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What does life look like in 15-minute cities that have already been realised in the Netherlands? How can we recognise the transformation of our cities into smart cities and, in particular, how can we prevent it? Dutch activist Maartje van den Berg discusses this in a recent interview with KLA.

Last week alternative news channel KLA interviewed Maartje van den Berg to discuss “smart cities” and 15-minute cities in Holland.

“These so-called ‘smart cities’ and ‘15-minute cities’ of ours [in The Netherlands] are being sold to us as being ‘green’ and ‘healthy’.  And at the same time, people should live in their own neighbourhoods and be happy being in them where everything is in their own surroundings and you don’t need to go out.  And if you need a car, because they are made car-free zones, and if you need to go out [of your neighbourhood] you’d better share a car with somebody else.  They’ve made hubs outside cities where you can share a car or share bicycles,” she said.

This is not only being planned, she explained, it is already being implemented in small towns and municipalities all over Holland.  And in 2025, in three months, Amsterdam is going to be introducing “zero carbon emissions” zones. Where “diesel trucks and vans are not allowed to enter our cities,” van den Berg said.  At the same time, they are building hubs where shared cars will be stored and accessed.

Last year a vehicle-free zone was trialled in Amsterdam. For six weeks, the major road in Amsterdam was blocked with physical barriers to stop vehicles from entering or leaving Amsterdam.  “A lot of people got really annoyed but also really alarmed because ambulances were not able to pass through and a lot of accidents happened,” she explained. 

The municipality of Amsterdam had to concede that their pilot project using physical barriers to “make Amsterdam more ‘green’ and ‘healthy’” had failed.  So instead, the municipality decided to introduce “intelligent entrance” into Amsterdam.  “Intelligent entrance” means installing “licence plate recognition cameras,” van den Berg said.

“On 1 January 2025, 14 municipalities will introduce the ‘zero carbon emissions’ zones and [people will] get fined if they enter [these zones] with a diesel truck.”

Licence Plate Recognition (“LPR”), also known as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), is an image-processing technology used to identify vehicles by their licence plates.  Over the years we have seen councils and local governments in several countries introducing ANPRs.

As van den Berg said, “the same thing is going in Germany with the cities. They [are] also introducing zero emission zones.  And they [are] doing the same in Belgium and France, and in Portugal and Spain … The financing is coming from the European Union for all these programmes called Horizon 2020. … and the Green Deal.  All the [EU] governments signed the Green Deal … so they’re all applying these policies.”

This year we have also seen Oxford City Council forge ahead with what they refer to as “bus gates.”   As in Amsterdam, Oxford also previously piloted physical barriers to create low-traffic neighbourhoods (“LTNs”)which were met with protests from residents.  London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has for years been attempting to implement his version of LTNs called Ultra Low Emission Zone (“ULEZ”) which has also been met with resistance.  And the Isle of Man is planning to install ANPR at its entry and exit points.

Related: Andrew Bridgen: Parliament has been captured and people are going to have to say “no” and defend themselves

At the same time that municipalities or local governments are installing cameras in Holland, they are removing parking spaces, van den Berg said.  It is already difficult to find parking spaces but “by the end of 2025, 10,000 [parking] places [will be] removed … and new parking permits are no longer being issued.”

It’s not only driving privately owned vehicles that they are trying to control, if not abolish. Smart meters, for example, are being installed in people’s homes, she said.

Related: Additions to technocrats’ surveillance toolkit: Microfliers, human-computer networks and AI

While rolling out tolls of surveillance, in preparation for switching from gas to electricity, the Dutch government is also building “transformer houses.”  “In the coming years, there are going to be 50,000 ‘transformer houses’ being installed in residential areas,” van den Berg said.  “People don’t like it.”  The electricity transformers are noisy and emit electromagnetic fields.

Previously all homes were powered by gas and the Netherlands was significantly impacted by the destruction of the Nord Stream Pipeline and, as with Germany, it affected the country’s energy supply. Additionally, van den Berg said, “We had big gas fields in the north of Holland and they said they were going to close them.  And they have been closed.”

Related: The Most Likely Saboteur of the Nord Stream Pipeline is the USA

Why would they do this when the gas supply was so obviously disrupted? “They want to make this transition, energy transition, towards electricity,” she said, even though there is not enough electricity to supply the country’s needs.

“That’s why we have … areas without electricity supply.  [ ] These wind turbines only give electricity when the wind is blowing.  And there is not always sun, very much so in the winter times.  So, [“renewable” energy sources such as wind and solar] is not working out and people are realising more and more that it is not a steady electricity grid.” 

Because Holland is a relatively small land area, the wind turbines and large solar farms are close to people’s homes.  “A lot of people are warning about the health risks,” she added.

Because Holland is a relatively small area of land, the wind turbines and solar farms are close to where people’s homes are.  “A lot of people are warning about the health risks,” she added.

All over Holland data centres are being built, she said.  “There’s a big one being built, a mega data centre [for] Google, in the north of Holland.  Google bought land to build their data centre.”

Related: Google signs deal for nuclear power to supply the electricity needed for its AI operations and While we’re supplied unreliable “renewable” energy, reliable “green” nuclear energy will be supplied for data centres and AI

Not only is the “transition” to electric, digital and state surveillance an excellent control grid, we have to wonder if economies are deliberately being destroyed. Van den Berg agrees. “It is about wrecking the economy,” she said.  “That’s what Agenda 2030 is about.  It’s about wrecking our economy.”

“Because these ‘transitions’ like the digital transition, the energy transition, the smart cities, they’re not working out.  And it is meant to wreck because this is Agenda 2030 and The Great Reset.”

There is a Dutch Government plan or roadmap called the ‘National Strategy on Spatial Planning and the Environment’.  Currently, it is a draft report. “It was written in 2021 during [the covid] lockdown,” van den Berg said.

Related: Spatial Planning in The Netherlands and Draft National Strategy on Spatial Planning and the Environment, Government of the Netherlands

“The report says that “Holland is going to meet urgent social challenges such as climate warming and climate change, and we need to go to digital connectivity and accessibility for all and housing, which is a really big problem for Holland. And you see that our government [and] our municipalities are applying this new strategy plan,” she said.

“And this is where one of our hopes lies,” she said. 

She explained, “Each local government or municipality had to write their own strategy for spatial planning and the environment.  All these transitions and Agenda 2030 are in these new strategies.  And so, people can go to their Town Hall, together with local parties who serve our interests, and they can speak in the Town Hall and say, ‘Listen, we don’t want it [ ] solar panels on our streets, we don’t want transformer houses’ and people are actually really doing it.  They’re going to their Town Halls.”

There is also a significant citizen movement to use cash.  Van den Berg explained, “We always say, ‘Don’t buy your food and drink at a supermarket, only pay cash and if you cannot pay cash – leave’.  And say to the people, ‘Please cash is also a valuable way of paying and you should allow it and we won’t come back’.”

“And it’s really working out because a lot of places are letting people pay with cash more and more.”

As well as reading their local government’s strategy on special planning and the environment, van den Berg recommends people read Jacob Nordangård’s book ‘Rockefeller: Controlling the game’ and Kees Van Der Pijl’s book ‘Pandemie van de angst: Opstap naar een totalitaire maatschappij?’ (‘Pandemic of Fear: A Step Towards a Totalitarian Society?’), which has been translated into English. Unfortunately, we were not able to find where the English translation can be purchased online.