is no secret that the Netherlands has the most liberal drug laws, especially when it comes to cannabis. From what people may not realize, however, is that these laws were enacted through the efforts of the Dutch Provos. Provo established the framework for the creation of the Merry Pranksters, Diggers and Yippies. Were the first to combine non-violence and absurd humor to create social change. Created the first "Happenings" and "Be-Ins." They were also the first on to actively campaign against marijuana prohibition. Even so, remain relatively unknown outside Holland. Now for the first time, has its true history.
all started with Nozems. Emerging from the postwar economic boom, the disaffected Dutch teens Nozems were armed with a consumer purchasing power. In part Mods, partly young offenders 50, spent most of the time walking the streets with their motorcycles, pretty boring and not knowing what to do. Is your favorite pastime? Asking for trouble and provoke the police.
The term "Provo" was actually first coined time by the Dutch sociologist Buikhuizen in a condescending description of Nozems. Roel Van Duyn, a philosophy student at the University of Amsterdam, was the first to recognize the potential sleeper Nozems. "It is our task to turn their aggression into revolutionary consciousness," he wrote in 1965.
Inspired by anarchism, Dadaism, German philosopher (and future counterculture guru) Herbert Marcuse and the Marquis de Sade. Van Duyn, a timid, introverted intellectual, soon became the major force behind Provo magazine. But while Van Duyn dominated the theoretical branch of the Provos, another important element was provided, even earlier by its other co-founder, Robert Jasper Grootveld, a former window cleaner and the first prince of clowns in popular culture.
more interested in magic than Marx, was an artist Grootveld outgoing with a flair for theatrics. At the beginning of the 60's, attracted huge crowds in Amsterdam "Happenings" exhibitionists. In the center of the Grootveld philosophy was the belief that the masses had been brainwashed them into becoming a herd of addicted consumers, the "despicable plastic people." According Grootveld, new rituals were needed to awaken to these complacent consumers. While Van Duyn's writings were a call to public worship, Grootveld found his followers among street thugs. Provo
The phenomenon was the result of alienation and absurdity of life in the early 60's. It was something irresistibly attractive to the Dutch youth and seemed to have spread around the world. However, in just a few years disappeared, smothered by its own success.
"Every weekend in 1962, he was visiting a police officer called Houweling," explains Grootveld "During these visits I dress like an American Indian. We always had some good talks marijuana friendly. Houweling had no idea about it, so I could tell him anything he wanted. "
Thus began the "Marihuettegame" disinformation game playing Grootveld and friends. The idea was to show complete ignorance of the ruling class on cannabis. The players had to have fun, ridicule the police and, of course, smoking grass. But beyond that, there were no rules. Everything remotely resembling marijuana was called "marihua": tea, hay, cat food, spices or herbs. Bonus points are accumulated when a smoker getting positioned to consume a substance legal. Players usually called the police themselves. A raid by soldiers addicted to nicotine, looking for something that does not exist, was considered the jackpot.
"One day the whole group, we went to Belgium in Bus" said Grootveld. "Of course, my friend Houweling report that some elements might take some grass on top. In the border police and customs agents were waiting. Followed by the press led us to carefully recorded. The poor police ... everything they could find it was cat food and some legal herbs. "Marijuana is food for dogs," joked the papers the next day. After that, the cops decided to refrain from hassling us in the future, for fear of committing more blunders. "
The following year, Grootveld and artist Fred Wessell opened the store "Afrikaanse Druk Stoor," where they sold real and fake marijuana.
marihuette The game became the model for future tactics of the Provos. Surprisingly, the game proved to be an effective way to shatter the smug personality and righteousness of authoritarians.
The police usually act in an exaggerated way, making themselves look ridiculous in the process. There were also an underlying seriousness in the method. The ultimate goal was to change society for the better.
the late 50's, Grootveld was known as a kind of performance artist. His inspiration, as he claimed, stemmed from a pilgrimage to Africa, where he acquired a mysterious medicine cabinet that once belonged to a shaman. Somehow, the kit Grootveld helped to formulate a critique of Western society, which, I think he was dominated by unhealthy addictions. A short stay in hospital was soon convinced that Grootveld one of the worst was the consumption of cigarettes "All adult patients, begging and praying for a cigarette was a sickening sight" recalls. (Even after you understand it, Grootveld remained a heavy smoker.)
smoking, according Grootveld was an irrational cult, a meaningless ritual that the tobacco industry forced the company with the sole purpose of making profits. The heads of the Nico-Mafia priests were the biggest "cult of the cigarette", The commercials were their totems. Advertising agencies were powerful sorcerers, conjuring magic spells on the audience spellbound. At the bottom of the stack remained the addicted consumers, giving their lives through cancer of the large "Nico" sir. "
Grootveld began a individual offensive against the tobacco industry. The first thing he did was scribbling the word "cancer" in tight black tar in each city. For this he was arrested and sent to prison.
After his release, Grootveld started going to snuff shops armed with a rag soaked in chloroform. "It spread that awful stench of hospital around me," he says. "He asked if I could make a call and I spent hours on the phone, crying, coughing and gasping, talking about hospitals and cancer, scaring all the customers," Klass
Kroese, a wealthy and eccentric owner of a restaurant, decided to support Grootveld in his crusade anti-snuff. Provided a study, which Grootveld dubbed "anti-snuff Temple." Declaring himself as "the first anti-snuff sorcerer, summoned each week Grootveld black masses with features guests such as Johnny The Selfkicker poet, writer Simon Vinkenoog and other local underground artists.
