- Student
- 19/08/2022
E.S.C’s association club in Eindhoven daubed with anti-association slogans
The association club Ilium of the Eindhoven Student Corps (E.S.C) located at 13 Ten Hagestraat has been daubed with slogans against the association that make reference to the Vrije Bond (Free Union), an anarchist self-organization. Written on the wall are slogans like “Looking for Comrades? Vrijebond.org.” “Death to the patriarchy” and “ACAB”. The latter usually stands for ‘all cops are bastards’, but in this context, it would seem to stand for ‘all corpora (associations) are bastards’. Also included are a hammer and sickle (symbols of communism), an anarchist symbol (circle with an A) and a trans-anarchist symbol (female symbol with two different arrows to the upper left and right and an A in the middle).
Patriarchy, a form of society in which fathers or men occupy a dominant role, seems to refer to the ‘male culture’ that is prevalent at student associations where women are regarded as inferior. A recent example is the Amsterdam student association A.S.C./A.V.S.V., where a video was leaked in which it was said that ‘women are nothing but whores and sperm buckets’. The social media account of another anarchist initiative, @forumvooranarchisme_official also posted about the daubing: ‘In solidarity with the Amsterdam Sperm Containers, sperm buckets have daubed the Eindhoven Student Corps’ association club. A gesture against student associations everywhere. When this picture was taken, a stick-on note had already been removed. The text read: “This sperm bucket castrates fraternity boys. Abolish this misogynist bourgeois club immediately.”.’ The comments below the post also include disagreements about the communist symbols of the hammer and sickle, which people feel do not belong to the anarchist movement.
The E.S.C only wanted to respond briefly in writing and refers questions to the TU/e public relations department, which was also asked for a response but did not provide any. E.S.C Senate President Imke Bloemen: “We’re deeply shocked by the daubing of our premises. We have reported the vandalism and we hope that the police will pursue this. We’re planning to restore the building as soon as possible before the start of the Introduction Week of the TU/e and Fontys. We’re looking forward to a great week and are happy to welcome future students at our association club.’
The website of the Vrije Bond, shows that it is an anarchist self-organization. “The Vrije Bond (Free Union) is a group of people who are trying to build a different society: a society without hierarchies, without oppression and without exploitation of humans, animals and the environment”, it states. Cursor contacted the Union to ask why these slogans were spray-painted on the club building and what their aim is. No response has been given. The East Brabant police department revealed that the police are aware of the incident and that the district police officer will talk to the E.S.C.
Discussion