Van Gogh
Fortuyn
Posted on 05/06/2005 12:18:01 PM PDT by aculeus
Europe's pioneer for much of the last century in social experiments, it seems the Netherlands may now be pointing to the next cultural revolution: the bourgeois exodus. Escaping the stress of clogged roads, street violence and loss of faith in the country's once celebrated way of life, the Dutch are quitting their homeland in droves.
More and more Dutch people are leaving the Netherlands to live abroad. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere. By 2004 the figure had shot up to almost 50,000. Dutch people emigrating around the world is nothing new, but this time it's highly skilled people with degrees that are leaving, the kind of workforce you want to keep.
Well qualified
One place that's noticed a surge of interest in leaving the country is a migration consultancy bureau in Amsterdam. Grant King, director of the office, says he has seen a marked change in the type of people coming to see him:
"Most of our applicants are in high-paying, good, solid positions here - they are not the unemployed. They are mostly middle-class Dutch people with college or university degrees […] The problem for the Netherlands is that the ones that they don't want to lose are the ones that are leaving."
Claustrophobic
Better opportunities on the labour market and personal relationships are some of the main reasons why people are settling elsewhere. But unlike most earlier waves of migration, this one is not just driven by economics. Congestion, endless traffic jams, packed trains and overcrowding - a daily experience for many Dutch - seem to be part of the reason. Henri Beunders, Professor of history, media and culture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam says people feel claustrophobic:
"This general feeling of disappointment and uneasiness is of course aggravated by the fact that everybody has at least two cars. People who live in The Hague, work in Amsterdam and go to a disco in Rotterdam. So, Holland is like spaghetti that has been cooked for too long, it gets sticky. People are getting the feeling that they are being choked."
Lack of tolerance
Some migrants are also voting with their feet against what they see as a multicultural experiment gone wrong, and the increase in violence and social tension they believe has come with it. It began in May 2002 when populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead by a left-wing activist - the country's first political assassination in over 400 years. Then, in November 2004, came the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a fierce critic of fundamentalist Muslims. His ritual-style killing by an alleged Islamic extremist was followed by angry demonstrations and fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools. The violence shocked the country. Professor Beunders says:
"The assassin of Theo van Gogh released not only anger but a lot of fear of fanatic Muslims and random violence. It was new for Dutch people to feel physical insecurity, because we are living in a very small country where you can come across anybody."
Migration consultant Frans Buysse received more than 13,000 hits on his emigration website in the weeks after the killing of Van Gogh, which is four times the usual level. He believes that people see the murder of Van Gogh as a reflection of what is happening in Dutch society and that it is therefore time to leave.
Coming back
Some people do return to the Netherlands, but statistics show that more than half of these soon emigrate back to the country they first moved to or to another country, because the reasons why they first left are still the same or worse.
So should the Dutch government be worried about this flight of the well-educated middle classes? Professor Beunders thinks not. He says others who immigrate to the Netherlands will replace the Dutch who leave:
"It will make things a bit more complicated because you have to integrate an even greater number of foreigners into your own country, with all the very complicated regulation systems we have in this country. Growing mobility on the other hand is also a good sign of the growing unification of Europe and understanding of people - I hope."
© Radio Nederland
Dutch Shrugged?
They want to get away from socialism and EU oppression.
Holland was a nice little country: beautiful flowers and OK cheese. Too bad it is vanishing. The miracle of socialism once again works its guaranteed magic.
The story does not say where they are all going? Would it be the US maybe?
Into the clutches of the evil George Bush and his war machine?
They are leaving before the windmills are replaced with minarets.........
This is much like those Massachusetts residents who, having ruined their own state, are moving to New Hampshire to ruin that state. I think secular fundamentalists should be forced to live in the social and moral dump they've created.
Hey! I moved to Georgia to ruin it!!
"The story does not say where they are all going? Would it be the US maybe?"
Based on my experience, I welcome the Dutch as neighbors, should they come here.
Nicest people in Europe.
Actually, when I was growing up my family were NH-weekender Massholes, but we were Republican NH-weekender Massholes, by God! Some of us deserve a little asylum, don't we? ; )
I actually made the short list for a high paying finance job in Rotterdam without any of the necessary language skills. This was before the Van Gogh murder. Sometimes when you lose, you really win.
It does seem like a large hole in the story, don't you think?
I know a couple people that were from our office in Amsterdam. Very nice and very friendly.
Last year, I was travelling to Kuwait with some coworkers, and we had a stop in Amsterdam. One of my co-workers and I decided that we'd take a trip into the city for a few hours until our flight left. So we got some Euros, boarded a train from the airport to the city.
We had walked only a few blocks from the train station, when we were accosted by an aggressive Arab-looking panhandler, who demanded money in broken English.
I told him, "Hey bud, we're from Jersey. We've been panhandled by experts, and your not gettin $#!.".
He seemed to understand that we weren't going to be co-operative, because he next put his hand inside his jacket with one hand, and then pointed to my friend and said, "I shoot you - bang - I shoot you". My coworker, who is a relatively good sized Italian guy, stopped dead in his tracks.
I put my hand on my friend's shoulder, and said to the panhandler, "Oh yeah ? You're going to shoot us ? Really ? Don't you know who this is ? This is Tony Soprano. You know Tony Soprano ?".
At this, the panhandler turned and fled.
Hurray for americanization.
-R
Van Gogh
Fortuyn
We should be letting in these educated English speakers. Not the illiterates of the 3rd world. Immigration should be a tool of US policy to benefit the United States. Not a land of convenience to benefit various 3rd worlders, letting them jam and cram their way in here.
God bless America's Tony Soprano's.
Whistling past the graveyard.
Bright Flight
So9
LOL....Good luck in your endeavors.
OK, so move to Atlanta and you'll solve that problem.
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