Dutch Tolerance

Dat was niet de bedoeling An incredibly handy Dutch phrase to know is ‘dat was niet de bedoeling’. This phrase is most commonly used in the Netherlands during the Sinterklaas season but can be heard all year round actually. Bedoeling noun: intention [noun] what a person plans or intends to do intent [noun] purpose; …

A Moroccan mother suing a school in Amsterdam for discrimination Amsterdam has 180 nationalities and god knows how many kut tourists and expats. It’s like that old song, “what we need is a great big melting pot’. Living in Amsterdam I see people from all over the world even while …

The Dutch Burka ban The Dutch Burka ban law makes wearing face-covering clothing in the Netherlands illegal. It went into effect on August 1st 2019. How are you all feeling? Much safer I hope. After all, between 150 to 400  women in a country of 17 million people are believed …

How to get a job in the Netherlands if you have a non-Dutch name This might sound like a stupid question. I mean, after all, the Netherlands is THE MOST TOLERANT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. So why would having a foreign name make any difference to your chances in the …

KPN responds to a racist tweet in a typically Dutch direct manner   What’s wrong with the photo above? It’s similar to the one used by KPN in a recent advert. Do you see what’s wrong with it? No? Well, let me explain. 1. They’re smiling The first problem is …

Xenophobia and ‘No Internationals’ In Apartment Ads xenophobia /zɛnəˈfəʊbɪə/ Dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries. “the resurgence of racism and xenophobia” synonyms: racism, racialism, racial hatred, ethnocentrism, ethnocentricity; nationalism, jingoism, isolationism; prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, bias; historicalapartheid; rarexenophoby “there must be no room for xenophobia in today’s Europe”   Casual Dutch Xenophobia ‘No Internationals!’ A number of …

Number One For Hate Speech On Facebook We all know the things that the Dutch are famous for including some of the following: Tolerance Most bikes per capita in Europe Happiest children in the world So the news that the Dutch are the number one when it comes to hate …

The Sexism of Rapper Boef and the hypocrisy of Dutch social media users In a song called ‘Welcome to the terror drome’ the great hip-hop group Public Enemy once said, “Crucifixion ain’t no fiction”. How right they were. It happened in the past and in 2018 Dutch rapper Boef is being …

Albert Heijn training manual, black females are budget clients Albert Heijn with over 900 stores is the Netherlands largest supermarket chain. It’s parent company Ahold, also owns many other high street names such as Etos and Gall and Gall. One thing that has always impressed me about them is the …

Only people of Dutch origin allowed to rent an apartment As we all know, the Netherlands is THE MOST TOLERANT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. In spite of this, it does appear that in some situations that if you’re not of Dutch origin, that this could be a disadvantage in some …