“This is not about that large group of Dutch people who are doing great, speak the language, stand for our democratic values,” VVD MP Bente Becker wrote on the VVD site on Tuesday. The motion in which she had called for more research into the norms and values of people with a migration background was already two weeks old, but she continued to explain it. On the site, and a few days earlier in a video. Becker also spoke about people with a migration background as if they were retarded toddlers who had just completed a puzzle: they were doing “usually very well”. And what went so well? Well, “that people with a migration background are simply hardworking Dutch people.”
Ah, the hardworking Dutchman. The most boring character in political debate is indestructible. This time he became part of a childish black-and-white scheme: on the one hand you have people who attack “our free values”, and on the other hand you have hard-working Dutch people. Of course, there are no hard-working Dutch people who simultaneously have ‘wrong’ ideas.
But Becker is not the only one who puts ‘the good migrant’ in such a disparaging spotlight. A few weeks earlier, in the parliamentary debate on the hunt for Maccabi supporters, just about everyone praised the work ethic of people with a migration background. Geert Wilders first: “There are also many people within the Muslim community who work hard, build a career, study and do nothing wrong at all,” said the PVV leader.
Dick Schoof said he had spoken to young Amsterdammers who said: “Hey, I work hard and make a positive contribution.” He had good news for them: “I am very happy that those people are in this country, and I also hope that they remain happy in this country and that they want to help make this country a beautiful country.”
Frans Timmermans had also spoken to people. He was often told by Dutch Muslims: “Am I still welcome? I take my children to school, but am I still welcome? I take care of the people in the nursing home every day, but am I still welcome here? I contribute to this society every day, but am I still welcome here?”
Rob Jetten, in turn, stood up for the “almost 500,000 Dutch people with Moroccan roots, most of whom get up early every day to go to school, to go to work, to do volunteer work, to make a contribution.” to this society”. Marieke Koekkoek talked about “all Dutch people who work hard here to make something beautiful of their lives and society.” And Henri Bontenbal praised “the vast majority of Dutch people with a migration background who simply participate, just do their best and have been busy making their contribution to society for years.”
Even DENK party leader Stephan van Baarle spoke about “a very large proportion of Dutch-Muslim young people, who are working themselves to death to build a future here in the Netherlands”, and later about “Dutch Muslims who contribute here”.
The praise for the virtuous, hard-working immigrant was so unanimous that you almost forget how strange it is. Dutch citizenship should be unconditional. Also people who do not work or work part-time, get up late, do not volunteer, do not separate their waste, yes, even those who do not consider women and men equal, are ‘welcome’ in the sense that they are allowed to be here. There is no obligation to ‘contribute’, fortunately not.
Moreover, and here’s the funny thing: the average Dutch person doesn’t work hard at all, and is also not keen on making a contribution. Coincidentally, Ipsos I&O researcher Peter Kanne described this week de Volkskrant how low the ambition level is here. International comparative research by Ipsos, conducted in the first quarter of this year, showed that only 16 percent of Dutch people aspire to a “prominent employment position”. Partly because of this, the Netherlands has almost the lowest number of working hours in the world (31 hours per week). The Dutch also do not like to commit themselves to the collective: “Compared to the rest of the world, the Dutch are excessively individualistic and hedonistic,” says Kanne. In addition, threats such as climate change and geopolitical conflicts lead to “a strong focus on the inner”: “And so the Dutch withdraw even more than average into their own small happy world.” No ‘making this country a beautiful country’, just take good care of yourself.
The ideal of working hard and making a contribution is nostalgic wishful thinking. While modern man pursues his own desires, the House still dreams of a virtuous citizenry that is happy to work for the common good. The ‘newcomer’ is then placed along this bar. You can rightly call it ironic that a liberal party is at the forefront of this bourgeois play.
Floor Rusman ([email protected]) is editor of NRC