A grand show with dozens of blue searchlights and menacing drums; the fighters stood in a dark arena surrounded by two thousand noisy spectators. It EenVandaag Election Debate (NPO 1) wanted to convey that this would be an all-decisive MMA match. Unleash the beast!
Nice and fierce debate. Once again it was Wilders against the soupie. PvdA leader Timmermans attacked the PVV leader on his “hate factory” – a social account of PVV faction members aimed at demonizing Timmermans and migrants. Timmermans countered a counterattack by Wilders by accusing him of justifying the genocide in Gaza.
According to Eva (NPO 1), D66 leader Rob Jetten was the man of the match, the best challenger to incumbent freefight champion Wilders. Jetten had also, according to the interpreters, presented himself effectively and confidently as the new prime minister. You can no longer call him left-wing, but that is a plus these days.
Jetten did have a slip-up, he acted cool with a slanted bucket: according to him, “the guys in the room” would be up for a military exercise with the crown princess. Notch notch. Screenwriter Samya Hafsaoui called it a strong pitch for a new Videoland romkom on Instagram: A Royal Christmas Defence. In terms of rudeness, Jetten lost out to Wilders. About the abolition of development aid, he joked: “They may be a little more hungry in Africa, but not here.”
Rude comments, bickering, bickering, talking over each other – the rough manners in politics are also part of Wilders’ enormous influence. His most important influence: in all those TV debates it has become completely normal to portray asylum seekers and other people with a non-Western migration background as a major problem. Virtually no politician contradicts this, no debate leader questions it.
Perfect guest workers
‘Grip on migration’ is the magic word. But what does that actually mean? Foreign Office (Sunday, NPO 2) decided to appoint two experts again. Migration historian Leo Lucassen stated: “Politicians have increasingly started to speak about asylum seekers in dehumanizing terms, they create an abstract image of nasty people.” And: “They have turned a humanitarian problem into a security problem.”
According to Lucassen, the most important “grip on migration” has long existed: the visa requirement for people from outside the EU. Migrant workers from within the EU will continue to come as long as there is demand for them. He once again explained that the idea of closing the borders was “complete nonsense.”
The favorite punching bag are asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies and other people without residence papers. Two programs made portraits of some of them. This is the issue (Saturday, NPO 2) portrayed Stefanus Hanekom, an Afrikaner who is stranded in the Netherlands as a stateless citizen. He has lost his papers and the South African government says he does not exist. The 75-year-old homeless man bought a self-built plane to fly to England. They would know who he is there.
The short documentary Unwritten rules – Alone together (Sunday, NPO2), is a poetic portrait of hairdresser Arbi. He has no residence papers and sleeps in an estate bin. He gives other undocumented people haircuts for free in a drop-in center in Utrecht. “Getting here wasn’t easy,” says one of them. “You hope life will get better, but it only gets worse.” As a flock of migratory birds flies overhead in the blue evening light, Arbi muses: “It’s lonely in a strange land.”
Director Myrthel van der Ploeg captures the intimacy that arises between the fellow sufferers during the haircut in extreme close-ups. While Arbi turns around the heads with his clippers, cameraman Rogier Timmermans turns around the hairdresser. Close to the skin. A little more explanation would have been welcome. I had to find out who it was and where they were VPRO Guide to fetch.
Beautiful portraits, a welcome antidote to the political dehumanization in the TV debates. These are people you can feel compassion for, if you want.
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