English excerpts from 'Concept M' by Aafke Romeijn

Excerpt from Concept M, p. 149-151, translated by Paul Vincent Aafke Romeijn, Concept M, De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 2018, 262 p.

The telephone rings. It’s Elf. ‘Are you watching Channel 1?’

Hava gets to her feet. ‘No, why?’

‘Take a look.’

Hava grabs the remote and zaps. Her mother is sitting at a shiny lacquered talk show table, in a brown jacket that Hava has never seen before.

The presenter has just announced her.

‘What’s this?’ Hava asks Elf. ‘Just listen,’ replies Elf. ‘How did you notice that something was going on?’ asks the talk show host. Marijke lays her hands palms down on the table. As she starts to talk a little caption appears at the bottom of the picture. Marijke Gerritsen, daughter under the influence of extreme right-wing group.

Hava’s mouth drops open. ‘What the…’

Marijke talks. ‘A few months ago she suddenly started talking about a group of new friends she met at university. At the same time I noticed that her tone was changing: she was suddenly talking about the ‘colourless people problem’, while previously she was on the contrary proud of her identity.’

The presenter nods sympathetically.

A few weeks ago she suddenly had all kinds of ideas about the end of the world, as if she had become a conspiracy theorist. I tried to have a sensible discussion with her, but all that came out was language that I immediately recognised as that of extreme right-wing bloggers and politicians from Sarah Liefkind’s time.’

‘That all sounds very serious,’ says the presenter in response, looking very understanding, ‘but how do you know it’s a particular group that’s influencing her?’

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Marijke sighs and folds her hands together. ‘I immediately suspected that her friends were behind it, my daughter was always an intelligent and selfconfident girl, there doesn’t seem to be anything left of that.’

Hava feels the blood draining from her face. She tries to say something to Elf, but can’t find any words for the pure astonishment that she feels.

‘I had the feeling I was losing my daughter, and I think I did what any mother would do: I got to the bottom of it.’

‘How did you do that?’ The presenter bends over towards her.

‘I followed her a few times.’

‘Followed? As in: you spied on her?’

Marijke nods. ‘I’m not proud of it, but I wanted to know before it was too late. She turns out to hang around the whole day in a student complex, together with a few others. She doesn’t go to lectures any more, she just sits there, meanwhile I have almost no contact with her and I just see her sharing all kinds of strange articles on social media about birth control for colourless people.’ Each second that she speaks Marijke’s face radiates more despair. ‘I’m absolutely sure: she’s under the influence of some sort of sect.’

Excerpt from Concept M, p. 178-179, translated by Paul Vincent Aafke Romeijn, Concept M, De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 2018, 262 p.

Without checking whether the microphone is on and without a crib sheet or notes she starts talking. As her words rain down on the crowd it is impossible to say whether her words are being amplified or not.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, those of you interested in this matter, I’m very glad to see you all here. At the same time I’m sad that it is necessary to hold this meeting. I should have preferred our government to have taken timely measures to limit the epidemic of colourless individuals and, eventually, to eradicate colourlessness. That did not happen, and so I feel obliged to set an example.

When I decided eight months ago to convert my Concept to M, that was not an impulsive choice. As you know, in the previous period I was openly 2

committed as an activist to the preservation of Western civilisation and the securing of our society. I did that as a member of UFO, by means of attacks on links in the dyeing industry. With UFO we succeeded in reopening the debate.

We forced every inhabitant of this country to reflect on a solution to colourlessness. However, what we have not been able to achieve is a change of direction in policy. We are heading towards a crisis beside which the 1980s will pale, you will suffer, your children will suffer, and the only person you can blame is yourself. I wish your children to have a future, and that’s why I am denying myself a future.’ Hava leaves a pause. She is proud of this sentence, and wants to see it sink in.

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