Esmah Lahlah (GroenLinks/PvdA) has now been in the House of Representatives for almost two years. They were not her easiest years. “Quite frustrating. What can I say: very frustrating.” Because the former Tilburg councilor went to The Hague with the mission to change laws and thereby combat poverty. But not much has come of it so far.
She tells this in episode 2 of Brabant Kiest, the podcast from Omroep Brabant. Many prominent political figures will appear in the podcast in the coming weeks, often with Brabant speakers rootsspeaking. In this episode, Esmah Lahlah talks about what gives her hope, about her childhood in a working-class neighborhood in Helmond and about the bleak The Hague and the warm Tilburg.
She was an alderman in Tilburg for more than five years and attracted national attention with her poverty policy. Only two years after she joined GroenLinks, she came to number two on the GroenLinks/PvdA candidate list in 2023, a place she has now regained.
“In the previous election campaign, all parties were talking about social security,” says Lahlah. “But almost nothing has happened in recent years. There was only arguing.” Was she happy with the fall of the Schoof cabinet? “Yes,” she answers with fire in her eyes. “I should have done that much sooner.”
“It wasn’t much about content in The Hague in recent years.”
And yes, she sometimes had to think back to that Tilburg aldermen’s chamber in which she could practically do something for people. “But I wanted to change the participation law, and that is only possible if you are in The Hague.” The Participation Act is intended to get people to work. Lahlah wants to replace the law with a ‘social security law’.
“I really like the content and there hasn’t been much talk about that in The Hague in recent years. I must honestly say that after a bleak debate in The Hague I enjoyed a walk in the Lochal in Tilburg, where you feel the warmth of the city.”
“People were poor, but they looked out for each other.”
It does not come out of the blue that she is so concerned with poverty. She grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Helmond where there was a lot of poverty. That wasn’t too bad at home, but her parents didn’t get the chance to develop. Her father, who came from the Netherlands to Morocco at the age of 18, was unable to attend school because of the language. He was and remained a factory worker. Her mother was a housewife. Esmah Lahlah sees that not everyone still gets the chance to develop their talent. She wants to change that.
She also wants the community spirit that she knows from the past in her neighborhood to return. “People were poor, but they looked out for each other. I went back to Helmond a few years ago and now you see the same poverty, but also individualism.”
The GroenLinks/PvdA program consists of five promises for the future, but according to Esmah Lahlah it can best be summarized with the word ‘solidarity’.
Brabant Kiest, the podcastis trying to help Brabanders make a choice for the elections on October 29. The makers are Arjo Kraak and Ilse Schoenmakers. Episode 2 can be listened to here:
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