Grootveld
But soon became disillusioned by the lack of coverage that the functions given in the media, blaming it all on the Nico-Mafia ", who controlled the press. Decided to do something really sensational. After an impassioned speech and sing the "Ugge Ugge," the official song of anti-snuff, Grootveld Temple set fire to the anti-snuff, in front of a bewildered group of bohemians, artists and journalists. At first everyone thought it was a joke, but when Grootveld started spraying gasoline around the room, the audience fled to safety. Grootveld came perilously close to having fried, saved only by the care she took the police to rescue him. Although the crusade had only begun, the fire cost him the support of Kroese, his first sponsor.
In 1964, Grootveld moved his black masses, now known as "happenings", to the nearby Spui Square. In the center of the square was a small statue of a child, "Het Lievertje." By coincidence, the statue had been commissioned by a major tobacco company. To Grootveld, this little evidence proved the insidious infiltration of unions in the nico-drug. Every Saturday, at exactly midnight, Grootveld began appearing in the square, wearing a strange set and acting for a regular and growing audience Nozems, intellectual, curious bystanders and police.
Harry Mulisch writer described it this way: "While their parents sat in their refrigerators and dishwashers, was watching television with his left eye with your car parked right in front of home in a hand blender the kitchen and the other from Telegraaf, their kids went on Saturday night to Spui Square ... and when the clock struck twelve, the high priest had appeared, disguised, from an alley and started walking in circles around the evil magic nicotine, while his followers were providing, clapping and sang the song "Ugge Ugge". "
One night in May 1965, Van Duyn appeared in one of the Happenings and began distributing leaflets announcing the birth of the Provo movement. "The choice Provo is among the desperate resistance and the deterioration apathetic" wrote Van Duyn. "Provo realizes that will ultimately be the loser, but not pass up this last chance to annoy and provoke deep in this society ... "
Grootveld Provo read the first manifesto and decided to collaborate with their editors. "When I read the word anarchism in that first booklet, I realized that the old ideology of the nineteenth century was to become the most ardent of the sixties" he recalls.
brochures
A more elaborate pamphlets were followed by announcing plans to create white. Constant Nieuwenhuis, another artist, played an important role in the development of white philosophy, which considered the work (especially to routine factory work) as obsolete. The waiver Provo's work appealed to Nozems - and marked a major break with capitalism, communism and socialism, they appreciated the work as something valuable in itself. Provo, however, sympathized more with the anarchist son of Marx, Paul Lafargue, author of "The right to be lazy."
The most famous white plans was the White Bike Plan, envisioned as the ultimate solution to the "traffic terrorism of a minority power." Invented by industrial designer Luud Schimmelpenninck, this proposed plan to drive the car, harmful to the environment inside the city, to be replaced by bicycles. Of course, bicycles would be provided free. Would be painted white and would remain permanently accessible to ensure their availability to the public. Schimmelpenninck calculated that, even from a strictly economic standpoint, the plan would provide great benefits to Amsterdam.
Provo decided to put the plan into action by providing the first fifty bikes. But the police just confiscated immediately, claiming they had made an invitation to theft. The Provos took revenge by stealing a few police bikes.
White Plan of the victims stated that anyone who would cause a fatal car accident should be forced to paint the body profile of the victim on the sidewalk where the accident had occurred. In this way, no one could ignore the deaths caused cars.
Other plans Plan targets included the White fireplaces (put a heavy tax on the most polluting and paint them white), White Plan of the kids (free childcare), White Plan housing (to end to speculation property) and women White Plan (free medical care for women).
white
Some plans were concocted and others arising from moments of inspiration. "It seemed to propose a White Plan was almost a test necessary to become a Provo, "says Grootveld. The funniest of all was the chicken's White Plan, proposed by a subcommittee called Friends of Police. After the police began to react by increasing manifestations of violence against the Provos, they attempted to alter the image of the police, who were known as "blue chickens." The new white chickens were to be unarmed, round white bikes, providing first aid, fried chicken and free contraceptives.
police failure to appreciate this proposal. At a rally confiscated a dozen white chickens that had been placed to create a symbolic effect.
Van Duyn theories about modern life are quite similar to Grootveld: Workers and the ruling class had merged into one big gray middle class. This boring bourgeoisie was living in a catatonic state, his creativity was gutted by television. "It is impossible to have the slightest confidence in that office, the fawning group of cockroaches and lice," concludes Van Duyn.
The only solution to this problem was in the Nozems, artists, outcasts, street kids and the beatniks, who shared his non-participation in capitalist society. Provo was the task of awakening the latent instinct for subversion to turn it into anarchist action.
As explained later, the Provos are not really lit up the crowds on the street, but provide the opportunity, both intellectuals and vandals, to express their feelings of frustration and anger.
Van Duyn's writings combined an equal mixture of pessimism and idealism. Too realistic to expect a total revolution, tended to follow a more pragmatic and reformist. Finally defended participate in municipal elections in Amsterdam. Other Provo denounced this as a shameful betrayal of anarchist ideals.
A pamphlet Provo fold impact on newsstands between the pages of "De Telegraaf, the largest newspaper in Amsterdam. The perpetrator of this action, Olaf Stop, was immediately dismissed from the airport kiosk where she worked. No problem for a Provo. It was important to show disdain for the profession in general.
