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 A xenophobe with a weird hairdo may win a national election... again Today is the beginning of campaigning for the Dutch general election being held on 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Yes, the country famous for boring windmills, some great painters, and liberal drug laws is doing some politics (they’re not so famous for their hiding-teenage-Jewish-girls ability). It’s likely that the election outcome will be incredibly terrifying at worst or just depressing at best. That is largely because of the immense popularity of anti-Muslim nationalist Geert "I don’t hate Muslims, I hate Islam" Wilders, whose resonating message of immigrant hysteria has hit home with social conservatives and their racial pathologies. Naturally, mainstream politicians have embraced a more moderate version of Wilders’ message, choosing to condemn vague outside forces rather than Islam or refugees directly. Hence, you have Mark Rutte, the incumbent Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the beacon of tolerance to the world, telling immigrants to "act normal or leave." Only Wilders has come out in favor of a referendum on EU membership, so it’s unlikely that there will be a "Nexit” in the near future. However, the last general election in 2012 centered around the austerity measures introduced by the government, and the provision of state benefits (or lack thereof) remains a huge electoral issue. It is possible (not probable) that a EU referendum could be used to placate PVV voters who will be angry that PVV will have the most seats but no place in government; such a vote would probably fail in the Netherlands but could further the anti-EU momentum bolstered by Brexit. The good news is that, even if Wilders’ party wins a majority in the election, it’s unlikely it would be able to form a government without entering into a multi-party coalition, which the other major parties would be loath to join, especially with Wilders setting the agenda. The bad news is that a lot of voters will be dissatisfied voting for his anti-immigration rhetoric and not getting anti-immigration legislation and policies. Whatever emerges as the new government will therefore probably adopt the PVV platform, even to a limited extent. So Wilders may get his cake and also maintain his status as an "outsider” that has been such a boon to his populist image. Here's EUObserver to explain the Dutch election process: quote:One important feature of the Dutch electoral system of proportional representation, where receiving 0.7 percent of the vote can be enough to enter the Lower House, is the multitude of parties. Who are parties and their leaders? You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Leader: Mark Rutte Expected Seats: 24 to 28   The VVD is a center-right pro-business party led by the current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. They entered into a coalition with the Labour Party (see below) in the 1990s and oversaw the institution of your typical neoliberal policy prescriptions: privatizing state-owned assets, deregulating industries, slashing social services, etc. The 2008 financial crisis and subsequent Eurozone crisis only increased their fiscal conservatism – as well as economic unease for the poor and vulnerable groups who lost out under unfettered capitalism. But FREE MARKETS BABY!!! Rutte is so boring he's the embodiment of the color beige, although he has been known to have a glass of wine now and again. He admitted that his mother still does his laundry for him. Party for Freedom (PVV) Leader: Geert Wilders Expected Seats: 19 to 23   The PVV is a far-right, anti-immigration party led by poorly-drawn fascist Geert Wilders, who has promised to ban Islam from the Netherlands, including mosques and the Koran. Wilders, a life support system for a pompadour, has compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and referred to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, as a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile.” In December, Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination against Moroccans for leading a chant of "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!" at an election rally in 2014. The PVV is hostile to the European Union, promoting withdrawal from the EU and the restoration of the guilder as Dutch currency. It also wants to limit welfare benefits to people proficient in the Dutch language and who have lived in the Netherlands for a decade. Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) Leader: Sybrand van Haersma Buma Expected Seats: 19 to 21   The CDA is a centrist party that was long a major player in Dutch politics. The CDA is definitely more on the right than on the left. This is evidenced by their decision to join the first Rutte government in 2010, because that government relied on Wilders' PVV for its parliamentary majority. This move was backed by over two-thirds of its membership. CDA members never had a problem with the VVD; the problem really was making a deal with the xenophobic PVV, which some of its remaining actually Christian membership objected to. The average CDA voter will be an older person, very likely to be a Christian who puts heavy emphasis on family values. One of the main causes of the dwindling influence of the CDA has been their inability to engage the younger generations, who are significantly less religious than their elders. The party would generally like to see more restrictions placed on prostitution and soft drugs and tends to be pro-EU integration and welcoming toward immigrants. Their leader, Sybrand Buma, is descended from Frisian aristocracy and tends to look like he just smelled a big fart. Democrats 66 (D66) Leader: Alexander Pechtold Expected Seats: 17 to 19   "I'd say I'm fiscally conservative but socially very liberal. The problems are bad but their causes...their causes are very good.” The D66 emerged in 1966 as part of an intellectual movement to make Dutch politics more democratic, and even today they ostensibly favor creating a unicameral legislature and directly electing the Prime Minister. Generally, however, the party has become a haven for well-to-do, highly educated professional people who are socially liberal on the issues that affect them: education, the environment, research and technology, and so on. They could emerge as important coalition partners along with the CDA in the upcoming election. Their leader is Alexander Pechtold, a master of the PR dark arts who has tried to ape Wilders’ populist tactics. Wilders recently tweeted a doctored photo of Pechtold at a Muslim rally. Of course, no self-respecting D66 member would be seen in the streets cavorting with plebeians. GroenLinks Leader: Jesse Klaver Expected Seats: 16 to 18   GroenLinks is the major green politics party, an odd amalgam of environmentalists, Christian socialists and communists led by a leader who is a mix of Justin Trudeau, Caroline Lucas and Bernie Sanders/Jill Stein. Obviously, ecology and animal rights are their unifying principles, but somewhat more vague what they mean by "shared prosperity" and "taking care of each other." They are led by boy king Jesse Klaver, who wants to be Barack Obama so bad that he plagiarized him. The party has clearly invested a lot into creating a personality cult around Klaver and the result is that people either love him as a sincere idealist or hate him as a vacuous pop star. Socialist Party (SP) Leader: Emile Roemer Expected Seats: 14 to 16   The anti-austerity, far-left Socialist Party has long sought to capitalize on the decline of the Labour Party, but so far has failed to make the breakthrough. This can be attributed to its start as an activist, grassroots party established in Marxism that has significantly moderated and even flirted with more moderate social democratic politics at the local and regional levels, alienating its rank-and-file membership. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to be taken seriously as a governing partner by the more neoliberal parties if it considered too extreme. Its leader, Emile Roemer, is warm, cuddly and nicknamed "Fozzie Bear" – also because he is a bad joke. Labour Party (PvdA) Leader: Lodewijk Asscher Expected Seats: 10 to 12   Originally the party of the Dutch labor movement and the trade unions, the Labour Party has, like so many of its contemporaries across Europe, become an ardent proponent of deconstructing the old social democratic consensus. From the 1990s to the present, the party has entered into coalitions with more right-wing parties, further diluting whatever claim to left-wing principles it may have once had. Its base is working class, skeptical of globalization and immigration, while its leadership is a haughty cosmopolitan technical elite. Once the premier center-left party, it is now headed to political extinction. Its latest in a long line of unappealing leaders is Lodewijk Asscher, the minister for social affairs and employment as well as deputy prime minister, meaning he is leading the party in opposition to the neoliberal reforms he himself designed and implemented. Irony! Christian Union (CU) Leader: Gert-Jan Segers Expected Seats: 5 to 7   The CU describes itself as a "social Christian" party, meaning they hate abortions but like the welfare state. They believe in the nice, merciful God from the Bible who died for your sins and loves you, but doesn’t want you to have control over your own body or have any fun whatsoever. They tend to be somewhat skeptical of integration with the European Union but are not generally hostile to immigrants. Their leader, Gert-Jan Segers, is a pious egg. Party for the Animals (PvdD) Leader: Marianne Thieme Expected Seats: 4 to 6   A single-issue animal rights party, the Party for the Animals claims not to be a single issue party, even though they are. They have no illusions of entering into government but seek to influence legislation by holding seats in the House. Their leader is Seventh-day Adventist vegetarian Marianne Thieme, who ends all her speeches by saying, "Voorts zijn wij van mening dat er een einde moet komen aan de bio-industrie" ("Furthermore we are of the opinion that factory farming has to be ended") in imitation of Cato the Elder concluding all his speeches by calling for the destruction of Rome's rival Carthage. They have gained some respect because they stick to their positions on the issues they care about rather than trying to change for electoral success. 