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13 Feb 2009 09:11
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11 Feb 2009 14:14
11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort
Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort
11 February 2009 – Staff of the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam do not fancy moving to the Roeterseiland. According to a poll carried out by the works council (OR), they cling to the status of the Oudemanhuispoort, university magazine Folia reports.
At present, the Faculty of Law is located in the Oudemanhuispoort, but the university argues that this location is too small to cope with the growth of the faculty. It therefore wants the jurists to move to the Roeterseiland. That complex will become available when science faculties move to Watergraafsmeer next year.
According to the OR poll, 49% want to leave the Oudemanhuispoort ‘on no account’. “In no way whatsoever, you recognise the status and reputation of the current location and their impact on the recruitment of both staff and students”, the OR writes in a letter to the university. However, the university seems little inclined to cancel the move.
The Oudemanhuispoort was built around 1600 as an old people’s home. It was later used by the National Academy of Visual Arts and in 1880, the university moved into the complex.
Over the past few years, overcrowding began to pose a problem. In 2006, students staged a sit-in to protest against pushy security guards, who had been hired to channel the large numbers of students. The guards were told to leave after they had hit a cameraman of local TV station AT5.
In 2007, coffee breaks during classes were cancelled so as to give students more time to clear the classroom after class.
Image: book market opposite the faculty. Photo Terretta
Soon: News from Amsterdam revamped
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08 Feb 2009 06:23
8/2 Mayor’s portrait
8/2 Websites for social cohesion
Mayor’s portrait
7 February 2009 – At an auction, the Amsterdam Historical Museum has acquired a portrait of Cornelis Hendricksz Loen, Mayor of Amsterdam between 1529 and 1533, by an unknown painter. After a restoration, the painting will be put on display.
According to the museum, individual portraits of sixteenth century Amsterdammers are rare. “Precisely the sixteenth century marks in Amsterdam the transition from the portrait in a religious context to the independent secular portrait. The economic boom has definitely contributed to that. Increasingly, leading merchants strived for political influence. A portrait on the wall could underline the desired status”.
Cornelis Hendricksz Loen (1481-1547) was exijnsmeester (responsible for collecting import duties) and schepen (alderman) before he became mayor. In 1934, he lived at Warmoesstraat number 50, at the time the most important street of the city.
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07 Feb 2009 13:21
7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty
7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man
Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty
7 February 2009 – Residents of the inner city have sort of had it with the tourists. The municipality wants to spread tourism over the districts, but implementation is sluggish. Marketing, new museums and an amphibian connection with Noord should change this.
The municipality will invest almost 2 million euro in these measures, according to a policy paper to be discussed by the council on Wednesday. The paper states that there is support for tourism among Amsterdammers, but that this is declining especially in the inner city. Tourists too increasingly complain about the city being crowded.
Since 2002, the municipality has a policy to spread tourism, but implementation is sluggish. For example, the paper concludes that “in terms of policy, the Eastern inner city is set to increase tourism, but touristic development has not really gotten off the ground because the neighbourhood is little known and because of the limited availability of suitable and available hotel locations”.
The districts Oud-Zuid (de Pijp) and Oud-West have developed policies to attract tourists, but they have failed to implement the proposed measures.
The municipality now wants to focus on marketing a number of districts. Oost should present itself as green museum quarter; Noord as creative city; Westerpark as ‘Kulturbrauerei’, the eastern docklands as ‘Amsterdam Docklands’, de Pijp as ‘Quartier Latin’ and Oud-West as ‘Notting Hill’. The city intends to invite journalists over and write to city guides.
New museums are to make the districts more attractive. Noord will get the Film Museum, the eastern inner city a children’s department of the Resistance Museum and in Westerpark, an Amsterdam School Museum will open after 2014, when the current school leaves het Schip (photo).
The municipality will further subsidise the construction of a ramp in order to facilitate the operation of an amphibian bus connection with Noord by the company Splashtours.
Photo: Rory Hyde
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06 Feb 2009 12:45
6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath
Zuideramstel to open new office on Sabbath
6 February 2009 – On Saturday 14 February, the Zuideramstel District is hosting a reception to show its new district office to local residents. Members of the Jewish community are disappointed that the reception will take place on the Sabbath, council member Lody van de Kamp (CDA) says.
Both organisations and individual members of the Jewish community have approached him to express their discontent. “They say: we are citizens of this district and now we won’t be able to attend the reception”. Van de Kamp himself will not attend the reception either.
The council member says he he will not turn the matter into a political issue. “Let’s proceed to the order of the day. I’ve made my point, and hopefully they will take this into account the next time a new district office will be opened, after the merger”, he jokes, referring to the plans to reduce the number of districts.
According to Van de Kamp, the district is normally very considerate of its Jewish community. The council holds no meetings on Jewish holidays and when food is served, it is always kosher.
