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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

Why are you feeding those headscarves

8 November 2008 - Anti-poverty organisations in Amsterdam are fed up with the populist rhetoric of politicians like Ahmed Marcouch and with the false solidarity of the Froger family. Yesterday, the Alliance for a Fair Amsterdam (ARA) held its first conference.

One of the speakers was Mirjam Pool, who wrote a book on poverty based on fieldwork in Almelo. "Arriving back in Amsterdam, I always had to take a deep breath to leave the misery behind me", she said. "Its sad to see children growing up in that world, without any opportunities".

The people she met with elicited not only compassion, but sometimes irritation and despondency as well. She described a person who always blames others for his problems rather than solving them. "Its difficult to draw the line between helplessness and unwillingness".

Paul Scheerder, who runs a food bank frequented mainly by Moroccan families, says he gets comments like 'why are you feeding all those headscarves?'

Quite a few people at the ARA conference were annoyed with politicians Ahmed Aboutaleb and Ahmed Marcouch (PvdA). Both of Moroccan descent, they would have tried to surpass right-wing populist Geert Wilders in Moroccan-bashing at another conference on Thursday.

Poor families should tell their teenage kids to find a job, rather than go after 'free handouts', Marcouch had said. "Hands have been created to work, not beg".

Abdellah Tallal of the ARA pointed out that jobs often do not pay enough to lift families out of poverty. "Here in the Bos en Lommer District, there are many people who have to support their families with a cleaning job paying just 1,100 to 1,200 euro per month", he said.

Tallal was annoyed at the Frogers, a showbizz family who did a reality show in which they lived on social assistance for one month. "Those millionaires are supposed to show us what poverty is. They're saying: what are these people complaining about, we're having a lot of fun".

The ARA, founded in November 2007, is a coalition of organisations of welfare recipients, churches, trade unions and other organisations that fight for justice and equal opportunities. Ideas raised at the conference include introducing a basic income, using the financial rescue funds to fight poverty, re-introducing real student scholarships and raising the poverty issue during election campaigns.

ARA. Image: food bank in Noord (Photo Leefkringhuis / Hilco Koke)

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