racist structures with them. In this interactive workshop we want to face practically with the omnipresence of whiteness and reflect on our own position in this construct, as well as work on possibilities for change in our own behaviour. The chosen format will not be primarily about discussing theories, texts or approaches, but about exchange and an encounter with oneself and the other participants. BIPoC* are of course welcome, the workshop is aimed at white people who are not disadvantaged by experiences of racism in their everyday lives. Even if you have never/partly dealt with the topic, feel invited. There will be different options to participate. It is important to add that reflecting on one’s own privileges (not only in relation to racism, but in their totality, intersectionally) is an essential but only one step.

Saturday 12-14h; English

Information & exchange on DIYing hormone therapy

Transgender healthcare is on fire. Gender clinics gatekeep us for not fitting neatly within the gender binary, police our bodies, and force us to wait for years. But we are not waiting. This workshop is about DIY hormone therapy, breaking down barriers between us and our bodies, and taking charge of our own transitions in spite of the system that wants us to fit in its neat little moulds. The space is for trans, queer, questioning, cis and genderfuck people from all backgrounds and walks of life. So whether you are interested in DIY, want to learn more about trans struggle, or just here to smash the cistem, please stop on by.

Saturday 13h-15h; English

Hands-on practical squatting workshop

In this workshop, you will get to practice and learn some of the skills and information that will be helpful when thinking of starting to squat. You will get to practice different techniques of entering, (e.g. lock picking, breaking, pulling cilinders), get legal information, practice finding and researching buildings and learn about barricading and living in a group.

Saturday & Sunday; English

Prepare for arrest & interrogation

Prepare for arrest is a workshop to help people prepare in case they get arrested during a political action or demonstration. It will be an interactive workshop for everyone – with or without experience of being arrested. Any action or demonstration carries the risk of arrest. In this workshop we want to provide tools and experiences in how to prepare for this. We will do an interrogation training, explain practicalities and your rights, and answer questions concerning arrest and consequences of participating in an action or demo. De Arrestantengroep is a group of people focused on preparation & assist during and after actions to empower people as much as we can. To help those in the movement be as resilient as possible in the face of state repression.

Saturday 14h-16h; English

Thinking for ourselves

Leftists have a blind spot for hierarchy when it’s wearing tweed. Even though we value education as a means to raise consciousness and continue the class struggle, in actual classrooms and reading groups, we often fail to notice hierarchies arising between us. In our workshop, Radical Sunday School invites you to come share your stories and frustrations with education, and learn from the perspectives of people with drastically different experiences. Let’s build a better classroom together!

Saturday 14-16h; English

Propaganda and information. Why graphic design matters

We want to be seen and we want people to be interested in our ideas or participate in our actions. For this to happen we make flyers, posters, instagram posts etc.. And in order to be seen and to be recognized, it needs to be catchy, well readable, accessible. But we all know it, the trashy poster design which is either too militant and exclusive or too random. Or the flyer with an interesting headline but just a desert of words so we don’t want to read it just by the look of it. So let’s talk about the basics of graphic design in activism, why it matters to take care of typography, symbolism and illustration we use. And where is the difference between propaganda and information? Come and find out.

Saturday 14h-15.30; English

Against cop cities

Since April 2021, anarchists, abolitionists, and environmentalists have fought to stop the construction of a police training compound known as Cop City in Atlanta, Georgia. Picking up where the George Floyd Rebellion of 2020 left off, this movement has employed a wide range of tactics from sabotage and forest occupations to economic pressure campaigns. In this presentation, we will review the origins of the movement, consider the challenges it has confronted, and explore what it shows us about the struggles of our time.

Saturday 15h-17h; English

3 years after uprising in Belarus – political situation and repressions in the country

In August 2020 Belarusian people rose against the dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko hopying to overthrow a regime, existing in Belarus since 1994. Several months of protests ended up in a mass wave of repressions and political migration from the country. With thousands of political prisoners out of which at least 30 are anarchists, Belarus is the country with one of the highest levels of repressions in Europe this days. Couple of years later Vladimir Putin started full scale invasion of Ukraine with support of belarusian regime. This created even more problems for the rest of the resistance against dictatorship in Belarus. During this talk members of ABC-Belarus will present the current political situation inside the country and in diaspora organized in Poland/Lithuania. What are the perspectives of the people trying to overthrow dictatorship and what is the role of anarchists in the whole story?

Saturday 15h-17h; English

Ways to protest the russia’s war from inside. Militant resistance andsolidarity with imprisoned partisans

Solidarity Zone will talk about how street protest in Russia failed, and was replaced by forms of individual militant protest on the one hand and methods of mutual aid and grassroots organization on the other. Also we’ll talk a little about the conditions in which grassroots helping groups are currently working and about the possibilities of solidarity across borders. We open to discussion and sharing the prisoners’ stories, experiences and solidarity practices.

Saturday 15-17h; English

Discussion about an anarchist critique of drug culture

A short presentation around the text “our sobriety is revolutionnary” followed by discussions around the impact of drug cultures and how to fight against.

