I wrote this article for The Wrocław International, but unfortunately it will be printed in the April-edition, since this edition has 'discrimination & racism' as main theme.
A
big group of Poles living in the Netherlands are outraged
about an web portal
where people can report complaints about disturbance from Poles and
other central-
and eastern
Europeans. The website is created by politician Geert Wilders and his
Party of Freedom. The following questions are stated on the website:
'Do you have problems with people from central and eastern Europe?
Have you lost your job to a Pole, Bulgarian, Romanian or other
eastern European? We want to know.'
According to Ino van de
Besselaar from the Party of Freedom (PVV) the site is not to
discriminate, but to develop proper insight into “problems caused
by central and eastern Europeans in terms of crime, alcoholism, drug
use, dumping household waste and prostitution,” so he said in Dutch
newspaper AD. Although it officially may not be discriminating, the
website generates a lot of controversy, not only amongst Poles but
also amongst Dutch people. They cannot comprehend how PVV can be so
harsh on minorities. The political party is known for
their anti-Islamic
ideas for years now, but apparently they are not so enthusiastic
about other minorities as Poles either.
At the beginning of
March, Dutch Minister of Immigration, Gerd Leers, went to Warsaw to
talk to Minister of Internal Affairs Cichocki, as well as to Minister
of Labour Kosiniak-Kamysz and Secretary of State for European Affairs
Dowgielewicz. He explained to them that it's not a government
website, but only from the political party PVV. On the same day that
Leers visited Poland, Prime Minister Donald
Tusk made the following statement: “The Netherlands is presenting
an increasingly un-European face. There is no problem of Poles in
Holland: it is Holland that has a problem, because it's the only EU
country that is behaving controversially regarding
immigrants and the enlargement of the Schengen zone.”
The opinions in Wrocław
about this web portal are very diverse. Bartek, a 23-year-old student
of the Wrocław University is not to worried about it: “It doesn't
bother me too much, we are all living in a democracy so even the
biggest idiot has his right to speak whatever he wants to, but
luckily we don't have to listen to him.” Wrocław resident Piotr
(29) also expresses his opinion: “It's a political issue, some
politicians just want to gain voters, of course some of the
complaints are well-grounded, but clearly exaggerated. Some
misbehaviour of Polish emigrants is very embarrassing for many of us
Poles staying in Poland.”
International Dutch
companies and some politicians are afraid this might harm the image
of the country abroad. Bartek: “I think it could make Holland look
bad in Poland, because I think that Poles, comparing to the residents
of many other nations act quite good, they are working hard and
they're taking the jobs that the Dutch people don't want to do.”
Agnieszka, a 26-year-old Polish woman who lives and works in Holland
doesn't agree: “I don't think it would change the image of the
Netherlands in the eyes of Polish people as I believe the Dutch
society knows that not all Polish people are the same, as well as not
all Dutch people are - there are also Dutch criminals and drug users,
for instance. I
believe that Poles know that this website is an idea of only a few
people that apparently had some bad experience with some Poles, and
it's not an
opinion of all the Dutch.”
There are also a lot
of Dutch persons who are really fond of
Poles and other residents from central and eastern Europe. They
organised an eastern European disturbance party in Utrecht to make
people aware of how many good things Poles and all the others brought
to Holland. The party was really successful, there was a crowd of
more than 500 persons who enjoyed a night full of Polish vodka,
balkan-beats and polka's. Also the Ambassador of Poland, Janusz
Stanczyk wanted to do something to turn the tides and he helped to
set up a website where you can leave all your positive experiences
with Poles: www.propolen.nl
 |
| Eastern European Disturbance party Picture by Renate Klinkenberg |
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