Netherlands
March 04, 2005
Students held symbolic protest against rising fees
As you might know, students in Europe in general have to pay way less than American students. In the Netherlands the tuition is about 1500 euros per year, which is more than our fellow students in France and Germany, for example, but it is feasible. Unfortunately, the State Secretary of Education is now developing a plan that might increase tuition fees up to 4500 euros for students who take longer than five and a half years to complete their studies. For a lot of people this is not a good development, and thus several students decided to protest at the same place where students held an historical protest in 1969.
Dutch universities rely on foreign academics
Apparently a lot of Dutch academics move abroad after they graduate, which makes it necessary for the Dutch universities to get their researchers and staff from other countries, which is not a bad thing. However, this is not as easy as it seems, so the government and other organizations are working on improving this situation.
Dutch UN refugee chief quits over harassment claims
The former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers had been working as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for four years, when least year he was accused of sexual harassment. He has now been found guilty and therefore resigned from his post, staying on until a replacement has been found.
Dutch ‘Whitney Houston’ heads to Eurovision
I don’t know how much of the following is known in America, but there are millions of European people going crazy over the Eurovision Song Contest every year. It’s been going for some 50 years, and every year singers and bands representing their country try to get as many points as possible and then… that’s it. I personally never really get into it, although it’s fun to give out points and watch how certain countries always give the same country points and ignore others. I think Holland always gives point to Israel and Belgium. And Scandinavian countries are usually pretty generous towards each other too. Anyway, after a lot of fuss, the Netherlands have decided on our candidate, who will hopefully get us in the higher regions again, since we haven’t won in… well, a long time. I’m actually starting to think it’s sad that I won’t be able to watch this year… American Idol is just not the same…
February 04, 2005
Hallo!
Mijn naam is Maaike, and I’m back bringing you news from my home country; the Netherlands. After extending my stay last semester, and realizing I’d be here for four more months, I also realized I really missed my family, friends and basically everything that is Dutch. Therefore I went back home for Christmas break to get some cheese, eat herring and bread and see some windmills.
Well, okay, I didn’t eat cheese that much (I think I ate more here last semester), I missed the raw herring, and I didn’t see any windmills - I wouldn’t even know where to look for them. What I did do, was visited friends in Amsterdam, I even went to the Artis zoo (which was more impressive than the Portland Zoo I visited three days before I got home, no offense). I celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve with my family in the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch) - should you ever go to Holland, this is a recommendation. I also visited The Hague, our country’s administrative capital, also known for the International Court of Justice. I even went to Germany! One of the benefits of living in a small country like Holland (or Dutchland as some people here prefer to call it), is that you can make a lot of daytrips nationally, as well as internationally – Paris is only five hours away!
What you missed in the Netherlands:
Of course the tsunami disaster in Asia made a huge impact in Holland as well. There was a lot of news coverage, three-minute silence, and special ceremonies. Besides that, like a lot of other countries, our most famous Dutch singers and bands made a single together, and we had a fundraising show on Dutch television, which made commercial and public networks cooperate as an exception. In total 112 million euro was raised, largely because of the show. By January 25, it was a total of more than 160 million (not counting the donations from the government).
Also, sadly there still remain tensions with the Muslim communities in Holland. The court case against the murderer of film maker Theo van Gogh (killed in November) has started. After three months of silence, the suspect finally made statement he wants to be held fully responsible for his actions.
Besides this case, there is another controversial case going on. Two Moroccan boys snatched the handbag of a Dutch woman, and as a reflex she reversed her car. Doing this, she hit the boys on their scooter, and when they got stuck between the car and a tree, one of the boys died. The woman can now be sued for attempted manslaughter, and of course this has raised even more questions and discussions among both native and ethnic groups.
December 10, 2004
One of the most popular of Royal Family dies at 93
Prince Bernard, the oldest member of the Dutch Royal Family died last week. He was the husband of late Queen Juliana who died last March of Alzheimer. Bernard died of several forms of cancer and hadn’t been in public for a while.
He was very controversial in several ways. First of all, he was German, which already influenced the way people saw him. He was someone who made clear what he thought of things, be it state visits (boring and a waste of time) or two employees of a supermarket being fined for catching a thief (he paid their fine). More seriously, he was involved in the so-called Lockheed affaire (a fraud scandal in the 70s) and there were a lot of reports of him being unfaithful to his wife, and even having children from those affairs.
Despite all that the Prince was one of the most popular members of the family, especially with World War II veterans. Especially older people remember him as someone who supported the resistance during the war. He will be buried next to his wife on December 11.
Dutch arrest key supplier of chemicals to Saddam Hussein
The Dutch authorities arrested a man on Monday who is suspected of having been on of the main suppliers of the raw materials needed to produce chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial government in Iraq. Frans van Anraat is now likely to face trial for complicity in genocide.
