Anti-racism coordinator demands clarity from Prime Minister Schoof

Prime Minister Dick Schoof must “show the world” by providing clarity about what was said in the Council of Ministers on Monday. This was reported by National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism Rabin Baldewsingh. On Friday, State Secretary Nora Achahbar (NSC) resigned due to racists remarks made by Cabinet members about people with a migration background, which led to a Cabinet crisis.

According to the coordinator, Achahbar is “the only one who has the courage to set a standard and holds Article 1 of the Constitution in high regard”. He wonders why other NSC ministers, who say they hold the rule of law in high regard, remain in office.

Schoof denies that racist statements were made in the cabinet meeting on Monday, but Baldewsingh wonders why he repeats this so often. “Did something happen after all? He certainly gave the impression.” According to the coordinator, it is therefore important that the prime minister removes the doubt by reporting “today, tomorrow, but actually yesterday” what was said. If he does not do this, Schoof’s credibility is at stake, according to Baldewsingh.

According to Schoof and State Secretary Jurgen Nobel (Participation and Integration), the violence in Amsterdam surrounding the Ajax – Maccabi Tel Aviv match showed that the Netherlands has an “integration problem”. According to Baldewsingh, Nobel’s task is to connect people, but he has now “sown division and that is a very bad thing”. He believes that the Prime Minister and the State Secretary should take back their words and apologize.

According to Baldewsingh, the government has fought discrimination after the riots in Amsterdam by treating another group racistly. A “Muslim group” is “clearly being bullied away”, he believes. The refrigerator in which Wilders is said to have placed certain positions has been reopened, as far as the coordinator is concerned, by “taking the integration issue out of the drawer”. Baldewsingh says he does not want to agree with normalizing “something that is not normal” and hopes that the silent majority in the Netherlands will now make itself heard. “It is not okay that this majority stands by and watches how groups in society are dismissed on the basis of personal characteristics, that is racism.”