The November 2014
Boomerang
De Omnibus Dubitandum Est
Sinterklaas Around the World P06
BarCard: What’s the Point? UCU Open for Debate Anonymous Enemies of IS Selfies with Bill Clinton Feminism
P02 P03 P05 P09 P11
Sinterklaas Craze and What to Expect By DEIRDRE VAN DEN BOS
“H
ij komt, hij komt, de lieve goede Sint…” This is the opening of one of the traditional Dutch children’s songs regarding Sinterklaas. As most of you presumably know, Sinterklaas is arriving soon. To be exact: on the 15th of November in Gouda. For those who have no clue about Sinterklaas at all, get ready for the closest thing you’ll see to Dutch drama! Before his arrival, the Sinterklaas journaal will be broadcasted. This is a children’s program that announces the arrival of Sinterklaas. Usually some tragedy happens and Sinterklaas will not be able to arrive in time or not at all. This year, as was shown in a promotional video, Sinterklaas sailed with this boat into the rainbow, and the aftermath is unknown. The Sinterklaas journaal started on the 11th of November, so if you are inte-
rested in watching prior to his arrival or after, turn on your TV at 18.00 and enjoy. Really, watch it, so just to get an impression of all the fuss around Sinterklaas in Dutch society. However, if you like movies better, Alles is Liefde is definitely recommendable, of course with English subtitles. When he finally arrives on the 15th of November, in a sudden reversal of fortune overcoming a particular obstacle, a large crowd assembles at the harbor and throughout the city to watch him arrive. Usually children are dressed up as Zwarte Piet or as Sinterklaas, however adults might do so as well. The excitement escalates, but the apex of anticipation reaches its climax once his boat comes into view and the crowd goes bananas. Upon docking, he and the Zwarte Pieten will be welcomed to the city usually by the mayor, and then mount his horse
(Amerigo) to tour the city. During his tour, the people sing Sinterklaas songs and some acts will be performed. The Zwarte Pieten usually hand out candy to the children and participate in the acts as well. The tour ends at the market where some information is read out of the ‘Grote Boek’,in which he keeps track of all children, before he goes off to his house where he lives during his stay until the 5th of December.
“Get ready for the closest thing you’ll see to Dutch drama” In between his arrival and the 5th of December children are allowed to put their shoe near the chimney or the radiator of their house before they go to bed. They sing Sinterklaas songs and put something in the shoe for Sinterklaas to take along with him. The day after, when they wake up, they usually rush down to see what Sinterklaas has put in their shoe. Most likely it is either candy or a small present. Ask any Dutch person who has younger siblings, and they will be able to tell you about this. Especially the moment when the younger siblings find out that Sinterklaas does not exist… The 5th of December is the actual celebration, and that is something you should definitely try and experience! As the story goes, Sinterklaas was the bishop of Myra and the patron saint of children. His death (saints’ death days instead of birthdays are venerated) is celebrated on the 6th of December, and during the night of the 5th to the 6th of December, he rides over the roofs with his horse and Zwarte Piet drops presents through the chimneys.
During the evening of the 5th of December, families gather together, presents are opened and they eat typical Sinterklaas food. A famous Dutch game to play during this evening is het dobbelspel. Everyone buys small, ridiculous presents and with the aid of a dice, participants have to follow assignments in order to obtain a present. These assignments can be anything really, just as the presents can be too. Besides the presents, there is some traditional food associated with Sinterklaas which are a must. There are pepernoten, marzipan, chocolate letters, a specific type of meringues and ginger cookies with almond filling! So, if you want the real experience of Sinterklaas’ arrival, go to either Gouda when he is arriving, or wait until he comes to Utrecht. Preferring the comfort of home, switch on the TV on the 15th at around the afternoon and watch! And definitely try to play het dobbelspel with your friends - it’s a lot of fun!
Zwarte Pieten issue Besides ‘problems’ with Sinterklaas’ arrival each year, over the past year a major problem around the tradition of Zwarte Piet has arisen, the so called ‘Zwarte Pieten discussion.’ Even the Dutch government is occupying itself with it. The issue is about the fact that Zwarte Piet is portrayed as a black servant of Sinterklaas. Due to the Dutch history of slave trade, this portrayal is perceived as being racist and therefore should be eradicated. Various solutions have been suggested, such as Pieten with different skin-colors, however a solution to the problem has not been reached yet. During this year’s official arrival, the Zwarte Pieten will be the same as always, albeit they will be protected by under-cover agents. During the arrival in Utrecht on the 16th of November, there will be Pieten with different skin-color.
Exchange in the USA:
Alcohol and Arrests P04
Disclaimer: Cover illustration by POPPY PHELPS | Photo in banner by ROOS VAN OOSTERHOUT
the Boomerang | November 2014
02 THE BUBBLE
Editorial To whomsoever finds themselves concerned, I have always maintained that being caricatured on Super Sticky Surfaces is virtually the pinnacle of celebrity at UCU. Their uncanny depiction of our gangster credentials, commitment to journalism and proclivity to save the day was nonpareil. And so I, on behalf of the Boomerang Board, would like to extend every muscular modicum of gratitude to the cast and crew of SSS. The Boomerang has also been busy selling themselves (for charity) at the Slave Auction, and I am sure the whole of campus will share our jouissance for the ¤2100 that was pledged on the night. One unfortunate consequence of this is that Niaz Ali Khan has commandeered this edition of Quad Queries. But turning to this issue! It has not gone unheeded that news of The Boomerang’s Special Feature on the Zwarte Piet
By OMAR NÜR-NATHOO debate was met by some with exasperation. This is a debate that recurs annually without fail and so I imagine, particularly for native Dutch students, that it has becomes frankly tedious. However, The Boomerang isn’t trying to re-hash well-worn lines. The internationality of this cosmopolitan campus grants us a cornucopia of different experiences of this sui generis Dutch tradition, which we hope to shine a light upon in this dark, and cold time. Moreover, we have two outstanding opinion pieces from Benjamin Asante and Danick Trouwloon. On a more serious note, last issue saw a number of writers complaining about disparities between the articles they send us and those that are published. It’s amusing, but there is a correlation: the more complaints we receive of this nature, the more the issue is lauded for the quality of its arti-
cles. Therefore I conclude that our editorial team- each and every single one of them- is doing a fantastic job- as are the overwhelming majority of our contributing writers whose articles I read with sheer elation. But to those narcissistic prigs who are sending us strongly-worded emails, the job of the Boomerang is to produce a high-quality newspaper that not merely rivals, but surpasses in quality the publications of any Ivy League or Russell Group university- and categorically not, as you seem to have deluded yourselves, to pander to your self-serving egos. Finally, I would just to take this opportunity to reiterate the apology made on the Facebook page about last issue’s ‘A Horse Walks into a Bar’ article. A slight edit, by arrant accident, slivered out of the printed issue. We wrote that the UCSA and BarCo Boards had broken rules- “albeit unwritten
ones”. Whilst not unfactual, we would like to clarify that whilst a convention had been broken, neither party broke the codified rules set out in the Policy Manual or Statutes. With that we, the board, bequeath to you this- the November issue of The Boomerang. De omnibus dubitandum est,
A note from your Executive Editor: “If you don’t like it we’ll write a passive aggressive article about you!”, or so the new episode of Super Sticky Surfaces joked at our expense. They failed to mention, however, that The Boomerang can also be aggressively passive - we will not be publishing a review.
UCU Open 2014: One Great Success By LUCIE KATTENBROEK
O
n October 31st and November 1st UCU Open, a large international debating tournament, took place. With over one hundred people from all over the world congregating in our bubble, this is one of the biggest events for the Dutch debating community, our own DebateCo and for campus itself. Arriving on the Friday afternoon, participants of the tournament were immediately shown to where they would sleep and hurried to dinner in order to begin their debates- which were scheduled to run until eleven o’clock at night- on time. The next morning started at nine with breakfast followed by several hours of debating before the semi-finals, dinner and the actual finals. All in all, the last day was complete by half twelve, finished off by a speech from the convener, Roel Bos, after which Tomas Beerthuis, Chief Adjudicator, announced the winners of the event. As per tradition the after-party or ‘social’ was thrown in the bar on Friday night. The bar was jam packed but, even after a marathon of debating, many decided to conduct postmortems on the motions and arguments
of the first day. With beer and wine flowing freely, combined with an after-debating adrenaline thrown into the mix of being a hormonal youth away from home longing for peace after battle led to the inevitable. Most not forewarned about the notorious ice pitcher, were cooled down forcefully, some needing a second or third before rationality prevailed. At four even the real die-hards left and by half past four everyone had arrived safely at their crash units.
