I've just spent some time catching up on snippets of news on my favourite (aka my only) english news source on dutch a current affairs.
They provide rough translations on certain press stories around the country on a daily basis, with opportunity to comment on articles.
Here are some of my favourite headlines to date - see if you can think of the words I am thinking of once you read them:
- Fear of foreigners 'understandable and justified', says Verhagen
Tuesday 28 June 2011
- Wide support for new integration policy
Monday 20 June 2011
- Multiculturalism must go: Donner
Friday 17 June 2011
- UN 'greatly concerned' at Dutch foreign policy shift: NRC
Thursday 16 June 2011
- The Netherlands needs migrant labour, parliament told
Wednesday 15 June 2011
If you guessed "narrow minded" and "ironic" , you would be right.
It's so weird: people in my office are lovely to me, and I wonder if that's because they are educated and more worldly.
These articles make it feel like I am living in a place far more redneck than Queensland when I walk out on the street, and it's probably a little bit true, but as people keep telling me, Amsterdam and it's population are not representative of the rest of the country.
I don't feel like this in general (that I am surrounded by bigots on a daily basis) but the general atmosphere around these parts is that you are either an anglo saxon dutch local who speaks perfect accentless dutch, or you aren't. Clear cut distinction which gets you various types of treatment.
Here are some classic lines out of various sections of the aforementioned articles:
-The Netherlands will need some 250,000 workers by 2020 to offset the effect of the greying population, a government commission was told on Wednesday, the Financieele Dagblad reports.
- Three-quarters of the population supports the government's new policy on integration, according to a poll on Sunday by Maurice de Hond.
- The poll also shows that 83% of voters are in favour of a ban on the burka.
- Home affairs minister Piet Hein Donner on Thursday announced the government would distance itself from the idea of a multicultural society. It is up to immigrants to integrate into Dutch society and general policy on schooling, jobs and housing gives them ample opportunity, he said.
Dutch society and its values must take precedence, he said. There would be a tougher approach to people who ignore Dutch values or disobey the law. He wants to introduce a law making forced marriage illegal and tougher measures on the way immigrants dress, which could include a burka ban.
- Dutch society and its values must take precedence and integration policy should go, home affairs minister Piet Hein Donner told parliament on Thursday evening during the presentation of his integration bill.
-Donner wants an end to integration policy and a tougher approach to people who ignore Dutch values or disobey the law. He is planning to introduce a law making forced marriage illegal and he wants tougher measures for immigrants who lower their chance of employment by the way they dress.
In response, somebody wrote the below comment on one of the articles, and I think it is actual social commentary GOLD. I wish I could meet this person and shake their hand because it's just so true, it's actual side splittingly hilarious.
I have roughly translated the key dutch words in brackets for the sake of understanding.
"The Dutch governement should absolutely revoke the residence permits of anyone who doesn't ride an oma fiets (typical dutch bike), who doesn't eat a broodje kaaas (cheese sandwhich) everyday for lunch except on fridays, who doesn't use the words 'lekker' (delicious) and 'leuk'(nice) as their prime vocabulary, all men who don't wear ill-fitting suits and pointy brown shoes, all women over 30 who don't look more like men than men do, all those who know how to queue, who don't bump into everyone the pass in the streets, who go to concerts to talk through it, and anyone who isn't absolutely boorish."
By NotImpressed | June 17, 2011 10:21 AM
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