The annual Zwarte Piet debate
Every year on the fifth of December people in Holland celebrate a sort of holiday, called Sinterklaas. This was the original Santa Clause (notice the similar names) but with some differences. It’s a really fun phenomenon. After he arrives in mid-November, children start putting their shoes near the fireplace for the Sint to put little presents in it overnight (compare to stockings). On the evening itself, children get a lot of presents. Grownups normally do something called ‘surprise’, which is like Secret Santa, but instead of only buying a gift for someone, you also have to write a poem about the person and make a ‘surprise’ which is a luxurious gift-wrapping, having to do with that person as well. For example: my mom likes garden gnomes, so I made het a huge garden gnome once with the present hid inside.
Anyway, besides the date, traditions and looks of Sinterklaas, his helpers are different too: they aren’t elves, but guys called Black Peters. Every year there is a big debate whether or not this is just a nice tradition or actually a form of racism. Decide for yourself…
November 05, 2004
Director Theo van Gogh murdered in Amsterdam
There is one really big new item in The Netherlands right now, which is overshadowing all the other (both national and international) news. The Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (no relation to the painter, I think) was shot and stabbed in Amsterdam on Tuesday Nov 2. So far people believe he was murdered because of his controversial opinions and movies. His film ‘Submission’ in particular has received a lot of criticism and he received several death threats after it came out. It’s about violence against Islamic women and the Koran.
Two years ago, the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was killed because of his opinions and Van Gogh just finished a movie about that assassination and its effects, that movie was planned to come out next week.
Dutch to rally for freedom of expression
Tuesday night a lot of people gathered in Amsterdam to demonstrate for Freedom of Speech. The mayor asked people to make as much noise as possible, instead of the usual silent marches.
Because the murder happened on the same day as the Presidential Elections in America, I’m not sure how much attention the elections get. Of course it is a really important event and will also determine a lot of the Netherlands’ future, but this horrible murder happening in our small country has much more impact. Therefore I have no idea how the Dutch media cover the election, but I’m sure there will be an article on that in the next World News issue.
October 22, 2004
Dutch singer writes history posthumously
40,000 people in the Arena (football club Ajax’ stadium) to attend an event that was also watched live on TV by 5 million Dutch people. It wasn’t a football game, or a royal wedding (the only other two types of events that typically get so many viewers)… it was a memorial concert in honor of singer Andre Hazes, who died of a heart attack September 23.
It’s common that the deaths of famous Dutch people get a lot of press attention, but this time it got taken to a whole new level. Hazes was a very popular singer, they called him ‘Singer of the People’. The last couple of years he got most press attention for his alcohol addiction and marriage problems, but he was a big part of Dutch popular culture. Almost every Dutch person knows at least one Hazes song. His songs were really popular with ‘working class’ people, but he had some sort of cult status among college students as well. Of course, after his death, his music has become even more popular, music stores can hardly keep up with the demand. Whether he deserved it or not, he got one of the greatest farewells anyone’s ever had.
Second biggest mass demonstration in Holland since World War II
In the last issue I introduced an article about the Dutch government proposing the budget for 2005. The government was already unpopular, but that got worse, because some of its measures are making early retirements impossible for most people. Mainly because of this, several demonstrations and strikes have been going on the last two weeks. One strike was by the Amsterdam Public Transport Company and was on the same day as Hazes’ memorial service in the Arena (see above). Luckily the trains still worked, so in the end there was no big problem.
However, the demonstrations get bigger and bigger. There was one in Rotterdam last week, and one with 10,000 people on the Dam in Amsterdam around the same time. But they were nothing compared to the demonstration on Museum Square in Amsterdam last Saturday, when 200,000 people came to Amsterdam to protest, making it the second biggest mass demonstration since World War II…
PM takes legal action over raunchy poster
The following article is not only funny, but gives an indication about the popularity of our Prime Minister, Balkenende. He’s currently in the hospital for a serious foot infection, but he’s still in the media.
The organization of an Ex-Porn-Star-party in Amsterdam used him for a commercial poster, making fun of his image and his policy concerning morals and values. Read the short article and see the poster. (Please don’t base your entire opinion about Holland and Amsterdam on this party and poster – we’ve got more to offer… really!)
Dutch PM released from hospital
Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch Prime Minister, was in the hospital for a serious foot infection for a couple of weeks, he even got a skin transplantation and was finally released October 15. Apparently some people, the media and the PM himself think his return will restore the peace in the country after the strikes and political unrest. I wonder how he’s going to do this, because this cabinet was never that popular to begin with, and the PM was recently voted the worst leader of all the ministers…
Dutch marine cleared over ‘fatal shooting’ in Iraq
Besides Britain and Australia (and Poland), Holland is one of the countries that supported Bush and sent troops to Iraq last year. In December 2003 a Dutch marine was arrested, because he might have killed an Iraqi citizen. There was a lot of discussion afterwards, about the duty of soldiers in Iraq and whether or not the marine could be held responsible for this action in a war situation. Also, it wasn’t clear whether it was really his bullet that killed the man, or another one. After almost a year, he was finally cleared of charges.
