appendix 5: provos in belgium and the provinces

a p p e n d i x 5 : p ro vo s i n b el gi u m and t h e p r ov in c e s

Amsterdam was the birthplace and metropolis o f Provo and remained the location of its heart and head throughout its two-year existence, but during the fall of 1 965 the movement spread rapidly through Europe's Dutchspeaking regions. It made its presence felt in all large and many smaller cities in both the Netherlands and the Flemish areas of B elgium, including Brussels , the bilingual capital. However, due , I believe, 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 Lieverdje: each group organized its Happe nings around an appropriate local statue. And almost every fledgling Provo 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 nucleus of these loosely organized little groups. Along with Happenings 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 " Lieverdje Sickne s s " halted instantly at the linguistic frontier, though it easily crossed the Belgian border into Flanders. B elgium is politically and socially a radically different country 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 active 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

in and Germany likewise accomplished little. Self-proclaimed Provos .� "CS did raise their heads in the United States: Los Angeles, Berkeley, c a1 and Davis (on University of California campuses), among other placCL g. es. One legacy of this " invisible" heritage is Provo Park (formerly

Constitution Square) across the street from the Berkeley City Hall. Probably the most interesting and original group in the

Dutch provinces was " Ontbijt Op Bed" (Breakfast in B ed) in the city of Maastricht, the provincial capital of Dutch Limburg in the extreme southeast corner of the Netherlands. Breakfast in Bed grouped around a magazine of the same name. Van Duyn calls them " the most creative Provo group outside of Amsterdam. " He contrasts them with Provo, implying that the tenor of their statements was more violent. The " Wit Wham-Bom" (White Wham-Bomb) manifesto, which he quotes at length from Ontbijt Op Bed #5, is more sharply edged in its tone than are s imilar Provo declarations, and its humor is of a darker shade. " The White-WHAMMM! ! ! ! is the booby trap under God's ass . " It would be the bomb under pulpits and altars, under the policeman's cap, under NATO tanks and jets; a bomb in the keel of battleships, under the Dutch throne, and in the beds of corporate presidents. The manifesto calls for the destruction of the homes of the authorities, of churches and automobiles ; it calls for destroying

Rembrandt's paintings and all " Great Art. " " Strike down the concerts of Mozart, the Gregorian chants. Bach is dead, Bach is dead,

B ach is dead ! ! ! Crack open the Earth, crumble it up, open an abyss for the presidents and prelates, the flag and the fatherland. Burn,

White-WHAMMM! ! ! Anyone can make a Deluxe-Bomb. Everyone his own white Whammm! ! ! " Besides Ontbijt Op Bed there was what Van Duyn calls a second more " orthodox" group in Maastricht that staged Happenings around the local Geis statue beginning in April 1 966. Their events were never covered in the local press because of an agree ment between the press and t h e police not t o furnish the movement with any publicity. The agreement came to an end when the police took the Geis statue from its pedestal and locked it up. In September 1 96 6 , a second Provo magazine, Lynx, appeared in Maastricht.

Lynx had the same name as the Provo paper in The Hague. (The name refers to a wild member of the cat family and was adopted by the Provos as a pun on the Dutch word links, meaning Left . ) It was more politically oriented than Ontbijt Op Bed. Van Duyn also identifies Provo groups in Utrecht, Leeuwarden, Vaals, Amersfoort, Leiden and Dordrecht, among other Dutch cities. He also notes small groups abroad: in Stockholm, London,

Manchester, Oxford, Paris, Milan, Prague (where there were many arrests) , New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

In Brus sels there were two favored s ites for Provo activity: the Place de Brouckere at the northern rim of the city center, and the Porte Louise, the " official" southern entry to the city center. Happenings always took place at the s ame time every week, regardless of the weather - 5 :00 P.M. on Saturday afternoon. The police made more than 50 arrests at a dozen Happenings during the period of peak activity, from October 1 966 to the end of the year. At one particularly Belgian Happening the Provos hung a white flag b earing the word Provo on the steps of the C hurch of the Peres Carmes. A bale of straw at the foot of the steps of the church was s et afire to attract public attention, and a Provo speaker urged the crowd that gathered to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam. The speaker opposed New York Cardinal Spellman's declaration t hat the American military were " Soldiers of Christ. " When the gendarmes (police) arrived , the Provo minding the fire was arrested, as were two others who were passing out leaflets. The speaker fled into the church, where the gendarmes dared not follow. When they did finally enter the church they caused a commotion because they failed to r emove their caps - during which the Provo orator quietly s lipped out another door. Frustrated, the police arrested a dozen people from the crowd outside the church.