Category Archives: immigration

In honour of the immigrant 2

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in immigration, refugees in Europe

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As I promised in my previous post a few days ago, I’m posting the translation of the article of de Volkskrant published on 16th April, written by a guest columnist.

I publish the article in English in honour of my PhD friend working for CALTEC at the moment, who comes from Iraq originally and proves most points below. Being an Arab, a G.P., fluent in three languages, well-versed in European and world literature, a devotee of J.S.Bach, whose smaller piano pieces he began to learn at 28 years of age as his first ever piano pieces, he is a gifted and internationally quoted microbiologist with a bright career ahead of him.

I’d like to warn my readers, though, that, towards the end, the text could be seriously misunderstood or misinterpreted. Please do not construe the writer’s words as a threat to the existing society – the intention is to show the sheer effort, value and positive effect immigrants add to the existing society. The intended change the writer means is the change to inward-looking thinking some original natives of the country apply against those added values. It is to show that people should not consider immigrants as different in colour or culture, but as people who add their own talent and efforts to build a better future.

Here comes my translation.

“Guest column: an ode to the immigrant

GUEST COLUMN In spite of the barriers that the Dutch society erects, thanks to his own effort, the black-and sand-coloured Dutchman has made a historic success of his own part of the integration process, argues guest columnist Izz ad-Din Rahman.

Izz ad-Din Rahman 16 april 2017, 07:00

Often, a tragedy forms the basis for migration. No one voluntarily chooses to leave his homeland for good. Persecution. Hunger. War. Hopelessness. Forced by the colonizer and quartered in former Nazi camps. A tragedy that has left deep wounds, sometimes still noticeable to the fifth generation.

 

In spite of the visible and invisible barriers that the Dutch society erects, thanks to his own effort, the black-and sand-coloured Dutchman has made a historic success of his own part of the integration process. The pearl of the nation, who features determination, discipline and endurance.

People who often came to Netherlands with empty hands as guest workers or refugees are now directors, politicians, journalists, officers, judges, lawyers, tax advisors, entrepreneurs, surgeons, engineers and architects. The immigrant has taken over complete business sectors, or has revived them himself. From nothing, they have built vibrant communities, which now form the backbone of the economy of the Randstad. It is the black-and sand-coloured Dutchman who sustains the public and commercial life in the power centres.

 

Blood, sweat and tears

From his first steps in the sandpit, the black-and sand-coloured Dutchman has been fighting for his position in this country with blood, sweat and tears. The long way from the elementary school teacher and his framework advice at the technical school up to the professors who unsuccessfully try to bring down their thesis. Graduation with honours while his parents sometimes can’t even read.

From the harshest of conditions, he has shown what it means to be a fighter. The hopelessness of the concrete jungles and the uncertainty of the asylum procedures could not break the immigrant – on the contrary, it has armed him with unique experiences that bring out the best human qualities from the black-and sand-coloured Dutchman.

For many, that path has not been strewn with roses. For some, sheer agony. Of poverty. Of raids and round-ups. Of less, less and less. Of having to take too great responsibilities too early. The stabbings and shootings. The traffickers. The lonely abortion and the infants in the containers. Periods of despair and destitution. Losing everything and starting again. Going on despite setbacks or wrong choices. Not giving up, not losing sight of the objective. Soldier. A generation of lions make an act of presence.

This is a generation that does not allow you to tell them that they should be grateful. No, it is precisely the Netherlands that should be grateful to this generation for the energy they put into this reclaimed swamp. The success of the black- and sand-coloured Dutchman is purely the result of his own excellence. Of the courage to stand firm in a hostile climate that disclaimed him before he was born at all.

In particular, the immigrant who took his first steps in the conservative environment of predominantly white-populated offices. To have to be in a completely different world from nine to five and not speak about the stupid ideas that regularly circulate around the coffee machine is gruelling. It takes character to hold your ground in this mental torture chambers. Keep your head up. We support you.

No victimization

This is a generation that realizes that they can stand on their own feet. Which does not allow victimization by those who would rather see us fail because they need empirical evidence to support their sociological theories about perpetrators and victims. Or even worse: to make a PROFIT out of them. No, the black and sand-coloured Dutchman knows: a butterfly that is pulled out of its cocoon will be permanently maimed. This generation cannot be maimed by those whose degree of sympathy correlates with our level of subordination.

Glass ceiling? Even a ceiling of reinforced concrete will not stop us. We have the talent. We have the numbers. The hostile discourse in the media is just a last gasp of a social order that knows its days are numbered.

The stubborn black- and sand-coloured Dutchman ruthlessly deals with any obstacle that stands in the way of its emancipation and success. He does not need to be saved, helped, protected or being pulled ahead. He does not want to be the object of other people’s urge to have a clean conscience. Diamonds are formed under extreme pressure. All those elements that, according to the statisticians, make us fail at birth, created exactly the opposite: a whole generation of gemstones that shine far beyond the horizon.

It is this generation that paves the way for those who come after us. I am proud of my dark-eyed soldiers, the future of my country. A shout-out to all fighters: life can give me no greater honour than to be able to call you my contemporaries.

Shout-out majesty to the queen of Amsterdam-West.

Izz ad-Din Rahman is a publicist and a guest columnist of de Volkskrant this month.”

by P.S.

 

 

 

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In honour of the immigrant 1

17 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by in Dutch culture, European Union, immigration, language learning, Netherlands, refugees in Europe

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These are difficult times for people who have come to settle and find work and peace in countries other than their own countries of origin. Lots have been spoken and written about ‘migrants’ from various regions of the world, most notably in Europe and the USA. Although migration and ‘migrate’ have meanings mostly characterized by temporariness, looking for work and then relocating, they are now used heavily against people basically fleeing from hellish circumstances in their native lands.

