Posted on 05/06/2005 12:18:01 PM PDT by aculeus
Europe's pioneer for much of the last century in social experiments, it seems the Netherlands may now be pointing to the next cultural revolution: the bourgeois exodus. Escaping the stress of clogged roads, street violence and loss of faith in the country's once celebrated way of life, the Dutch are quitting their homeland in droves.
More and more Dutch people are leaving the Netherlands to live abroad. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere. By 2004 the figure had shot up to almost 50,000. Dutch people emigrating around the world is nothing new, but this time it's highly skilled people with degrees that are leaving, the kind of workforce you want to keep.
Well qualified
One place that's noticed a surge of interest in leaving the country is a migration consultancy bureau in Amsterdam. Grant King, director of the office, says he has seen a marked change in the type of people coming to see him:
"Most of our applicants are in high-paying, good, solid positions here - they are not the unemployed. They are mostly middle-class Dutch people with college or university degrees […] The problem for the Netherlands is that the ones that they don't want to lose are the ones that are leaving."
Claustrophobic
Better opportunities on the labour market and personal relationships are some of the main reasons why people are settling elsewhere. But unlike most earlier waves of migration, this one is not just driven by economics. Congestion, endless traffic jams, packed trains and overcrowding - a daily experience for many Dutch - seem to be part of the reason. Henri Beunders, Professor of history, media and culture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam says people feel claustrophobic:
"This general feeling of disappointment and uneasiness is of course aggravated by the fact that everybody has at least two cars. People who live in The Hague, work in Amsterdam and go to a disco in Rotterdam. So, Holland is like spaghetti that has been cooked for too long, it gets sticky. People are getting the feeling that they are being choked."
Lack of tolerance
Some migrants are also voting with their feet against what they see as a multicultural experiment gone wrong, and the increase in violence and social tension they believe has come with it. It began in May 2002 when populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead by a left-wing activist - the country's first political assassination in over 400 years. Then, in November 2004, came the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a fierce critic of fundamentalist Muslims. His ritual-style killing by an alleged Islamic extremist was followed by angry demonstrations and fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools. The violence shocked the country. Professor Beunders says:
"The assassin of Theo van Gogh released not only anger but a lot of fear of fanatic Muslims and random violence. It was new for Dutch people to feel physical insecurity, because we are living in a very small country where you can come across anybody."
Migration consultant Frans Buysse received more than 13,000 hits on his emigration website in the weeks after the killing of Van Gogh, which is four times the usual level. He believes that people see the murder of Van Gogh as a reflection of what is happening in Dutch society and that it is therefore time to leave.
Coming back
Some people do return to the Netherlands, but statistics show that more than half of these soon emigrate back to the country they first moved to or to another country, because the reasons why they first left are still the same or worse.
So should the Dutch government be worried about this flight of the well-educated middle classes? Professor Beunders thinks not. He says others who immigrate to the Netherlands will replace the Dutch who leave:
"It will make things a bit more complicated because you have to integrate an even greater number of foreigners into your own country, with all the very complicated regulation systems we have in this country. Growing mobility on the other hand is also a good sign of the growing unification of Europe and understanding of people - I hope."
© Radio Nederland
You know, parts of New Hampshire do look a lot like Sweden.
I'll bet the claustrophobia is caused by the inordinate conformity in Dutch society. In my opinion Europe needs its own new media.
Wow, that's amazing. I never really checked it out before, just heard about it. They've got folks from all over moving there! I guess the Euros could just come to NH, duh...
All those nationalities just butress up W's insistence that freedom is the natural yearning of all people regardless of culture. Well, except perhaps for lib culture...
ja dit is zo
lots of Dutchies like BC, BC climate is similar to Holland's
my parents are Dutch but they came over in the post WWII wave, but Dutchies like to go where there are other Dutchies settled as well.....
it's the cheese or the oli bolen, LOL
That would make Olympia Snowe "Robert Byrd in drag."
My father knew in 1955 that the socialistic bent of Holland was going to ruin it.....
yes Australia is also popular, most Dutch esp these days can speak passable English, they are taught well in school.....
even in 1955, my dad said he had three choices, US, Canada and Australia, he chose Canada because he already had a sister there, his cousin of the same age chose Australia, he's lives in the outback somewhere.....
also because I imagine those countries were looking for and accepting Dutch farm workers, my area still gets in Dutch farm workers, esp for the tobacco harvest.....
yes I was in Holland in 1970 and then we went back in 1988 and we could not believe the traffic jams and Holland just doesn't have the space to build new highways like we do in North America, though they keep making more land out of the sea, doesn't help you in the middle of the country though....
oh and don't quite judge Holland by Amsterdam, Amsterdam is the anomaly
I find it very interesting that Dutch-Americans are the most conservative ethnic group in the country, along with Cuban-Americans. Although sometimes I think the Dutch are both conservative and Republican, while Cuban-Americans are often more reliably Republican than conservative.
Where do you get this information?
Which part--about the conservatism? From reading about the politics of Dutch communities in Western Michigan and in Iowa. The strongest Bush county in 2000 and maybe 2004 is in the Dutch region of Michigan.
Michael Barone talks about it the Almanac of American Politics.
I LOVE that story!
Especially this part-
"Hey bud, we're from Jersey. We've been panhandled by experts, and your not gettin $#!.".
My "pappy" captured it more succinctly with the phrase "al dat poepie op straat", from all the dogs defecating where there was no grass, just brick walkways.
Near some taverns of a morning, the stench from men having used back alleyways as urinals is often overwhelming, too, even now.
Ray Kroc's McDonald's really did that subculture a favor by raising the visibility and showing the need for more public toilets, showing as a fallacy that people were content to walk or bicyle to the train station for such relief.
HF
Dutch Legal Immigrant in 1957
This is much like those Massachusetts residents....
Yeah, coming up here to create another bastion of insanity to replace the one they left behind.
Beware, they may be coming to YOUR state soon!
I travel to Europe and Am'dam fairly often. When accosted by panhandlers I put on my ugliest face (of many) and growl a ruski 'nyet'. Works like a charm.
IIRC, there was a bit of biff-baff from both sides. why is the author making it seem otherwise?
Like SF is the anomaly in Calif...yet it drives much of the culture here.
My state's already ruined (Kallie-vornia)
Yes, you're probably right. It's a shame though that liberal politicians can cause people to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. The sad thing is that the liberal politicians (who are de facto Communists) never suffer for any of this.
They have to be. What if the dikes burst and the polders are flooded?
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