Saturday 17h-19h

Against war and militarism

Anarchists have always been against war, seeing it as the organized and orchestrated massacre of the exploited in name of the (or one of the other) ruling class. In the discussion we want to surpass the convenience of taking sides and moving along in the totalitarian war-rethoric of one or another person in power, but instead be in full conflict with every war and every state. War starts here. Arms dealing is big business in the Netherlands and other European countries. If we state that we are against war, and support revolutionary conflict, then it is necessary that we attack the interests and infrastructure of the ruling class’ war-machine. Whether debating on which side is a lesser evil, it is this anti-militarist attack that should be our concern of debate. On the eve of WWI French workers discussed the disruption of the general mobilization and sabotage of the war machine, to which some countered that they did not know whether the German workers would do the same. Today we know that our comrades in the territories controlled by the Russian state are attacking the war-machine with force: burning down enlistment offices, derailing trains and even waging armed attacks on power and its representatives.
The question then is: what are we waiting for?

Saturday 17h-19h; English

Fumiko Kaneko, a short history of an anarchist nihilist in so-called japan.

Fumiko Kaneko (born in 1903) was an anarchist nihilist. She joined with her friend Pak Yol a group of anarchists from Korea in Tokyo. During the Great Earthquake in 1923 in Tokyo, Fumiko, Pak and many others enemies of the people were arrested by or decided to surrender to the police. She was then accused of plotting to throw a bomb on the Emperor, a sacred figure. She assumed that she wanted to murder the Emperor and wanted to destroy the Japanese State… “Bent over, watching others from beneath my thighs — the state of the world I need to look at, upside-down. ”

Saturday 17.30-19h; English

Turkish extreme right

Sunday 12h-14h; Dutch

Unlearning toxic masculinity together

Patriarkraakt is an Utrecht based collective focusing on unlearning toxic masculinity with everyone who has internalized this. In this workshop open to all genders we’ll collectively explore the problems of the gender binary and specifically toxic masculinity not just in our society, but with a focus on unlearning it in our personal lives. We do this by having an open, honest and emotional conversation of how it harms everyone, by formulating alternatives and by discussing concrete ways forward.

Sunday 12h-14h; English

Beyond XR. Discussion about radcial climate action

The eco movement has a rich history of radical resistance. Although the point of this session will not be to reminisce about what was, let’s remind ourselves of the possibilities when we put our minds and bodies to it. With that in mind, we look towards the future, beyond what mainstream groups can offer us. This session will be part workshop, part open discussion. To set the scene, we will give a brief historical overview. After that, we will give the floor to you. How do you feel about current environmental activism in the Netherlands? And can we imagine (and build) more radical things together?

Sunday 12h-13.30; English

Mutual aid in academia. Anarchist praxis and solidarity at universities

Academia can be a tough, competitive, and exclusionary environment. We aim, as anarchist academics and archaeologists, to break these barriers and create a safe space on the basis of anarchist praxis and solidarity. With the Black Trowel Collective, an international collective of anarchist archaeologists, we have developed a mutual aid initiative committed to the active support of archaeology students. In this workshop, we will talk about the practical component of setting up mutual aid initiatives in universities and open up the discussion on the struggles students and educators face in academia and actions that are needed for an equal university.

Sunday 12h-14h; English

Arrestee support group walk-in hour

During the arrestantengroep (AG) walk-in session, you can ask all your personal questions that belong to the legal support side of activism. Do you have questions about preparing for arrest? How an arrest takes place? About being interrogated? Have you experienced something and want to seek personal advice? The consequences of an arrest if you are a minor, for example?
Or would you like to know how to do AG yourself? Look us up!
The AG was created because in practice it was experienced that people who were arrested during actions, demonstrations, etc. (and possibly detained for longer) need support. To help those in the movement be as resilient as possible in the face of state repression.

Sunday 12h-13h; Dutch/English

Support and recovery for activists

Support and recovery will give a workshop about possible reactions after high stress events and how to take care of ourselves and others. We will discuss what reactions people can experience and what tools we can use for our recovery and that of others.

Sunday 13.30-15h; English

Should you leave your phone at home? Answering basic mobile phone security questions

We are constantly by other anarchists told that we should leave our phones at home or ditch them entirely. Maybe that makes sense in some contexts, but not necessarily in all. This workshop takes a critical look at how mobile phones function to help you make informed decisions about what technologies to use or not. This workshop will primarily be a step-by-step walkthrough of how mobile phones work and what the implications are of using them or not in different contexts. This workshop is *not* about telling you what to do, but informing you about the consequences of certain actions. The lecture part will be followed by a long Q&A and open so that many viewpoints can be shared.

Sunday 13h-15h; English

Workfloors & Bosses

Using direct action, worker solidarity networks Vloerwerk and Horeca United have been resolving small and large labor conflicts in the worker’s favor for years. In this workshop you will become an organizer yourself and set up a campaign for a labor dispute. The workshop will be build up based on your input about conflicts in the workplace. With the roll of a dice, your campaign plan will be tested against the unpredictable reality of labor struggles and activism.