“Most not forewarned about the notorious icepitcher, were cooled down forcefully.” The Grand Final debate tested the thesis “This house supports aggressive atheist proselytisation”. The four teams in the finals were fascinatingly diverse with all of them utilizing their different styles. The first
couple, one of them a well-known face in the Dutch debating community, took a calm and factual approach, in complete contrast to that of the final couple who were fierce and used dramatic hyperbole to bring their arguments across. With such a difficult topic as this, all but the third team were tentative in their phrasings, acting as diplomatically as possible without losing conviction. Beerthuizen and his jury decided that the winner was the fourth and last team- Syed Saddiq and Ameera Natasha Moore- from Malaysia that are attending debating tournaments almost every weekend to prepare for the upcoming World Championships. It would appear that such preparations are going well as, just one week before the UCU Open, a UCU team watched Saddiq and Moore wreak havoc in Bremen to win first place. Alongside winning the tournament, Saddiq also took home the prize for best speaker of the tournament with an average of 80 speaker points- points awarded to each debater after every round based upon their individual performance. Best novice speaker was Simon Toussaint (76 speaker point), a speaker from Leiden who wins this prize at his last tournament as a novice.
Comments from the Convenor By ROEL BOS
T
he moment I realized we had done a good job organizing UCU Open was during the fourth round of the tournament. It was just after lunch, all the debates had started and the army of volunteers helping us out was playing Curve Fever on the big screen in the Auditorium. Everything was set for the coming rounds of debating. All that was left for me to do was sit down and have a chill lunch outside in the sun. Just before the debaters started arriving on Friday the 31st of October, all of us were quite excited, but also nervous: What was going to happen? Were all the teams going to show up? Would all the ‘crash hosts’
actually open up their units? It was such a weird idea that all those people from all over the world were just going to show up here on campus. Knowing that debaters are not always the easiest people on the planet since they’re contrary, all kinds of horror scenarios ran through our minds. What would we do if they would puke on someone’s couch after the party? What if something happens in the bar? Those thoughts quickly faded to the back of my mind when the first debaters arrived. Nearly all of them turned out to be extremely nice people, who were all very considerate towards the volunteers, the bar and their hosts. The party in the bar turned out to
be quite fun! All of the debates on Saturday went off without a hitch; we nearly even managed to stick to our schedule. By the time the debating finals were over and won by the Malaysian team, it felt like the whole tournament flew by. The Chief Adjudicators even praised us for our organization: “much better than most British tournaments”. However, we as ‘OrgComm’ could not have done it without the help from the volunteers, crash hosts, BarCo, UCSA, A-Team, UFonds and College Hall. Thanks again for helping us in organising these two fantastically nice days! And for anyone interested in organizing UCU Open again next year: I can tell you it is an enriching experience!
Toussaint was paired up with the fifth speaker of UCU Open. In stark contrast with previous years, the tournament went by without any major problems thanks to the highly capable CA team, tab room and volunteers. OrgComm (the committee responsible for organizing the tournament) and their volunteers were reported to have played Curve Fever (better known as Achtung, die Kurve!) to pass the time on Saturday afternoon. The crash officer, responsible for finding a couch to crash for all debaters, not only had a sound night of sleep Friday night, but received no complaints whatsoever from crash hosts or debaters. The bartenders of the night stated that all debaters had been friendly and open. Even a debater- who are usually known for their lack of positivity- thanked the OrgComm for the tournament. All in all we can assume that the OrgComm’s evaluation meeting must have been a festive occasion.
Debate Terms UCU Open debates in British Parliament format, meaning there are four teams of two people, two proposition, two opposition, who all discuss a motion: the topic of a debate, always phrased as ‘This house would/will/allows/beliefs etc.’ The motions are thought of by the CA team which stands for Chief Adjudication team. A tournament will distinguish itself by its CA team. Together with independent adjudicators and other judges, the CA team judges the debates. They rank all teams and give out speaker points. Speaker points are a way to define how well a speaker did individually. Best speaker and best novice speaker are crowned based on this ranking. A novice is someone with less than a year of debating experience on university level. After judging, all scores are collected and processer by the tab room. Everything is overseen by the OrgComm.
a University College Student Association Magazine
THE BUBBLE 03
BarCard Gets Green Light from Campus By OMAR NÜR-NATHOO
O
n 28th October, a General Assembly- colloquially referred to as the BarCard GA- approved a two month trial of Le Credit Sportif (LCS) Clubcard and cash register system by sixty-three votes to six. After the trial period, the UCSA and BarCo Boards will make a closed decision as whether or not to permanently adopt the card. Though talk of a “Bar Card” has been echoing across campus for many years, it has always been an issue of some contention. Seeking to quell misconceptions, the GA brought together: Jurgen Dingemans (representative from LCS); Thomas Oosterhuis (Chair of BarCo); Juliette van Winden (UCSA CAO); Florian Verhaak (former UCSA CAO), and Clem Bouju (current UCSA Treasurer).
“The detriment to one’s wallet in a state of intoxication could be substantially exacerbated.” To begin with Dingemans explained how his company’s new system- “the system you need”- would operate for the average bargoer. Once a card has been acquired, an account needs to be created at www.MijnLCS. nl. After this, there are two ways for it to be topped-up with credit: A student can either transfer money to their account online using
a credit card, PayPal or iDeal; or the card can be topped up at the UCSA Bar. There is a 35 cent surcharge on every online top-up. The new system will also allow BarCo to efficiently track inventory and provide real-time information on the state of the Bar’s finances. Despite their enthusiasm, Oosterhuis and Verhaak admitted there were drawbacks- particularly in the transitional phase. For instance, retraining the numerous bartenders that have already familiarised themselves with the current system. Also the system- both online and the cash registerare in Dutch, thereby introducing a degree of inconvenience for those who have yet to grasp the intricacies of the Dutch tongue. The main concern, however, was the fear that the introduction of any form of card in the Bar would signal the gradual phasing out of cash. BarCo’s CAO, Juliette van Winden, emphatically denied this, stating that neither the UCSA nor BarCo “want to to force the BarCard on anyone.” This was reiterated by Oosterhuis who assured that there were no plans in the foreseeable future to stop using cash, adding that the new cash register- which enables the use of LCS Clubcardsin itself proffered benefits that made the switch more than worthwhile irrespective of the card. Additionally there were fears that this would encourage greater alcohol consumption on campus. The problem is that because one can top-up their card onlinefrom their phone in the bar- the detriment to one’s wallet in a state of intoxication could be substantially exacerbated. Whilst Verhaak
Spin Doctor Masterclass By POLITICSCO
D
o you ever dream of persuading people with your rhetoric like Frank Underwood? Are you curious as to what shenanigans actually occur in real life politics? On Monday the 10th November it was your chance to find out how the games behind the scenes of Dutch politics are played. PoliticsCo organized a master-class on press strategies given by Diederik ten Cate, a professional spin doctor at the Dutch parliament! “The first group, you are the Russian state news channel, the second group, you guys are the Dutch tabloid ‘De Telegraaf’, and lastly you guys are CNN”, said Ten Cate while he divided the students into several media organizations, each with a very different perspective on the news. They had to write headlines for an interview carried out
by two other students: one an interviewer from CNN and the other the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The interview takes place just after the crash of flight MH17 and Rutte is asked what he thinks of Mr. Putin’s policies
“I couldn’t tell you if he was telling the truth or hated every minute of our presence.” concerning Ukraine and whether he is planning to send Dutch troops to the crash site. This role play showed the difficulties of politicians when they receive questions to which they cannot answer with the obvious truth.
conceded that this might be the case, it is up to individual’s own responsibility. The cost of each card is €2,50, but will be sold by the UCSA for €5 in order to recuperate some of the initial costs of the system, which will be covered by a surplus in last year’s budget. The setup cost for the new system falls just short of €4500, while the monthly cost of the new system is ¤682making it marginally cheaper than the current system. Unfortunately the contract for the current system only comes to a close in
the Summer, leaving the UCSA to cover the cost of the new system for the remainder of the year, while BarCo continue paying for the current system. Once the trial period ends, it is an almost certainty that the UCSA Board and BarCo Board will chose to implement the BarCard. Though still a contentious issue, it is highly dubitable that any monumental change is likely to arise from this in the near future, and will instead slip into the realm of banality.
Illustration by LOTTE MULLER
At the time of the interview Rutte did not know yet whether he wanted to send troops to the crash site, and of course he did not like Putin’s aggressive behaviour in Ukraine. However, he did not want to admit either of these statements. Ten Cate explained that consequently politicians often think in advance which story they want to bring across, and they will use that story as the answer to whichever question the reporter asks. Ten Cate also gave examples of spinning, framing and phrasing in The Hague and abroad. For example, if a journalist asks: “Are you a crook?”, politicians should not reply like Nixon did by saying: “I am not a crook!”, but instead tell the journalist what you are: “I have always tried to be a honest and hardworking citizen.” In this case the discussion in the media will be whether you are honest and hardworking or not, which is much better for your image than a discussion about you being a crook or not. Moreover, Ten Cate explained how he tried to get the maximum amount of attention for his party (Groenlinks, the Dutch Greens) when the French superstar economist Piketty came to the Dutch parliament last week upon Groenlinks invite. For example, he invited Piketty for lunch at the Green’s office in parliament, so that all the cameras would shoot footage of his party members dining with Piketty, thereby drawing the desired links between Piketty and the Greens. Apart from giving an insight into the relationship between the media and po-
litics, Ten Cate was also very open to questions from students at the borrel afterwards. Therefore, by the end of the evening, it would be fair to say that we had been flashed a glimpse into the fascinating and tricky world of being a press strategists, and some even left the master class with thoughts of wanting to become a spin doctor themselves. When asked at the borrel, Ten Cate said he really enjoyed giving the master class, but after seeing the intricate layers of motives, angles and power plays that go on in the mind of a spin doctor, I couldn’t tell you if he was telling the truth or hated every minute of our presence!
