Young immigrants in the Netherlands must free themselves from the poisonous stranglehold of white progressive Netherlands, argues Zihni Özdil.
‘On paper it is indeed VWO advice. But your son is an immigrant, Mr Özdil, he will have a hard time. Let’s start with HAVO slowly. ‘ I will never forget that conversation with my PvdA-voting Rotterdam school principal in group 8. Luckily my dad was articulate. And after a lot of arguing, we still walked away with VWO advice.
This formative episode in my life passed like a flashback when I read Hilde Roothart’s opinion piece in this newspaper [ de Volkskrant , agb]. “The language is being colonized by a homogeneous group of Northern European, white, male and elitist people,” she writes in response to the fuss about Hull University’s plans to stop demanding flawless language. Because that would hinder students of color.
Correct grammar and correct spelling are discriminatory, is the story of the white, progressive Roothart . To support her argument, she agrees with the white male philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ferdinand de Saussure.
Roothart’s world view does not stand alone, but illustrates a broader problem. Thanks to her opinion piece, I finally have the courage to open up about it: if I put it all together, the only honest conclusion is that I have been opposed all my life by white progressive Dutch people. When I was teaching history at university, I was asked by my progressive leftist leader to come to a mosque for an iftar dinner. The fact that I politely declined was a great shock that kept the mutual relationship permanently cooled. I can give many more examples of this progressive bigotry of low expectations. Which I have experienced absurdly at the top of the Dutch academia, mass media and politics.
In the meantime, it was thanks to my Christian, conservative Dutch teacher at the Erasmiaans Gymnasium, who measured me just as high as the rest, that as the grandson of a goatherd, I am devoid of language errors. It was also thanks to the right-wing liberal Prof. Henri Beunders, who judged me on what I could do instead of on my origins, that for the first time in my life I got a job that required more thinking than taking courses.
Pathetic and grateful / I can go on for many more pages with examples of how the ‘right-wing’ Netherlands respected me as a person. Even when they are against me, right-wing people say it to my face. What a contrast with white progressive Netherlands. For them, formulated somewhat but not very exaggeratedly, the only good immigrant is the immigrant who is pathetic and grateful. Because they can not only protect them, but also use them.
For example, in this newspaper Roothart bills himself as a ‘master student of crossover creativity’. In the meantime she suggests in de Volkskrant that young people of color do not need to speak and spell Dutch well. Nice and progressive: keep immigrants away from the emancipation that you allow yourself.
In 2021, life in the Netherlands will be precarious for anyone who does not have an obvious background. Under the yoke of the loan system and the continued flexibilization of the labor market, it is mainly young people who are the victim of the short straw. Young people of color, the statistics show, even more so.
I therefore appeal to all young immigrants in the Netherlands: pry yourself completely free from the poisonous stranglehold of white progressive Netherlands. Free yourself from their bigotry of low expectations. If necessary, study law in Leiden. Join the student body. Broaden your horizons and build character. Go for real emancipation.
Turn your back to types like Roothart who want to keep you so small that they don’t even allow you the Dutch language anymore. https://werkgroepcaraibischeletteren.nl/mijn-hele-leven-ben-ik-tegengewerkt-door-witte-progressieve-nederlanders/
