{"id":84005,"date":"2018-02-16T15:49:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T14:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=84005"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:56","slug":"de-strijd-om-rotterdam-verzandt-in-polarisatie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/02\/16\/de-strijd-om-rotterdam-verzandt-in-polarisatie\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Battle for Rotterdam\u2019 gets bogged down in polarisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tensions are high on Wednesday evening, when political arch-rivals Joost Eerdmans (Leefbaar Rotterdam) and Stephan van Baarle (DENK) pull up a chair opposite each other at the oval table. In late 2017, DENK\u2019s national party leader Tunahan Kuzu called Eerdmans \u2018a pathological liar\u2019. Eerdmans in turn said Kuzu was \u2018captain of a fifth column\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Joost Eerdmans, the party leader of Leefbaar Rotterdam, lays in on Stephan van Baarle, seated opposite. On the right-hand side Nourdin El Ouali, leading candidate of NIDA.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In the first of a series of panel debates at Erasmus University College (EUC) about the upcoming municipal elections in Rotterdam (dubbed \u2018The Battle for Rotterdam\u2019), the top candidates on the rolls of DENK, NIDA and Leefbaar Rotterdam (LR) discuss \u2018identity and integration\u2019. Political philosopher Tamar de Waal and media and communication researcher Jiska Engelbert also pull up a chair \u2013 for a scholarly perspective.<\/p>\n

Both DENK and Leefbaar Rotterdam have embraced \u2018identity and integration\u2019 as the key theme for their election campaigns \u2013 although both parties offer a markedly different interpretation. Indeed, throughout the evening their two representatives prove in fundamental disagreement, although the squabbling is occasionally interrupted by the more nuanced comments of NIDA candidate Nourdin El Ouali.<\/p>\n

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Tamar de Waal and Stephan van Baarle.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The battle for people\u2019s identity<\/h2>

Eerdmans immediately starts attacking Van Baarle when the first topic of the evening is brought up: the Rotterdammers\u2019 identity. \u201cBeing a \u2018Rotterdammer\u2019 means feeling at home in the Netherlands, among other things. Turks who feel Turkish first and Dutch only second belong in Istanbul rather than Rotterdam,\u201d states Eerdmans.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizenship rights as established by the state determine whether or not you\u2019re a Rotterdammer,\u201d retorts Van Baarle. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, Turks do feel Dutch, according to studies published in the Monitor Integratie<\/a>. Eerdmans is cultivating a divide in Dutch society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Half way through the evening, Tamar de Waal questions the format of the debate itself. She objects to the very idea of an identity debate. \u201cA debate that focuses on what defines a real<\/em> Dutch citizen can only alienate people. And it diverts attention away from bigger social issues. Let\u2019s focus on these problems rather than this dispute,\u201d says De Waal. But both moderator Marianne van den Anker and the party leaders ignore her advice. After all, the theme of the evening\u2019s debate is \u2018identity and integration\u2019.<\/p>\n

Black-and-white<\/h2>

The two candidates continue to rant and roar during the second topic of the evening, integration. Eerdmans lays on a new line: \u201cTurks and Moroccans need to integrate and adapt to the dominant culture; however, they continue to live in parallel societies.\u201d<\/p>\n

At which point, El Ouali intervenes. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as \u2018integration\u2019 or a \u2018dominant culture\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re all Dutch citizens here in the Netherlands, and we need to learn to accept each other. I\u2019d also far prefer to talk about other issues than identity and integration [Eerdmans\u2019 response: \u201cThen you\u2019re sitting at the wrong table\u201d]; we have far bigger problems in this city that need to be solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is seconded by Jiska Engelbert, who only gets an opportunity to offer her two cents towards the end of the debate. \u201cThis dispute doesn\u2019t actually offer us any room to identify actual problems in society,\u201d notes Engelbert. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you, as politicians, to break out of this polarisation and set to work on the major issues that affect each of us here in Rotterdam.\u201d It remains to be seen whether the party leaders heed her advice.<\/p>\n

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Jiska Engelbert and Nourdin El Ouali have an issue with the very idea of an identity debate.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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