“I am not a crook!” -Richard Nixon
the Boomerang | November 2014
04 THE BUBBLE
Terrifically Grisly: Alcohol Abuse and The Library Laid Bare Arrests: Partying
By GRACE HARDMAN
T
he British Library’s Terror and Wonder exhibition is a bloody chamber filled with disgust and desire. Coldblooded hearts of the sadistic, deranged, and even those people who nervously hide behind parted fingers watching horror films, will beat excitedly. Original manuscripts are laid open and bare at the spine, with Percy Shelley’s handwritten amendments blending into his wife’s first version of Frankenstein. William Blake’s sorrowful paintings silently answer Henry Fuseli’s “The Nightmare,” and unnerving screams from film clips are always in the next room. The 250th Anniversary of the original gothic novel, Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, is the reason behind the largest collection on Gothic artefacts displayed in Britain. The 300-level “Gothic Literature and Cultural Critique” course was the reason behind this University College Utrecht, Humanities Department field trip. Agnes Andeweg, my professor, and Bronwyn Kennedy, another literature fanatic, jumped at the opportunity to attend. College Hall gave us the opportunity. Of course, being a library, literature is the main focus, so it was surprising that the only truly goosebump-inducing artifact was Alexander McQueen’s 1996 Dante dress. Displayed on a mannequin (uncanny and faceless), delicate black lace clung onto a skeletal frame: the sewing together of darkness and beauty made devastating in light of Mc-
Queen’s tragic suicide. It was therefore simultaneously sickening and amusing when a displayed copy of Wuthering Heights was branded as Twilight’s Bella and Edward’s “favourite book.” Snippets of films seemed awkward and illplaced; two minutes of The Wicker Man became absurd out of context. It was unsurprising to see the exhibition-goers nervously smile. Yet ridiculousness is key to the Gothic: Jane Austen ridiculed it in Northanger Abbey 200 years before the Aardman brothers put werewolves in a Wallace and Gromit movie. Tim Pye, the curator, says, “it appeals to our weird love of fear and being scared, and that’s a universal feeling.” Indeed it appears fitting that a mirror greets the public upon arrival, as if the Gothic blatantly reflects the aspects of human nature one desperately attempts to hide. Interest in taboo and fear is certainly yet to die, even Disney has invested in the spooky, with Maleficent being the second highest grossing film of last year. Gothic is the ghost of the past; the exhibition tells us that Shakespeare influenced Fuseli and Edgar Allen Poe inspired Lou Reed. Gothic is still relevant and exciting, and photographs of the Whitby Gothic Weekend fittingly end the display, suggesting that the future of Gothic lies in punk culture. Although the exhibition may appear dry and absurd to sceptics, the variety of media certainly gives gothic fanatics their desired dose of sadistic delight.
Chocks Away! Breaking Barriers
with the Language Form By BIRGIT HASENACK
J
iro Horikoshi and I have one thing in common: we both dream about airplanes way too often. The difference is that, whereas I am not fond of these dreams, Jiro tries to make them come true. Not surprisingly, it is in one of these dreams where we meet the main character of The Wind Rises, an animated Japanese film based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi – an engineer during World War II. The film was shown during a movie night hosted by the Language Forum, and even though they advertised cushions and free food, few students showed up. A shame, seeing as The Wind Rises has been praised by critics and received several nominations for prestigious awards. It is not difficult to understand why: the colors and animations are stunning and contribute to the dreamy feeling of the film. In The Wind Rises, we follow Jiro while he tries to make his dreams come true. The story begins with him young, and after being encouraged by the words of airplane designer Giovanni Battista Capronia, Jiro decides to become an engineer. But Jiro’s dreams are not limited to flying and so an inevitable love story is included in The Wind
Rises. For someone who is not too fond of planes, it is perhaps difficult to understand Jiro’s love for flying. It is perhaps easier to understand the relation between Jiro and Nahoko. As their story is bittersweet, it elicits emotions that metal constructions are not able to. The rest of the story, set in the context of the Second World War, is equally as dramatic. As this is nicely balanced by some comic relief, the film is still enjoyable to watch – even when you have no affiliation with anime. Nevertheless, even with soft pillows and snacks it is sometimes difficult to stay focused. It takes a while for the film to get going, and even afterwards, the story enfolds itself slowly. I would still recommend both The Wind Rises and movie night however. With my aversion to planes, I would not have seen the movie otherwise. This is exactly why movie night is a good initiative by the Language Forum: it allows students to move out of their comfort zone and see something different for a change. Curiously enough, I did not dream about airplanes at all that night.
in the USA
By JULIE ALBERS
A
three hour long test, two lectures, a counselling session and another test coming up. Apparently all this is necessary to ensure my safety at parties during my exchange in Santa Barbara, California. But while the police are roaming the streets, I have never experienced a more escalated party scene. When I got accepted at University of California Santa Barbara, people kept telling me how this was the second-best party campus in the USA. So I arrived full of anticipation, ready to dive into an unprecedented wild party scene. But the wildness wasn’t always a good thing. The first American house party I went to on Del Playa – Santa Barbara’s party street – was quite a shock. At only 10 pm, all students present were extremely drunk, yelling and screaming, and some even climbed the fence that separated the houses from the cliffs. Both guys and girls were merely interested in finding and going home with their other half as quickly as possible. The international students felt out of place, to say the least. What was happening here? I believe that part of the problem is the drinking age of 21. Anticipation builds up fiercely during those three years in college. When people finally come of age they have no clue how to drink at a normal pace. The result is that they drink shots like water. On a normal night, Del Playa is one big madhouse. Inside these house parties, heavy drinking is the rule – even for minors who’ve managed to sneak in. There’s a reason for this: at midnight, the cops shut everything down. No music whatsoever is allowed after twelve! When you then decide to go home, cops are everywhere, arresting people for the most insignificant offences. So you have to party quickly and intensively, but behave very carefully afterwards. While I have been here for only two months, I have been overwhelmed with information sessions and horror stories. An online test told me that three drinks in two weeks was a reason to seriously consider altering my drinking behaviour. Also, did I know that 25% of the students at UCSB choose not to drink? So if I don’t want to drink, I am still perfectly normal! It kept yammering about that no one will tell me what (not) to do. No, the only goal is to help me “make the smart decisions – the right decisions”. Yeah, sure. The police officer who came to my residence hall gave a long lecture on how to behave in front of the police. After all this slightly worrying advice – don’t move, don’t get out of your car, don’t interrupt – it was a little hard to believe his statement that the police are our friends. The weekly email from the legal resource centre on how to deal with tickets turned this into an even bigger question mark.
An international student got arrested because he was walking on the street while intoxicated. He wasn’t doing anything strange, just walking, but when a police officer addressed him, his English wasn’t clear enough. That earned him a night in a cell. When we took the bus downtown last week, the police were waiting for its arrival to check for any offences. Two of my friends got a 200 dollar ticket for carrying an opened container with them. Each.
But the worst was yet to come: during the interactive, engaging and elevating in-class counselling session. After we had had to memorize the size of a standard drink, they showed the pictures of six students who had died due to alcohol related abuses in the past few years. Their Facebook picture, their name, their age, everything! The message was: if you don’t know how to handle alcohol, THIS will happen to you. Of course, no further explanation about any possible external factors. This was simply public humiliation and degradation. I can’t wrap my head around this strange paradox: the university takes extreme measures to discourage alcohol and drug-use, but students go absolutely crazy, with obnoxious consequences. This seems to be a more general tendency in the American society: a pretension to have everything under control, to offer countless resources and support systems, but in reality this only constitutes a counterproductive approach and reinforces reckless behaviour. With uncontrollable drinking behaviour, a cat-and-mouse game with the police, and the overflow of help and information centres, this situation seems quite hypocritical. Students are just perpetuating their own stereotype to the extent of it becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. America, please lower your drinking age, and stop making such a big drama out of everything. This is obviously not working.
a University College Student Association Magazine
LOCAL 05
The New Juncker Commission of the EU By IVO TARIK DE VRIES
O
n the 22nd of October this year, the European Parliament approved Jean Claude Juncker’s team to run the 2014-2019 European Commission (EC). This team has now officially taken office since the first of November. It consists of Juncker as President, 7 Vice-Presidents, and 20 Commissioners – all from different countries in the European Union (EU). Juncker himself comes from Luxembourg.
