Rob Stolk

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Rob Stolk (1965)

Robert Stolk (born January 23, 1946 in Zaandam ; † March 31, 2001 in Amsterdam ) was a co-founder of the Dutch Provo movement and, alongside Roel van Duijn, one of the most famous Provo activists.

Childhood and youth

Rob (as he was called) Stolk grew up as the second youngest child, he had four siblings, in Zaandam in the Netherlands and left secondary school in 1962 (Dutch: Hogere burgerschool , HBS) without a certificate . His point of view: What a child needs and must learn at school is reading and writing. It learns the rest in life . After leaving school, he did the bookkeeping for a car repair shop . In 1963 he joined the Pacifist-Socialist-Jongeren-Werkgroepen (PSJW) (Pacifist-Socialist-Younger Working Groups) and propagated for the Pacifist Socialist Partij (PSP). Stolk's motivation for his democratic and socialist ideas came from his parents' house. His father came from a socialist family and his mother from a communist family.

In the De Raamstraat debating club in Amsterdam, Stolk could often be found listening to readings and taking part in demonstrations, for example at the Easter march . Here he made his first acquaintance with the tough behavior of the police against demonstrators. Out of dissatisfaction with the many meetings and a lack of direct action, he founded his own group in Zaandam in the spring of 1965, the Anarchist Working Group Zaandam , which has sixteen members . At that time he and a friend published the magazine Barst (something like: "You can slip my back"; meant provocatively towards the state as an instrument of rule and the " philistines " ). The subtitle of this publication clearly expressed Stolk's ideals at the time: “A social-cultural magazine based on an outlook on life that demands the greatest possible independence for each individual and rejects any social system based on violence, coercion and authoritarian oppression” . Rob Stolks anarchist tendencies of this period and his later worldview of nonviolent anarchism should become the basic ideas for the Provo movement. Not only was he actively involved in the movement, as a printer for leaflets, brochures and the Provo magazine , he was one of the driving forces behind the movement.

activities

Provo, happening - artist , printer, activist , anarchist .

On May 12, 1965, the first issue of the magazine PROVO appeared (edition: five hundred copies, towards the end it reached a circulation of almost twenty thousand copies). The initiative for this was taken by Roel van Duijn and Rob Stolk, among others. The police seizure of the first issue with the official justification of unauthorized sale on the street could not stop Stolk and the growing provo movement. Due to his humor, his undogmatic approach - influenced by the charismatic Provo Robert Jasper Grootveld - and his media contacts, Stolk became better and better known. “ Since no conditions are stable, no change can be precisely designed. Every kind of creative change has to happen permanently through a learning process ”. The then 19-year-old and his 17-year-old girlfriend Sara Janse Duys achieved national fame in October 1965 through their “Provo wedding” in Zaandam. Stolk in a white denim suit did a few laps with his girlfriend on a white bike, a reference to the “white bike plan” that had just started.

Sociopolitical background

On Saturday, August 14, 1965, Stolk and other Provos were arrested by the police for demonstrating against the police's violent behavior. In 1966, Stolk and Provo editors Roel van Duijn, Hans Metz and Luud Schimmelpennink were arrested for the second time. Reason: An anonymous letter was published in Provo magazine No. 7 in which sharp criticism of the community supervision (responsible for the inner city) was expressed and called for action. By the end of 1966, “ Provo-Amsterdam ” had become the international center; not only for anarchists, hippies , bums , idealists, artists and other activists, but also for foreign refugees and minors who have run away from home . Part of the established media slowly began to point out the constructive side of the Provos and attempted to differentiate between “real Provos” (non-violent anarchists, activists) and the fellow travelers, rioters, violent criminals and rioters. After the Provo movement was officially ended in Amsterdam's Vondelpark on May 15, 1967 , Rob Stolk remained active.

Again he founded a printer collective, which formed the beginning of the squatter movement in Amsterdam. Funds initially came from the fund of the “ Stichting ter Bevordering van een Goed en Goedkoop Leven ” (for example: “Foundation for the promotion of a good, affordable, healthy life”). In February 1969 the archives of the “Action Group” were sold to the University of Amsterdam for nearly thirteen thousand guilders. Alternative district centers and the squatter movement that was just beginning also received money from the foundation. In the same year Stolk started another campaign, the “Cooperation Housing Office”, “ De Kraker ” (The Squatters) and published a “ Guide for Squatters ”. In May 1969, Stolk procured a crowbar for the occupation of the administrative office of the University of Amsterdam, the so-called " Maagdenhuis ", and provided the relevant printed matter. In the early 1970s he still took part in organized non-violent resistance against the building demolition plans of the municipality of Amsterdam because of the construction of the metro (subway). When the squatter movement radicalized, Stolk ended his direct political actions.

printing house

In 1976 Rob Stolk moved with his family to the southern part of Amsterdam and founded “Drukkerij Rob Stolk BV ” He had not given up his political convictions; he continued to print for political groups, artists, and others. Robert Stolk died of a heart attack at the age of 55. He left a wife and two children.

See also

Anarchism in the Netherlands

literature

  • Niek Pas: IMAAZJE. De Verbeelding van Provo (1965-1967) . Wereldbibliothek, Amsterdam 2003, ISBN 90-284-2014-2 . Lots of information about Provo movement and Provos: including Roel van Duijn, Peter Bronkhorst, Jasper Grootveld, Rob Stolk, van de Weetering.
  • Margret Kosel: Gammler, Beatniks, Provos. The creeping revolution . Bärmeier & Nikel, Frankfurt 1965
  • Hans Tuynman: I am a provo. The permanent happening. Melzer-Verlag, Darmstadt 1967
  • Roel van Duijn: Introduction to provocative thinking a. a. Oberbaumpresse, Berlin 1966 and Libertad Verlag , Berlin 1983
  • Provo. Interview with Rob Stolk. By Gerhard Kaubisch. In: J. Gehret (Ed.): Counter culture today. The alternative movement from Woodstock to Tunix . Pages 49-52, Azid Presse, Amsterdam 1979, ISBN 90-70215-03-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Niek Pas: Stolk, Rob (1946-2001) . In: "Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland". (Dutch)
  2. See on this: Gerhard Kaubisch, Provo. Interview with Rob Stolk . In: Counterculture Today
  3. See: Interview by Marjo van Soest with Rob Stolk in Vrij Nederland on July 12, 1997

Web links