When the next booklet, Provokaatsie # 3, was published sparked outrage throughout the Netherlands by alluding to the Nazi past of some members of the royal family, a sacred institution in Dutch society. The Provos threw the leaflet to the royal barge as he toured the canals of Amsterdam. Provokaatsie # 3 was the first in a series of publications that were immediately confiscated by the police. The official excuse was that the Provos had used some illustrations without permission. It was followed by a trial and Van Duyn was identified as the culprit. But instead of appearing in court, Van Duyn sent a note saying it was "... simply impossible to keep a single individual responsibility. Provo is the product of an ever-changing, anonymous gang of subversives ... Provo does not recognize copyright as it is just another form of private property to give up ... We suspect that this is an indirect form of censorship because the State is too cowardly to denounce in clear for "high treason" (crime of violating the dignity of sovereign) ... By the way, our hearts are filled with general contempt for the authorities and to anyone who submits to them .... "
In July 1965 the first issue of the journal "Provo." "It was pretty shocking for the ruling class," recalls Grootveld. "They realized we were not mere dross totally stupid, but we were able to establish a kind of organization."
The first issue contained outdated nineteenth-century recipes for bombs, explosives and booby traps. The fireworks that were included in the journal which gave the police an excuse to confiscate magazine. Arrested on charges of incitement to violence, publishers Van Duyn, Stoop, Hans Jaap Metz and Berk were released a few days later.
Actually Provo had an ambivalent attitude towards the police, seeing them as essential, non-creative, for a Happening be successful. Grootveld called them the "Co-Happeners." "Of course, it is obvious that the police were our best buddies," wrote Van Duyn. "The best was his number, the more rude and fascist their performance was better for us. The police, as we do, is dedicated to provoke the masses ... Cause resentment. We try to make that stirred resentment. "
During July 1965, Provo became the lead story across the nation, mostly due to the overreaction of the city administration, which tried to move as a serious crisis. Although only a handful of Provos actually existed, due to the manipulation of the media seemed as if thousands of them roaming the streets. "We were like Atlas holding up a picture that had been inflated to enormous proportions," recalls Van Duyn.
In the early Happenings, the police often detain Grootveld answer, which was not a big problem. Grootveld was considered a harmless eccentric and always treated him with respect. In private, he managed quite well with the police. "They gave me coffee and showed me pictures of their children," she says. And Grootveld still felt gratitude to the police for rescuing him from the burning temple.
However, the problems began in late July. A few days earlier, the White Bike Plan had been circulated to the press. Police were present but did not intervene. The following Saturday, in an anti-car happening, however, the police came in large numbers. As soon as it resulted in a skirmish the police tried to disperse the crowd.
The following week, after a sensational press coverage, a huge crowd gathered at Spui Square. Again the police tried to disperse the masses, but this time some serious fighting broke out, resulting in seven arrests. The next day the headlines of "De Telegraaf" screaming "The Provos are attacking!". Suddenly, the Provos were the national calamity.
In August 1965, some Provos met with police to address violent interventions in the happenings. "Since Amsterdam is the Magic Center, is of great cultural importance
happenings are not interrupted! "declared the Provos in a letter to the commander of the police. Unfortunately, the talks produced no results. "We stared at each other incredulously as if we were exotic animals," says Van Duyn.
That same night, the police surrounded the small statue of Spui Square, recalls Rob Stolk "as if made of diamonds and the James Bond Dr. No, or they wanted to steal it."
About two thousand spectators were present, all waiting for something to happen. Exactly at twelve o'clock appearance did not Grootveld, but if two Provos. When they started to throw flowers at the statue of Het Lievertje, the audience began to cheer. The police arrested the moment, after which riots broke out. There were thirteen detainees, four of them had nothing to do with the Provos, but it happened that they were hanging around the square at that time. All of them spent between one and two months in prison.
In September 1965, Provo focused their actions on another statue, a monument to Van Heutz. Although Van Heutsz was considered by most Dutch people as a great hero of their colonial past, Provo branded as scavenger and imperialist war criminal. The following week was the first organized rallies against the war of Vietnam by leftist students who were slowly uniting the Provos. "Our protests against the war in Vietnam were from a humanistic point of view," says Stolk. "We criticized the cruel massacres but did not identify with the Vietcong as Jane Fonda. That explains why we then not just doing aerobics videos. " Although
Spy Square happenings continued to hold, the Vietnam demonstrations became the most important event of 1965. Each week hundreds of arrests occurred. Meanwhile, Provo virus spread throughout the Netherlands. Every respectable country town boasted its local brand of Provo, each with its own magazine and statues about where to stage happenings.
At the end of the year the government changed its tactics. Instead of violent police interventions, attempted to drive to Provo. Brought to light their outdated laws and put them against him. But when, on that basis rejected a permit for a demonstration, the Provos were presented with a white banner and distributing leaflets with nothing written. The arrest followed. The Provo Koosje Koster was arrested for handing out raisins in a happening of Spui Square. "The official reason? Seriously endanger security and public order.
Public opinion began to polarize Provo more and more. Although many were in favor of even tougher measures against the agitators, a growing segment of the public sympathized with the Provos and began to have serious doubts about the police overreaction.
The monarchy became for the Provos, the ultimate symbol of the ruling class to attack. Royal ceremonies offered a wide range of opportunities for satire. During the "Princess Day", when the Queen was giving his annual address, Provo made a false address where the queen declared that it had become an anarchist and was negotiating a transition of power with them. The Provo invited Hans Tuynman Queen to maintain an intimate conversation in front of the palace, where he and some other Provos had gathered some comfortable chairs. Although the Queen did not appear, the police if he did and quickly dissolved happening.