The European Union has been wrestling with the influx of ‘migrants’ for quite a while. Germans seem to have forgotten that it was them who invited a couple of millions of Turkish workers for their own needs decades ago – and then forgot to teach them German), other big EU countries have large immigrant communities from their own former colonies, some others, like Sweden, have been supporting them well for decades (I have former classmates completely integrated there since the 1980’s), whereas a few others have borne the brunt of desperate people fleeing Africa and the Middle-East simply because they (Italy and Greece) are the closest to the danger zones. And then again, there are a few, like Hungary, who are neither very close, nor coveted target countries for those ‘migrating’ masses, but seem to be unable to understand that every coin has two sides – they only see the dark, threatening side of it, as if their own people were saints and had never endangered others themselves.

I don’t want to argue with anyone here, I just want to share an excellent article written by a ‘foreigner’, a ‘stranger’, an ‘outsider’ or an ‘immigrant’ in the Netherlands. The word in the title of the article, “allochtoon” means all these in Dutch and it’s very difficult to define more precisely how a Dutch person is using the word at a given moment so please don’t blame me for any of the English equivalents. However, being an “allochtoon” in the country myself, I’d like to remind people of the huge potential values that anybody settling abroad from outside can bring to any nation where they settle. I’d also like to allow the Netherlands to stand as an example before others as to how it is possible to welcome ‘strangers’ into a society and to appreciate them.

I dedicate quoting this article to my friend from Iraq as well. He arrived in the Netherlands nearly ten years ago as a trained young doctor with some English language knowledge. He learned Dutch within a few years, took a Masters in microbiology, then went on to receive a PhD with a thesis written in English, defended his thesis in fluent Dutch and received a scholarship to work at CALTEC. In the meantime, his thesis was awarded the prize for the best PhD thesis in his field over two years in the Netherlands, and this year he won over one hundred thousand Euros from the Rubicon foundation to follow his research wherever he intends to do so. I know that only very few of us are so gifted as him, but just think for a moment what an honour it would be to welcome such people in your country where local propaganda is fuelled by local fears about such people simply because they are ‘different’. I’d very much like to be so different sometimes.

The publication of the article you can read here and also supply below was timed for Easter Sunday, probably not without a reason. It is in Dutch, but for those who can’t understand it (although GoogleTranslate could provide a reasonable idea), I’ll translate it and publish the English version soon.

by P.S.

“Gastcolumn: een ode aan de allochtoon

GASTCOLUMN In weerwil van de barrières die de Nederlandse samenleving opwerpt, heeft de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander op eigen kracht zíjn deel van het integratieproces tot een historisch succes gemaakt, betoogt gastcolumnist Izz ad-Din Ruhulessin.

Izz ad-Din Ruhulessin 16 april 2017, 07:00

Vaak ligt er een tragedie ten grondslag aan migratie. Niemand kiest er vrijwillig voor om zijn geboortegrond voorgoed te verlaten. Vervolging. Honger. Oorlog. Uitzichtloosheid. Gedwongen door de kolonisator en in voormalige Nazikampen ondergebracht. Een tragedie die diepe wonden achterlaat, soms voelbaar tot in de vijfde generatie.

 

In weerwil van de zichtbare en onzichtbare barrières die de Nederlandse samenleving voor ons opwerpt, heeft de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander op eigen kracht zíjn deel van het integratieproces tot een historisch succes gemaakt. De parel der natie, die zich laat kenmerken door vastberadenheid, discipline en uithoudingsvermogen.

Mensen, die vaak met lege handen als gastarbeiders of vluchtelingen naar Nederland kwamen, zijn nu directeuren, politici, journalisten, officieren, rechters, juristen, fiscalisten, ondernemers, chirurgen, ingenieurs en architecten. De allochtoon nam complete bedrijfstakken over, of blies er zelf het leven in. Vanuit niets bouwde hij bruisende gemeenschappen op, die nu de ruggengraat vormen van de Randstedelijke economie. Het is de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander die het publieke en commerciële leven in de machtscentra van ons land gaande houdt.

 

Bloed, zweet en tranen

Vanaf zijn eerste stappen in de zandbak heeft de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander zijn positie in dit land met bloed, zweet en tranen bevochten. De lange weg van de basisschoolleraar en zijn VMBO-kaderadvies naar de professoren die tevergeefs het proefschrift proberen neer te sabelen. Cum laude afstuderen terwijl zijn ouders soms niet eens kunnen lezen.

Vanuit de meest barre omstandigheden toonde hij wat het betekent om een strijder te zijn. De uitzichtloosheid van de betonnen jungles en de onzekerheid van de asielprocedures hebben de allochtoon niet kunnen breken, integendeel, het heeft hem gewapend met unieke ervaringen, die in de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander de meest deugdzame menselijke eigenschappen naar boven halen.

Voor velen ging dat pad niet over rozen. Voor sommigen een regelrechte lijdensweg. Van armoede. Van invallen en razzia’s. Van minder, minder, minder. Van te vroeg te grote verantwoordelijkheden moeten dragen. De steek- en schietpartijen. De mensenhandelaars. De eenzame abortus en de pasgeborenen in de containers. Perioden van wanhoop en rampspoed. Alles verliezen en opnieuw beginnen. Blijven doorgaan, ondanks tegenslagen of verkeerde keuzes. Niet opgeven en het doel voor ogen houden. Soldier. Een generatie van leeuwen maakt acte-de-presence.

Dit is een generatie die zich niet laat vertellen dat ze dankbaar moet zijn. Nee, het is juist Nederland dat deze generatie dankbaar moet zijn om de energie die zij in dit drooggemalen moeras steekt. Het succes van de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander is zuiver het resultaat van zijn eigen excellentie. Van de moed om de rug recht te houden in een vijandig klimaat dat hem al afwees voordat hij überhaupt werd geboren.

