The Provocative Provos
The following appears on page 32 of the 2009 Lonely Planet “The Netherlands:
“The 1960s were a breeding ground for discontent and anti-establishment activity, and in the Netherlands this underground movement led to the formation of the Provos. This small group of anarchic individuals staged street “happening” or creative, playful provocation (hence the name).
In 1962 an Amsterdam window cleaner and self-professed sorcerer, Robert Jasper Grootveld, began to deface cigarette billboards with a huge letter “K” for kanker (cancer) to expose the role of advertising in addictive consumerism. Dressed as a medicine, he held get-togethers in his garage and chanted mantras against cigarette smoking (but under the influence of pot).
This attracted yet more bizarre characters, Poet ‘Johnny the Selfkicker’ bombarded his audience with frenzied, stream-of-consciousness recitals. Bart Huges drilled a hole in his forehead — a so-called ‘third eye’ — to relieve pressure on the brain and expand his consciousness.
The group gained international notariety in March 1966 with its protests at the marriage of Princess (now Queen) Beatrix to German Claus von Amsberg. Protestors jeered the wedding couple as their procession rolled through Amsterdam, and bystanders chanted ‘bring my bicycle back’ — a reference to the many bikes commandeered by the retreating German soldiers in 1945. This was broadcast live to the world.
In the same year the Provos gained enough support to win a seat on Amsterdam’s city council. The group began developing ‘White Plans’, pro-environmental schemes including the famous White Bicycle Plan to ease traffic congestion with a fleet of free white bicycles — they were soon stolen. The movement dissolved in the 1970s, but it left a lasting legacy: the squatters’ movement, which encouraged the poor to occupy uninhabited buildings, in turn forced the government to adopt measures to help underprivileged tenants.”