50PLUS (50+) Leader: Henk Krol Expected Seats: 3 to 5   Not a mature porn Web site. All those old, angry retirees who want you to get off their lawn got together and formed a political party. They are opposed to austerity, but only so far as it affects them: they really want the retirement age moved back to 65. "Imagine if your roommate made you watch a movie and left ten minutes into it. Dick move, right? My point is old people shouldn't get to vote.” Their leader is sleazy journalist and publisher Henk Krol, who retired from the House in 2013 when it came out that Krol withheld pension money from his employees at a gay magazine. Reformed Political Party (SGP) Leader: Kees van der Staaij Expected Seats: 2 to 4   Unlike the CU, the SGP believes that God is angry because not everyone is a Calvinist. They believe in a government totally based on the Bible and eschew participation in cabinet. They are not only strongly opposed to abortion but to feminism and universal suffrage in general, and only put forward male candidates. They are not so pro-life that they oppose the death penalty, but since most people in the Netherlands do, the SGP advocates that "people suspected of serious crimes, such as terrorism, should be extradited to countries where the death penalty exists." Party leader and constitutional law expert Kees van der Staaij is probably not very fun at parties. DENK (THINK) Leaders: Selçuk Öztürk and Tunahan Kuzu Expected Seats: 1 to 3   DENK was formed by two former Labour MPs, Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk, after they were expelled for criticizing Lodewijk Asscher, the minister for social affairs and fellow Labour MP (now the Labour leader). Asscher announced that the government would be monitoring a number of Turkish groups in the Netherlands for "strengthening of the Turkish-Islamic identity" which could lead to a "departure from Dutch customs, norms and values." Kuzu and Öztürk accused Asscher of promoting exclusion rather than inclusion since the groups were not doing anything illegal. DENK is basically a two-man band promoting basic center-left policies but with an emphasis on opposing racism and appealing to naturalized immigrants who feel threatened by the xenophobia in Dutch politics. Kuzu made international news in September 2016 when he refused to shake the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a display of opposition to "the abuse of Palestinian civilians living under Israeli military rule." Forum for Democracy (FVD) Leader: Thierry Baudet Expected Seats: 1 to 3   The FVD was a think tank that has become a political party and is mostly defined by its complete opposition to and total rejection of the European Union. The primary argument is that the EU is anti-democratic and weakens the sovereignty of the nation state, with a healthy dose of right-wing nationalism thrown in. Party leader Thierry Baudet is a follower of Pim Fortuyn in his opposition to multiculturalism and immigration, although he doesn't single out Islam the way Wilders does (although he is willing to work with the PVV). Last year, the FVD organized and won a referendum against an EU association agreement with Ukraine, although the Rutte government ended up honoring the agreement anyway. Although they are doing well thanks to the populist wave sweeping the West, it is unlikely they would get any seats or that the Dutch people would support a "Nexit." Baudet is a lot like Richard Spencer: a young, dapper self-styled intellectual who led a think tank with pseudo-fascist views. The main difference is that no one has punched him the face... yet. VoorNederland (For the Netherlands) (VNL) Leader: Jan Roos Expected Seats: 0 to 1   Do you hate immigrants but think the economic positions of the PVV are too communist? Have I got the party for you! Former PVV members Louis Bontes, Johan Driessen, and Joram van Klaveren founded the VNL on May 28, 2014. They were either expelled from the party or left voluntarily after being critical of Wilders. Bontes mostly differed from Wilders on economic policy and van Klaveren cited Wilders leading supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant. Anyway, they're positioning themselves to be a "PVV Lite" -- the nice, tolerant right-wing nationalists who want less taxes, less EU and less immigrants. Their party leader was celebrity lawyer Bram Moszkowicz, who was disbarred in 2012 over tax evasion, but he was fired for