In het bijzonder de allochtoon die als eerste stappen zette in het conservatieve milieu van de overwegend door witte mensen bevolkte kantoren. Van negen tot vijf in een totaal andere wereld moeten zijn is slopend, om maar niet te spreken over de stompzinnige opvattingen die daar dikwijls bij het koffiezetapparaat de ronde doen. Het vergt karakter om jezelf staande te houden in deze mentale martelkamers. Keep your head up. Wij staan achter je.

Geen slachtofferschap

Dit is een generatie die beseft dat zij op eigen benen kan staan. Die laat zich geen slachtofferschap aanpraten door degenen die ons liever zien falen omdat zij empirisch bewijs nodig hebben voor hun sociologische theorieën over daders en slachtoffers. Of erger nog: daar GELD aan verdienen. Nee, de zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander weet: een vlinder die uit zijn cocon wordt getrokken zal blijvend verminkt zijn. Deze generatie laat zich niet verminken door degenen wier mate van sympathie correleert met onze mate van ondergeschiktheid.

Glazen plafond? Zelfs een plafond van gewapend beton gaat ons niet tegenhouden. We hebben het talent. We hebben de aantallen. Het vijandige discours in de media is slechts een laatste stuiptrekking van een sociale orde die weet dat haar dagen zijn geteld.

De weerbarstige zwarte- en zandkleurige Nederlander rekent genadeloos af met elk obstakel dat zijn emancipatie en succes in de weg staat. Hij hoeft niet gered, geholpen, beschermd of voorgetrokken te worden. Hij wenst niet het object te zijn van andermans drang om een schoon geweten te hebben. Diamanten vormen zich onder extreme druk. Al de factoren die volgens de statistici ons geboren om te falen maken, produceerden juist het tegenovergestelde: een hele generatie van edelstenen die tot ver over de horizon schitteren.

Het is deze generatie die de weg plaveit voor degenen die na ons komen. Ik ben trots op mijn donkerogige soldiers, de toekomst van mijn land. Shoutout naar alle strijders; het leven kan mij geen grotere eer schenken dan jullie tot mijn generatiegenoten te mogen rekenen.

Shoutout-majestatis naar de Koningin van Amsterdam-West.”

Izz ad-Din Ruhulessin is publicist en deze maand gastcolumnist van de Volkskrant.

 

 

Intercultural life in the Netherlands

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in child development, Dutch culture, education, immigration, intercultural learning, Netherlands

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cl_043_ 001I’ve almost begun this post as most of my Chinese students back then in China began most of their (almost always very optimistic) papers: “In our highly developed, modern society …” But before I completely change my mind, let me begin by saying that in our societies in Europe, it’s more important than before that our children appreciate variety in the world, learn to understand and live alongside various other cultures than their own immediate background. When knives and guns are aimed from left and right at people that others think are ‘different’, meaning ‘strange’, ‘dangerous’, ‘threatening’ and this feeling is sometimes enhanced by the reality that others may actually be that, what can we do? When we think of ‘us’ v. ‘others’, let’s not forget that in such equations, we are ‘others’ to them just like that. And when we think that ‘others’ are dangerous, it means we are dangerous too and then how can we stay alive?

In today’s Europe this question is debated all over. What I was surprised to hear a few month back was that the largest country of the EU, which also has been having probably the largest imported work force, from Turkey, for that matter, has always forgotten about language teaching to those working for them. Thanks to improved understanding and policy, Germany may soon start teaching their language to those who have come and worked in Germany.

Great move. Hopefully not too late. But here in the Netherlands, such policies have long been in place and contributed to the peaceful living together of millions of people from all over the world, lots of whom are not only from former colonies, and lots of whom are muslims, or at least non-Christians.

P1120868I’ve already praised the language teaching system that allows immigrating adults to learn Dutch almost free of charge, or at least very cheaply and efficiently. Now I’ve just witnessed workings of a perhaps even more important ground for future peace: a primary school. The bigger kid of the Chinese partner to this post has already been going to school for a year. I’ve often seen kids coming or going to that school and already known that it lies in a ‘mixed nationality’ area of town. This means that probably all nationalities are represented at school, form Moroccans and Turks through Chinese, Indonesians, Thai, Surinamese and Syrians to Somalis and other black Africans. These can be very well seen in the area, but let’s add a probably huge number of Polish and some Hungarian people and we have a real cauldron.

So far I’ve found kids after school very interesting because most of them are so little that they have to be picked up by parents at the end of the day. Then I can see they talk their own languages to their parents but happily talk Dutch to all their friends to say good-bye. Nice. And of course the language of instruction inside is Dutch. The common denominator is important for understanding the society around us and to integrate into it.

P1120858Now, the school finds the original cultures of their kinds also important. We can’t deny that these exist: those parents (or their parents earlier) have come from somewhere else and it’s just natural that mother speaks her mother tongue to her children. The great thing is that the school understands the values embedded in such diversity. Instead of pointing at each others with grins, they are given the opportunity to first take everything around them at face value and accept it – no kid even realizes that some of them have very dark skins, others very white, yet again others different eyes or something – and then at the end of the school year, the school organizes a little festival to bring out the values inherent in the population of the school. This is what I’m going to show you parts below.

P1120861First, it was interesting to hear that the leader of the event found it important to wear a clothes and a piece of jewellery from Somalia. And to tell the kids about it too, and proudly at that.

As kids start going to school at age 4 in the Netherlands, no wonder the whole things was sometimes quite noisy, yet, it was apparently to all kids’ interests and they took part in chorus singing with obvious enthusiasm.

