“It annoys me when people say heads don’t have to roll,” says Dick Kleijer five years after his departure as a prominent board member of the Groninger Soil Movement.
In 2017, secretary and spokesperson Dick Kleijer left GBB with a heavy heart. In the battle for recognition of all material and immaterial gas damage, Damster spoke to all media for years as a spokesperson and prepared many actions. Kleijer, as a GBB director, no longer experienced the decision of Minister Eric Wiebes to end gas extraction as soon as possible.
How are you?
,,Good thank you. I’ve been out of the picture for several years now. Good thing, too. When I look back, those were tropical years. It got too hard for me.”
The gas file ran away with you?
“When you take action, you are different in life. I think I got out at the right time. I was completely exhausted. You see that many people are in misery and you can’t put your finger on it. At home, there is a mismatch between living with the woman you love and the gas problem that eats you up. Separating work and private life has not always been successful. I told my wife: this has to stop. We leave so much behind. I was seventy years old then.”
How did your wife react?
“My wife Dorrie felt she could never disturb me. She is a cheerful Brabant bird who has never called me to order. Do it she said. You feel good about it. But I thought: when I’m on my deathbed I’m going to regret this. If you are seventy, that is a realistic thought. I can now do things with my love. Enjoy eachother. I found out years ago that I had prostate cancer. During manifestations you feel physical discomfort. Luckily I’m still here. The gas misery steals years from your life, but standing by was never an option. I don’t regret my years at GBB for a moment.”
Was there life after GBB?
,,Yes, but stopping at GBB was also difficult. You feel fraternity with people you have fought side by side with for years. There was a sense of community, especially when you look at what we’ve all done together. At the same time you feel a huge relief. It’s a wrap. As a spokesperson you are always on standby for the outside world. Now I’m here for my love. I like that very much and so does she. Of course there is still contact with former board members. But I don’t want to get in anyone’s way. I don’t want to become Hans Wiegel of the GBB.”
Do you also have damage to the house?
“Yes, I live in Appingedam in a house from the thirties. We also had damage. We live in a house that needs to be reinforced, but when will that happen? Is it still necessary? We haven’t seen a report yet. We are not the only ones, because many people are waiting for what is to come. I need to know what’s up with the marble because if I go out I don’t want my wife to be left with it. When you have more years behind you than ahead, you want to get this over with.”
Did you follow the hearings and the presentation of the parliamentary inquiry?
“I experienced the presentation in relative silence. I read the summaries and looked back a bit. I will definitely follow the gas file. Often with suppressed anger. It’s a goddamned scandal that you have to say after a report: we’re right. We were knowingly squeaked and we knew it. The gas misery is now dismissed as the failure of the system. Like no one is responsible. That is a big misconception and also too easy. There is no moral sense among the people who are in the gas system.”
Should the cabinet resign?
“It annoys me when people say heads don’t have to roll. Because we wouldn’t get anywhere with that. But what then remains of the credibility of the great man Mark Rutte? That rubs from here to Tokyo. If you let this slippery bird get away, it will destroy the reputation of politics.”
Are apologies not enough?
,,I am not waiting for apologies from The Hague. The parliamentary inquiry is historiography and the conclusions are clear. What they have done with Groningen is no good. It stinks from all sides. I can still hear former minister Henk Kamp say when he had significantly increased gas production. In Limburg they had to have warm feet. That was a lie. There was enough gas. It was about the money. What I experienced with Kamp has changed my view of politics enormously.”
What now?
“My concern is that it will soon only be about that debt of honor. The point is that the government will continue to repair cracks in houses in the distant future. I fear that ‘The Hague’ wants to come across the bridge with some billions that it should be ready by then. We must resist that. Dealing damage and reinforcement should never be pushed into the background.”
What do you remember the most?
“What has given me great joy is the criminal case that we have set up against NAM. We said: we will continue. Whatever happens, even if we have to go to the European Court of Human Rights. That has worked. We have succeeded in getting the oil companies Shell and ExxonMobil out of the file. You don’t start that criminal case if you can get a zeperd. When I think about all that, I have to be careful not to get emotional again.”