“Juncker has defended the EU, saying that he is ‘not the chairman of a gang of bureaucrats’.” But what exactly are the tasks the EC deals with? A dedicated smoker – of which we have a sizeable amount of at the University College – might figure out one of these tasks by observing his or her cigarette pack. Namely, the warning labels on each pack sold in the EU owe major gratitude to the EC. The EC initiates and proposes legislation, and in 2003, the EC initiated a directive “concerning the manufacture, presentation,
Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission (source: European Voice) and sale of tobacco products.” This led to the warning labels. These proposals do not immediately became laws however, as both the European Parliament and Council must approve and co-legislate these. These institutions are where member states participate with determination towards the interests of their country. The EC is said to be different, as its former President, José Manuel Barroso shares: “ideological differences do not count in the European Commission. They are almost irrelevant.” This is because each Commissioner swears an oath to respect and guard the EU treaties and not to uphold agendas from their home country. This position of being the ‘Guardians of the Treaty’ also allows the EC to penalize any member states that do not to accord to the EU law. Besides being a major player in the EU’s policy management, the EC also manages the EU’s budget. This includes providing financial assistance towards projects in the EU that need it. Furthermore, the dedicated smoker may find something else printed on the pack of his or her cigarettes: “Made in the EU under authority of British American Tobacco (brands) inc., U.S.A.” This directs to the EC’s other role of representing the EU outside of its geographical premise. This is especially
done by trade agreements, such as the one made in July 2010 with the British-American Tobacco company. Finally, the Commission also sets objectives for the EU. The new Juncker’s Commission has already published the Commission Work Programme 2014. In it, the EC’s and EU’s priorities for this year are outlined. These include: adopting a framework for bank recovery and resolution, free movement of workers, information security, and admi-
Sint Maarten, Sint Maarten, de koeien hebben staarten By ANNE LUCASSEN
T
he doorbell rings. Outside there are three children carrying brightly coloured lanterns who start singing the second the door opens: “Sint Maarten, Sint Maarten, de koeien hebben staarten (Saint Martin, Saint Martin, the cows have tails,),” and they sing on, rarely in tune, “de meisjes hebben rokjes aan, daar komt Sint Martinus aan (the girls wear skirts, there comes Saint Martinus.).” This is a common scene in large parts of the Netherlands on the 11th of November. Find any Dutch person on campus and he or she can probably tell you about Saint Martin’s day. As the name suggests, it is based on the holiday of a Roman Catholic saint called St. Martin of Tous. There are quite a few churches in the Netherlands named after St. Martin, and he is in fact the patron saint of Utrecht. St. Martin was born in what is now Hungary, and was a Roman soldier in the fourth century, before becoming a bishop. The most well-known story about him is that one day, while he was entering a city, a beggar began asking him for money. Not having any, St. Martin instead took his sword and cut his cloak in two, giving half to the beggar, who was shivering in the cold. Soon there-
after St. Martin converted to Christianity and became a priest and later the bishop of Tours in France. He is the patron saint of beggars and also of Utrecht, and to this day some of his bones are kept in the Dom. Nowadays the holiday has little to do with St. Martin as a religious figure or the Roman Catholic holiday. Instead, it has become a tradition that many Dutch people, regardless of their religion, still follow. The exact traditions vary depending on the location, with Limburg sometimes celebrating the day with bonfires, while Zeeland not celebrating the day at all. Where it is celebrated, young children often go from house to house, showing off their paper lanterns at twilight. Often these are handmade paper lanterns, though in some places children still partake in the traditional custom of bieten uithollen – to hollow out sugar beets and put a light in them. At each door the children sing one of the many St. Martin’s songs and in return receive candy or, to the disappointment of many, a piece of fruit. These songs usually have simple and quite silly lyrics, with new versions appearing each year. For many people in the Netherlands, St. Martin’s day may be considered the Dutch version of Halloween, except instead of wea-
ring scary costumes and going trick or treating, children carry lanterns and sing songs. Yet the bags of candy acquired afterwards, just as the stomachaches of eating too much of it at once, are remarkably similar.
Sint Maarten, back in the days
nistrative cooperation, among many other things. Despite these prospective goals, the EC has recently had to reduce their optimism towards the Eurozone. It reduced its forecast for 2014 from a 1.2% to 0.8% in economic growth. The before forecast of a 1.7% growth for 2015 was also corrected to a lower 1.1%. This is in some ways the effect of the lessened confidence of member states in the EU, and partly tied with the greater geopolitical tension attributed to the current Ukrainian conflict. Tension has also been rising in the EU itself. United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister David Cameron has refused the EU’s 2.1 billion surcharge on the UK – a member state not part of the Eurozone, and has been idling commitment towards the Schengen agreement of free labour movement. The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has also become more Euro-skeptic since last month’s European Council meeting. Renzi criticized the EU of being a “gang of bureaucrats.” EC President Juncker has however defended the EU, saying that he is “not the chairman of a gang of bureaucrats” but the President of the EC – “a political body.” As for Cameron, Juncker found that EU law ought to be more respected in the UK than it is currently: “they are presented in a totally different way in parts of British public opinion.” The reason why the UK got stuck with the most sizeable bill of all member states is because it also had the most economic growth in the past year. As for the politics of the new EC, 14 are designated to the European People’s Party (EPP), 8 to the Socialists and Democrats party (S&D), 5 to the Liberals (ALDE), and one to the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). What is also important though, is that each commissioner has a field he or she is specialized in. The Dutch commissioner and First Vice-President Frans Timmermans is for instance interested in better regulation, inter-institutional relations, the Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights – while another commissioner such as Czech Véra Jourá comes out for Justice, Consumers, and Gender Equality. These 28 specialized people will run the EC for the next five years.
the Boomerang | November 2014
06 SPECIAL FEATURE
Sinterklaas from a Cosmopolitan Perspective Malawi By ROOS VAN OOSTERHOUT December in Malawi is one of the hottest times of the year, so the location for celebrating Sinterklaas with the Dutch community on the 5th December was always the swimming pool! As the day got closer, us Dutch kids became more excited; we knew that if we had been good we would be receiving presents, and there was the pepernoten, speculaas, and other traditional sweets to look forward to. As it isn’t possible to buy these sweets in Malawi, the embassy always had them sent from the Netherlands. At this point you can probably imagine that our Sinterklaas celebration was traditional but had some adaptive twists! Around midday, we stood outside the entrance of the pool, singing traditional Sinterklaas songs while waiting for him to arrive, with our parents encouragingly telling us: “If you sing loud enough, he will hear you and hurry up.” Unlike the arrival of Sint on a horse in the Netherlands though, in Malawi, he arrived in a 4x4 pick-up, because the horse would not be able to make the journey all the way from Spain. Of course he always brought a couple of Pieten along with him, to help him carry his book, along with bags of presents and pepernoten. As the Dutch community in Malawi is not very big, my guess is that there were around 70 people every year, including parents, Sint had time to read out a short review of each child’s year to determine whether they deserved a present or not. In between different children’s turns, we sang songs, mostly in Dutch, but a couple in English, as some people that attended were half Dutch or could not speak Dutch fluently. We also swam to cool off, with the highlight of one year being when one Piet threw the other in the pool. When Sint had finished reading his book, he left in his pick-up again with the Pieten, as he had to go back to give presents to the children in the Netherlands. We sang for him until he was out of sight, and then usually continued swimming or playing with the presents we had received. In the days leading up to the 5th December, we had some other traditions within our family. For example we did put our shoes out for Sint in our living room. We did not have a chimney however as not many houses in Malawi do, so they just stood at the side of the room. Like many Dutch children, we also made a drawing for Sinterklaas, put out water and carrots for his horse, and sang before we went to bed. Sinterklaas’ midsummer celebrations were the norm for me, but for the first time last year we celebrated inside with the heater on which certainly felt slightly odd!
America By ANNEMIEKE JANSSEN I moved to Virginia when I was 8. Sinterklaas there was never that different than Sinterklaas in the Netherlands for me. Besides the absence of various people (we always celebrated with the entire extended family), most
things remained the same. We still made surprises, wrote poems, and watched “het Sinterklaasjournaal”. My sisters and I all knew that Sinterklaas wasn’t real when we moved so we were never told stories about why he didn’t come to Virginia. Our main concern was how to obtain pepernoten, chocolate letters and other essential Sinterklaas food. It turned out our worry was for nothing. Due to Americans’ obsession with ancestry, we could order most Dutch foods from a special grocery store in Holland, Michigan. Besides, my aunt sent us a box of Sinterklaas n ece s s i t i e s every year. Add to that all the Sinterklaas gifts my mom received as the Dutch teacher at the international school, and we were usually eating pepernoten well into April. Partially due to the excess of food my friends liked Sinterklaas. While most had no idea what the celebration was about, they knew that at the end of November, they would get a chocolate letter and then could steal the pepernoten from my lunchbox. The few who asked generally thought it was hilarious that an old bishop supposedly rides around on the roofs of houses delivering presents for “Dutch Christmas”. However, each year Sinterklaas passed without much notice. Our celebration was low-key, just a nice evening with the family. It was one of the few times during the year my sisters would come home from college although that might have to do with the free bitterballen at the embassy’s Sinterklaas party.