At the beginning there was Turkish dancing for everybody’s delight – even some teachers joined towards the end.

Most of the event contained singing and as parents were also invited not only to attend but also to take part, the co-writer of this blog decided to contribute as well.

The following are the recordings I took of her performing two Chinese songs. Her first performance started with inviting kids to help her play out the scene in the lullaby, thereby making the foreign text somewhat understandable to the very young audience. For those who find the Dutch introduction too long, the song starts at 5′ into the video. What I find important here is the children’s enthusiasm to join the ranks on the stage.

With the next song, teachers were asked to participate, again to great cheers. Children of all nationalities were chanting their favourite teacher’s names to make them join a song they knew they would not understand. Here the song starts rolling at 4′ into the recording.

There was also a very nice, colourful act with pairs of little ones parading clothes worn in their (or rather, their parents’) country of origin, again to great cheering from the audience.

The even practically closed with a Dutch song. The kids’ performance itself was not of the most outstanding quality but they had all volunteered in the first place, like the others, but what is here very important is that this is a Dutch song in front of a very multi-cultural audience, of which the most enthusiastic co-singers were ….

I hope my dear visitor also enjoyed the above and understands what I mean without me going on ranting about it. I just wish the world had a lot more similar institutions, events and joy about our differences and we can see more and proud wearers of such fabulous clothes and singers of such enchanting songs like on that day.

by Z.J.S. and P.S.

Teach Dutch to refugees

17 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by in applying for a job in the Netherlands, Dutch culture, education, European Union, foreign language teaching, immigration, learning Dutch, refugees in Europe

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Lots of talk has been going on in all forums and media about the refugee crisis in Europe over the past months. A major problem for people who can actually have a relevant effect on events seems to be having to navigate between the Scylla of generous humanitarian help and the Charybdis of strict rejection.

As far as I know, the Netherlands is fairly quiet about the matter as the brunt of the problem seems to have to be borne by Southern- and Eastern-European countries, Austria, Germany and Sweden, but I know of situations where the “my home is my castle” notion has already come to work at a few places here where real refugees in actual neighbourhoods were planned to be lodged.

The Netherlands has been one of a few countries, in my view, which has a history of taking perhaps the singularly most important helpful action in the event of receiving refugees, the importance of which Germany has just been getting acquainted with: teaching the language of the host nation. When I was young, geography classes dealt with how many Turkish temporary workers were employed in Germany. Since we were informed that they actually remained in Germany for a long time and took over jobs that Germans themselves were loth to do, I’ve always thought they were integrated into the society. In the political turmoil of recent months, I’ve been proven wrong.

Well, I’m one of the beneficiaries of Dutch efficiency about teaching Dutch to foreigners as I’ve already described earlier. In line with that system, the other day I received an invitation to help teach Dutch to refugees in Gelderland here as I’m still registered with a number of intermediary organizations. Here is the text of the letter:

“U staat bij ons ingeschreven en momenteel zoeken we naar meerdere docenten NT2 voor diverse locaties en dagdelen. Het gaat om lessen NT2 aan vluchtelingen.
We zijn op zoek naar ZZP-ers, met een CRKBO erkenning (of in ieder geval BTW vrij factureren). Ik benader u nu via een algemene mailing, dus indien u geen ZZP-er bent dan alvast excuus dat ik u deze mail en vacature heb gestuurd.”

Being a language teacher to the core, a ZZP-er providing BTW invoices, and a sort of “economic refugee” myself, and having passed the NT2 exam, I jumped to the occasion. I can at last do something in return for what this system has done for me and a lot of my friends, one of whom, out of Iraq, has just received his PhD at Utrecht University as a microbiologist, so the investment into the language first and foremost may pay off wonderful dividends for those concerned.

Under the link provided in the e-mail, the important points concerning the jobs (needs!) are as follows (I’m not translating this text either – it doesn’t matter for those who don’t understand it, but those who may actually be interested in trying to take one of these positions have to understand it anyway):

“Voor onze opdrachtgever, met diverse locaties in het land, zjin we met spoed op zoek naar ervaren docenten NT2 voor minimaal 3 dagdelen per week. Het betreft een reguliere vacature.

Voor de vacature zoeken we docenten (ZZP-ers met een CRKBO erkenning) die ruime ervaring hebben met het geven van NT2 lessen en ervaring heeft met meerdere niveau’s in 1 groep.
Hieronder een overzicht van de locaties en de dagdelen:

  • Culemborg – exacte lesdagen en tijden nog niet bekend – Startdatum 18-01-2016;
  • Epe – lesdagen: woensdag en vrijdagochtend – Startdatum 20-01-2016;
  • Schijndel – lesdagen: maandag, dinsdag en donderdagochtend – startdatum 26-01-2016;
  • Ede – exacte lesdagen en tijden nog niet bekend – Startdatum 08-02-2016;
  • Wageningen – exacte lesdagen en tijden nog niet bekend – Startdatum 15-02-2016;
  • Zutphen – lesdagen: woensdag en vrijdagmiddag – Startdatum 24-02-2016;
  • Ede – exacte lesdagen en tijden nog niet bekend – Startdatum 14-03-2016, 2 groepen van 2 of 3 dagdelen

Heb je ruime ervaring met het verzorgen van NT2 aan vluchtelingen, ben je langere tijd beschikbaar voor een groep op de bovengenoemde locatie en dagdelen? Ben je ZZP-er die BTW vrij kan factureren? Dan ontvangen wij graag jouw motivatie en cv!

