“It is in fact impossible but also undesirable for the state to use repression to forcibly convince Dutch citizens that the measures are correct,” they pointed out. Last week, 31 mayors - including Amsterdam chief Femke Halsema and non-conformist Breda mayor Paul Depla - wrote to the Government, pointing out that short-term policy-making is “reaching its limits” and putting local enforcers in a perilous position against a growing mood of civic disobedience. If it was an attempt to shunt on responsibility for enforcing his restrictions to local government (even though this is actually their structural role in the Netherlands), it soon backfired. “So if they want to open for a few hours to show ‘we are demonstrating’, then it’s up to the mayors how they deal with that.”
“The right to demonstrate also applies to sectors like the hospitality industry, and I can imagine that mayors could look at ‘what’s allowed for a little while’… with the emphasis on ‘a little while’,” he said. In a bizarre moment during a recent press conference, Mark Rutte emphasised that the Dutch have a constitutional right to protest, and that temporary openings could be viewed in this regard.
But this policy just seems contradictory and it seems to favour the commercial sector over the cultural one.”Įven the Dutch government appears to recognise this inconsistency. “We support everything we need to do in order to keep people safe. “We have a problem with the fact that hairdressers and nail bars and commercial activities can be open, and we can’t,” explained Van Gogh Museum director Emilie Gordenker. Last Wednesday, some 70 museums and galleries around the country decided to ‘open’ as temporary hairdressers, beauty salons and gyms – including world-renowned institutions such as the Van Gogh Museum, the Concertgebouw, and Amsterdam’s oldest theatre, De Kleine Komedie. On Saturday, for instance, 30 hospitality venues threw open their doors in Horst aan de Maas in protest. Across the Netherlands, bars and restaurants have been opening regardless of the restrictions – especially in towns near the German and Belgian borders. Yet De Balie is far from alone in its rebellion. More from this author Why Rotterdam erupted But the comics were not announced in advance, photos and recording were banned, and the whole affair had the illicit frisson of an under-age boozing session.
NETHERLANDS LOCKDOWN CODE
The crowd devoutly wore face masks and staff religiously scanned coronavirus ‘QR code passes’. “ The Philosophical Society the Community of Reason is about democracy and the rule of law, the solace and consolation of culture, experiencing something together that culture can give, seeing a bit of light after two years of darkness,” said Albrecht – something of an unusual opening blessing.Įverything about the evening was as absurd as the situation in the Netherlands. So last Friday night, I was among 50 people who snuck into De Balie under the cover of darkness - for fear of the police turning up - who signed a big, black book to join the community, and prepared to enjoy a night of much-missed comedy. “You can come together in the Veluwe to talk about a 2,000-year-old book, but you can’t get together in Amsterdam to talk about a book from last month,” as Albrecht put it. You can sweat, unmasked, in a gym but you can’t sit in a bar nursing a quiet gin. In the Netherlands today, brothels can open but museums can’t.
0 kommentar(er)