doing a crap job in 2016. The party has since been led by Jan Roos, a blogger for a Web site known for being provocative. In 2015 Roos had been leader of the GreenPeil campaign that demanded an advisory referendum on the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. Pirate Party of the Netherlands (PPNL) Leader: Ancilla van de Leest Expected Seats: 0 to 1   The Pirate Party represents the international "pirate politics" made famous by the Swedish Pirate Party. Formed in 2006, the group hopes to win its first seat this year. It espouses the free sharing of information, more transparent politics, copyright and patent law reform, and online rights for every citizen. Former fetish model and current leader Ancilla van de Leest has been particularly outspoken about the ability of governments to gather information about their citizens. she wants to fight laws that allow data about individuals to be sold for commercial purposes, prevent health insurance companies accessing citizens' health information and tackle Amsterdam's tax havens. Useful links: http://www.volkskrant.nl/politiek/ -- Politics section of the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (in Dutch) https://www.trouw.nl/democratie -- Politics section of the Dutch newspaper Trouw (in Dutch) http://nltimes.nl/categories/politics -- English-language Dutch politics news site http://www.dutchnews.nl/category/politics/ -- Another English-language Dutch news resource https://medium.com/@endeeh -- A Medium writer writing about the Dutch election, whose best material I have shamelessly stolen I will be updating this thread with news digests, updated polls, etc. up to the election itself on 15 March (and probably until a coalition is formed). Some current headlines: Mosques Are 'Nazi Temples,' Dutch Populist Wilders Says Almost half of Dutch political parties' campaigns for the parliamentary elections contain proposals that are diametrically opposed to the current constitution or rule of law Labour seeks to make sexual harassment on the streets a crime The SP wants an end to the super low prices for pints of beer (in Dutch) VVD remains critical of legislation that would legalize regulated cannabis cultivation (in Dutch) Panama Red fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Mar 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 19:17
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SP is complaining that beer is less expensive than water, but the solution is "make beer expensive" rather than asking why water is a commodity to begin with... Guess I'm voting D66 this cycle.
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Feb 17, 2017 10:37
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Good OP (if slightly more wordy than the one in C-SPAM  ), but I'd say you're entirely too kind to the CDA - it's a party of farmers not environmentalists.Roughly a third of its membership voted against joining the Wilders-backed first Rutte government, but that was because Wilders is essentially a racist rear end in a top hat, not because they were concerned about education policy. They have also become noticeably less kind towards immigrants over the years. If they gain seats again this election it will be because they are seen as an acceptable substitute for the VVD.Also, DENK are assholes who happily use sock-puppets and trolls online, attack other politicians with a minority background for being insufficiently Turkish or Moroccan or whatever, and like to attack the media with fabricated stunts. Also, don't talk to them about the history of the Armenian minority in Turkey. They may have initially wrapped itself in an anti-racist mantle, but their commitment to that was at best skin-deep. Their economic policies are center-left because it serves the interests of their electorate, not out of any deeper conviction. (for full disclosure, I voted PvdA last time, and may stick to that if I let hope beat experience. Otherwise I'll vote for the Green Left again). Pluskut Tukker fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 16:44
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I saw this article on DutchNews.nl which is just another example of VVD looking itself in mirror and saying "we got to get more racist" as a strategy for the upcoming election. quote:The ruling VVD party wants to introduce tougher rules for new immigrants which would require them to speak Dutch and have a paid or unpaid job before they are considered to have passed their integration exams. that is pretty loving nice of them to dick over people as an ineffective way to score 'tough on immigrant' points
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Feb 17, 2017 16:54
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Hambilderberglar posted:SP is complaining that beer is less expensive than water, but the solution is "make beer expensive" rather than asking why water is a commodity to begin with... This logic makes sense if you want to privatize everything.