Sunday 14.30-16h;English

Living in Rojava. Stories from the heart of the revolution

The Rojavan revolution has been running for 11 years in NE Syria. It began with a group of friends driving around on mopeds talking to people about friendship. For the last 3 years Sanchez Marin lived in Qamislo city and worked in Education, Media, Diplomacy, Engineering, Justice, prisons and internal security. He also lived in a small village for 6 months with a regional municipality, a problem solving committee, the Kongra Star womens offices and the Asayish internal security movement. In the last year, he setup an Engineering organisation with the local people to improve electricity supply and administration systems. His focus for the event will be story telling to give an insight in to the fundamentally different social-emotional culture of the local people as the essential building block for the very different society there.

Sunday: 15h-18h; English

Writing action reports for beginners

How to write an action report that will be read from beginning to end? Jirke Poetijn is an editor for the Buiten de Orde and will give you some writing practice to teach you how to write more visually attractive stories. There is also room to exchange experience and tips. Inexperienced writers are more than super welcome!

Sunday 15h-17h; Dutch

Anarchists in the Ferguson Uprising

In 2014, the people of Ferguson, Missouri rose up against the police in response to the murder of Michael Brown. In this presentation, a participant in the uprising will explore the series of riots that led up to it, discuss the role of anarchists in struggles against white supremacy, and examine the ways that the authorities use rhetoric about “outside agitators” to attack movements. We will conclude by reflecting on the impact of the events in Ferguson across the years since.

Sunday 16h-18h; English

‘We’ll sing of the new days filled with Justice and Love’. A talk about anarchist music

In this session filled with musical examples we’ll explore the power and importance of anarchist music throughout history and into the present. Starting with the question what Anarchist music even is, we’ll move through history and to many corners of the world to discover inspiring examples of our fellow anarchists. We’ll give special attention to presence and absence of Dutch anarchist music and collectively reflect on the question of how anarchist music has and has not played powerful roles in our lives.

Sunday 16h-18h; English

How imperialist is your antimilitarism?

The farther away you go from the russian border the more you hear claims towards anarchists in Ukraine to stop resisting the russian imperialist aggression. Further, not only people and groups in support of comrades in ukraine are encouraged and threatened not to do so – even calls for humanitarian aid are boycotted. We are tired of westplaining and want to invite you to analyze and reflect on imperialist and pro-russian tendencies in anti-millitarism.

No border – no nation
together against russian aggression!

Sunday 16h-18h; English

Mindfulness for activists. How to deal with stress?

How can you handle tension when you are in a stressful situation, such as during an occupation action, an illegal demonstration or in detention? Chances are that the stress reactions in your body and mind become so strong that you start to overreact to situations and relaxation is far away. This can lead to burnout, chronic fatigue or that you feel alienated from yourself. On the basis of a number of practical exercises that you can apply in your daily life, a number of tips are given on how to deal mindfully with pressure and uncertainty. This is done preferably on the basis of situations that people bring in themselves during the workshop. The person conducting the workshop is both a mindfulness trainer and activist. Mindfulness is used by capitalist companies to get sick employees back to work quickly. In addition, many mindfulness trainers are anti-vaxxers and because of this, mindfulness has been put in a bad light. I see mindfulness as a way of being aware of yourself, the people, the other animals around you, society and the earth. This awareness has enriched my activism

Sunday 16h-18h; English

My Body, Fuck You: A DIY guide to abortion and HRT

The notion of bodily autonomy is critical in the pursuit of human rights, because corporeality is the means by which we are able to experience many of the things which give life meaning. Being forced into childbirth, and being prevented from changing your body to fit more closely with what you would like it to be are items which no basic notion of human rights would allow. Despite that, there are many forces acting to try and keep people from exercising these basic rights. However the good news is that these medicines are merely the practical application of chemistry, and it doesn’t take much to do it yourself. Come and learn how you can do all of this without having to ask for permission from anyone.

Sunday 14h-16h; English

Queer networking workshop

Come be a part of our Queer Networking Workshop hosted by Trans Zorg Nu. This workshop is designed to bring our vibrant queer activist community even closer together. Join us as we connect with fellow activists, advocates, and inspiring community leaders. We’ll have the chance to exchange ideas, share experiences, and build meaningful connections. Through quick, focused discussions, similar to speed dating, we’ll explore our shared goals, challenges, and come up with innovative solutions. Let’s amplify our voices and create strong connections that will drive change. Don’t miss out on the chance to be a part of this inspiring movement!

Sunday 14h-16h; English

Dissenting Voices. The Independent Media Movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan

COVID-19 for 2020-21; Ukraine War for 2022; the Israel-Palestine conflict for 2023. Who establish this set of news agendas for us? The heads of state and corporate media. Through radios, TVs and AI-directed social platforms, they manipulate public opinion and strengthen their influence over us every second, leaving aside problems regarding human poverty, hostility and exploitation. How can we counteract this situation? Run our media independently. Levon Kwok, a Hong Kong-born independent researcher, will discuss relevant issues and examples of independent media from his newly published book: The Independent Media Movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan: Dissenting Voices (Routledge, 2023) during his presentation.

Saturday 16h-17h; English