The climax of these activities anti monarchist came in March 1966, when Princess Beatrix married a German, Claus von Amsberg, a former member of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Youth). By coincidence, Grootveld was doing performances based on "The arrival of Klaas", a mythical messiah. Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of Santa Claus, and Klaas Kroese, the former sponsor of Grootveld inspired him, but close March, Provo identified with the arrival of Klaas van Amsberg.
"Grootveld protest at the corruption of its symbolic mythology Klaas" recalls Jef Lambrecht. "I wanted to keep Klaas as pure and undefined, but the link was established soon."
Provo spent months preparing for the Wedding March. He had opened a bank account to collect donations for anti-wedding gift. The White Plan had been rumors in action. Wild and ridiculous rumors had spread from one place to another in Amsterdam. It is widely believed that the Provos were preparing to take LSD in the water supply of the city, which were building a giant paintball gun to attack the wedding parade, which were accumulated manure to spread through the parade route, and real horses were to be drugged. While the Provos were not really prepared anything more than a few smoke bombs, the police expected the worst and unimaginable acts of terrorism. Foreign magazines offered large amounts of money to the Provos if they revealed their secret plans before the wedding, plans that did not exist.
few days before the wedding, all mysteriously disappeared Provos. They did this simply to avoid being arrested before the big day. Meanwhile, the authorities asked for 25,000 troops help monitor the parade route.
On the day of the wedding, Amsterdam - the city's anti-German and anti-monarchist throughout the country - was in no mood for great celebration. Half of the city council ignored the official wedding reception. A foreign journalist put it this way: "The absence of any windows decorated for any holiday ornament is just another expression of public indifference."
Miraculously, to be dressed as respectable citizens, Provo they managed to sneak their smoke bombs in front of the guard of police and soldiers. "Last night, the police committed a terrible blunder leg violently registering an innocent elderly man carrying a suspicious bag in leather. So the idiots were instructed not to record any more leather backpack, fearing a trick of the Provos! "Says Appie Pruis, a photographer. The first bombs were dropped just outside the palace when the procession started. Although the bombs were not really dangerous (they were made of sugar and nitrate), it caused a tremendous clouds of smoke which were seen by television stations worldwide. "It was a crazy mindless accumulation of errors. Most of the policemen had been brought from the field, so they were completely unable to identify the Provos. " There was then a violent police reaction, which saw foreign journalists, many of whom were clubbed and beaten during the confusion. The wedding became a public relations disaster. "The Provos are manifestations of resentment responses Amsterdam monarchical folklore," said a English newspaper.
week after the wedding, a photo exhibition documenting the police violence. Guests at the exhibition were attacked by police and severely beaten. Public outrage against the police reached new heights. Many known writers and intellectuals called for an independent investigation into the conduct of the police.
In June, after a man was killed during a labor dispute, it seemed as if a civil war was about to explode. According to De Telegraaf, the victim was not killed by the police but by a coworker, a blatant lie. An angry mob stormed the newspaper's offices. For the first time, the proletariat and the Provos were fighting on the same side.
middle of 1966, repression was out of control. Hundreds of people were being arrested every week in happenings and rallies against the Vietnam War. The ban on demonstrations was that they be made even larger. Hans Tuynman had become a martyr, having been sentenced to three months in prison for murmuring the word "image" a happening. Around that time, a Dutch Nazi collaborator, a war criminal responsible for the deportation of Jews, had been released and a member of a sorority received only a small fine for murder.
Finally, in August 1966 a committee was set belonging to the Congress to investigate the crisis. The committee's findings resulted in the dismissal the police commissioner. In May 1967, the mayor of Amsterdam, Van Hall, was "honorably" ceased, after the committee had condemned its policies. In a way strange enough, the Provos, who had demanded the resignation of the mayor since over a year would, settled in a week his dismissal.
The reason for the disappearance of Provo, which was totally unexpected by outsiders, was due to the growing acceptance of moderate elements, and the growing turmoil within its ranks. As soon as the Provos began to participate in municipal elections saw a transformation. Emerged a politburo Provo, which was that the Provos VIP engaged to give everything of themselves by their political careers: Provo touring the country doing readings and giving interviews. When VIP Provos were out of town attending a conference in Provo, Stolk staged a fake coup at the palace announced that a new terrorist Revolutionary Council took power. Van Duyn reacted furiously, not realizing it was a provocation was the same Provos. When the monument was damaged Van Heutsz bomb, Provo stated that "Although they felt sympathy for the cause, they deeply deplored the use of violence." The division between the Provos from the street and the VIP reformers began to grow. Some Provo returned to their studies, others became hippies and withdrew the motion.
Provo was a great success as long as was considered as something outside of society. But as soon as the system began to assimilate, the end was near. Moderate liberals began to publicly defend and sociologists began to study the movement. The former transport minister joined forces with the Provos "As a true supporter, should have proposed the persecution of the Provos," Van Duyn said later.
Provo's proposal to create a playground for the children was receiving at that time with great enthusiasm by the city council. The true sign of the institutionalization of the Provos, however, was the installation of a "speaker's corner" in the park. Van Duyn
encouraged this development, but Stolk saw it as a form of repressive tolerance - the Provos were now free, free to be ignored. "Political understanding, Provologistas good reverend rollista and pampered, they were forming an anti-magic circle around us to take away the magical powers," said Stolk. So they decided to settle Stolk Grootveld and Provo. "The spirit and power had vanished," says Grootveld. "Provo had become a dogmatic group. Had degenerated into a legal stamp of approval. " The meeting
settlement, Stolk said "Provo has to disappear because all great men who created us are gone," referring to the two arch-enemies of the Provos, the mayor and police commissioner.
