The future quality of life in the IJmond has once again proved to be a tricky subject. A theme evening tonight with that subject in the Kennemertheater is cancelled. Sam van Leeuwen from organizer IJmond Noord Library explains: “From questions and comments it appeared that the subject might be even more loaded than we thought. Then we decided that we should take more time to organize it properly.”
Two weeks ago, the library announced the ‘low-threshold meeting’ with the subject: the future quality of life in the IJmond. Various speakers would enter into a debate on the podium, and residents of the IJmond municipalities were cordially invited to attend and participate in the discussion.
A nice, but also a necessary plan, in the opinion of the library, which, as Van Leeuwen says, ‘attempts to be socially involved’.
Definitely after the latest RIVM report, which shows that a large part of the harmful substances in the IJmond come from Tata Steel, and that emissions measurements by Tata Steel and the RIVM sometimes differ up to a factor of a hundred.
Stuck on agreements and interests
Van Leeuwen: “On social media you get the feeling that there are different camps. While if you look in practice, or on the street, the picture is often much more nuanced.”
And so the library wanted to live up to its motto ‘meeting and debate’ in order to bring the parties closer together. The library itself explicitly wants to be a neutral party.
Van Leeuwen: “Perhaps that parties can find themselves together sooner if the debate is about the future, and not about the present. In the present, they are often tied to all kinds of agreements and interests. They can largely define the future themselves. And the parties were also open to it.”
But last week the organization put a line through the evening.
Too much on employment
“We noticed that we had to take more time for our programming,” acknowledges Van Leeuwen. “We almost had the field of participants, but we wondered: is it actually in balance? And after the investigation of the Public Prosecution Service into Tata started, which actually resulted in even more division of inhabitants, it became even more fraught. Do we have everything under control? Can we fully support it then?”
“Then we were accused here and there from residents and on social media that it was too much about employment, and too little about nature and the environment. While we strive for balance.”
The library is now going to evaluate how the evening can be organized ‘better and with a balanced programme’. According to Van Leeuwen, the organizers assume a new date in the summer. It is certain that there will be: “We have noticed that there is a lot of interest in an accessible debate, and we are happy about that.”
The participants
This is what the field of participants of the canceled evening looked like. It is not yet clear whether this will be the same with the new edition.
– Alderman of the municipality of Beverwijk, Brigitte van den Berg
– Nienke van de Waal, GGD Kennemerland
– Bram Nugteren, Tata Steel
– Luuk Verkouteren, general practitioner, known for his performance at Op1
– Adrie Winkelman, IJmond IJzersterk Foundation
– Roel Berghuis, former director of FNV Tata Steel