Cambodia and Zambia By IVO TARIK DE VRIES It is assumable that a Dutch student’s youth when spent in foreign countries is vacant of the festive Sinterklaas tradition. Some might think that those students never got to be in the presence of the Sint whilst they still believed in him nor tasted the pepernoten given out by the Pieten. This is not altogether accurate though. In Cambodia, South-East Asia, the small but organized Dutch community celebrates Sinterklaas each year in their own special way. In 2001 for example, Sinterklaas did not arrive by steamship but by wooden ferry. The Cambodian authority would not allow a steamship to pass through the Mekong River, adults assured the enthralled youngsters. In Zambia, Southern Africa, the local police arrested the Pieten for climbing over gates of expats’ homes at night. The authorities were unaware of the Piet’s honourable
duty to deliver gifts. After much hassle, the Pieten were finally released and given a ride to that year’s Sinterklaas event. Seeing the Pieten stepping out of a cop car was certainly memorable for many of the children there. Cop cars, ferries, buses, and even sidecar motorcycles are not too uncommon transport for Sinterklaas in foreign countries that have dedicated Dutch communities. The Sint’s arrival is not the sole celebration. Planning goes into the entire event: the traditional food, activities and atmosphere are essential. Some Dutch embassies provide the chocolate letters the children expect, and parents secretly bake pepernoten the night before. Large banners are painted to welcome the Sint. The ‘Sint’ and Pieten are chosen and dressed up. On the day itself there are organized activities for the Dutch children. In Cambodia juniors would have to graduate Pieten school: learning how to pack presents, write poems, climb roofs, and other tasks. These energyconsuming activities also calm the children’s frenzy over Sinterklaas and the presents he will bring them. Nevertheless, children are not entirely gullible so once in a while there arises the question: How can Sinterklaas possibly travel halfway around the world in less than a day? The simple remedy to this is that Sinterklaas has hulp-Sints: assistant-Sints. Sometimes the real Sinterklaas visits the Netherlands, and sometimes a hulp-Sint does, while the real Sint visits a different country. The children think then that, perhaps, the real Sint is finally visiting Cambodia, Zambia, Ghana or Angola.
Mexico By SEBASTIAN ALVAREZ VAN TUSSENBROEK It was hard for me to explain to my friends in Mexico what the celebration of Sinterklaas, which my mother presented to me and my sister when we were children, was. “I think you mean Santa.” No, Sinterklaas is not fat and he has a horse instead of reindeers. “Does he give presents like Santa?” Well, kinda. But you have to leave a treat for his horse in a shoe, like a carrot. “Why do you put carrots on a shoe?” Well, so that he can pick it up, I guess. Otherwise he may just assume that the whole fridge is at his and his horses’ disposal. “What about the elves?” Well, he has helpers, but they are just nice jolly men that throw candy at you and apparently like to play jokes. “Who framed Roger Rab-
bit?” Just watch the movie. Gosh. Sinterklaas was a very personal experience to me. It is a distinct memory of my childhood because of how different it is in comparison with my Mexican heritage. For a week long, every night before going to sleep I would gather on the living room couch with my mother and my sister. We would bring a shoe with the treat for the Sinterklaas’ horse and sing weird songs in a foreign language. I can barely remember that one of the songs started with “Sinterklaas kapoentje...”, or something like that. And there was this one song in which you could say “cucu” at the end, but my mother said only naughty children did that (I did. I was such a badass as a kid). After singing those undecipherable songs, my sister and I would go to bed, and our mother would tell us to go straight to sleep and not to try to catch Sinterklaas on the act. May as well tell a fish not to swim. But every single time I tried to see Sinterklaas in person, I would be too late. “Rats” I would claim, going back to bed, once again defeated by an old man and his horse. I woke up to candies and little toys like yoyos and tops though, so no hard feelings. Still, I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids and their stupid dog. Even though it may not have been the same as the typical Sinterklaas celebration, I think like with most festivities, the gift’s spirit is what really counts. I am ever so thankful to my mother for sharing one of the most important Dutch festivities with me.
Hongkong By LOTTE MULLER
L
ittle nervous 7-year-old me sitting in a bus filled to the brim with Dutch people singing Sinterklaas songs is what I remember of traveling the shores of Stanley: The arrival of Mr. Sinterklaas! The journey was long, but I never lost sight of what lay waiting for me- pepernoten, presents and hopefully the chance to pet Sinterklaas’ trusty steed Amerigo. Nervously I waited for the boat, hoping nothing had gone wrong as it had just been a rough typhoon season and I didn’t want Sinterklaas to stray at sea- a very real worry in Hong Kong. I resorted to waving my little Dutch flag at the lighthouse that would guide the boat with presents to our shores. Never once did I question where this massive Dutch community came fromgathered together by the Nederlandse Vereniging Hong Kong. Waiting for Sinterklaas always felt as if I was in the Netherlands except for the small-scale arrival and swanky speedboat that Sinterklaas always arrived in. Sometimes the Dutchness even proved a problem as speaking to Sinterklaas in Denglish (Dutch/English) without fail caused some confusion. It was strange swapping from an exclusively English environment to something so Dutch. In the end, I guess most importantly, in the Netherlands and in Hong Kong, we all got our presents and we all got our Sinterklaas unless we didn’t put out our shoe with a nice drawing in it…. The real question is however, how does Sinterklaas manage to travel so fast all the way to Hong Kong!?
Picture: Sint and Piet in Malawi (taken by Roos van Oosterhout)
a University College Student Association Magazine
OPINION 07
Peering Past Piet’s Paint By DANICK TROUWLOON
W
henever the Zwarte Piet debate is brought up I am amongst those who roll their eyes. Yes, I am black. Yes, I often feel disrespected and uncomfortable in association with my race. Yes, I know many others who encounter much worse. So no, I am not in denial about the realities of a not-at-all post-racist society. Zwarte Piet is a very obvious misrepresentation of those of black-African origin. However, this is not what my argument against the whole debate is based on. Instead, I am simply far too cynical to believe that banning Zwarte Piet will contribute much to the development of my dream society in which racist sentiments are not awarded any agency. Curaçaoans are continuously fighting for an increased sense of self-worth by trying to eliminate the strong inferiority complex we owe to our colonial past. During the many debates held prior to Independence in 2010, every aspect of the Curaçaoan society, from its culture to its economic prospects, was reduced to a debate on racism. It was then that I fully understood the strength of our inferiority complex. Yet, remarkably, I never heard the Sinterklaas tradition questioned. Some people attribute this to the idea that grown-ups do not feel the need to question what they did not question as children. I think, instead, that it is likelier that Curaçaoans have learned to focus on the problem, rather than one unfortunate symptom. In comparison to the institutional racism of Curacao’s colonial history, the Zwarte Piet debate is certainly second rate. Frequently, reactions to the Zwarte Piet de-
bate involve racist and nationalistic slurs. But these slurs are also frequently used in various settings, many without any relation to the Zwarte Piet debate. These slurs harbour the racist sentiments that underpin any manifestation of racism in our society. Thus attacking racist manifestations without addressing these underlying racist sentiments is useless, because these sentiments will always find new ways to manifest themselves. Indeed, no one argues that banning Zwarte Piet will mean that job opportunities for ethnic minorities will worsen, in the same way that it will not mean that friend of colour will never be cussed out and spat at in public again. We need to grow up and stop mistaking political correctness for political sincerity. Moreover, the Zwarte Piet debate rests on its assumption that I, as a black person, will inevitably associate myself with Zwarte Piet. Although I understand that a misrepresentation of one’s race can affect one deeply, I am not comfortable awarding all agency to any tradition. I, personally, am not offended by Zwarte Piet because I cannot see this caricature as a reflection of myself. The colour of my skin, the thickness of my lips and the texture of my hair do not draw their value from this caricature. Au contraire, I would be foolish to create an image of myself based on what is undoubtedly the product of a time when, too put it mildly, my people were treated unfairly. Thus, instead of depending on the Dutch to break their emotional ties to the Zwarte Piet tradition, I think black people
NAY
YAY We [the Boomerang board] recently conducted a survey via our Facebook page. The question we asked you was: “Zwarte Piet: yay or nay?” Here are the results.
must create a different standard against which they can measure themselves. It is everyone’s personal responsibility to nurture their own identity and to decide what agency they award when it comes to their reflection of themselves. We must grow up and start deciding for ourselves who we are and what we draw our worth from. Perhaps the stance I take here is not strong enough to bring forth any substantial change when it comes to racism in our society, yet I remain convinced that the Zwarte Piet debate will not achieve much more than it already has: polarise a children’s tradition.
