a p p e n d i x 5 : p rovo s i n b e l g i u m a n d the p r ov i n c e s
Amsterdam was the birthplace and metropolis o f Provo and remained the location of its heart and head through out its two-year existence, but during the fall of 1 965 the movement spread rapidly through Europe's Dutch speaking regions . It made its presence felt in all large and many smaller cities in both the Netherlands and the Flemish areas of B el gium , including Brussels , the bilingual capital. However, due , I be lieve , to its isolation in the Dutch language, Provo failed to develop extensively as an international movement. Events simply moved too fast for the necessary translation of its message and thoughts into other languages . One characteristic common to the various provincial groups was an ersat z Lieverdj e : each group organized its Happe nings around an appropriate local statu e . And almost every fledgling Pro vo group published a small anarchist " underground " paper, whose name was usually synonymous with that of the local Provo group . The staff that produced the printed paper always served as the nu cleus of these loosely organized little groups . Along with Happen ings peculiar to its locale , the paper was each group ' s most distinct manifestation. These little newspapers were always published in Nederlands , called Dutch on one side of the border and Flemish on the other. The rapid contagion of what the right-wing sensationalist press called the " Lieverdj e Sickne s s " halted instantly at the linguis tic frontier, though it easily crossed the Belgian border into Flan ders . B elgium is politically and socially a radically different coun try from the Netherlands and had at that time surprisingly minimal contact with its neighbor to the north. The situation in B russels illustrates Provo's linguistic isolation quite well. The city had an ac tive Provo group among the Flemish but a French language group failed to materialize - though there were plans to publish Provo in French for distribution in Brussels and Paris. Contact with England
•••••••- provo: amsterdam's anarc h i st revolt •129
