Holland and Tolerance
April 19, 2005 at 8:37 AM
by Ashleigh
This article was posted today to expatica discussion forums. It puts very succinctly the crisis facing Holland at the moment. A crisis of 'them and us', 'we and they', 'those who are and those who aren't'. For Brad and I the political and emotional climate in Holland surpasses that of South Africa in its discomfort index. Perhaps because for us being more to the left of centre the political climate here in Holland hearkens back to the pre-1994 climate of South Africa. Family killings, political unrest, riots ...
Discussing this with our Dutch friends on Sunday one friend said "Its like they want to turn back the clock". The return of normen en waarden (norms and values), the insistence on the use of local language, the refusal to deal with those who are not the 'same'. All of this points to a country in crisis.
And for us? What does this mean for an English speaking family from Africa who manage to nix the rules by being EU citizens? I refer again to a comment from an expatica user:
"I get treated better when I pretend I am a tourist."