…

De docent die we zoeken:

  • beschikt over een Post HBO NT2, een certificaat NT2 of;
  • beschikt over een Bevoegdheid Basiseducatie of BVE
  • heeft ruime ervaring met het verzorgen van lessen NT2;
  • is ZZP-er en in bezit van VAR WUO of DGA
  • heeft een CRKBO erkenning en/of kan BTW vrij factureren;
  • is beschikbaar voor minimaal 3 dagdelen per week
  • heeft bij voorkeur ervaring met de methodes 7/43, Taalcompleet (Kleurrijker) , Op maat sprong en De Finale”

Here is the link to the site with this and more information, for example about fees offered.

If you consider applying, beware: you really have to fulfil ALL of the above conditions! Consider this: after being invited and having applied, I received no answer for a few days, but a repeat of the invitation (“Wellicht is deze mail aan uw aandacht ontsnapt, vandaar dat ik u nogmaals aanschrijf”). In answer to my second letter reinforcing my intent, I received a flat rejection saying that they are looking for people who fully comply with the requirements.

And here I see a sort of a problem with the system. They are intent on setting up courses, but a week before some of them (are planned to) start, they’re still short of teachers. I doubt again that there are a lot of teachers around who are actually free several mornings of the week and have nothing better to do in the middle of the academic year, and who, further, have not only the enthusiasm but also ‘a lot of experience teaching refugees’ with the particular materials and can provide invoices as ZZP-ers. Most teachers are not ZZP-ers. They teach at schools. They are the ones that taught me and my friends. Those who are ZZP-ers here teach English, not Dutch, and to all kinds of Dutch people at companies and businesses, not to refugees. And quite some of them (hope I’m wrong) actually do not agree with helping refugees in the first place. I mean they are probably British people with a certain degree of notoriety about rejecting foreigners settling down in their country.

So, despite the nice idea, who are going to teach a few hundred refugees in East Netherlands? Not me – I haven’t got the experience, and as a result, never will acquire it, however much I’d like to. Perhaps you? Don’t hesitate, apply if you’d like to do something for a better, still peaceful Europe.

by P.S. 

Send Dutch applicants abroad back home!

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in English teaching, immigration, joblessness, language teaching

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I’m afraid I have to add some bile to my writing today. I’ve just read a long article called “Ze schreeuwen hier om Nederlanders” in the on-line “Intermediair Weekblad” about what jobless Dutch, or those threatened by losing their jobs, could do to try to find a career abroad. With the third lowest jobless rate in the EU, no wonder most of the advice talks about opportunities far out in the world, although Sweden also comes into the picture. It may be true that Dutch people can learn Swedish fast, but jobless rates are higher there than in the Netherlands. So I, a desperate Middle-European job-seeker here, may ask, how dare they think about invading a country with even higher jobless rates than the Netherlands?

English: The logo of Dutch magazine Intermediair.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Regrettably, writing an answer to the article is not possible, but some of the ideas expressed therein blow the fuse in the mind, and the Swedish possibility is only a smaller one. The reason is that the advice goes directly against their own well-hidden discriminating practices.

A large part of the posts in this blog explain in quite a detail why an English teacher from abroad, at least those not from English-speaking countries, are regularly pushed down the line of applicants for teaching jobs. The main reasons, as already described, are mainly a lack of knowledge of the local language, a lack of experience in the local educational context, and then, by the time one learns the language, the time-gap one has accumulated without teaching. Never mind that English is taught in English everywhere in the world, the Dutch teach English in Dutch. Never mind that, bar one or the other of these factors, the foreigner may be far better at doing the real job. And that may be dangerous.

Oh, no, they do not answer so. What they nicely say is,

Er heeft een selcetie plaatsgevonden onder alle kandidaten, daarbij is gelet op de gestelde functie-eisen, de opleiding en ervaring. We hebben een keuze gemaakt tussen de kandidaten die aan het gestelde profiel voldoen. Met die groep van kandidaten zullen wij een oriënterend gesprek voeren.

If this were only the fifth, or tenth, or tentieth answer to this effect, I may be inclined to believe. But I am not the only one who has already been trying in vain to get even to an interview. For me, this just the other day was at least the one-hundred-and-fiftieth, but I haven’t been counting, it may be far more. At the same time, I seem to be able to get a job teaching English at a company in the early afternoons a few days a week. How does it happen that I get such a job? I’ll tell you how: there are not many more Dutch who can and dare, and who have the time for it. Most already sit in jobs at schools and are busy staying there in the afternoons. There are not so many, definitely not 70 applicants per vacancy as the refusals sometimes claim. Besides, I doubt that many teacher-trainers with 30 years of experience and some at university level who have also taken part in course-book writing are looking for a new workplace in this country. The only problem this school could have against me was that I am too experienced, or old, or foreign. Which is discrimination. Despite the regular well-wishing at the end of each and every refusal. Which, in this way, has already become farcical and mocking for me.

Against this background, my question is: how dare somebody even vaguely suggest that the poor Dutch should try and work in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, or the like? Do they already speak Chinese, or Vietnamese, or Khmer, or Thai for that matter? Have they already got experience in those educational systems? Do they want to get Eastern-European levels of income? Does it suffice? The article does mention that employment requirements have become stricter in China lately, meaning they want only native speakers. Fair. But the Dutch are not native speakers, and they have no knowledge of the local language and system, so please, forget about it. They should stay here and go on stopping Eastern-Europeans or South-Europeans from using their considerable, often better, skills in the English classrooms and let them take those Asian jobs. If Dutch people are so adventurous as the article describes them, why don’t they sometimes switch to delivering letters, or scrubbing floors here if there is no school job, as Eastern-European teachers are forced to?

I encourage institutions around the world to send back the applications of Dutch applicants to English-teaching jobs out there. Treat them to the same medicine they offer us here. I know from experience that some of us Eastern-Europeans have already worked there, we know the ways, we deserve getting those jobs. We don’t get our chances here, so we deserve them there better and we need them more. The Dutch would only be able to teach English in Asia using Dutch anyway. They are trained to do so, they have no experience explaining difficult stuff in English! 

