fit my clothes
if you would fit my clothes
and take on a different
face
would we be more the same
when i was smiling too?

The Netherlands is a country known for its religious, ideological and ethnical tolerance. But what is perhaps less known is that it is also a country religiously divided into a northern part dominated by a culture of Calvinism and a southern part, which is predominantly Catholic. Today, when people speak of ‘below the rivers’ they refer to the Catholic provinces and when they talk about ‘above the rivers’ they are pointing to the Calvinist provinces north of the geographical border of the rivers Maas, Waal and Rhine, which roughly run parallel to this historical and cultural border.

When the Netherlands declared independence from Spain in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht and were recognized by the peace agreement with Spain by the signing of the Treaty of Munster in 1648, ‘the Low Lands’ (as the Netherlands is literally translated), did not include the southern provinces. Only with the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 were these provinces included, and not until 1831 when Belgium gained independence were the borders constituted that comprise the Netherlands as we know it. Culturally though, the southern provinces and especially the province of Limburg (the hind leg of the Dutch lion) where I grew up belonged to the Catholic sphere of influence. Even in present day the Netherlands, it makes a huge difference in attitude and perspective on life if you are from above or from below the rivers. (more…)

An ethnical comparison between NYC and Amsterdam

Post-industrial society and globalisation have always fascinated me, attracted me even. I am probably one of those rare European socialists who see globalisation as the way forward. The ontology of this appeal can probably be found partly in my ‘entartete’ childhood as a Dutchman in Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands that distinguishes itself from the rest of the country in that it is largely Catholic and wasn’t part of the original seven provinces of the Dutch Republic. Real Limburgians consider anyone ‘from above the rivers,’the Maas and the Rhine, with a certain animosity. The other part of the ontology can be explained by my 10 years of ‘Limbo’ in Amsterdam. Inhabitants of Amsterdam are very similar to native New Yorkers, they will look upon any one not from their city with a certain derision. In addition, Limburgians are considered half Belgians, which to Dutch people are what mid-Westerners are to non mid-Western Americans. Such plays of fate of a personal history can sometimes create the most random obsessions in a character. Ever since I moved to the US, I immediately noticed how simple it is to feel at ease in New York City if you are used to Amsterdam. The two cities have a remarkably similar atmosphere. As a child of my (post-modern) time of course I never had the feeling of being at home anywhere, but despite this, I feel very quickly at ease in cities where an absolute lack of homogenuity governs. It is therefore that I enjoy to get lost in Bruxelles, but not in Barcelona, that I love NYC but not Antwerp, I do like Marseille, but not the Isle-de-Paris, Amsterdam but not Maastricht.
It is for these and other reasons that a comparison between the old and the new Amsterdam (NYC) so quickly comes to mind. (more…)