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Feb 17, 2017 19:51
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I joined D66 because they were the only party even making an attempt at doing something against the alt right and went to their party congress. In a surprise to absolutely nobody, they turned out to be the most utterly clueless motherfuckers you can imagine "why don't we just... out-shout them on social media?" but E for effort, which is more than I can say about the other parties. They also haven't come up with anything monumentally stupid yet like the SP and their newfound euroscepticism/russian appeasement ideas so as it's looking now I'll probably vote for them. Also loving lol at having a party that's blaming Armenia for the Armenian genocide that's actually looking like it'll get a seat.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:47
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Orange Devil posted:This logic makes sense if you want to privatize everything. More to the point, is D66 privatization-happy to an extent I was unaware of? I've not heard anything from their program that would indicate that and I'm rapidly running out of people to vote for. I'd like to avoid having to hold my nose and vote Labour.
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Feb 17, 2017 23:12
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They probably won't show much enthusiasm in unfucking all of Rutte's garbage because none of them are poor/lower class enough to notice the effects of any of the more insidious cuts but while I was at the congress, privatisation only came up in the context "those dumbasses at the VVD sold off <thing> that we would've liked to have influence about".
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Feb 17, 2017 23:38
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Hambilderberglar posted:I can't bring myself to vote for a Socialist party that misses the forest for the trees. I myself will miss the forest for the trees to spite them. D66 is for people who would vote VVD the second the VVD would want to make weed legal. The only leftwing party worth voting for these days is Partij voor de Dieren, because they recognize that capitalism is the worst and it needs to be smashed. Everyone else on the left-wing thinks that capitalism is cool and good but just needs some more rules to restrict it. 9-Volt Assault fucked around with this message at 12:41 on Feb 18, 2017 |
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Feb 18, 2017 12:39
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9-Volt Assault posted:D66 is for people who would vote VVD the second the VVD would want to make weed legal. It seems to me that the SP's message is fundamentally aimed at the economy and what's holding it back from national success is just how out of sync it is with the neoliberal consensus. It's never going to get into government when the default position on the economy for the major parties remains "free markets good, central planning bad." It also seems like the SP is a lot like the old Stalinist parties of the Cold War era, in which they draw a hard line, and even when they do moderate, they alienate the hardcore Marxists who have been with the party the longest. So they're kind of in a catch-22 situation where they're too extreme to enter national politics but if they go more mainstream they'll be accused of selling out for electoral power. The PvdD is apparently eco-socialist but it seems 99% of their actual posturing (that is, outside of their technical manifesto) remains about the environment and animal liberation. Considering they're happy being a testimonial party, I don't really see them growing outside of their image, even if they may technically have more policies than the single issue they're founded on. Anyway, I've updated the description on the CDA to be less nice to them and be more accurate. I think it's right to say that their voters tend to be older and they're not great about recruiting younger folks. So the big news to come out is that the Telegraaf, a major Dutch newspaper, wrote an "expose" of Jesse Klaver, the GroenLinks leader, casting doubt about some of the claims he's made about his early life. Klaver responded as expecting, saying it was a right-wing hit piece and that he's being attacked because he's the leader of the most successful left-wing party so far in the polls. Likely the truth is somewhere in the middle: the conservative media has an interest in smearing him, while Klaver's carefully polished image is likely too good to be true: http://politiek.tpo.nl/2017/02/18/groenlinks-leider-jesse-klaver-gaat-donald-trumpdenk-op-telegraaf/ (in Dutch) Here are some other Dutch election headlines: A major difference between this and last election is that the parties are focused on spending money now that the economy is recovering The PVV's legislative proposal to make municipalities only participate in Sinterklaas events in which Zwarte Piet is wearing blackface makeup, could count on almost no support from both the lower house of Dutch parliament and the Dutch government Most political parties don't want to change the monarchy much (in Dutch) Dutch far-right populist Wilders kicks off election campaign Mark Rutte and his schizophrenic relationship with the Labour Party (in Dutch)
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Feb 19, 2017 02:17
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I know I have asked this several time but I have no one else to ask and I don't know how to get updates (also I think I am having an anxiety attack): I am a southern European Aerospace Engineer living in the Netherlands. I dont speak Dutch thanks to my job constantly sending me away and shifting my schedule. It is possible I might be made redundant soon. What are the chances that I will be kicked out factoring in a possible Pvv "victory"? What precautions should I take? Even if NL doesn't leave the EU immediately am I in physical danger? (I have reasonably pale skin). I can't return home since I could not bare living with my parents again and a job back home would make me stuck there forever. AceOfFlames fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 06:38
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AceOfFlames posted:I know I have asked this several time but I have no one else to ask and I don't know how to get updates (also I think I am having an anxiety attack): You will not be kicked out, Wilders will not get in the government as he is too extreme even for the VVD these days, we will not leave the EU. Racist shitheads are unfortunately everywhere but you arent a Muslim so you are fine. Spain and Italy and such are cool and good for being Christian according to Wilders.
