Amsterdam: Help Sjakoo to survive

Help Sjakoo to survive in Amsterdam

The Amsterdam radical Bookshop The Fort van Sjakoo recently had its existence threatened by an extreme rent increase of 900%. Thanks to the persistent dedication of many people this danger has been averted for the time being and there has been talk of a lower, gradual rent increase. Now the only affordable option is to buy the bookshop space. That of course will cost a lot of money. To raise this much money, and with that the continued existence of a political bookshop, the support of sympathisers is indispensable.

Who and What?
The Fort van Sjakoo has been at Jodenbreestraat 24 since 1977. The building was squatted 2 years earlier in protest against the planned demolition for a new office building. The squatters made the building habitable and they started a bookshop on the ground floor. The resistance of the squatters was successful; the building wasn’t demolished. In the 1980’s the municipality bought the property for next to nothing from a speculator and the tenants and the bookshop became renters.

[Read More]