“When I started Code Oranje six years ago, people said: ‘Aren’t you exaggerating a bit that the weather is bad?’ But I no longer hear that. The realization that democracy is under pressure is increasing,” Bert Blase, former mayor of Heerhugowaard, begins his story. With his book ‘The citizen is not crazy’ he wants to warn politicians and ensure that the opposition is embraced.
“If nothing changes, it will be a clash. We are already seeing that happening: farmers’ protests, corona protests: frustration is increasing. And that can go wrong at some point.” He calls politics self-absorbed. “People see through that and are turning away from it more and more. You saw it with Pieter Omtzigt (ed. MP,) when ‘function elsewhere’ was written on a note during the coalition negotiations. He put his finger on the sore spot. But they wanted him gone rather than you go on with it.”
Blase summarizes the solution in three points. “Stop thinking in boxes. Like calling something populism, for example. Then you don’t have to think about it. In addition, a lack of transparency leads to frustration. And the third point: embrace the opposition. Don’t immediately go into the cramp and denounce people, but see what you can learn from it.”
Quitting as mayor due to corona rules
The former mayor cites the corona rules as an example. There were measures that could not be explained to him. Almost also the reason to stop as mayor of the former municipality of Heerhugowaard.
“Why were bowling alleys with a restaurant allowed to open, but a restaurant not. There were also good ideas from entrepreneurs who could not comply with the rules. Then it is just difficult that rules are more important than the bottom-up solution. I sometimes thought : what is the moment you no longer want this? While solutions from, for example, the catering industry were sometimes better and would prevent people from having parties at home.”
‘Thinking differently was out of the question’
He found that thinking differently about corona policy was not negotiable. “It was then pretended to be a corona denier. Take Maurice de Hond. He started about the importance of ventilation and was ridiculed. But he was later right. And that while you get better from opposition.
For him, it is just an example of how politics remains stuck in the force of habit. “Like: ‘we’ve always done it this way’. The fear that if we ask the people what will happen. Or things like: ‘I will remain the largest party’.”
Text continues below the photo.
‘There’s nothing wrong with not taking everything for granted’
Blase has already received many reactions to his book. “Also from politics. There is a wave going through society. There is nothing wrong with people not taking everything for granted. It just makes it better,” he emphasizes his message.
But it’s not all doom and gloom what he sees. There are also bright spots. He recalls the citizens’ summit about Schiphol who organized his Code Orange with NH News. Where citizens discussed the airport with each other.
“There were employees from Schiphol and, for example, KLM, but also local residents. Afterwards I spoke to a purser who thought he would be tarred and feathered, but it turned out to be very bad. It turned out to be a very constructive conversation with each other about solutions.”
He saw the same thing during a conversation where farmers and nature managers talked to each other. “It wasn’t all that black and white. Differences are magnified by not doing these kinds of things. Political parties also try to magnify differences. Especially to become bigger themselves.”
People with the biggest mouth don’t get their way
According to Blase, it’s not a big deal that there are differences. The counterargument he always hears is that if you let people have a say, the one with the biggest mouth always gets their way. Nonsense, he says. “Of course those people are contradicted. You see that people also correct each other.”
Blase: “People can handle contradictions. But as a politician you have to move away from things like: who will be the biggest? Who is in the coalition or opposition? You now see that people sometimes vote for or against, without looking at the arguments Even if they sometimes agree with each other, they vote differently because the other party is from the coalition or opposition.
He also refers as an example to his old municipality of Heerhugowaard. There the reverse key was set. Officials were not supposed to look at whether the rules had been followed, but whether the problem had finally been solved.
Text continues below the photo.
Amazement about the rejection of the windmill referendum
He also looked at it with surprise reject a referendum about the distance from windmills to homes. This was rejected by a majority of the Provincial Council because the plans for the energy transition could not be delayed. Something for which the Province will still do so in October finger tapped.
As far as Blase is concerned, this is an example of how not to do it. Listening to the opposing voice is essential as far as he is concerned. “Listening is not following up. It means that you talk to each other, take arguments seriously. And if they are not valid, you give a rebuttal. But don’t close the road in advance. It can also make you wiser.”
And, he concludes: “Many people also say: ‘I don’t have to be right as long as I am taken seriously.”