[TOTAL]: 275 [YAY]: 181 (66%) [NAY]: 94 (34%)
What will always stay a harmless festivity in my mind is now simultaneously a painful discussion on whether or not I should associate myself with a misrepresentation of my race. But instead of wasting my voice on that which I could change for myself, I am much more inclined to use my agency to fight institutional racism. Because even though I cannot choose whether or not someday someone somewhere will fail to hire me because of my beautiful brown skin, I do have the privilege to let any misrepresentation bounce off my tough brown skin.
Culturing the Parade of the Happy Black By BENJAMIN ASANTE
“P
oor Blackface, what do I see now?” – This is an introduction of one of the many Saint Nicholas’ children songs, here, in the Netherlands. In this song Blackface is battered for losing one of his children’s sweets, after he has sadly fallen, due to his clumsiness, from a rooftop. This song tells the story of a narrative that is tainted with racism. The entire discussion as to deciding whether ‘we’ –the Dutch- should continue to deploy blackfaces, illustrates the grand institutionalized racist structure of this society. In this article, I will neither be arguing that blackface is an insult to all people of color, nor that this discussion would end the greater scheme of racism. However, I would like to invite you to look at why the blackface tradition should not be a part of our culture, as agency can be given to a decision that would make this country a little more inclusive to all. I have lived my entire life in,
Utrecht, the Netherlands, being born the son of a white Dutch/German mother and black Ghanaian father. Hence, I do feel comfortable to speak in two perspectives; that of a majority, and minority position. From the age of four, I believed strongly in the fantasy of Saint Nicholas, it was a magical experience that neither Harry Potter nor the Lord of the Rings could ever match with. However, when I became myself the object of the entire parade of Saint Nicholas, by being called blackface, a social context started to appear. This social context relates to our connection between skin color, identities and societal positions. The blackface parade taking place every year in the prelude to the Eve (of Saint Nicholas) showcases a tradition of slavery, racism and inter-racial power relations. As the song invites us to actually see what we observe, we would not be able to omit the fact that Saint Nicholas and blackface are represented, and behave, in sharp contrast with each other. Namely, on the one
hand we see a white, aged and benevolent man sitting on a horse commanding wisely his subordinates. On the other hand, we see black, erratic and docile men roaming around whilst violently throwing sweets at the faces of young children. The Dutch are very inclined to define blackface, only when being black, to be culture –but why so necessarily? Blackface originates from a 19th century popular caricature of black people, alluding to a happy-black figure. Well, the Dutch believe to be color blind, and live in this liberal postracial society that is simply too ‘tolerant’ for US–style political correctness. However, the apparent racist connotation of the blackface tradition, as showed above, has seem to have fallen in an abyss of tolerant oblivion – I suppose. It is a miracle that we the Dutch are accepting towards Albert Heijn –our most favorite supermarket (also present in Dutch foreign holiday destinations)- when they decided the scrap the black color of
the blackface from their products. What I do personally, completely, not understand is that many of my fellow Dutchies do not see the difference between Teletubbies-colored people and black people is not only that the latter exists while the former don’t, but also that we did not enslave and structurally oppress Teletubbies-colored people for centuries on end. Nowadays, the majority –mostly white- do claim blackface not to be an issue for them, as this is only culture. However, firstly, do we want racism to be our culture? Secondly, racism is not really white peoples’ sufferings when living in a predominately white society, is it? The dismissal takes form in banal ways, in which we hide behind our culture to never feel offended. This self-ridicule is less risky for those who enjoy (white) privileges, in this debate, when they are taken seriously regardless.
the Boomerang | November 2014
08 GLOBAL
Anonymous Opposes ISIS:
But What Can it Offer? By IVO TARIK DE VRIES
O
n the 21st of June this year, a video was posted on Youtube titled Anonymous: Operation Ice ISIS (#OpIceISIS). It informs viewers that the hacktivist group Anonymous has “declared complete solidarity” against ISIS. It also announces Anonymous’ plans to assail the “pathetic excuse of a cyber-security” of any states supporting the emerging Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). These were, according to Anonymous at the time: Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi-Arabia.
“It is a head-scratcher of how a group of hacktivists could possibly contribute to ending this selfdeclared caliphate.” The video has now received over 140,000 views and circulated numerous news websites and forums. Whether Anonymous’ message must be taken seriously is debatable. In the past, Anonymous’ hacktivism – hacking into a computer system to further political or social ends – has produced some noteworthy accomplishments. Often, the group runs ‘denial of service’ (DoS) attacks against websites, overworking its servers and expelling it from the face of the internet
each time. Other than disengaging websites as a form of cyber-protest, Anonymous has also proven capable of overthrowing online organizations. In October 2011, the group launched Operation DarkNet in order to put a dent in child pornography on the internet. Anonymous was able to reveal usernames of over 1,500 people who patronized a major ‘deep web’ child pornography site. Anonymous then invited the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol to take action. Revealing undisclosed information, of both private as well as public organizations, is one of the feats of Anonymous. Anonymous’ operations are not exclusive to the United States (US). From Australia to Zimbabwe, Anonymous has targeted organizations and governments for a range of reasons, but often regarding breaches of human rights, censorship, and anti-democratic sentiments or laws. The cyber-protests sometimes become protests in the real world when Anonymous incites these through social media outlets. But its recent stance towards ISIS and supporting states deems a new challenge. ISIS has already, in the eyes of several countries as well as the United Nations (UN) and European Union, become listed as a terrorist organization. It has in this past year gained alarming dominance over territories in both Iraq and Syria – mostly by brute force. A UN report published findings that concluded ISIS’ continuous crimes of war and crimes against humanity. These include the targeting of civilians and their infrastructure, abducting and executing people, the raping
of women and forced recruitment of children. Religious or culturally important buildings have also been destroyed. This ferocity has caused an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis to be displaced since August 2014. It also led to the killing of 4,692 civilians between June and August this year. These crimes by ISIS have been a means to the end of forming a new Islamic Sunni caliphate – with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their caliph. For this reason ISIS is also composed strictly of Sunni Islamists, opposed to the other Islamist sect, the Shia. And despite the efforts of the Iraqi army – recruiting both Shia and Sunni Islamists – ISIS’ territory has now stretched to roughly the size of Belgium.
Operation Ice ISIS #OpIceISIS
The just of the matter is that guns, determination, and Machiavellian means are what ISIS gains its territory and power by. It certainly is a head-scratcher then of how a group of hacktivists, Anonymous, could possibly contribute to ending or obstructing this self-declared caliphate. This is perhaps the reason why Anonymous has confronted the Qatari, Turkish, and Saudi Arabian governments. These are recognized states with sophisticated technological infrastructure, and so Anonymous has a more defined target towards what websites to derail and what networks to hack into. But these allegedly ISIS-supportive states have in past months explicitly changed their perceived positions by joining the US-led coalition against ISIS. Anonymous might therefore have to re-evaluate its original intent. The reason these countries were perceived as ISIS-supportive is partly because they indirectly were. Retired General Jonathan Shaw mentioned in an interview with the Telegraph last month that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia were majorly responsible for ISIS’ rise. The two states have for years been evoking and financially supporting a militant and converting strain of faith derived from Abdul Wahhab – an 18th century scholar with original followers called the Salaf. According to General Shaw, this spun out of control and formed ISIS. General Shaw also mentioned how the two states are now more threatened by their own creation than Western countries, but thinks that it should be fought ideologically, rather than physically. As for the notion of ideological solutions rather than physical, Anonymous seems to agree. Its operations are based on ideological standpoints that are fought not by force, but by technology or intended peaceful protest. If the will of Anonymous is as at equal tenacity as it has been for previous operations, the video posted on June the 21st may become more credible than it has been till now – Anonymous has since its post not made any known moves to put ISIS in checkmate.
TTIP: Corporate Power Grab or an Agreement for the People? By POPPY PHELPS
T
he Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement between the EU and the US. One that, if agreed, would become the largest trade deal ever launched, covering 45% of global GDP. The deal aims to remove “unnecessary” trade barriers to facilitate cheaper and easier trade between the EU and the US. Negotiations which started in June 2013 have remained predominantly secretive, while groups like Greenpeace along with many other politicians and citizens continue to call for further transparency. This lack of information has led to concern about the agreement. What are these “unnecessary” barriers? Do they imply a compromise of current EU health and environmental standards? TTIP would boost the EU economy by ¤120 billion, provide more jobs, and benefit households by an average of €545 through cheaper goods and services. Its aim is to expand the economy and accelerate trade, requiring intensified extraction of raw
materials and heavier dependency on fossil fuels. The deal proposes a “harmonisation” of food standards to make US produce available to the EU market. The EU website states that each nation’s health and food safety regulations will be maintained, there is just a need to investigate where they “diverge un-
Illustration by GEKE DIJKSTRA
necessarily”. The UK’s Green party leader, Natalie Bennett, expressed concern: “Under the deal, food products include chemically washed poultry, livestock treated with growth hormones, and genetically modified crops – all allowed in the US – could be sold in the UK.”
