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Rotterdam bans the poor
.. - 02.12.2003 20:47
The new solution to urban crime, slums, drug dealing: expel the entire low-income population from cities. New Dutch policies will undoubtedly be copied in the rest of Europe.
Yesterday (1 December) the city of Rotterdam announced its new hard-line policies to combat immigration and urban decline. The unemployed, the disabled, pensioners, other claimants and the low-paid will be banned from moving into the city. he proposal does not affect existing residents, so long as they stay at their current address. If they have to move, for instance for urban renewal, then they can not be rehoused in Rotterdam. Policies to remove existing residents with low income might be introduced later, this "dispersal policy" has already been proposed at national level. And existing resident will be affected by many other proposals, see the full list below.
From 2004 no-one can move into Rotterdam unless they have a legal job, and earn more than 20% above the national minimum wage. This excludes almost all claimants - unemployed obviously, but also disability allowances and state pensions. All workfare jobs are also excluded, they never pay more than 20% above minimum. Trainees, temp agency workers, low-skill industrial workers will also be excluded, they usually earn just the minimum. Many service sector workers, in health care and retail employment for instance, also earn less than 20% above minimum. Obviously all illegal workers are excluded. Students are exempted.
The proposals were greeted with enthusiasm at national level, although the next day some politicians had doubts about the feasibility. There is already a majority in parliament, to introduce similar bans in other cities. A total ban on the poor is new in Europe, although some German cities operate restrictive policies. Unfortunately these policies will probably be copied in other countries, because they appear to offer an instant solution to urban problems. No more drug addicts, no more street crime, no more decaying estates, no more problem children, no homeless, no beggars - just send them all away to somewhere else.
Of course, this has everything to do with the fact, that most claimants and low-paid workers in Rotterdam are immigrants. (Or immigrant ethnic minorities, born in the Netherlands) At first, the city wanted to simply ban foreigners, but that might be unconstitutional. Banning people on income grounds is legal, even if it is deliberately targeted at ethnic groups.
The policy is a delayed effect of the enormous success of the assassinated racist Pim Fortuyn. Fortuyn was elected as a city councillor in Rotterdam a month before his death - it was the only political office he ever held. Rotterdam is declining economically, it is losing white population, and it will have a Muslim majority in about 20 or 30 years time. The city is run by a coalition of Fortuyn's local party (Liveable Rotterdam) plus the Christian Democrats and the market-liberal VVD. The Fortuyn party supports a total immigration ban. They also wanted to remove all immigrants from Rotterdam, into the surrounding region, the so-called "dispersal policy". However, their policies are becoming more aggressive, and now they are talking about repatriation, instead of dispersal. At present they have made no formal proposal for the repatriation of legal immigrants, but of course they demand immediate deportation of all "illegals".
The ban on the poor is central to Rotterdam's new policies, but it is part of a long list. Many are directed at immigrants, even at specific ethnic groups. The list here is partly from the newspaper De Volkskrant, partly from the full text of the report at the Rotterdam city website...
www.volkskrant.nl
www.rotterdam.nl
- all people with less than 120% of national minimum wage banned from moving into Rotterdam.
- emergency legislation for problem neighbourhoods, and appointment of special neighbourhood managers with emergency powers
- no more asylum seekers for 4 years
- if private landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants, the housing will be confiscated, without compensation. The tenants will be evicted and sent to asylum-seekers centres (if they are not deported anyway)
- 'anti-social' tenants will be evicted
- neighbours will be able to veto future tenants / residents before they move in.
- no permanent residence for immigrants without naturalisation. No naturalisation without first having worked for three years, legally buying or renting a house, speaking Dutch and having knowledge of Dutch culture.
- all immigrants must conform to Dutch values
- immigrants must perform unpaid work for Dutch organisations or businesses, as part of their assimilation process
- immigrants will not be allowed to move into areas which already have a high concentration of immigrants
- "threatened areas" must attract "desirable" (i.e. white) people. Gentrification will be actively encouraged. Social rental housing will be renovated and sold.
- problem housing blocks will no longer be available for rent, but will be allocated directly to "desirable groups"
- all immigrants will have a personal supervisor, who will control their behaviour and check if they have culturally assimilated. Note: the supervisor is not a public official but a volunteer, for instance a member of the Fortuyn party.
- immediate deportation of asylum seekers if their application is refused
- criminalisation of illegal residence in the Netherlands. Note: at present this is not a criminal offence, but the 'illegals' can be detained without trial, and of course deported
- illegal immigrants without documents will be subjected to "intensive interrogation" to discover their country of origin, and so deport them
- asylum seekers who are admitted to the Netherlands will not be allowed to migrate within the country (i.e. not move to Rotterdam)
- the age for compulsory education will be raised to 23. This does not mean that they stay in school - it means the city can force them to attend courses, and fine them if they refuse
- Dutch-Antillians will have to prove they have a job and a house, speak Dutch, and take an assimilation course. (People from the Dutch Antilles have a Dutch passport, so they can not be detained as illegal immigrants. Most of them speak Papiamento, a creole language related to Spanish).