“Zuideramstel constitutes the core of the Jewish community in the Netherlands”, he explains. “Almost all Jewish organisations are located here, including schools and health care institutions”. A spokesperson of the Zuideramstel District said they are not aware of protests among the Jewish community.
Image: District Mayor Duco Adema opens the renovated synagogue at the Lekstraat, February 2008. Photo: Zuideramstel District
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05 Feb 2009 11:04
5/2 The truth about integration
The truth about integration
By Laurent Chambon
5 February 2009 - When Rita Verdonk or Geert Wilders are busy with « integration », whatever that really means, most people know what they are really after: cheap populism to gain votes. It is not really nice, but it seems that every country needs some sort of extreme right movement after all, so be it.
But when my own party, the progressive and social-democratic PvdA, the party of Aboutaleb and Albayrak, starts tackling the subject with more or less the same intellectual tools as our very own Dutch Front National, I am worried. And what worries me even more is that it seems I am the only one worried here.
The leader of the PvdA wants to be tough and press where it hurts? Fine, let me explain exactly what Dutch people should know and expect. For real.
First, let’s define things properly. Integration means that someone speaks the language, with or without accent, has a decent job and somehow participates in society while respecting the law. As far as this definition goes, most of the « allochtones » I know are perfectly integrated, well, at least when they have a job.
The next step after integration is assimilation. This is usually possible only for the second generation, for people who were born in the country, or who arrived at a very young age. Assimilation means speaking the language without accent, knowing all the unwritten social rules besides the law, and a high probability of exogamy (marrying someone from another ethic group).
That said, assimilation should not be confused with ethnocide, which is a process by which a culture is intentionally destroyed. And that is wrong, in case you didn’t get it. Contrary to ethnocide, the assimilation process does not mean that people disappear with their original culture: they blend in, genetically and culturally, in a new and broader culture that takes the best of each original culture. A good example of assimilation is what happened to the Indonesians: they married the Dutch, and live on somehow through the arts, some new words, yummy food and actresses with nice cheekbones.
The first truth about integration is that it only really happens when people have a job. That means that the first thing we should do to improve and accelerate the integration process is to fight unemployment, exclusion and discrimination. If the government really wants allochtones to integrate, it will have to seriously punish discrimination, and not just at the discos. A first simple step would be to hit where it hurts, that is, in the wallet: no government contracts for firms firms that discriminate.
The second truth about integration is that it is not enough, and that we should aim for assimilation, because there is no other way. Most of the second generation allochtones I know are completely assimilated, except for one crucial point: exogamy. I find it fascinating that Moroccans in France, England or the United States assimilate very fast and marry the locals, while they still marry within their own group or even get a bride or a groom from the motherland when they live in the Netherlands. It tells us more about the Dutch than about the Moroccans, I’m afraid. So let us say it out loud: assimilation means that your daughter may marry a Turk, or that you son might have babies with a Moroccan or a Surinamese.
If you are not able to accept that, you might want to quit the entire integration / assimilation debate at once and stop bothering us with it.
The third truth is that integration and assimilation mean that the country will change. Wilders did not like it when then Minister Ella Vogelaar said the Netherlands will be a Christian-Jewish-Islamic country in the future, and she may have put it the wrong way, but she has a point. The Netherlands are not some remote island in the Pacific, or some savage tribe lost in a wild forest; it is a modern, open country, with a long history of immigration and emigration. So if some people are not comfortable with who they are and think extra couscous and merguez will kill the Dutch identity, I recommend a few courses in Dutch history. Only people who ignore their own roots feel threatened in their core identity so easily.
Now that I told you a few true facts, I will also give you a few recommendations that will soothe the whole process and make it happen without too much pain, based on previous experiences in other countries.
The first one is that one cannot stop assimilation, one can only delay it. To make sure assimilation takes place as painlessly as possible, the best thing to do is to have mixed schools, as soon as possible. Only kids who have grown up together know that there is a lovable person beyond this blond hair or this dark skin. So bring an end to white and black schools, once again by hitting those concerned in the wallet: in the big cities, reserve public funding to mixed schools. The schools that are reserved for blond people, rich people, Black people or Turks should find their own source of money.
My second recommendation is that we should focus on long term emancipation through work. One can toy with a Dutch Islam, some specials classes for illiterate mothers or mixed football matches, but what makes people feel at home is a good honourable well-paid job. Fight discrimination, starting with white Dutch women who cannot even make it to the corporate boards or become prime minister. If even white women cannot achieve this, how do you expect allochtones to do so?
My third recommendation is that social mobility is extremely important: when people are assimilated but are still excluded, drama is at the door. Riots in the French banlieues happened because migrants did assimilate perfectly, but the elite never accepted to share its wealth and produced social exclusion. One cannot expect migrants to assimilate if one is not ready to share the good jobs and the nice neighbourhoods. One can only merit if meritocracy exists.
