International

Since 2001 the Netherlands has supported all sorts of intervention wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. Those conducted under the leadership of the US and NATO have, according to their own statements, been aimed at defeating global terrorism. It began in Afghanistan, where after seventeen years of fighting, no end to the conflict is in sight.

The United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, stated on 21st June that it was appalled by the continuing increase in the number of refugees and other migrants who are losing their lives at sea. In the last few days 220 people have been drowned while attempting to reach Europe. The SP sees this as a horrifying statistic and argues that it can't be allowed to go on in this way. 

Under globalised capitalism a person's market value is the principal determinant of his or her mobility. Expatriates are welcomed as human capital; refugees do not meet the demands of the market. As no price can be put on a community, the system records no loss of value when one is destroyed.

Who actually runs our country? It turns out that since 2005, using a tax haven, Shell has avoided paying the tax on dividends. And as if that isn't enough, it has also emerged that the Dutch revenue service were fully aware of this.

President Trump takes one after another stupid, sometimes downright dangerous decisions. The United States has torn up the Iran deal, moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and removed its signature from the Paris climate agreement. In addition, Trump has sent more soldiers to the endless war in Afghanistan and asked the Netherlands to do the same. Little by little these moves are not making the world safer. Quite the opposite.

Not only Papiamentu, but also the Dutch language has many words that have been copied from other languages. Most of these words originate from French and German. After the Second World War, English became the dominant language. However, I think all these English terms we use don’t improve the language. Turn on the radio and you hear English songs, turn on the TV and you see programmes in English.

'The crisis is over'. I hear this often in The Hague. If you look at big corporations' profits, that's indeed the case. But if you look at the lives of ordinary people, you get a very different picture. Wages have hardly risen, more than half of young people have insecure work, and older people must continue working longer.

The Internal Market Committee today adopted by an overwhelming majority the proposals from SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong aimed at bringing about an enormous improvement in rail passengers' rights. Explaining the measures, De Jong said: “You can miss your connection because your first train is running late, and as things stand passengers are often left in the lurch, but if this legislative proposal is adopted, the company which sold you the tickets for the entire journey will be obliged to ensure that you reach your destination as soon as possible.”

Some questions are very obvious to be asked, but aren’t asked anyway – like the question why Wouter Bos led the conversations to form a new government in 2012. The former PvdA Minister of Finance became a partner at KPMG after his departure in 2010. It’s a good thing if politicians quickly get a new job after their political career, but I thought this position was remarkable. With this transfer, a lot of sensitive information from the Ministry of Finance came into the hands of this international accountancy firm, which advises companies on how to bend the financial rules.