Cafebabel.com Amsterdam

Red Light district of Amsterdam without women but with clothes?

redactie — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:36:00 +01:00

Jabbering youth, strolling men and the smell of weed and hash; the women behind windows and the coffee shops in Amsterdam’s Red Light district attract a lot of visitors. Each year, over ten million tourists visit Amsterdam, also to stroll around the Red Light district. But for how long?

By Jochem Meijer

“It’s the sense of freedom,” Jack says, a 40-year old British real estate agent and frequent visitor of the Red Light district, “freedom to do what you want. The people give you the idea that your welcome, and besides: England isn’t that nice anymore.” Sour about his homeland but pleased by the atmosphere of this famous part of Amsterdam, he orders beer and takes another hoist of his joint. The owner of the pub at the Oudezijds Achterburgwal backs him up: “Twenty percent of tourists in the Netherlands are here for the romance of this place.”

Accessory

Whether it will stay that way is uncertain. The city of Amsterdam wants to boost the image of the city by changing the nature of the Red Light district. “I prefer to lose a tourist attraction above to be accessory to the abuse of women,” Lodewijk Asscher, city councilor of Amsterdam, says. The plan is to gradually replace the red lights of the more then 400 rooms by the white lights of glamorous shops and restaurants but mainly by studios of young designers. “Buy the dress, not the woman,” the slogan of a campaign that should point tourists at the reformation of the Red Light district, sounds. The city council already expressed its support for the plan, but doubts the intentions of the initiative of the Dutch labor party. Is it about driving back criminality or about an ethical cleansing?

Bigmouths

Meanwhile, about sixty prostitutes have left their windows. The pub owner notices it. “The romance is gone and fewer tourists are already visiting this area. The Red Light district is part of the Dutch culture and attraction number one. Major Job Cohens statements that the English bigmouths aren’t welcome anymore, caused a decline in tourists. And when there will be less, Amsterdam has no right to exist.” For that reason, the pub owner joined ‘Platform 1012’, an association of entrepreneurs that diverts itself to the stigmatization of the Red Light district as a crime-promoting area. “Of course I am in favor of getting rid of criminality. But that doesn’t mean this area has to change in a rich people’s town.” If the cleanup of the Red Light district really takes place, Jack doesn’t think that he, and many other British, will visit Amsterdam as often as he does now. “Five, six times a year I come to Amsterdam. The city is unique in what it has to offer. But for wine bars and dress shops I can stay in England.”

Photo's by Nicolas Baker

More on prostitution in Amsterdam on cafebabel.com

Help for the undecided voter

redactie — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:24:00 +01:00

Who would you vote for in the American primaries? Are you like many Americans undecided? The Electoral Compass USA may help you in making up your mind.

By Thamar Zijlstra

Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Hillary Clinton or rather Barack Obama? The battle for the political leadership of the Republican and Democratic party is still undecided. The Electoral Compass USA wants to help the voter in making a choice. By answering to a series of questions the position of the voter will be determined on a figure, with an economic and a social axis. The outcome will be compared to the position of the candidates. Although the questionnaire was not presented to the candidates André Krouwel, the inventor of the Electoral Compass, still thinks that the positions are accurate. “The placements in the figure were done by several cipher clerks and they were checked by an international team of scientists.” In previous editions of the Electoral Compass, among which the Compass for the Dutch parliamentary elections, the questionnaire also asked after the opinion of the voter regarding the trustworthiness of the candidates. In following versions this will be included.

The voter may be undecided; André Krouwel dares to make a prediction: On November 4 the battle will be between Hillary Clinton and John McCain. It is indeed likely that McCain will win the primaries for the Republican parties. But, Krouwel estimates that Clinton too will eventually win more support than her opposition. On the Electoral Compass she is placed as a social conservative and much of the American electorate shares her position.

Over two million people, among whom many Americans, but also Germans, Dutch, Britons, Belgians and Canadians filled out the Electoral Compass USA. “Everybody should be able to vote for a world leader, or at least get knowledgeable about his or her points of view,” Feels André Krouwel. Even though Europeans will not be able to actually vote in these primaries, they may expect help for their elections in the future. Electoral compasses will be developed for the European parliamentary elections, and the elections in London, Luxemburg and Portugal.

The mirage of Dutch Carnaval

redactie — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:03:00 +01:00

During Carnival even the most sensitive subjects are ridiculed. This year right-wing politician Geert Wilders and the influx of Poles are objects of scorn. Christiaan argues that this can have a purifying effect.

By Christiaan Buijnsters

The following scenario could well happen if you are celebrating this year’s Carnival in the southern part of the Netherlands: You find yourself in the party hubbub when a drunk Geert Wilders (a well-known Dutch anti-islam politician who needs constant security vigilance) throws himself around your neck and invites you to have a drink. Where have his bodyguards gone?

All of a sudden you spot a second Geert walking towards you while Geert no. 3 is lying on the pave way, too drunk to stand on his feet. You start to wonder whether the consequences of your excessive alcohol consumption make you see things that are not there..... Don´t! It is all happening, as this year’s Carnival hype in the Netherlands is the Geert Wilders wig. Flabbergasted you snitch into the first bar on your way, where a dressed-up crowd is doing the conga on this years hit for Carnival “a van stuffed with Poles” of self-made man Johan Vlemminx. A sweaty Imam takes you by the shoulders and you join in. After second look at him you notice that he is actually a blond teenager. Five minutes later this same Imam is kissing a Geert Wilders with curved shapes…

After the public panic over a possible film by Geert Wilders and the fear of an influx of Poles to The Netherlands after opening the borders, people finally have a more humorous perspective on these themes. Even people in the northern parts of The Netherlands who do not celebrate Carnival can not deny this purifying effect of Carnival. But will it stay like this? What is the typical characteristic of Carnival? Indeed, for four days you are dressed up and not quite yourself. But as soon as the party is over the outfit is thrown in the wardrobe. Everybody is back to normal and we are engaged in a heated debate again.

Lyrics to "A van full of Poles"

And a van, and a van
And a van full of Poles
And a van, and a van

In the morning, afternoon and evening
Through our street there goes a van full of Poles.
Look at them go, where do they come from?
Where are they hidden?
On the field or in construction.
They come in plenty
For some money and a can of beer,
They have come to help, that is why they are here

Indeed you can see them everywhere, it’s a border line case
Still they are my idol.
Wherever I am I wave at them,
A van full of Poles.
They have rented in our neighbourhood a house again,
homey together.
And in the evening when the work is done, 
The polka music will be played loudly.