My fourth and last recommendation is that instead of forcing integration, one should create desire. It is because speaking French meant emancipation from the Church and the nobility, and access to a broader culture, that my grandparents made the switch from Breton to French. For similar reasons, migrants so eagerly learn English in the United Kingdom or the United States: it means possible access to nice jobs and to an exciting, broader culture. Nice movies, sexy literature and funky music are much more efficient at producing desire to learn a culture and a language than forced courses and humiliating integration classes.
I short: exogamy, social mobility, no discrimination, an innovative and exciting Dutch culture, sexy people and yummy food. That is what we should be meaning when we talk about integration. Why is it so hard for my party to tell it like it really is?
Laurent Chambon is doctor in political sciences, specialist of integration processes, member of the PvdA and an elected member of the Council of Amsterdam Oud-Zuid. Photo: Olivier Colas
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04 Feb 2009 01:51
4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam
Wilders has little support in Amsterdam
4 February 2009 – If municipal elections were now to be held and Geert Wilders’ PVV would participate, the party would get 3.1% of the Amsterdam vote. D66 and GroenLinks would win, while PvdA, VVD and SP would lose. Amsterdam Anders / De Groenen might return to the city council.
This is the outcome of a poll carried out by O+S for TV station AT5. According to the poll, GroenLinks would become the second largest party of the city. Despite a considerable loss, the PvdA would easily remain the largest party.
In 2006, Amsterdam Anders / De Groenen got 2% of the vote, five votes short off gaining a seat on the city council. According to the present poll, the party might return to the council.
In the 2006 national election, Geert Wilders’ PVV got 4.5% of the Amsterdam vote; its voters live primarily in Noord and New West. According to the present poll, the party would get just over three percent of the vote. Rita Verdonk’s TON would get just over one and a half percent. Her party did not yet participate in 2006.
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03 Feb 2009 14:59
3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood
Elite involved in neighbourhood
3 February 2009 – In seven districts, think tanks consisting of successful neighbourhood residents who engage in social initiatives have been created. The approach is successful, but sometimes creates tensions with social work and community organisations. An evaluation is due for publication.
Mercedes Zandwijken was responsible for subsidising immigrants’ organisations at the Oost District, when Theo van Gogh was murdered right in front of the district office on 2 November 2004. The murder posed a threat to social cohesion, she thought, but might also present an opportunity.
However, she was convinced that it would not be possible to seize that opportunity with the existing structure of social work, immigrants’ organisations and residents’ associations. “These are often people who have been active for twenty years and who do not have the capabilities to deal with today’s problems”.
“The immigrants’ organisations have frequent meetings, but subsequently nothing happens. The social work and residents’ associations haven’t been anymore successful at accessing new networks. They have a bit of a token role, allowing the government to say: we have consulted with residents”.
Meanwhile, she noticed, all kinds of people live in the district who take their bicycle in the morning to do interesting things elsewhere. People like author Pieter Hilhorst and screen writer Maria Goos. “They leave us here in misery. I wondered, why couldn’t they put in a few hours as a volunteer over here? We need the best talents”.
It turned out that many people are enthusiastic when asked to do something for the neighbourhood. A Social Cohesion Think Tank was created in Oost, and other districts followed suit.
The think tanks consist of about ten successful residents. Mellouki Cadat, advisor with Movisie and about to become a former member of the think tank in Zeeburg: “We all live in Zeeburg, but in different neighbourhoods, with different professions, from different social groups. I found this diversity enriching”.
When well-known people are associated with an initiative, this will attract other residents, including those who ‘wouldn’t be seen dead’ at a traditional neighbourhood meeting. For example, some six hundred people in Slotervaart participated in a walk around the Sloterplas, an initiative supported by people like VVD politician Geert Dales, paediatrician Nordine Dahhan and PvdA chairwoman Lilianne Ploumen.
In de Baarsjes, about one hundred people participated in MHT9, an initiative to present highbrow art in an accessible manner. In Zeeburg, the Timorplein Community was created, which is a network of 120 entrepreneurs who in turn started to support existing neighbourhood initiatives.
In principle, membership of a think tank should not to be too time-consuming. In this respect, artist and philosopher Joke Hermsen, who was chairwoman of the think tank in de Baarsjes, is an exception. “For a year, I spent some twenty hours per week on it, but that’s just because I think Mercedes is great”.
In principle, people join a think tank for a one-year period; subsequently, new members are recruited. Since the standards are pretty high, one might wonder whether the project might run out of potential candidates at some point.
John Schuster, who teaches Cultural Anthropology at the VU and who is a member of the Slotervaart think tank: “We’ll have to see in the future. During the past year, another three members spontaneously presented themselves. So we haven’t run out of candidates yet”.
