IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Hier kun je discussieren over two cranes sabotaged at Damen Oranjewerf, Amsterdam.
We as anarchists must ask ourselves how we will act, today and tomorrow. Will we complain online about the latest outrage or join those marching in circles begging the politicians for crumbs; to do something, anything, other than funding these merchants of death? Or will we take matters into our own hands? Organizing mutual aid for those displaced by conflict, climate and the economy. Blockading and sabotaging the arms companies that make war, colonialism, and genocide possible in the first place. On the first day of christmas some anarchists chose to do the latter. Breaking into the floating dock of the Oranjewerf in Amsterdam, owned by Damen, and sabotaging two cranes by smashing the computer consoles and joysticks. Damen is a Dutch ship building and repair company that owns more than 30 wharves and operates in 120 countries around the world. The company produces work vessels as well as military ships and patrol boats used by the border patrol of many countries.

Damen has designed and exported military ships to many different navies around the world, including to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a part of the Saudi Arabian led coalition of countries that waged war against the Houthis in Yemen, a war in which over 150,000 people were killed. Another 227,000 people died due to famine and inadequate health care resulting in part from a Saudi coalition naval blockade. Ships built or designed by Damen were almost certainly involved in this humanitarian disaster.

Damen profits from the increasing militarization of countries around the globe. For example through the Song Cam Shipyard, a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner, not far from the Chinese border and in the direct vicinity of the headquarters of the Vietnamese Navy in Hai Pòng. Damen has already sold four Sigma major surface vessels to the Vietnamese navy. The ships will be fitted with missiles made by European missile company MBDA, three Italian Oto Melara guns and will be equipped with Thales Netherlands sensors, fire control and combat management system. This wharf is one of the largest in the Damen Group and is located near the South China sea, a region that is constantly present in the news as the U.S., China, and their proxies flex their muscles and politicians sow fear of a third world war. With each step towards war Damen rakes in immense profits.

Outside the scope of the navy, the Damen company provides a range of vessels for the network of companies that serve the oil industry with personnel transport and offshore activities like building platforms and pipe laying in Nigeria. Shell and other oil companies have devastated the Niger Delta and mercenaries, militias and the state have murdered countless protesters and insurgents seeking to free their territory from the neocolonial grip of big oil. Of course Damen also supplies the Nigerian navy with small ships like the LST-100, suited to transport 235 troops, with bow and stern ramps capable of carrying 70 tons (just below the weight of a main battle tank), and able to transport smaller vessels and (armoured) vehicles, board helicopters and surface and aerial drones. These boats are used in anti-piracy operations that serve to protect the oil industry.

When people attempt to flee this devastation, wrought by European states and companies through colonialism and war, in order to seek refuge in Europe they are often intercepted by the coast guard or border patrol in ships built by Damen. The Damen group supplies Morocco, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom with vessels used to patrol the external and internal borders of fortress Europe. They also supply the Libyan coast guard which has been known to forcefully intercept and sometimes shoot at migrants and search and rescue vessels. Damen profits on all fronts; from the industry and resource extraction that often leads to war, from war itself, and from the aftermath when people try to migrate by selling industrial and military vessels around the world to the highest bidder.

On June 24th and 25th the latest NATO summit will be held in Den Haag, where politicians, military personnel, and representatives from the arms industry will come together to discuss how to most effectively wage war on the rest of the world. This summit will be accompanied by the largest police operation in Dutch history involving half of the nations police force. The cops have politely asked the general public to please not organize any other events during this time as their capacity will be stretched to the limit. So what’s your plan?