The Dutch Empire during the 17th and 18th cent...

The Dutch Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries: in light green the Dutch East India Company, in dark green is the Dutch West India Company. In yellow the territories occupied later, during the 19th century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do not let them go on and enjoy their geographical and historical advantages. Treat them fairly: based on their skills and knowledge. They are helpful, friendly and cheerful people on the streets and in offices, but not creative in the classroom. They mostly got as far as the ‘grammar-translation method.’ Just look at some of their language tests …

Fortunately for some, I have to admit that language institutions providing language development courses at in-company training use material published by large British/American publishers. They order directly from publishers, that’s why ordinary people can’t get them in book-stores. However, teachers teaching in-company may be well-trained in giving lessons exclusively in English.

by P.S.

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Bending immigration statistics – English version

15 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in European Union, immigration, language learning, Netherlands

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As I promised yesterday, I am adding my English version of my criticism of a Dutch article from yesterday here. The original of the article,

 Immigratie steeds meer uit Oost- en Zuid-Europa

or “Immigration grows again from East- and South-Europe”, published by NRC Handelsblad on 8th March, can only be accessed digitally by registered users of the NRC Handelsblad. Sorry about that.

The bending of statistics

We already know that demagogy knows no borders. Communism spread from Germans in London on to Russians, Cubans, Indians and North-Koreans, Nazism spread from Germany through Italy and Austria to Finland and Japan. It’s well-known that statistics are an important and good way of describing the world, but also that, in the wrong hands, it can lead to demagogy. I am quite used to it in Hungary, but it surprised me here in the Netherlands the other day.

I always thought NRC a high-quality newspaper, until now. This opinion changed when I read their article of 8th March about immigration. In this article, they distort statistics, not very seriously, but enough so that people do not give it a second thought. If someone seriously distorts the truth, people may also react strongly and fast and think that a refusal is necessary. But a little clouding over easily remains unobserved. Easily creeps into the mind as the truth. And I find that dangerous.

NRC Handelsblad

NRC Handelsblad (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What do the writers state? First of all, it is not clear from the article if they use the statistical figures they quote on yearly basis, or as the sum total of immigrants. In most cases it can be said that it is not likely that a country with 17 million inhabitants receives close to 600 thousand people from the EU each year (the population of the Netherlands is still growing, but not that much), but who knows, it may be possible in the case of Bulgarians, whose numbers grew from 6 thousand in 2007 to 18 thousand in 2012. The article does not say at all that that means the whole number of Bulgarians that live in the country. But the article starts by saying that “Most migrants (!?) who come to the Netherlands, … from within the European Union.” (!? is my addition, because I also find it conspicuous that immigrants are usually called migrants in the article, as if they were just shifting like nomads; and the word, in the headline of the attached chart, can be understood as people migrating from the EU, to other countries, that is.) So is it first about the number of migrants who are coming at the moment (in Dutch, the normal present tense is used for general, momentary and even future meaning, so ‘komen’ allows for all interpretations)? Afterwards, the article only uses full data sums of people living here. It becomes thus shifty. Why? Because otherwise, people could clearly see that there are only 18.000 Bulgarians in their country of 17 million, which only means 0.1% of the whole population. People could simply ask, “What’s the problem?”

European Union

European Union (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The second problem with this piece is that it is highly unclear what they mean by East- and Middle-Europe. Added to this, this dubious idea is washed together with East- and South-Europe, which shouts out of the headline as if it were an entity. Completely wrong. What is this article actually about? But it seems to be alright for the masses of Dutch, they should not worry about such small matters, and that is good enough for the editors.

Furthermore, from the chart it seems that about 580 thousand people live in the Netherlands from the EU (and the number is rising). Here, South-, and East- and Middle-Europe are separated. But where do Bulgarians, or Rumanians belong? Alright, it does not matter. According to the text, “the number of migrants from the previously communist (my problem: all those countries were ‘socialist’, not ‘communist’ – we knew our definitions better) EU-countries has risen … to 237 thousand,” and that seems represented in the chart by the ‘Middle- and East-Europe‘ line. Besides that problem of where Bulgaria and Romania belong (politically perhaps East, geographically South!), we have the problem of who are most of the immigrants.

EU and candidates

EU and candidates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the text, we have the following, “Most migrants from inside the EU come from Poland.” Same problem as above: do they mean ‘are coming’? This is important because we get only the percentage of Polish people. What does their 28% really mean (if it means 28% of those now coming, then we have a problem of who constitute the 237 thousand)? If it means the percentage of all present inhabitants from the EU, then it gives 165 thousand Poles who live in the Netherlands. Whether only short-term, or long-term, it does not seem to matter. Well, from the chart we see that the number of EU citizens living here from the EU is 580 thousand. Out of this number, and from the number of Bulgarians and Romanians (only 18.000 and 14.000 respectively) at fourth and fifth place, we can find that the group of Germans and Belgians at second and third place should be really large, but the article does not say anything. Otherwise, however, where do men between 200 thousand (all Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians) and the full 580 thousand from the EU come from? Each other country can send only fewer than 14.000 people, the number of Romanians at fifth place. We can thus only guess that there are also relatively many English (who come to do translation or language teaching), Spanish, Greeks, perhaps also Portuguese and Italians living here. There can’t be many from other countries, so we can guess that there are about 50 thousand from those five countries. Add a number of thousand Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks. After that, it is not likely that many people emigrate from dynamic and very small countries like Estonia, Slovenia, Cyprus or Malta, and French and Nordic people also do not do so. This leads me to deduce that we still miss about 300 thousand to make up the 580 thousand. That number can only belong to the Germans and Belgians, who account for the second and third largest group, although not given in numbers.