The Green Party fears that the agreement interprets public health standards and consumer rights as trade barriers, which inhibit profits. TTIP includes a controversial settlement that would give multinational corporations rights to sue when their profits are undermined, by allowing them to take governments to independent courts over policies such as limiting energy prices, raising the minimum wage, and further privatisation of public services. If the agreement passes, the line between governments and corporations will increasingly blur as profit-led companies have more influence over policy making. TTIP has been described as ‘fit for the 21st century’, characterising our age as one essentially dominated by corporate powers. Yes, TTIP would boost the economy and accelerate GDP, but this may be at the expense of our health, wellbeing and the environment. Moreover, the agreement will affect everyone, necessitating a need for more transparency and public discussion in the negotiations.
a University College Student Association Magazine
COLOSSEUM 09
Taking Selfies with Bill Clinton Praying the and Door Knocking in Raleigh Gay Away By WELMOED VAN ENS
A
Photo by Wouter Lemm
By JUDITH HARMSEN
“S
o, what exactly are you doing in Washington?” was a query Rewan and I became quite adept at answering. We would look at each other and start the introduction: “We are a group of young people, some of us students, some of us young professionals who share one interest: politics. We’ve been selected by BKB, a Dutch campaign office, to follow a yearlong training in campaigning. Part of the training is a trip to the US, to follow the midterm elections.” From the 30th of October until the 5th of November I’ve been running around the US, volunteering for both the sitting (and defeated) Democratic senator Kay Hagan and her republican opponent Thom Tillis. I spent my days talking to people from different political organizations, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), the World Bank, communication office Blue State Digital and Politico. We spoke about a variety of topics the most prevalent was speculating about the upcoming elections. I even got had the chance to take a selfie with former president Bill Clinton. I left UCU and the rest of my daily life behind for a week, I dove head first into the world of American Politics. Frankly I did not know much about American Politics. Well yes, something with two parties and a whole lot of negative ads, but I had no idea about how Americans view their representatives or how campaigns work in practice. I had to learn a whole new vocabulary. About a month ago I had never heard of gerrymandering for example. Gerrymandering refers to the privilege the ruling party has in some states, often republicans, to determine the voting districts for the House of Representatives elections. This technique strongly influences election results.
“Many Americans become less approving of their incumbent government.” Why the Republicans took the lead? There is a trend among many Americans be-
coming less and less approving of their incumbent government. Part of this is due to the fact that in the past few years, Congress has been unproductive. Almost every suggested bill has been rejected and the ones that were passed (such as Obamacare) often required executive orders and are thought to be ineffective or simply damaging. Obama’s approval ratings is barely above 40 per cent, which is extraordinary low, even for the last midterm of a second presidential term. Congress’ approval ratings are even lower. It is interesting to note that while the Republicans might be to blame as well for the ineffective Congress they were quite successful in this past election.
“Bill Clinton, who we got to talk to for a couple of minutes, said that the Americans could learn a whole lot about governing from the Dutch.” The race for North Carolina’s senate seat was a close call. Senator Kay Hagan was first elected in 2008. As North Carolina was always known to be a so-called red state Hagan’s election was a surprise. Obama’s success that year is often cited for Hagan’s election anomaly and it is likely his unpopularity that influenced the recent turn of events. Democratic candidates running for Congress had to distance themselves from the president in order to win this round of elections. Obama did not make an appearance at any of the rallies held in the South. Instead, the Clintons supported Southern democratic colleagues. Kay Hagan was not a very popular senator. Her approval rates were also around 40 per cent. The fact that she often voted with Obama was held against her by her opponent Thom Tillis, who campaigned with slogans such as: “Hagan is Obamacare”. This strongly conservative, pro-gun
businessman was the speaker of the NC House of Representatives. Tillis was behind in the polls, but managed to close the gap. On the election night itself, North Carolina was ‘too close too call’ up until midnight, when it became clear that Tillis took the lead.
American Campaigns In the weekend prior to the election day I campaigned for both parties. I received a whole data set about people likely to support the party. I could find the specific houses of Democrats or Republicans, see how big their household was and if they were reliable or pending voters. The Republicans even had an app to process all new information. People did not seem to mind sharing specifics about their voting habits. However, they generally were very concerned with their privacy around their house. Trespassing warnings and aggressive dogs were commonplace and more than once we were told to immediately leave ‘private property’. Americans seem to value their privacy around their house. However, privacy when it comes to personal data is not a big issue. To me, this seems to be a paradox. Maybe it is culture, or habit and maybe we in the Netherlands will go in the same direction. What I do know is that campaigning in the same way Americans do in the Netherlands would cause a lot more problems than it did for us in North Carolina.
What do the results mean for the future? The Republican Party will have a majority in Congress for at least the next two years. This means that it is only going to be harder for Obama to pass policy. Hopefully both Democrats and Republicans will realize that making concessions and looking for common ground is essential for moving forward. However, there are many who are very sceptical about this notion. Even Bill Clinton, who we got to talk to for a couple of minutes, said that the Americans could learn a whole lot about governing from the Dutch. He specifically referred to our congress coalitions and how they are necessary for making policy. As always, the answer is probably to be found in the middle, but let’s hope that a new congress also means a new start for the American people.
document from the Vatican stating that “homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community” sent an earthquake through the Catholic community last month. Gay rights activists were hopeful , but conservative Catholics were appalled. The document, which stated that “Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners,” referred to lesbian and gay couples using respectful and welcoming language. Marianne Duddy-Burke, head of a gay rights group, said this was unprecedented in the Catholic Church, and “an undeniable breakthrough.” The Vatican document was the result of an assembly of 200 Bishops on the family, known as the Synod. Currently, Catholics in “irregular situations” such as same sex relationships and those who divorce or remarry are barred from receiving Communion. The document, called the “Relatio”, leaned towards a more forgiving attitude, seeming to indicate that the church should focus on the positive rather than reject these Catholics.
Conservative church officials were quick to deny any shift in attitude towards homosexual couples. Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, expressed his disturbance, adding “confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion.” The Vatican issued a statement to clarify that the Relatio was merely a working document, and then later published a revised version. The modified paragraph said that “people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy,” but put a stronger emphasis on traditional families and dropped its welcoming tone. This version did not reach the two-third majority vote from the Synod that is required for it to have passed. The election of Pope Francis in 2013 seems to have been the start of a shift in the Vatican’s attitude towards same-sex relationships. “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge.” Gay rights organisations welcomed him as a much needed improvement on the “major gloom and doom and apocalyptic horror” that was the attitude of former Pope Benedict. After the Synod rejected the rewritten version of the document, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the “animated discussions”.
the Boomerang | November 2014
10 COLOSSEUM
Marc Prats: Mediterranean Madness and Genius
Marc Prats, Cuisine Chinoise, 150 x 100 cm (Acrylic on Canvas - 2014)
For the colour version of this painting, read the Boomerang online on ucsaboomerang.wordpress.com
By LAURA PALOMA
W
ho is he?
Marc Prats is a young Catalan painter. In his spare time, he is also a second year degree student at UCU, majoring in Art History and Psychology. What makes him all so different from the rest of us is that Marc does not paint a little here and there. He does not whisk out the paintbrushes to decorate his unit or give himself a bohemian flair. Painting is not his hobby. He is not an amateur. Oh no, none of that… we definitely have amongst us a semi-professional painter.
“The variety of subjects he studies at UCU have added meaning and symbolism to his paintings.” What does he do? Whilst we are procrastinating, lingering at our table in dining hall or going to the bar. Marc will be tucked away in his wall room painting. He paints 3-4 hours a day depending on the workload he has from university. Working on his small paintings here in his
What are his influences? UCU room however travelling back to Germany to his studio to work on the bigger canvases on the weekends. Marc needs space for he, impressively, makes all the material himself: canvas and pigments. In the past year this young talent has been working on paintings of rooms and interiors inspired by campus rooms. This series of 10 paintings reflects his experience of moving onto campus. Marc changes a lot in style over time and has changed quite radically in the last year. He no longer works with oil paint, which doesn’t dry as fast, but instead with acrylic, which is much faster to dry therefore easier to cover up and can be used much more expressively. He works in series: giving his work coherence, and sense. He chooses a theme, and explores it, trying to get the most out of it. Prats will look at the theme from different perspectives playing with its different dimensions. Once he has exhausted the theme of all inspiration, he goes on to work on something new. Now comes the even cooler part: this young artist sells paintings. He shows his portfolio to people, acting as his own agent, promoting himself: a must in today’s art world. Before UCU he attended the International School of Düsseldorf. Having had access to an international network his paintings have therefore been sold to private collectors all over Europe. Prats hangs in Barcelona, Madrid, Turkey and Germany.