End abuse from the soccer stands
Everybody knows that soccer fans can get a little bit too ‘excited’ when the match is played. Often insults and fights occur, but mostly between supporters from the rivaling teams. There has been a new ‘trend’ in Holland though, which goes beyond this. The supporters now start insulting the players themselves. This has been an important issue for some weeks now, and teams and coaches threatened to leave the field if it would continue. Last Saturday this finally happened, when ADO Den Haag (The Hague) supporters insulted the referee so badly, that the mayor had to step in and discontinue the game. This was the first time this happened in Dutch soccer history, and hopefully the last time.
The Dutch aren't buying into medical marijuana
Just a (funny) article on why medical marijuana doesn’t work in our country, considering you can buy it for less money at regular coffeeshops.
September 24, 2004
Important Dutch News
Every year on the third Tuesday of September the Minister of Finances publishes the budget for the next year. Obviously the department of Finances makes the budget (which is actually only a proposal, open for discussion), but Queen Beatrix is the one who gets to announce the major points. She does this in a speech in which she doesn’t only talk about the budget, but also looks back on the past year and (more importantly) ‘previews’ the coming year in general. This is important for our country, because the queen, or the monarchy in general, is one of the things that binds us as a ‘people’ – although not everybody agrees on the need for this tradition.
The article in the link explains Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day) in general, the tradition and its workings. This year, there have been many protests because of the proposed cutbacks. The current Dutch government is kind of controversial, because of the way it was formed (details which I can go into some other time), so I think these protests don’t only reflect the feelings to this specific budget, but more the issues that have been going on since the last election.
I know politics aren’t the most fun thing to read, but I’ve looked around and found an article that’s actually understandable and almost fun. It really is a good introduction to some traditions, our political system and also some current major issues in Dutch news these last two or three weeks. It also features a link to a more detailed explanation on Prinsjesdag, the Golden coach, the ceremony and history.
Holland and America
Well, as you all know, New York was originally called New Amsterdam. And then some Dutch people were stupid enough to hand it over to the British and that’s the reason why I can’t write this news in my own language. Obviously, this last part is nonsense and a lot more stuff happened. But… I just found a nice article, which is about Holland being one of the first countries recognizing America’s independence in 1782 – very important!
So you’re probably thinking this is boring history and you know this already. But let’s skip forward to 2004. Apparently the John Adams institute revealed a nameplate in the guy’s honour (because he did a lot for US-Holland relationships back then) in Amsterdam. So I chose this article not only to emphasize Holland’s important role in American history but it also gives you another sight to see, if you ever decide to visit Amsterdam!
Entertainment/culture/sports
And more to read on our royal family, a very popular subject in Dutch gossip magazines. And actually, this is an article about The crown prince, Willem-Alexander, and his wife Maxima. For years the magazines would speculate about the prince, because he’s our future king, and it would be nice if the king had a queen on his side – and a kid later on. The thing was, he was getting older (nearing 30 – crucial age apparently) and he isn’t the most attractive guys around. So every time he had a girlfriend, the papers would immediately speculate about a possible wedding – they were almost getting desperate.
So you can imagine the joy when he became engaged with a beautiful Argentinean woman, Maxima Zorreguieta. They were really happy together and then trouble came looking for them. It appeared that Maxima’s father had supported the Argentinean fascist regime in the seventies and therefore people didn’t know if she was suitable to be our queen. After a lot of governmental debates they decided they could get married, but her father couldn’t come to the ceremony. A lot of stuff has happened since then, but they appear to be happy with each other; Maxima even gave birth to a daughter, Amalia, last year.
But here’s trouble again. After Alexander looked very chummy with Olympic swimmer Inge de Bruijn (he only hugged her after winning a medal) the gossip papers started speculating about problems in his marriage. So now the prince and his wife are looking for a way to sue the papers.
The sue itself isn’t that interesting, but this story gives you a good idea about the Dutch royal family and their problems. (When another prince got married there were issues about his future wife too – she’d known a famous Dutch criminal in the 90s and they’d lied about it. In the end, the prince had to give up his royal title and right to the throne).
September 20, 2004
Hi,
I'm Maaike, 22 years old, and I'm from the Netherlands (in Europe), AKA Holland. I've lived in the capital Amsterdam for 3,5 years. Most people immediately think about drugs, and yeah that is a large part of Amsterdam life... for tourists... Luckily a lot of people who went there also know about the great architecture, lovely (smelling) canals, called grachten, and museums. Most Dutch students hang out in bars and enjoy a wide variation of nightlife - we even have a church turned into a concert hall/discotheque! A lot of people here ask me why I traded Amsterdam for Salem and I'm wondering myself too... No, just kidding.
I went on vacation to NYC, San Francisco and Orlando four years ago and since then I've wanted to come back and experience daily life. Also, my major is Television studies and the USA is probably the best country to study that medium. So here I am, doing rhetoric studies, which is NOT what I'm used to and until now I haven't experienced the Media studies part, but that's okay, because I don't even have a TV.
But apart from that, I'm having a great time at WU and wish I could stay for more than one semester. I'm meeting a lot of nice people, doing fun stuff, making trips and drinking too much coffee. Being the only Dutch representative, I'll be contributing to the WWN regularly, so everyone can get to know a bit more about my country (including me).
Continue reading "Maaike de Bie"