- Antillians who do not meet these criteria will be detained in asylum seekers centres
- ethnic youth with 'problems' will also be detained in converted asylum seekers centres. The report does not define these 'problems'.
- no other immigrants will get a housing permit in Rotterdam until they have completed assimilation courses. (This means they can not legally rent or buy any housing). The assimilation courses are already compulsory, but only after the immigrants arrive.
- the city wants to have a veto on marriages with non-EU immigrants. The husband or wife already in the Netherlands must have a job, and legal housing. The immigrant partner must learn the Dutch language and 'Dutch traditions'.
- all marriage partners must be at least 21, and have an income of 120% of national minimum. Note: this is already national policy, in the Netherlands you are not permitted to marry poor foreigners.
- high-income households may rent all social housing. Previously there was an upper income limit, because the housing is subsidised. The idea is, that the rich will live into the social housing, which will be empty because the poor are banned from the city.
- there will be special loans to buy the empty rented housing, but only if you have a university degree
- identity cards will be introduced, and must be carried at all times. Note: at present there is no national identity card in the Netherlands, but you must carry identification in certain circumstances, for instance in trains, metro, tram or bus. Rotterdam has no authority to introduce identity cards, so this proposal is essentially a request to the central government.
There are other proposals under discussion. Right-wing parties are becoming increasingly clever at devising anti-immigrant policies, which allow them to legally discriminate. One suggestion is to limit the number of people in a house who can get unemployment benefit. This affects large families or several people sharing a small flat, in both cases typically immigrants. Another example is the proposed ban on Muslim schools. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religious schools, so they can not be banned directly. However the VVD has proposed closing schools, if all the children come from low-income families. (There is almost no Muslim middle class, so Muslim schools are indeed 100% low-income schools).
The ultimate logic of all these policies is to stop all new immigration, and force existing immigrant minorities to leave the country. With this kind of 'creative racism' it is possible to apply so much pressure on the minorities, that they will leave the country 'voluntarily'. At least, that is what the Fortuyn party hopes - but it may not be that simple. Probably in 2004, the national and local Fortuyn parties will say what they are already thinking, and demand active 'repatriation' of the ethnic minorities, i.e. deportation.
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| Read more about: anti-fascisme / racisme wonen/kraken | | supplements | | | some supplements were deleted from this article, see policy | | rotterdam.nl: "Kansen voor Rotterdammers" | LinkMichel - 02.12.2003 23:46
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Wie van buiten de Stadsregio naar Rotterdam wil verhuizen, moet voortaan minimaal 120% van het minimumloon verdienen.
Woningen waarin bij herhaling blijkt dat ze worden geëxploiteerd voor de huisvesting van illegalen, worden verbeurd verklaard.
Huizen in probleemwijken worden door positieve ballotage toegewezen.
Er komen economische kansenzones waarin private partijen die samen met de gemeente en corporaties investeren in woningverbetering, fiscale voordelen krijgen.
Nieuwe Rotterdammers krijgen ‘oude’ Rotterdammers als coach bij hun inburgering.
Dit stelt het College voor in het actieprogramma “Rotterdam zet door. De Stad duurzaam in Balans”. Het actieprogramma is een aanvulling op het collegeprogramma.
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 Website: http://www.rotterdam.nl//content/nieuws_overzicht.asp?cid=70801&intMenuItemId=3166&intHoofdMenuItemId=3166&extern=
| | Verhullend | 04.12.2003 01:37
Dit is eigenlijk een verhullend artikel. Al deze maatregelen zijn gericht tegen allochtonen.
De stad die door het fascisme is gebombardeerd in 1940 wordt nu voorpost van het nieuwe nederlandse racisme.
Website: http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2003/12/15835.shtml
| | groot deel van nederland straks noodgebied | roos - 04.12.2003 16:14
Als straks alle kabinetsplannen doorgaan dan zal een groot deel van Nederland noodgebied worden.Waar moet iedereen gaan wonen met een bijstandsuitkering.Ongeacht afkomst zullen dan vele mensen behoren tot de risicogroepen.Helaas hebben veel mensen dit nog niet door en richten ze zich op de groepen die van buitenlandse afkomst zijn.Heel kwalijk.
Alleen door investeren in onderwijs ,werkgelegenheid,jongeren kunnen we dit probleem deels oplossen.Het wijzen met de beruchte vinger en het praten over waarden en normen bewerkstelligen het tegendeel.
| | Anti-immigration and the road to intolerance | linking - 05.12.2003 02:41
zie ook
 http://www.irr.org.uk/2003/december/ak000005.html
Netherlands: anti-immigration and the road to intolerance
2 December 2003
Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner has this week advocated the idea of a two-tier justice system in which foreigners who commit crime would be sentenced differently from Dutch nationals. How has a country which once had a reputation for tolerance descended to such illiberalism?
‘Become like us’: the Dutch and racism
4 - 12 - 2003
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-10-96-1616.jsp
Dutch society’s impressive commitment to anti-racist norms, influenced by revulsion against Nazi and apartheid regimes, is now pressured by an opposite trend: irritation with signs of cultural difference. How does the change impact on lives and identities in the modern Netherlands?
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