What does this mean? It means that more Germans and Belgians together live here than those from all other countries of the EU. However, this is not a problem at all in the article. It tells us nothing about the 300 thousand. Also no word about South-Europeans. Only in the headline, further nothing. It tells us only about the 0.1% Bulgarians and Romanians, and of course the Polish people.

Why is it a problem, according to the article? Because “last year there were a good 4 (four!) thousand EU people receiving social security provisions, and that number … is rising.” That is 0.068% of all ‘migrants’. It says nothing about the 17 million (my addition, based on the opinion of friends and facts: for example about the thousands and thousands of Dutch who rarely worked in their lives and receive regular social security support). So what a problem that that number of 4 thousand is rising! Where is it going to lead? “We still don’t know exactly how much of those don’t have a right to those provisions,” they admit, but we should think that a few hundred more illegal receivers of social support will cause a really big problem.

5886859183_6b31c87b95_mSo, “There is fear of a social security migration.” Indeed. According to the newspaper, there is no such problem with the two and a half million people from countries outside the EU, or the 300 thousand Germans and Belgians, only with those 4 thousand on social support. Or with the 165 thousand Polish people, most of whom, by the way, are provisional guest workers and busy working hard in industry. Or with the Rumanians and Bulgarians, who may be more professionally able to work in industry or in language education than some Dutch, but may not get work on account of never being able to speak the language well enough. That is a problem, but not in the article. East- and Middle-Europe is complaining of ‘brain drain’, but at the moment, thousands of people with high levels of education from there have to work as cleaning personnel, postmen, or storage personnel. About which the Dutch do not know. That is a problem. Yet, the writer-editors, and as they say, some ministers do as if the country should quickly stop the influx of East-Europeans.

I think that if that is the message, Western Europe had not thought over the effects of widening the community well enough. And then the Netherlands could shut down their borders in front of all immigrants. Just like some professions are shut down by law.

But then, to lay all fault on the shoulders of “East-Europeans” is demagogy from the cold war.

by P.S.

Only after I added the links below did I realize that such a problem and debate is raging in the UK as well now. My readers are kindly asked to contribute their opinion about it all below in the ‘Reply’ space. Thank you.

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Bending immigration statistics

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in European Union, immigration, language learning, Netherlands

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Dear reader,

I feel I have to turn my attention over to subjects that have little to do with language learning. As I am also a geographer by education, so statistics and politics are not far from me. The topic of migration is also to some extent to do with language knowledge, at least here in the Netherlands I have to find that to my own disadvantage. So what I’m writing about also relates to languages. Or politics. Please don’t be too much taken aback.

Over the last few weeks nothing much has been happening to me, no news on the job front, still lingering health problems, no new experience except at the language course, where we were given an article from NRC Handelsblad of 8th March which discusses immigration from some countries within the EU. It is called

Immigratie steeds meer uit Oost- en Zuid-Europa.

As in my opinion this article distorts truth, I want to react to the editors of the newspaper, so my text is still in Dutch. I still have to work on it to make it shorter so that it falls within their limits, but here I can publish it as it came to me. It’s in Dutch, but for the benefit of those who don’t understand that language, I’ll soon translate it to English. Now it goes like the following.

Het verdraaien van statistiek

We weten al dat demagogie geen grenzen kent. Communisme verspreidde zich van Germanen in London naar de Russen, de Cubanen, de Indiërs en de Noord Koreanen, Nazisme verspreidde zich van Duitsland door Italië en Oostenrijk naar Finland en Japan. Dat statistiek een belangrijke en goeie mannier van het omschrijving van de wereld is, is bekend, maar ook, dat het in slechte handen tot demagogie kan verworden. Ik ben eraan gewend, dat het vaak op zo’n mannier in Hongarije gaat, maar het verbaast me in Nederland.

NRC Handelsblad

NRC Handelsblad (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ik dacht altijd, dat NRC een dagblad met kwaliteit is, tot nu toe. Dit is veranderd toen ik hun artikel op 8 maart over immigratie heb gelezen. Ze verdraaien statistiek, niet serieus, maar genoeg, zodat mensen er eigenlijk niet veel over zouden moeten nadenken. Als iemand de waarheid sterk vervalst, zouden mensen snel reageren en hun afkeuring kenbaar maken. Maar een kleine onduidelijkheid kan niet makkelijk ontdekt geworden. En dat vind ik gevaarlijk.

Wat zeggen de redacteuren? Ten eerste is het in het artikel niet duidelijk of het aantal migranten er eigenlijk per jaar of als het hele aantal gebruikt is. Met de meeste getallen is het niet waarschijnlijk dat in een land van 17 miljoen mensen elk jaar bijna 6oo duizend immigranten uit de EU krijgt, maar wie weet het met het aantal Bulgaren, het aantal waarvan steeg tussen 2007 en 2012 van 6.000 tot 18.000? Het artikel zegt het nergens duidelijk, dat dat het volle aantal is, hoewel het artikel begint met te zeggen, dat “De meeste migranten die naar Nederland komen, … van binnen de Europese Unie.” Dus is het eerst over het aantal migranten die nu aan het komen zijn? Daarna gebruikt het artikel alleen volle bedragen. Dus wordt het niet duidelijk. Waarom niet? Omdat de mensen dan wel zouden zien dat er alleen maar 18.000 Bulgaren in hun land van 17 miljoen blijven, die alleen maar 0.1% van de bevolking uitmaken. Mensen zouden dan makkelijk kunnen vragen, ‘Wat is het probleem?’

