“Do it normally or go away,” Mark Rutte wrote in 2017. The words were addressed to ‘all Dutch people’ in a letter, but that phrase was really intended for a specific part of the population. For people who – as it was formulated in the same paragraph – “abuse our freedom to discharge things here, while they just came to our country for that freedom.” There was a ‘we’ and a ‘she’ in that letter. A ‘us’ and a ‘their’. The reader himself had to feel to which category it belonged.
In the triptych Children of Rutte (VPRO) Lecturer Social Studies Halil Karaaslan had a group of young adults re -read letter. They had met in the Johan de Witt College in the Schilderswijk in The Hague. What they tied was that they had once been taught by Mark Rutte, who also taught social studies during his premiership. Despite all their mutual differences, they still had one thing in common: they all had a migration background. They knew what it was like to sometimes “feel alone in society,” thought Roksana, born in Poland. And what it was like to learn about society from Master Mark, while grows up in the society of Prime Minister Rutte.
In the documentary, of which the last part was broadcast on Wednesday, attention was initially also paid to the positive influence that Master Mark had on ‘his’ children. “He said to me,” I see you’re going to be a successful woman, “former student Insaf recalled in the first episode. He managed to motivate Master Mark. He taught his students that a Dutchman is no better than a pool and vice versa; That in this ‘cool country’ you can become what you want, as long as you work hard for it. As long as you participate.
What a disappointment it must be if you are told after an application that you have been hired, provided you take your headscarf during working hours. That happened to Hafsa. Or if you are approached on the street by a stranger who thinks you “should go back to your own country.” That happened to Khadija. Or if your mother start to fall on the mat with your mother in which it is stated that the allowances she received must be repaid. That happened to Anar, who was portrayed in episode 2 at the table with his mother, with his cell phone between them in on the table.
While he called the loudspeaker with the Tax Telephone, he spit through the mountain letters that his mother had received. Just like many of his former classmates, he was used to helping his parents in linguistic things from an early age. He had been working on this allowance for a year and a half. “I personally never got the feeling that the system Target people with a migration background,” said Anar. “But then it turns out that they are doing that. It has shown me that the system is not fair – while I always thought so. ”
Israel and Gaza
When it came to find work, belonging and being treated fairly, the children of Master Mark permanently appeared to have to work and participate above average. And when it arrived at your opinion, they sometimes wondered if their participation was welcome at all. Especially the attitude of the Netherlands towards Israel and Gaza gave them the feeling that their voice was not heard. “I no longer trust that we live in a democracy,” Khadija even said. “We live in something else – I don’t know what I can call that. But I don’t see that everyone’s opinion counts. “
Hopefully Rutte has also looked at this docu about ‘his’ children. Then he has heard how they find their way in society in practice that he has designed for almost fourteen years. And how at the end of episode three they each written back a net note. “Dear Mark,” Anar wrote. “I know you as a master Mark and Mr. Rutte. I would like to see more from Master Mark. Love, Amar. ”