The Provos were saved one last trick up his sleeve. Spread a rumor that said white American universities wanted to buy the records and documents of the Provos, had never really existed. The University of Amsterdam, lest those sociological treasures could disappear abroad, they made an offer that the Provos could not refuse.
all started with Nozems. Emerging from the postwar economic boom, the disaffected Dutch teens Nozems were armed with a consumer purchasing power. In part Mods, partly young offenders 50, spent most of the time walking the streets with their motorcycles, pretty boring and not knowing what to do. Is your favorite pastime? Asking for trouble and provoke the police.
The term "Provo" was actually first coined time by the Dutch sociologist Buikhuizen in a condescending description of Nozems. Roel Van Duyn, a philosophy student at the University of Amsterdam, was the first to recognize the potential sleeper Nozems. "It is our task to turn their aggression into revolutionary consciousness," he wrote in 1965.
Inspired by anarchism, Dadaism, German philosopher (and future counterculture guru) Herbert Marcuse and the Marquis de Sade. Van Duyn, a timid, introverted intellectual, soon became the major force behind Provo magazine. But while Van Duyn dominated the theoretical branch of the Provos, another important element was provided, even earlier by its other co-founder, Robert Jasper Grootveld, a former window cleaner and the first prince of clowns in popular culture.
more interested in magic than Marx, was an artist Grootveld outgoing with a flair for theatrics. At the beginning of the 60's, attracted huge crowds in Amsterdam "Happenings" exhibitionists. In the center of the Grootveld philosophy was the belief that the masses had been brainwashed them into becoming a herd of addicted consumers, the "despicable plastic people." According Grootveld, new rituals were needed to awaken to these complacent consumers. While Van Duyn's writings were a call to public worship, Grootveld found his followers among street thugs. Provo
The phenomenon was the result of alienation and absurdity of life in the early 60's. It was something irresistibly attractive to the Dutch youth and seemed to have spread around the world. However, in just a few years disappeared, smothered by its own success.
"Every weekend in 1962, he was visiting a police officer called Houweling," explains Grootveld "During these visits I dress like an American Indian. We always had some good talks marijuana friendly. Houweling had no idea about it, so I could tell him anything he wanted. "
Thus began the "Marihuettegame" disinformation game playing Grootveld and friends. The idea was to show complete ignorance of the ruling class on cannabis. The players had to have fun, ridicule the police and, of course, smoking grass. But beyond that, there were no rules. Everything remotely resembling marijuana was called "marihua": tea, hay, cat food, spices or herbs. Bonus points are accumulated when a smoker getting positioned to consume a substance legal. Players usually called the police themselves. A raid by soldiers addicted to nicotine, looking for something that does not exist, was considered the jackpot.
"One day the whole group, we went to Belgium in Bus" said Grootveld. "Of course, my friend Houweling report that some elements might take some grass on top. In the border police and customs agents were waiting. Followed by the press led us to carefully recorded. The poor police ... everything they could find it was cat food and some legal herbs. "Marijuana is food for dogs," joked the papers the next day. After that, the cops decided to refrain from hassling us in the future, for fear of committing more blunders. "
The following year, Grootveld and artist Fred Wessell opened the store "Afrikaanse Druk Stoor," where they sold real and fake marijuana.
marihuette The game became the model for future tactics of the Provos. Surprisingly, the game proved to be an effective way to shatter the smug personality and righteousness of authoritarians.
The police usually act in an exaggerated way, making themselves look ridiculous in the process. There were also an underlying seriousness in the method. The ultimate goal was to change society for the better.
the late 50's, Grootveld was known as a kind of performance artist. His inspiration, as he claimed, stemmed from a pilgrimage to Africa, where he acquired a mysterious medicine cabinet that once belonged to a shaman. Somehow, the kit Grootveld helped to formulate a critique of Western society, which, I think he was dominated by unhealthy addictions. A short stay in hospital was soon convinced that Grootveld one of the worst was the consumption of cigarettes "All adult patients, begging and praying for a cigarette was a sickening sight" recalls. (Even after you understand it, Grootveld remained a heavy smoker.)
smoking, according Grootveld was an irrational cult, a meaningless ritual that the tobacco industry forced the company with the sole purpose of making profits. The heads of the Nico-Mafia priests were the biggest "cult of the cigarette", The commercials were their totems. Advertising agencies were powerful sorcerers, conjuring magic spells on the audience spellbound. At the bottom of the stack remained the addicted consumers, giving their lives through cancer of the large "Nico" sir. "
Grootveld began a individual offensive against the tobacco industry. The first thing he did was scribbling the word "cancer" in tight black tar in each city. For this he was arrested and sent to prison.
After his release, Grootveld started going to snuff shops armed with a rag soaked in chloroform. "It spread that awful stench of hospital around me," he says. "He asked if I could make a call and I spent hours on the phone, crying, coughing and gasping, talking about hospitals and cancer, scaring all the customers," Klass
Kroese, a wealthy and eccentric owner of a restaurant, decided to support Grootveld in his crusade anti-snuff. Provided a study, which Grootveld dubbed "anti-snuff Temple." Declaring himself as "the first anti-snuff sorcerer, summoned each week Grootveld black masses with features guests such as Johnny The Selfkicker poet, writer Simon Vinkenoog and other local underground artists.
Grootveld
But soon became disillusioned by the lack of coverage that the functions given in the media, blaming it all on the Nico-Mafia ", who controlled the press. Decided to do something really sensational. After an impassioned speech and sing the "Ugge Ugge," the official song of anti-snuff, Grootveld Temple set fire to the anti-snuff, in front of a bewildered group of bohemians, artists and journalists. At first everyone thought it was a joke, but when Grootveld started spraying gasoline around the room, the audience fled to safety. Grootveld came perilously close to having fried, saved only by the care she took the police to rescue him. Although the crusade had only begun, the fire cost him the support of Kroese, his first sponsor.