The way in which the think tanks operate sometimes causes creates tensions with volunteer organisations and social work. “You have to be careful not to step on someone’s toes”, Hermsen said. “There may be as many as thirty volunteer organisations in the district. They feel overwhelmed. You have to be careful not to stir up ill-feeling”.
In Slotervaart, the think tank is organising a meeting with immigrants’ organisations, in order to let them use the social network of the members of the think tank. “For the social work, such a thing is unnecessary, they can look after themselves”, Schuster said.
In Zeeburg, the relation with the social work was somewhat difficult at first. “When the think tank organised a neighbourhood meeting, Civic also organised a neighbourhood meeting”, Cadat said. “But that’s all right. By now, we have a concrete arrangement not to organise competing activities but to support each other”.
People who find the status quo comfortable sometimes perceive the think tanks as a threat, Zandwijken said. This applies not just to social work and community organisations, but also the government. For it requires some nerve to deal with residents who can influence public opinion. So far, nothing negative has occurred in any of the districts. The relation between think tanks and administrators has been good, Zandwijken said.
Still, she thinks that it should be investigated whether the think tanks could be co-owned by other parties that are active in the districts (businesses, housing corporations or the trade union). If only in order to achieve continuity in the funding of activities. On the other hand, it is important for the government to be involved. “It helps if you can tell the director of the Jewish Historical Museum: “Job is asking you. Or Boes or Verbeet is asking you”.
By Job, she means Mayor Job Cohen; by Boes, District Alderman Henk Boes of Zuideramstel and by Verbeet, District Mayor Martin Verbeet of Oost.
The think tanks are sometimes criticised for being elitist. Cadat says that they are based on meritocratic principles. “I think I was about the only member of our think tank who’s not a director. You ask the elite to take responsibility for the neighbourhood. Life has given you a lot, so what do you want to give back”.
Zandwijken: “We look for people who have proven that they can achieve something. That might well be someone who successfully runs a chain of barber shops. Among the members of one of the think tanks, there are two medical specialists at the AMC; they can arrange work placements at the hospital. What you want is to tap influential networks and proven creativity ”.
The criticism that think tanks would be elitist sometimes causes irritation among the members, she says. “They say: why shouldn’t I be allowed to be involved in my neighbourhood?”
Some people resent the think tanks for the money they receive. In order to fund initiatives of the think tanks, districts can use urban renewal funds (‘Vogelaargelden’) as well as money from the Amsterdam anti-radicalisation fund.
On the other hand, think tank members contribute their own money. An example is entrepreneur Amos Frank, who invested 50,000 euro in a fund for business start-ups, called Stichting Suikeroom (Rich Uncle Foundation). By now, this private fund has more than a million euro at its disposal. In addition to funding, it provides entrepreneurs with connections.
The way in which the think tanks operate is apolitical. They mainly organise activities to connect different groups in society and they are unlikely to organise protests against the demolition of social housing or against subsidised workers being laid off. Zandwijken: “As a think tank, you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew”.
Meanwhile, the idea of the think tanks is spreading. The cities of Utrecht and Almere have shown interest. In Amsterdam, think tanks are now being created at the street level as well. In Geuzenveld a resident single-handedly created a think tank, and Zandwijken has created one in her street in Amsterdam Oost.
Social Cohesion Think Tanks. Image: meeting of the Timorplein Community (photo Ditta van Middendorp)
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02 Feb 2009 07:23
2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam
‘Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam’
2 February 2009 – Over the coming days, the Guardian will be publishing an investigation into corporate tax avoidance schemes, which may cost British tax payers as much as £12 billion per year. Some of them use subsidiaries in Amsterdam, where their profits are ‘virtually tax-free’.
One of the companies investigated by the Guardian is Diageo, owner of brands like Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys and Guinness. According to the Guardian, Diageo has cut its tax bill by £100m by moving its profits to a subsidiary located near the Amsterdam Sloterdijk Station – at least on paper.
This tax gap would equal the income taxes paid by 20,000 ordinary British households. With the help of Deloitte, Diageo struck a deal with the British tax authority, that “was considered so generous to the company that sources close to Deloitte say the firm cracked open champagne to celebrate”.
The Guardian has announced that it will reveal information on another internationally renowned corporation that located in Amsterdam to evade taxes. The investigated schemes would be legal.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, told the Guardian: “Tax avoidance is hollowing out the tax system. With the rest of us having to fill the tax gap left by Britain’s most wealthy, there is a real threat to the future of public services – especially as the recession takes its toll on normal tax flows”.
In the past, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) has called Amsterdam a ‘tax haven for multinational corporations’. Partly because of lenient tax rules, some twenty thousand mailbox companies would be active in the Netherlands, most of them operating from trust offices in Amsterdam.
Photo: Piaser
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