netherlands

"A leftover of hippie Amsterdam is Ruigoord, a tiny village lying in a remaining slice of greenery between a line of windmills (for energy generation, not the old pîcturesque ones) and the industries expanding from the harbour. Nobody really wants to live there anymore ever since it found itself in the flight path to the nearby airport. So the place was cheap and accessible for penniless entrepreneurs in the "alternative" sector. One or two decades ago, the Ruigoord crowd had tried to prevent the industries from coming too close, so they used witchcraft rituals to keep the spirit of modernity, exploitation and pollution at bay, but in vain. Nonetheless, once you're inside the village, you could still imagine being in the middle of the premodern Dutch countryside. But the decoration is not so Dutch. The old church now sports pictures of the Dalai Lama and paintings of Shiva. In the middle of the meadow is a huge totem pole. Gotta think global before you act local. Next to the gate is an inscription of the Vedic Gayatri Mantra, with a few spelling mistakes. No marihuana conspicuously in sight, not even in the herbal-teahouse, but some old T-shirts demanding its legalization. So, it was a good place to spend a sunny day and dig the old spirit. ... Don't tell any of my friends in academe that I went to Ruigoord."

"Compare Holland with Russia; you see only marshy and sterile islands in the former, which rise from the center of the ocean: a small republic which is only 48 miles length by 40 wide. But this small body is the very nerve-center of the region: immense people live in it, and these industrious people are both powerful and rich. They shook the yoke of the Spanish domination, which was then the most formidable monarchy of Europe. The trade of this republic extends to the ends of the world; and new trade appears almost immediately; it can maintain in times of war an army fifty thousand men, without counting a many and well maintained fleet."

"The Netherlands, with all its anti-discrimination provisions and especially the moral indignation about anything that hints at making a distinction between people in whatever field, is a rock-hard segregated society."

"But 'the' Dutch identity? No, I have not found it. The Netherlands is: large windows without curtains so everyone can look in; but also adherence to privacy and coziness. The Netherlands is: one biscuit at tea; but also great hospitality and warmth. The Netherlands is: sobriety, control and pragmatism; but also the experience of intense emotions together. The Netherlands is far too diverse to summarize in one cliché. 'The' Dutchman does not exist. As a consolation I can tell you that 'the' Argentinian also does not exist. I therefore find it very interesting that the title of the report of the Scientific Council for Government Policy is not 'the Dutch identity'. But: Identification with the Netherlands. That leaves room for development and diversity."

"Americans reflexively believe that 'Had Germany occupied the United States, nearly all of us would have joined an armed resistance to the Nazis. That's what I thought, too, when I was 16. But that reflects a hopelessly naive view, both of what the world looked like to most people after the Nazis had conquered Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and France, and of what it actually meant to take up arms against an occupying power'."

"But arguably the greatest achievement of the Dutch lay in creating a republic free from aristocratic or clerical domination, as the expulsion of the feudally inclined Spanish overlords empowered the bourgeoisie. The Dutch expanded human rights, including those of religious minorities and women, and cultivated a keen interest in children and the nuclear family. Dutch culture was family-centered, inventive, sober, frugal, and tolerant. A separation of science and philosophy from religion was exemplified in the writings of Baruch Spinoza, among others. Although majority Calvinist, the country boasted large colonies of Catholics, Jews, and other outsiders, including Muslims; roughly a third of Amsterdam's population in 1650 were foreign-born. Some immigrants came as merchants or artisans, but even the poorest, observed one Dutchman in 1692, "cannot die of hunger if he works hard." As late as the eighteenth century, the Dutch Republic was regarded as a poor country, and the British viewed it as "the indigested vomit of the sea." But the reclaimed land helped raise a substantial class of small landowners at a time when most property in Europe was owned by the aristocracy or the church. The growing ranks of proprietors were the heart of Dutch dynamism, and they set down "the geographical roots of republican liberty," notes the historian Simon Schama."

"There have been frequent consultations and close cooperation between our two countries in the political as well as economic fields. I am appreciative of the understanding and support which the Netherlands have given to Malaysia on matters of great importance to us, both internally as well as regionally and internationally. Your support for the aspirations of the developing countries to effect structural changes to the international economic order cannot go without special mention nor can we forget the active role which your country has played in the North-South dialogue. Your support for the siting of the International Natural Rubber Association Headquarters (INRA) in Kuala Lumpur is much appreciated."

"The Dutch, who produced so much in their golden age of the seventeenth century, from Rembrandt to microscopes, also were innovators in war. Maurice of Nassau, who became their head of state in 1585, freed the northern Dutch provinces from Spanish rule in part because he built such an effective fighting force. He organised his forces on the battlefield in ranks, up to ten of them, and pioneered an elaborate form of battlefield movement where, as the first rank fired, it wheeled to the back, allowing the next ones to fire and wheel in sequence. The rate of fire was much greater if, and it was a major if, the troops could stand firm when ordered and move in unison on command. Without discipline, often savage discipline, and repeated drills so that movement and following orders became second nature even in battle, soldiers could not have used the new weapons effectively. The old-style armies, where the ruler hired mercenaries or got their local magnates to raise forces which then tended to disperse at the end of a campaign, were not the right sort of material for the new training and tactics. It was a strong incentive for governments to have their own armies, and, of course, in time that increased their power."