In 1964, Grootveld moved his black masses, now known as "happenings", to the nearby Spui Square. In the center of the square was a small statue of a child, "Het Lievertje." By coincidence, the statue had been commissioned by a major tobacco company. To Grootveld, this little evidence proved the insidious infiltration of unions in the nico-drug. Every Saturday, at exactly midnight, Grootveld began appearing in the square, wearing a strange set and acting for a regular and growing audience Nozems, intellectual, curious bystanders and police.
Harry Mulisch writer described it this way: "While their parents sat in their refrigerators and dishwashers, was watching television with his left eye with your car parked right in front of home in a hand blender the kitchen and the other from Telegraaf, their kids went on Saturday night to Spui Square ... and when the clock struck twelve, the high priest had appeared, disguised, from an alley and started walking in circles around the evil magic nicotine, while his followers were providing, clapping and sang the song "Ugge Ugge". "
One night in May 1965, Van Duyn appeared in one of the Happenings and began distributing leaflets announcing the birth of the Provo movement. "The choice Provo is among the desperate resistance and the deterioration apathetic" wrote Van Duyn. "Provo realizes that will ultimately be the loser, but not pass up this last chance to annoy and provoke deep in this society ... "
Grootveld Provo read the first manifesto and decided to collaborate with their editors. "When I read the word anarchism in that first booklet, I realized that the old ideology of the nineteenth century was to become the most ardent of the sixties" he recalls.
brochures
A more elaborate pamphlets were followed by announcing plans to create white. Constant Nieuwenhuis, another artist, played an important role in the development of white philosophy, which considered the work (especially to routine factory work) as obsolete. The waiver Provo's work appealed to Nozems - and marked a major break with capitalism, communism and socialism, they appreciated the work as something valuable in itself. Provo, however, sympathized more with the anarchist son of Marx, Paul Lafargue, author of "The right to be lazy."
The most famous white plans was the White Bike Plan, envisioned as the ultimate solution to the "traffic terrorism of a minority power." Invented by industrial designer Luud Schimmelpenninck, this proposed plan to drive the car, harmful to the environment inside the city, to be replaced by bicycles. Of course, bicycles would be provided free. Would be painted white and would remain permanently accessible to ensure their availability to the public. Schimmelpenninck calculated that, even from a strictly economic standpoint, the plan would provide great benefits to Amsterdam.
Provo decided to put the plan into action by providing the first fifty bikes. But the police just confiscated immediately, claiming they had made an invitation to theft. The Provos took revenge by stealing a few police bikes.
White Plan of the victims stated that anyone who would cause a fatal car accident should be forced to paint the body profile of the victim on the sidewalk where the accident had occurred. In this way, no one could ignore the deaths caused cars.
Other plans Plan targets included the White fireplaces (put a heavy tax on the most polluting and paint them white), White Plan of the kids (free childcare), White Plan housing (to end to speculation property) and women White Plan (free medical care for women).
white
Some plans were concocted and others arising from moments of inspiration. "It seemed to propose a White Plan was almost a test necessary to become a Provo, "says Grootveld. The funniest of all was the chicken's White Plan, proposed by a subcommittee called Friends of Police. After the police began to react by increasing manifestations of violence against the Provos, they attempted to alter the image of the police, who were known as "blue chickens." The new white chickens were to be unarmed, round white bikes, providing first aid, fried chicken and free contraceptives.
police failure to appreciate this proposal. At a rally confiscated a dozen white chickens that had been placed to create a symbolic effect.
Van Duyn theories about modern life are quite similar to Grootveld: Workers and the ruling class had merged into one big gray middle class. This boring bourgeoisie was living in a catatonic state, his creativity was gutted by television. "It is impossible to have the slightest confidence in that office, the fawning group of cockroaches and lice," concludes Van Duyn.
The only solution to this problem was in the Nozems, artists, outcasts, street kids and the beatniks, who shared his non-participation in capitalist society. Provo was the task of awakening the latent instinct for subversion to turn it into anarchist action.
As explained later, the Provos are not really lit up the crowds on the street, but provide the opportunity, both intellectuals and vandals, to express their feelings of frustration and anger.
Van Duyn's writings combined an equal mixture of pessimism and idealism. Too realistic to expect a total revolution, tended to follow a more pragmatic and reformist. Finally defended participate in municipal elections in Amsterdam. Other Provo denounced this as a shameful betrayal of anarchist ideals.
A pamphlet Provo fold impact on newsstands between the pages of "De Telegraaf, the largest newspaper in Amsterdam. The perpetrator of this action, Olaf Stop, was immediately dismissed from the airport kiosk where she worked. No problem for a Provo. It was important to show disdain for the profession in general.
When the next booklet, Provokaatsie # 3, was published sparked outrage throughout the Netherlands by alluding to the Nazi past of some members of the royal family, a sacred institution in Dutch society. The Provos threw the leaflet to the royal barge as he toured the canals of Amsterdam. Provokaatsie # 3 was the first in a series of publications that were immediately confiscated by the police. The official excuse was that the Provos had used some illustrations without permission. It was followed by a trial and Van Duyn was identified as the culprit. But instead of appearing in court, Van Duyn sent a note saying it was "... simply impossible to keep a single individual responsibility. Provo is the product of an ever-changing, anonymous gang of subversives ... Provo does not recognize copyright as it is just another form of private property to give up ... We suspect that this is an indirect form of censorship because the State is too cowardly to denounce in clear for "high treason" (crime of violating the dignity of sovereign) ... By the way, our hearts are filled with general contempt for the authorities and to anyone who submits to them .... "
In July 1965 the first issue of the journal "Provo." "It was pretty shocking for the ruling class," recalls Grootveld. "They realized we were not mere dross totally stupid, but we were able to establish a kind of organization."