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Feb 19, 2017 08:42
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Panama Red posted:
They could really get more votes if they added women having to wear head scarves in public and a banning of alcohol sales Friday-Sunday.
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Feb 19, 2017 10:26
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Reminder that GroenLinks were instrumental in passing the current student loan system, making higher education unaffordable for students from a working class background.
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Feb 19, 2017 10:53
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all those parties and not a single good one
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Feb 19, 2017 13:04
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Panama Red posted:It seems to me that the SP's message is fundamentally aimed at the economy and what's holding it back from national success is just how out of sync it is with the neoliberal consensus. It's never going to get into government when the default position on the economy for the major parties remains "free markets good, central planning bad." That said, 25 seats seems like a healthy amount of support for an agenda other than trying to deepthroat a dildo with the word Marktwerking printed on it. Although how they'll get back to that figure now that the SP has apparently decided that making GBS threads on cheap beer is a good idea is a mystery to me.
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Feb 19, 2017 13:48
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Kurtofan posted:all those parties and not a single good one  Any day now!
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Feb 19, 2017 13:54
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Kurtofan posted:all those parties and not a single good one Is there a "good" political party anywhere in the world ?
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Feb 19, 2017 14:05
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Panama Red posted:So the big news to come out is that the Telegraaf, a major Dutch newspaper, wrote an "expose" of Jesse Klaver, the GroenLinks leader, casting doubt about some of the claims he's made about his early life. Klaver responded as expecting, saying it was a right-wing hit piece and that he's being attacked because he's the leader of the most successful left-wing party so far in the polls. Likely the truth is somewhere in the middle: the conservative media has an interest in smearing him, while Klaver's carefully polished image is likely too good to be true: http://politiek.tpo.nl/2017/02/18/groenlinks-leider-jesse-klaver-gaat-donald-trumpdenk-op-telegraaf/ (in Dutch) As someone born, raised and currently living again in the town Klaver comes from (Roosendaal) and whose mother is a police officer in said town, l can confirm that Klaver has been exaggerating how bad the neighbourhood he grew up in was/is (though to be fair it's gotten a bit worse in the last few years). Also I'll be voting SP and generally think the SP isn't left wing enough and the Telegraaf is a total rag and it should never be forgot they collaborated with the nazis. So make of that what you will.
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Feb 19, 2017 14:21
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Where's the original Klaver statements on how lovely his neighbourhood was? I live in a Vogelaarwijk, which by the hilarious standards of this country was "terrible", so I can't wait to see what passes for a bad neighbourhood in Roosendaal.
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Feb 19, 2017 14:37
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Pluskut Tukker posted:Is there a "good" political party anywhere in the world ? 