European Union

European Union (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ten tweede is het helemaal niet duidelijk, wat de krant bedoelt met Oost- en Midden-Europa.  Bovendien is die onduidelijk idee “samengespoeld” met Oost- en Zuid-Europa, die in de krantenkop staat alsof het een eenheid zou zijn. Helemaal fout. Waarover gaat het artikel eigenlijk? Maar het blijkt goed voor de meeste Nederlanders, ze kunnen zich over zo’n kleine probleem helemaal niet schelen, en dat is goed voor de redactie.

Verder blijkt uit de grafiek, dat er nu ongeveer 580 duizend mensen uit de EU in Nederland blijven. Hier is Zuid-EU en Midden- en Oost-Europa verschillend. Maar waar horen Bulgaren of Roemenen bij? OK, het maakt niet uit. Volgens de tekst, “het aantal migranten uit de voormalig communistische EU-landen steeg … naar 237 duizend”, en dat blijkt de lijn ‘Midden- en Oost-Europa’ in de grafiek te zijn. Behalve het probleem waar Bulgarije bij hoort (politiek Oost, geografisch Zuid!), krijgen wij het probleem wie het meeste immigranten zijn.

Uit de tekst blijkt het volgende: “De meeste migranten van binnen de EU komen uit Polen”. Bedoelt de redacteuren dat de meeste NU komen uit Polen? Het is belangrijk, omdat wij alleen een procent bij de Polen krijgen. Wat betekent hun 28% eigenlijk? Als het de % van alle hedendaagse bewoners uit EU betekent, dat maakt het 165 duizend Polen uit die in Nederland wonen. Tijdelijk, of lange termijn, dat doet er niet toe. Nou, uit de grafiek blijkt het aantal EU-immigranten 580 duizend te zijn. Uit dit cijfer en het aantal van Bulgaren en Roemenen (alleen 18.000 en 14.000) op de vierde en vijfde plaats lijkt dat de groep mensen uit Duitsland en België op tweede en derde plaats heel groot moet zijn, hoewel het artikel dat niet zegt. Maar anders, waar komen mensen tussen het aantal 200 duizend (alle Polen, Roemenen en Bulgaren) en de EU-totaal van 580 duizend vandaan? Enkele andere landen sturen minder dan 14 duizend, het aantal Roemenen op vijfde plaats. Dus kunnen wij alleen raden, dat er nog veel Engelsen (hier om te vertalen of les te geven), Spanjaarden, Grieken, misschien Portugezen en Italianen hier wonen. Uit andere landen waarschijnlijk niet veel, dus kunnen wij raden dat er hier ongeveer 50 duizend meer uit die vijf landen wonen. Wij kunnen nog een paar duizend uit Hongarije, Tsjechië of Slovakië toevoegen. Verder is het helemaal niet waarschijnlijk dat vele duizenden uit de dynamische een heel kleine landen als Estonië, Slovenië, Cyprus of Malta emigreren, ook doen Fransen en Noordelijke mensen dat niet. Dat lijdt tot een aantal van ruim 300 duizend die wij tot 580 duizend nog missen. Dat aantal kan alleen uit Duitsland en België komen, die op de tweede en derde plaats staan, zonder cijfers.

Wat betekent het? Het betekent dat er nog meer Duitsers en Belgen in het land wonen dan alle andere mensen uit de hele EU. Maar, volgens dit artikel is het helemaal geen probleem. Het praat over 300 duizend met geen woord. Ook geen woord over Zuid-Europeanen. Alleen in de kop, daarna niks. Het praat alleen over de 0.1% Bulgaren en Roemenen, en natuurlijk over de Polen.

Waarom is het een probleem, volgens het artikel? Omdat “er in Nederland vorig jaar ruim vierduizend EU-burgers waren die een bijstandsuitkering kregen en het aantal neemt … toe.” Dat is 0.068% van alle migranten. Die zegt niks over de 17 miljoen bewoners. Jammer dat het aantal stijgt. Waar leidt dat toe? “We weten nog niet precies hoeveel van hen daar geen recht op hebben”, maar wij moeten denken, dat een paar honderd onrechtelijke bijstandsuitkeringtrekkers meer een heel erg groot probleem kunnen veroorzaken.

Description unavailable

Description unavailable (Photo credit: bogers)

Dus, “Er is vrees voor ‘uitkeringsmigratie’.” Inderdaad. Volgens de krant is er geen probleem met de ruim twee en half miljoen mensen uit andere landen buiten de EU, alleen maar met de ruim 4 duizend mensen met een bijstandsuitkering. Of met de 165 duizend Polen, de meeste waarvan bezig zijn met het hard werken in de industrie. Of met de Roemenen en Bulgaren, die ook in de industrie of in het onderwijs meer professioneel kunnen zijn dan Nederlanders, maar ze kunnen misschien geen banen krijgen omdat ze nooit goed genoeg Nederlands kunnen praten. Dat is een probleem. Oost- en Midden-Europa klaagt over ‘brain drain’, maar tegelijkertijd moeten duizenden daarvan met hoge opleidingsniveau als schoonmakers, postbezorgers, of magazijn medewerkers werken. Nederland weet niks erover. Dat is een probleem. Toch geeft de schrijvers en sommige ministers in, dat het land snel de instroom van duizenden Oost-Europeanen moet stoppen.

Ik denk, dat als het de bedoeling is, hadden er mensen in West-Europa niet goed nagedacht over de gevolgen van de uitbreiding van de EU. Maar dan kan Nederland alle zijn grenzen voor alle immigranten ook sluiten. Net als dat soort banen die nu al rechtelijk gesloten zijn.

Maar van alles de schuld aan de “Oost-Europeanen” geven is demagogie uit de koude oorlog.

Followed by the translation in the following post.

(After writing the above, I shortened my Dutch text to the requirements and sent it to the paper, but they answered that, due to a huge number of new articles, they cannot publish mine. I have to face it: it would be inconvenient.)

by P.S.

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