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5/2 The truth about integration

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31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

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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

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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

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Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

1 January 2008 – At the December council meeting, Mustapha Laboui (GroenLinks) took leave of the de Baarsjes district council. He was praised for his constructive role during incidents such as after the death of Driss Arbib. Laboui leaves the council because he has started his own business.

Laboui has been living in de Baarsjes for all his life and knows the neighbourhood thoroughly. In 1998, he entered the district council as a political novice. He quickly built a reputation for himself based on his knowledge of social issues, employment and education. During the past ten years, he headed the GroenLinks list twice and was party leader for four years.

At his farewell, he was praised by his colleagues. “The party leaders called him one of the best council members because of his experience and calm behaviour, due to which he was almost above party. When there were tensions in the neighbourhood, he restored the peace”, the district website says.

An example are the tensions after the death of Driss Arbib, who was shot by a policeman at the Mercatorplein in 2003. Laboui was one of the council members to look up neighbourhood youth. That is how he likes to operate: not talk about youth, but with them first.

His qualities were recognised by the neighbourhood residents. Coos Hoebe, current GroenLinks party leader: “With Mustapha heading the list, GroenLinks obtained 25% of the vote in the last election. That was the highest score for GroenLinks in the entire country. It’s no coincidence that Mustapha was the GroenLinks candidate to become alderman in de Baarsjes”. It did not get to that, though, for the PvdA opted for a coalition with the VVD.

Even though Laboui is a skilled politician, content comes first for him. During the last period, he dedicated himself to improving education, anti-poverty policies, the district’s diversity policy and especially labour market participation. He insisted that the district should play an important role in providing people with jobs.

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