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Feb 19, 2017 15:02
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AceOfFlames posted:I know I have asked this several time but I have no one else to ask and I don't know how to get updates (also I think I am having an anxiety attack): Unless you're a poor immigrant from a Muslim country, I wouldn't worry. Like someone else said, none of the parties will go into coalition with the PVV and won't adopt the PVV agenda. It's possible that whatever government emerges will give them some concessions, but those will be targeted at the immigrants racists demonize, aka Muslim refugees. If you're a professional from another European country (except maybe Bosnia or Albania), you should be OK. There's definitely not going to be a "Nexit" since the Netherlands is very business-oriented and generally think of a single market/free trade/relatively open borders as a good thing. Since you're not a threat to "Dutch values" (whatever that means) you'll be fine. Hambilderberglar posted:SP had something like 25 seats in the mid 00s right around the time the whole Lisbon treaty was happening. I wish I remembered enough of that time to also tell you why they cratered. (who am I kidding it was probably parochialism and "economic anxieties" along with snake-oil vendors like Hero Brinkman and the entire catastrophe that was the LPF) I understand the logic behind it, just like I understand taxes on soft drinks. I just don't think it was a great election promise to trot out outside of going after the bankers. Hambilderberglar posted:Where's the original Klaver statements on how lovely his neighbourhood was? I'm looking for the original statement but my understanding is that Klaver was born in Westrand and grew up in Zevenbergen. Apparently there are some pockets of poverty and violence but certainly not as bad as, say, the south side of Chicago.
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Feb 19, 2017 15:07
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The real shame is, there's actual bad places (though not entire neighborhoods) in Roosendaal due to real problems he could've chosen to talk about instead. We're right on the border and still the main train crossing to Belgium (this is the reason Roosendaal became a town rather than a village in the first place, but this train border crossing will also be moving to Breda in the nearish future). This matters because it means there's a lot of drug crime due to Belgian and French drug tourism plus obviously international drug smuggling. We used to have quite a lot of coffeeshops per capita due to this, though they've now been all shut down because we have a VVD mayor who has chosen for a zero tolerance policy (gotta be a "crime-fighter" you know). This hasn't fixed any of the issues, just moved them to other municipalities as predicted. Anyway, this can lead to real poo poo, like the ex-colleague of my mom's who decided to quit after he got a hatchet cleaved into his arm during a raid on a drug dealer's house. We've also had a murder rate significantly above the national average over the last decade. Unsurprisingly this is also related to drugs. Furthermore, the entire province (Limburg as well) has a growing problem with drug money infecting legitimate businesses (gotta launder all that money somehow) and undermining local political authority. Concretely this means both an uptick in threats made against mayors and wethouders as well as (attempted) briberies and other corruption of same and other civil servants. Also, drug labs produce waste chemicals, which regularly get illegally dumped, which is bad for the environment and can contaminate the water supply. Unsurprisingly all of this directly affects Roosendaal. These issues are currently flat out not being taken as serious as they should in national politics. The closest you get to taking any of this seriously is the VVD vowing to increase the intensity of the war on drugs. But anyone with a working brain should know by now that this is futile. What's really needed is a drug policy that isn't completely retarded (seriously, being proud of gedoogbeleid in 2017 is dumb as poo poo), which concretely means legalizing weed, decriminalizing other drugs and treating them as a health issue (learn from Portugal for fucks sake) and using the freed up policing capacity to follow the money and focus on stamping out corruption before it gets out of hand. I personally know a lot of police officers in my town both due to my mom being one as well as because about 5 of my former classmates in primary and high school have become police officers. My estimation is that the police in this town is currently not up to the task of dealing with this more complex type of crime. They don't have the right education and they don't have the right focus. Having more "blue on the streets" doesn't help here. Orange Devil fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 15:10
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u brexit ukip it posted:Reminder that GroenLinks were instrumental in passing the current student loan system, making higher education unaffordable for students from a working class background. As a student from a working class background, meh. Studiefinanciering wasnt even covering my rent and I ended up borrowing a bunch of money either way. Either you end up making enough that it doesn't matter or the payments are adjusted to income. Much more worrying I've found the increased rigidity of the system pushing students to finish as fast as possible and having the university babysit them every step of the way. That said Ive voted mostly D66 in the past, because while I would like there to be more money redistributed to the poor, as a stemlord it doesn't really affect me and the truly left wing parties non-economic policies often annoy me. So yeah, gently caress you got mine. AlexanderCA fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 15:21
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u brexit ukip it posted:Reminder that GroenLinks were instrumental in passing the current student loan system, making higher education unaffordable for students from a working class background. Groenlinks and D66, mind! The so-called 'students party' really hosed that up, unfortunately. The loan system is definitely worse than the grant system we used to have, but fortunately higher education is still, more or less affordable. I've always had to borrow money, and frankly the difference isn't that big, they've actually increased the supplementary grant you get if your parents don't earn enough money. A bigger threat to higher education is probably the focus on 'excelling' and 'excellence', especially combined with the obsession so many universities seem to have with the University College. It's all well and good, but UC is simply not affordable for people without rich parents, I think the average cost for two semesters living and studying at a UC is almost 10000 euros, and you can't even stay in your room during the breaks. Simply unaffordable for many.