The first issue contained outdated nineteenth-century recipes for bombs, explosives and booby traps. The fireworks that were included in the journal which gave the police an excuse to confiscate magazine. Arrested on charges of incitement to violence, publishers Van Duyn, Stoop, Hans Jaap Metz and Berk were released a few days later.
Actually Provo had an ambivalent attitude towards the police, seeing them as essential, non-creative, for a Happening be successful. Grootveld called them the "Co-Happeners." "Of course, it is obvious that the police were our best buddies," wrote Van Duyn. "The best was his number, the more rude and fascist their performance was better for us. The police, as we do, is dedicated to provoke the masses ... Cause resentment. We try to make that stirred resentment. "
During July 1965, Provo became the lead story across the nation, mostly due to the overreaction of the city administration, which tried to move as a serious crisis. Although only a handful of Provos actually existed, due to the manipulation of the media seemed as if thousands of them roaming the streets. "We were like Atlas holding up a picture that had been inflated to enormous proportions," recalls Van Duyn.
In the early Happenings, the police often detain Grootveld answer, which was not a big problem. Grootveld was considered a harmless eccentric and always treated him with respect. In private, he managed quite well with the police. "They gave me coffee and showed me pictures of their children," she says. And Grootveld still felt gratitude to the police for rescuing him from the burning temple.
However, the problems began in late July. A few days earlier, the White Bike Plan had been circulated to the press. Police were present but did not intervene. The following Saturday, in an anti-car happening, however, the police came in large numbers. As soon as it resulted in a skirmish the police tried to disperse the crowd.
The following week, after a sensational press coverage, a huge crowd gathered at Spui Square. Again the police tried to disperse the masses, but this time some serious fighting broke out, resulting in seven arrests. The next day the headlines of "De Telegraaf" screaming "The Provos are attacking!". Suddenly, the Provos were the national calamity.
In August 1965, some Provos met with police to address violent interventions in the happenings. "Since Amsterdam is the Magic Center, is of great cultural importance
happenings are not interrupted! "declared the Provos in a letter to the commander of the police. Unfortunately, the talks produced no results. "We stared at each other incredulously as if we were exotic animals," says Van Duyn.
That same night, the police surrounded the small statue of Spui Square, recalls Rob Stolk "as if made of diamonds and the James Bond Dr. No, or they wanted to steal it."
About two thousand spectators were present, all waiting for something to happen. Exactly at twelve o'clock appearance did not Grootveld, but if two Provos. When they started to throw flowers at the statue of Het Lievertje, the audience began to cheer. The police arrested the moment, after which riots broke out. There were thirteen detainees, four of them had nothing to do with the Provos, but it happened that they were hanging around the square at that time. All of them spent between one and two months in prison.
In September 1965, Provo focused their actions on another statue, a monument to Van Heutz. Although Van Heutsz was considered by most Dutch people as a great hero of their colonial past, Provo branded as scavenger and imperialist war criminal. The following week was the first organized rallies against the war of Vietnam by leftist students who were slowly uniting the Provos. "Our protests against the war in Vietnam were from a humanistic point of view," says Stolk. "We criticized the cruel massacres but did not identify with the Vietcong as Jane Fonda. That explains why we then not just doing aerobics videos. " Although
Spy Square happenings continued to hold, the Vietnam demonstrations became the most important event of 1965. Each week hundreds of arrests occurred. Meanwhile, Provo virus spread throughout the Netherlands. Every respectable country town boasted its local brand of Provo, each with its own magazine and statues about where to stage happenings.
At the end of the year the government changed its tactics. Instead of violent police interventions, attempted to drive to Provo. Brought to light their outdated laws and put them against him. But when, on that basis rejected a permit for a demonstration, the Provos were presented with a white banner and distributing leaflets with nothing written. The arrest followed. The Provo Koosje Koster was arrested for handing out raisins in a happening of Spui Square. "The official reason? Seriously endanger security and public order.
Public opinion began to polarize Provo more and more. Although many were in favor of even tougher measures against the agitators, a growing segment of the public sympathized with the Provos and began to have serious doubts about the police overreaction.
The monarchy became for the Provos, the ultimate symbol of the ruling class to attack. Royal ceremonies offered a wide range of opportunities for satire. During the "Princess Day", when the Queen was giving his annual address, Provo made a false address where the queen declared that it had become an anarchist and was negotiating a transition of power with them. The Provo invited Hans Tuynman Queen to maintain an intimate conversation in front of the palace, where he and some other Provos had gathered some comfortable chairs. Although the Queen did not appear, the police if he did and quickly dissolved happening.
The climax of these activities anti monarchist came in March 1966, when Princess Beatrix married a German, Claus von Amsberg, a former member of the Hitler Youth (Hitler Youth). By coincidence, Grootveld was doing performances based on "The arrival of Klaas", a mythical messiah. Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of Santa Claus, and Klaas Kroese, the former sponsor of Grootveld inspired him, but close March, Provo identified with the arrival of Klaas van Amsberg.