Marc draws inspiration from what he sees around him and what leaves an impression on him. Many ideas come through his reading and studying of Philosophy and Art History. Ideas come down through the form of images. When an image comes up that he likes, he starts working on it: first sketching it then blowing it up in size on canvas. Influences of expressionism and abstract expressionism can be seen in his paintings. Miquel Barcelo and Jean-Michel Basquiat are his favorite artists.
inequality. In about a year’s time he hopes to have completed 30 paintings of medium size, 90x70. His next project is organizing his first ‘solo exhibition’, in an art space. Well kids, we can now quietly push up our dropped jaw, be grateful to have him hanging around with us and go on to wish him a hearty good luck!
How did he get here? At the age of 3, while most of us less gifted souls were still unsteady on the crayons, Marc was already the paintbrush wizard. Older, he attended classes at an art academy in Barcelona he continued attending academies after his move to Germany. He chose UCU for his bachelor, in the search for a general background of knowledge, something to base his art on. The variety of subjects he studies at UCU have added meaning and symbolism to his paintings. After these three years, he hopes to do a Masters in an art academy: released to his natural artsy habitat. Living amongst us liberal (m)artians, he sometimes misses the stimulus of the artistic world.
What comes next? At the moment, Marc is working on a new series that looks at the place of women in society whilst analyzing the role of the male artist. These paintings protest against gender
Marc Prats
a University College Student Association Magazine
COLOSSEUM 11
On Looks and Feminism L By LIANA DOBRICA
ately, the press is awash with articles relating to the female body and the public perception of it. Moreover, the growing role of social media in our lives is undeniably contributing to the proliferation of the third wave of feminist discourse, representing a platform of expression that is more accessible than ever before. The latest wave of feminism, which came about in the ‘80s and boomed in the past decade, is concerned with issues such as sexual harassment, stereotypes and derogatory terms (e.g. slut shaming) , sex-positivity (which views sexual freedom as an essential component of female liberation), and the gender pay gap. Partisans of the movement range from public figures such as Keira Knightley, whose recent nonphotoshopped topless pictures were meant as a protest against the manipulation of her body by the media to the newly created tumblr blog titled “But What Was She Wearing? Stop the Catcall”, which is a showcase that women are subject to street harassment regardless of how they are dressed. The blog is a collection of photos submitted by women all over the world showing what they looked like at the moment when they were cat-called and strives to thus pinpoint the futility of questions directed at women’s physical appearance and that the real focus should be the problem itself. Regarding the choice of attire, a female student who preferred to remain anonymous told me: “What you choose to wear is about pleasing yourself and feeling good.” Despite her personal credo, she agrees that inferences about who you are will follow from that because of the way the human mind works. Visual cues, are after all “feeding” our perception of the world around us; it is by means of our senses that we first create impressions of the situation we are in. What we both agreed on, was that it is desirable that people are open to having their prejudgments overruled by discoveries that go beyond first impressions. As a woman, I also possess the undesirable experience of being catcalled and have to put up with the fact that there are “places where a woman shouldn’t be alone in the evening” in my own hometown. Both media and personal experience have prompted me to ponder issues relating to female status in our society and more precisely, the doublestandards that surround physical manifestations of women’s identity. Upon press-based and historiographic documentation I was able to form a general idea of the discourses surrounding this issue from its inception in the late 19th century up until today. However, I figured that talking to people in my immediate surroundings is just as essential in getting a good grip on the matter. The plurality of a topic dealing with the relation between female phy-
sical appearance and human interaction at large entails hearing voices other than my own before putting pen to paper. The views of the people I talked to, just like my own, are unavoidably conditioned by our Western dialectics. I wish to emphasize this point as I am aware that there is much more going on in the world to women’s plight in their battle for emancipation. An issue such as stoning, which is a major form of discrimination in the Middle East, is beyond the scope of this article. The new wave of feminism in the Western world has been criticized for lacking cohesion and a well defined goal. This is a somewhat justified claim given the ambiguous nature of how physical appearance influences the public perception of women. It is women’s right to not be objectified whilst at the same time, they should be able to retain their options when it comes to expressing their femininity. Moreover, it is unavoidable that the freedom of expression that is one of the most cherished values of our present time comes into conflict with the normative values or cultural beliefs of other people, especially in our 21st century contemporary heterogeneous societies. A significant number of people think that feminism is inextricably linked with the emasculation or domination of men, whilst those who identify with the ideology strive to underline that it is equality of the sexes, and not subjugation of men that they hope to achieve. As prof. van Ophuijsen, one of the interviewees pointed out, the suffragettes had more defined, visible goals than their suc-
Lazy Times B
cessors: they fought for women’s right to vote, to possess property, to have access to education-clear legal and economical rights. We may have come a long way since then (and there is strong evidence to this in the immediate example of the majority of females at UCU!), but it is precisely the women of today, who find themselves confronted with just as difficult a challenge, that is, one of refining the concept of feminism chiseled by their ancestors: allowing themselves to identify with their distinctly feminine identity, not having to de-sexualize themselves and their appearance in order to be taken seriously, treated with respect (both on
the street and at the workplace), and judged for their competences independently of the way they look. Some may argue that women themselves perpetuate the problem by choosing to display a rather “defeminized” look when they are in positions of authority, whilst other women set out to obtain certain benefits and preferential treatment precisely by means of their seductive powers. Both examples illustrate the volatile concept of how outer appearance combined with a certain affected behaviour can be employed to certain effects by women themselves and the moral implications that follow from that; nevertheless, that does not justify the labeling of women using words like “slut” and “spinster” because of their grooming. I discussed this facet of the problem with 3rd year student Mariel Navarro, who addressed the issue that stereotypes based on looks is regrettable but somewhat of an inescapable curse of the image-oriented era that we live in. According to another 3rd year student, Sander Hintzen, the concern with aesthetics is ingrained in our nature, and their social implications form an undeniable part of our reality. I have to agree with him in that outer appearance cannot be separated from our culture and civilization. At the same time I hope that the diversity of standards and norms concerning femininity is cherished and seen as testimony to the beauty of human nature, and not as an excuse to discriminate against women.
se, and new things. After having spent six weeks without having to deal with the stress of deadlines, the pressure of studying and its symbiotic relationship with constant procrastination, I managed to do almost all the things that normally end up somewhere in the appendix of my to-do-lists. In six weeks I wrote more songs than I had done during the entire first semester, improved my guitar skills to the extent that I dared performing with it, almost developed a six-pack, made a scarf and a paintings for friends, wrote several short stories, did modelling work for which I actually got paid, visited museums and spent a ridiculous amount of time in the train travelling to friends. Something that intrigued me during this “lazy” winter term, was that many of my doings had creative connotations. And all the things that I had undertaken, were the result of having time and the appropriate mindset to perform them. According to my personal investigation, creativity thus
thrives in times of low work pressure. And with creativity, I do not mean to argue that everyone should be a woolly artist with paint spatters on their trousers and pencils behind their ears. Being creative is a mind-set that enables out-of-the-box thinking and coming up with unheard of solutions or ground-breaking innovations. Such a mind-set is increasingly needed in our current fast changing society and unstable economic environment. Consequently, I believe that thinking creatively is of immense importance to all of us – if you’re planning on getting a job. The next question that came to my mind, is whether our educational system provides enough room for the exploration of organic creativity. And if the importance of this capacity is in fact well enough understood. But I will leave that question open, before I get into any trouble for not having performed replicable, qualitative and quantitative research on the matter.
By ANNE-SOPHIE HALBERTSMA
eing enrolled in an academic education that strives for excellence, acquiring knowledge is an omnipresent feature in our student lives. This knowledge is moulded in different forms and comes in surprising manners. Since we are all familiar with the curriculum and what is taught inside the classrooms, it is my intention of sharing with you an insight that has quite literally nothing to do with course manuals or academic papers. This revelation came to me not so long ago. It all happened during the winter term at Erasmus University College where I studied last year, when my days were – unlike others – filled with nothing special in particular. After having spent the first few days of freedom in my bed, enabling my new addiction to the series “Bones” to flourish, I came to realise that boredom had crept into my mind. It was this unpleasant feeling that eventually made me start do things. And when those things seemed to turn out rather well, it resulted in doing even more of tho-
12 Quad Queries “What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up?”
“My bed is so nice and warm.” -Vera, 1st Year
“Will Maarten Diederix send me another email?” - Eline, 2nd Year
“I’m late for class.” - Eunice, 3rd Year
“Why do I keep making bad decisions?” - Jip, 2nd Year
“I’m incapable of thinking.” – Loesje, 2nd Year
“About Maarten.” – Moritz and Maarten, 1 ½ Years
“Milk.” - Kim, 3rd Year
“Little Vietnamese things.” - Melina and Belal, 1st Years
“I’m like fuck … another day??” – Catheleine, 3rd Year
EDITORS Jake Hillman Joachim (forgot surname) Anne Lucassen Ivo Tarik De Vries Alexander Davey Meike Brouwer
BOOMERANG BOARD FALL ‘14 Editor-in-Chief Managing Director Executive Editor & Secretary Executive Editor & Treasurer Managing Editor Art & Layout Director
Omar Nur-Nathoo Rosalie Fidder Grace Hardman Lucie Kattenbroek Alexander Davey Lucas Koppen