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Feb 19, 2017 15:48
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Weird that you used that picture of Roemer and not his official one
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Feb 19, 2017 15:55
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Wilders now cancelled 2 of the 4 debates on tv he said he would do. 
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Feb 19, 2017 16:48
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I'm not convinced that will hurt him though -he'll now only do one-on-one debates with Rutte and Asscher, which means he'll be able to position himself on the side of everyone who dislikes our current government, and he'll only have to deal with attacks from one direction. "Lol nothing matters" goes for Wilders as much as it does for Trump.
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Feb 19, 2017 17:33
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Which party do you expect to lose the most seats proportional to what it currently has?
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Feb 19, 2017 17:52
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Amused to Death posted:Which party do you expect to lose the most seats proportional to what it currently has? PvdA
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Feb 19, 2017 18:04
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So another labour party continues its slide into the depths
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Feb 19, 2017 18:16
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I cant wait for PvdA to disappear, so Dijselbloem wont be the able to gently caress over Greece anymore. It will still happen of course but at least i wont have to look at his face anymore.
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Feb 19, 2017 19:15
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wait is Djisselbloem from PdvA? holy lol I thought he was some kind of VVD shithead
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Feb 19, 2017 19:21
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Pluskut Tukker posted:Is there a "good" political party anywhere in the world ? 
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Feb 19, 2017 19:24
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I agree with that party and/or programme.
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Feb 21, 2017 00:31
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Have there been any developments in the past week or so? Anymore parties added to the list?
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Feb 23, 2017 11:51
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The Puppet Master posted:Have there been any developments in the past week or so? Anymore parties added to the list? FT (lol) did a little human interest story on Oude Pekela and how it feels about Geert Wilders and asylum seekers. https://www.ft.com/content/c44350c6-f85f-11e6-bd4e-68d53499ed71 Marianne Thieme of the Partij voor de Dieren will be taking the place of Geert Wilders at the "Carrédebat" because Geert Wilders is a low rent fuckboy who can't actually reproduce full sentences when he's not free to spew nonsense. Emile Roemer (SP) will be debating Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA) on march 10th. Oh also 24% of eligible voters will be over the age of 65 this election.
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Feb 23, 2017 12:22
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The Puppet Master posted:Have there been any developments in the past week or so? Anymore parties added to the list? Well the news is going crazy about an official on Wilder's security detail who's been leaking classified info to a criminal organisation. The only information we know right now is the fact that this security person is ethnically Moroccan (and allegedly so is the organisation he leaked info to). http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39057543 I'm sure the hardcore PVV racists must be having a field day.
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Feb 23, 2017 12:48
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Hambilderberglar posted:Oh also 24% of eligible voters will be over the age of 65 this election.
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Feb 23, 2017 14:17
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How affected were the Netherlands by the 2015/16 refugee crisis? How many actually came and settled there, and how did the Rutte government react to this? Back then I heard a lot about the refusal of eastern European states to admit refugees, but I don't remember hearing anything about the Netherlands. How was German policy in that regard seen/discussed?
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Feb 23, 2017 14:18
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