"Grootveld protest at the corruption of its symbolic mythology Klaas" recalls Jef Lambrecht. "I wanted to keep Klaas as pure and undefined, but the link was established soon."
Provo spent months preparing for the Wedding March. He had opened a bank account to collect donations for anti-wedding gift. The White Plan had been rumors in action. Wild and ridiculous rumors had spread from one place to another in Amsterdam. It is widely believed that the Provos were preparing to take LSD in the water supply of the city, which were building a giant paintball gun to attack the wedding parade, which were accumulated manure to spread through the parade route, and real horses were to be drugged. While the Provos were not really prepared anything more than a few smoke bombs, the police expected the worst and unimaginable acts of terrorism. Foreign magazines offered large amounts of money to the Provos if they revealed their secret plans before the wedding, plans that did not exist.
few days before the wedding, all mysteriously disappeared Provos. They did this simply to avoid being arrested before the big day. Meanwhile, the authorities asked for 25,000 troops help monitor the parade route.
On the day of the wedding, Amsterdam - the city's anti-German and anti-monarchist throughout the country - was in no mood for great celebration. Half of the city council ignored the official wedding reception. A foreign journalist put it this way: "The absence of any windows decorated for any holiday ornament is just another expression of public indifference."
Miraculously, to be dressed as respectable citizens, Provo they managed to sneak their smoke bombs in front of the guard of police and soldiers. "Last night, the police committed a terrible blunder leg violently registering an innocent elderly man carrying a suspicious bag in leather. So the idiots were instructed not to record any more leather backpack, fearing a trick of the Provos! "Says Appie Pruis, a photographer. The first bombs were dropped just outside the palace when the procession started. Although the bombs were not really dangerous (they were made of sugar and nitrate), it caused a tremendous clouds of smoke which were seen by television stations worldwide. "It was a crazy mindless accumulation of errors. Most of the policemen had been brought from the field, so they were completely unable to identify the Provos. " There was then a violent police reaction, which saw foreign journalists, many of whom were clubbed and beaten during the confusion. The wedding became a public relations disaster. "The Provos are manifestations of resentment responses Amsterdam monarchical folklore," said a English newspaper.
week after the wedding, a photo exhibition documenting the police violence. Guests at the exhibition were attacked by police and severely beaten. Public outrage against the police reached new heights. Many known writers and intellectuals called for an independent investigation into the conduct of the police.
In June, after a man was killed during a labor dispute, it seemed as if a civil war was about to explode. According to De Telegraaf, the victim was not killed by the police but by a coworker, a blatant lie. An angry mob stormed the newspaper's offices. For the first time, the proletariat and the Provos were fighting on the same side.
middle of 1966, repression was out of control. Hundreds of people were being arrested every week in happenings and rallies against the Vietnam War. The ban on demonstrations was that they be made even larger. Hans Tuynman had become a martyr, having been sentenced to three months in prison for murmuring the word "image" a happening. Around that time, a Dutch Nazi collaborator, a war criminal responsible for the deportation of Jews, had been released and a member of a sorority received only a small fine for murder.
Finally, in August 1966 a committee was set belonging to the Congress to investigate the crisis. The committee's findings resulted in the dismissal the police commissioner. In May 1967, the mayor of Amsterdam, Van Hall, was "honorably" ceased, after the committee had condemned its policies. In a way strange enough, the Provos, who had demanded the resignation of the mayor since over a year would, settled in a week his dismissal.
The reason for the disappearance of Provo, which was totally unexpected by outsiders, was due to the growing acceptance of moderate elements, and the growing turmoil within its ranks. As soon as the Provos began to participate in municipal elections saw a transformation. Emerged a politburo Provo, which was that the Provos VIP engaged to give everything of themselves by their political careers: Provo touring the country doing readings and giving interviews. When VIP Provos were out of town attending a conference in Provo, Stolk staged a fake coup at the palace announced that a new terrorist Revolutionary Council took power. Van Duyn reacted furiously, not realizing it was a provocation was the same Provos. When the monument was damaged Van Heutsz bomb, Provo stated that "Although they felt sympathy for the cause, they deeply deplored the use of violence." The division between the Provos from the street and the VIP reformers began to grow. Some Provo returned to their studies, others became hippies and withdrew the motion.
Provo was a great success as long as was considered as something outside of society. But as soon as the system began to assimilate, the end was near. Moderate liberals began to publicly defend and sociologists began to study the movement. The former transport minister joined forces with the Provos "As a true supporter, should have proposed the persecution of the Provos," Van Duyn said later.
Provo's proposal to create a playground for the children was receiving at that time with great enthusiasm by the city council. The true sign of the institutionalization of the Provos, however, was the installation of a "speaker's corner" in the park. Van Duyn
encouraged this development, but Stolk saw it as a form of repressive tolerance - the Provos were now free, free to be ignored. "Political understanding, Provologistas good reverend rollista and pampered, they were forming an anti-magic circle around us to take away the magical powers," said Stolk. So they decided to settle Stolk Grootveld and Provo. "The spirit and power had vanished," says Grootveld. "Provo had become a dogmatic group. Had degenerated into a legal stamp of approval. " The meeting
settlement, Stolk said "Provo has to disappear because all great men who created us are gone," referring to the two arch-enemies of the Provos, the mayor and police commissioner.
The Provos were saved one last trick up his sleeve. Spread a rumor that said white American universities wanted to buy the records and documents of the Provos, had never really existed. The University of Amsterdam, lest those sociological treasures could disappear abroad, they made an offer that the Provos could not refuse.
Written by Teun Voeten
High Times, January 1990.
High Times, January 1990.