"In the Netherlands, people are so toilet trained that when they feel the need to spit, they take the train to do it in the countryside."

"There will never be a revolution in the Netherlands, because you are not allowed to walk on the grass there."

"The duller the politics, the happier the country"

"Every Dutchman hates Holland. That is our cardinal national quality."

"Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kowtow before any United States proconsul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony."

"On December 14, 2023, the Netherlands joined several other democratic countries that have declared the so-called “shunning” practiced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religions not illegal and protected in its teaching and practice by international and domestic provisions on freedom of religion or belief. The Minister of Justice and Security wrote to the House of Representatives explaining the reasons why shunning should not be criminalized in the country."

"Hollanders are not a nation to rob another of its property, but desire to live in friendship with all people, and trade with them."

"It is true that if you simply have market capitalism not embedded in a true democratic system, then you will get increasing inequality... And that is why every modern capitalist system has a welfare state and in Europe these welfare states consume 50 percent of GDP, redistribute it in fairer ways. I have always thought the European Union represented a truer embodiment of what I would regard as something like the end of history... The United States' model is a little bit more liberal and therefore we do less redistribution than, let's say, Holland or Sweden, but all modern states do that."

"The composition of Unilever should serve as a warning that colonialism was not simply a matter of ties between a given colony and its mother country, but between colonies on the one hand and metropoles on the other. The German capital in Unilever joined the British in exploiting Africa and the Dutch in exploiting the East Indies. The rewards spread through the capitalist system in such a way that even those capitalist nations who were not colonial powers were also beneficiaries of the spoils. Unilever factories established in Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S.A. were participants in the expropriation of Africa’s surplus and in using that surplus for their own development."

"They [Dutch politicians] are not interested in the interests of the Dutch citizen and are working along on the transformation of The Netherlands into Netherabia as a province of the Islamic superstate Eurabia."

"In 1990, a Pakistani living in Holland published a book, De Ondergang van Nederland ("The Downfall of the Netherlands"), about the mistaken Muslim policy of his host country... Unfortunately, he too treats "the Muslims" as a static entity, and he idealizes the Europeans instead of seeing that our level of tolerance is the result of a historical process which the Muslims can and should also go through (discarding their Muslim-ness on the way, like Europe largely discarded Christianity)... The reaction of the press was most interesting. The leftist press had nothing but scorn for his message, and concentrated on the more sensational effort of finding out the writer's identity. At first they were very sure that it had to be some fascist racist Dutchman trying to sound more convincing by adopting an exotic pseudonym."

"The Dutch example shows that when people overcome their fear, David can defeat Goliath."

"Then there is the case of the book published in 1990 by a Muslim who called himself "Mohamed Rasoel"... Recalling the many cries of "Death to Salman Rushdie," the author chose a pseudonym that means "Muhammad the Prophet," calculating that Muslims would find it difficult to shout "Death to Muhammad the Prophet."... Warning that the Dutch are mistaken to tolerate the establishment of Islamic institutions and the mushrooming growth of their Muslim population, The Impending Ruin of the Netherlands predicted this would lead to a civil war and the country's partition... Many progressive intellectuals reacted to the book in a vicious way... A number of bookstores refused to sell the book... He felt vindicated by it: It proves that the general thrust of my book is correct, that Dutch society is changing and becoming less tolerant. Freedom of opinion is already being sacrificed. Muslims are allowed to shout: kill Rushdie... When Muslims say on TV that all Dutch women are whores, it is allowed."

"DEMOCRACY SHOULD COME BY FOOT AND NOT BY TANK"

"Sleepwet Sinterklaas noemt dat gewoon het grote boek"

"Out of the box is my everyday routine."

"Wacht niet op jezelf knal eruit"

"Loesje houdt van verstoppertje spelen."

"Loesje 40 jaar: posters niet meer overal, maar teksten 'in geheugen gegrift'"

"Loesje is veel braver geworden"

"Hoeveel wereldproblemen heb jij op je to-dolijstje"

"Streef onbekommert naar het ideale"

"Je bent fris en je bent het zat om in de pleepot te hangen"

"Dit is 'n mooie dag om knopen door te hakken"

"Ruding: sorry de economie trekt weer af"

"WHEN LOESJE COMES EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT"

"HOLIDAY ROMANCE. I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND HIM BUT IT WAS VERY CUTE"

"EVERYTHING CHANGES ALL THE TIME AND THIS WILL ALWAYS BE SO"

"AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY MAN CREATED GOD"

"WHY PRODUCE GARBAGE WHEN IT IS THROWN AWAY ALL THE SAME"

"POLLUTION / JESUS SOON WE CAN ALL WALK ON WATER."

"Leven is het meervoud van lef"

"Hij die zonder mening is verwijdere de eerste poster"

"Initiatief zoekt nemer (m/v)"

"Je länger du auf die Zukunft wartest, desto kürzer wird sie"

"Du wirst geboren und begraben – willst du auch noch gelebt werden?"

"Glaube an dich, aber hüte dich davor, zur Religion zu werden."

"IF THERE IS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - CAN I HAVE YOUR NUMBER"

"MANKIND - WOULD GOD HAVE KEPT HIS RECEIPT"

"THE COST OF LIVING HAS NOT AFFECTED ITS POPULARITY"

"WHEN WILL WE SEE HUMAN RIGHTS MADE IN CHINA"