<m2m-eng> Open Letter to Lodewijk Asscher (the new Vice-Prime Minister of Holland)

[Jo van der Spek M2M]

[The latest news: Mayor Van der Laan will visit the Camp in Osdorp on 
Saturday 3rd at 9.30 a.m.. BBC published report on the camp in The Hague: 
http://t.co/BjpiQESa

And many thanks for your donations on account 39.02.71.918 St. M2M, 
Amsterdam. Triodos Bank, Postbus 55, 3700 AB Zeist
IBAN: NL03 TRIO 0390 2719 18 :]



Open letter to Lodewijk Asscher

Amsterdam, 1 November 2012




Dear Lodewijk,




You have surprised us again. You are moving from Amsterdam to The Hague. 
>From vice-Mayor you will be Vice-Prime Minister. In Amsterdam you decided 
that the tent camp of refugees on the street was a demonstration. Therefore 
it could stay. Thank you.




We are a group of citizens from Amsterdam and elsewhere, who are shocked by 
the injustice tnat has become visible through a range of actions by asylum 
seekers who have exhausted their procedures. We are people who want to help 
to find a solution. We are also here to look with the refugees and listen to 
them, to people fighting for their existence.




One of us, Thomas Spijkerboer, professor of Migration Law at the Free 
University, gave a public lecture last Wednesday in the camp in Osdorp. He 
explained in English, Dutch and French what you, your party (PvdA) and your 
Government have in mind for refugees, asylum seekers and those who have been 
turned down. We can sum up the reactions of the shocked refugees in one 
word:

Why?




Why do you, and your party, continue with making a law that makes illegal 
residency a crime?Why do you pardon children and make room for trafficked 
and maltreated women and do you not try to deal with the essence of the 
problem. The essence is that Nederland does not know how to deal with the 
50.000 people who have got stuck in the swamp. They do not get a chance to 
make a life here. They cannot travel to another country. They cannot and 
dare not return to their own countries. They have nowhere to go. And you 
tell them now that they can demonstrate, but at the same time you declare 
them criminal offenders for being here.




We are at a loss to explain your position. We know Lodewijk Asscher as a man 
who is always prepared to explain his policies and test them in the 
neighbourhoods and school of Amsterdam.

Do stick to that habit as you move to The Hague! Surprise us once more 
before you leave.




Come to the camp en tell the campers what you are doing. There are camps in 
Amsterdam and in The Hague, so you have a choice.




With warm regards




Jo van der Spek M2M, Migrant 2 Migrant Foundation

Thomas Spijkerboer, Free University

Mieke Maassen en Marjan Sax, Women against Deportation.