Atlas: “Netherlands: Aspects that caught an Alien Eye”

I had the great opportunity to visit the first Republic of the world early this year. I had brief stays in four of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen in my life namely; Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vollendam and the world’s “law” capital Hague. My personal favourite that mesmerized me to the greatest extent was the sub-urban city of Rotterdam. Netherlands also surprised me greatly with their political and artistic wonders and despite all these, their sheer simplicity.

With its coastal setting and wonderful landscape, Rotterdam was awesome to me. It is an hour’s joy ride away from Hague. The terrain is more or less plain, the cold a little less bitter than the rest of Holland. The city won my heart with just with simply its air. Netherlands is a welfare state. Public transport and amenities are more or less negligibly priced and so open to exploitation and yet so very not so. This is especially true in Rotterdam. There is a common understanding in Holland that Vollendam and Rotterdam are where people toil and generate wealth for their nation, Hague where the government stands and manages this wealth of the citizenry and Amsterdam where the spoils are celebrated owing to its posh way of life. Rotterdam really stood out to me in this folkloric Dutch understanding. The people are wonderfully industrious. In this city, it is a shame to depend on state welfare which is the norm in all other parts of Netherlands. It is common to find that the people in Rotterdam have 2-3 jobs in order to pay for their amenities without falling prey to this “tacit philosophy of Dutch living” that is implicitly well understood by the toilers of this land. Even the city’s very existence is a testimony to the unrelenting human spirit in these people who created land where there should have been sea. Almost all of Rotterdam is reclaimed land and so goes another popular saying, “God created the world but the Dutch created Holland.”

Netherlands has a “5% law”. This law makes it compulsory for any government spending e.g. building any new infrastructure, to have 5% of that budget allocated to the promotion of the arts. This law has given the Dutch wonders that in many other parts of the world represent the emptiness of cities and in some others are simply considered vandalism. The country allows free housing for budding artists along the river coasts called “Art Houses” in Amsterdam. Every street in Netherlands has something that amazes the eye. It is a haven for artists and art lovers and certainly owing to this national attitude towards arts, the key feature of the country that I loved in each and every city was its architecture. In quite a number of places, this 5% law has also caused for the building of not-so-artistic features that were just undertaken in haste only so as to not offend the law. Still, the achievements the nation has like the Escher Museum, Corpus Museum and simple roadside graffiti that colour every road trip through the nation far testify the brilliance of the founding fathers of this nation to build their people a motherland not just one where they live and work but one where they belong.

Politically, Netherlands is an outstanding nation in the arena of international politics. With the Peace Palace, many NGOs and significant UN bodies located in Den Haag (or Hague), the Dutch have a long standing history of political importance. It is the first republic in the world. What caught my attention most were the asylums I visited at Wessanaar and Hotel Orange. It is wonderful on the part of the Dutch government to provide free and decent accommodation for political refugees in Asylums at Wessanaar. People from as far as Afghanistan and the North African nations, come to Netherlands and reside in these shelters till they find jobs. The country does not just provide welfare to its own people but stretches out to those living outside it too. So was the case historically when they allowed their colonies to have ease of immigration to Netherlands owing to which, today there are numerous Indonesians living in Holland and contributing their culture actively to this blissful European landscape. Another key political wonder to me was Hotel Orange, a huge German torture prison used during the Second World War by Nazis. This colossal brick red prison is today called “Hotel Orange” by the people and reminds them not just of the war but at the same time how important it is not to have one. Even the names of the Dutch people bear some affirmation of their politically active culture. It is interesting to note that the name “Willem” is extremely common to Dutch men because there have been numerous “Willem”s as prices and kings in the past who governed Holland. A country where a mother names her infant after the dead prince or a legendary king ought to be one where politics is a household issue.

Despite all this the simplicity to the Dutch way of life is obvious not just in the rural farms of Vollendam or the workaholic streets of Rotterdam but also in the posh nightlife of Amsterdam. What got my attention in Amsterdam was the ubiquity of bicycles. The most common mode of transport in all of Netherlands especially in its capital Amsterdam is the bicycle. A mile’s ride through the capital city will reveal that best. Bicycles are lined along almost every street and avenue; at some places it will even be harder to see the pavement. Even the queen on normal days is said to use her bicycle to travel around. I am not sure if this culture started as a result of eco-friendly awareness but I am certain that at least today those who follow suit this practice of cycling do it because it is the most popular option; little do they consciously try to be eco-friendly but what they achieve is much more than nations that have made concerted efforts to that goal. Today there is this implicit “bicycle borrowing system” that people in Amsterdam patronize. A popular public myth that my tour guide shared with me is that if you were to lodge a complaint about a missing bicycle at a police station in Amsterdam, it was inevitable that the police would ask you to go steal somebody else’s bicycle. This “borrowing system” hence makes bicycles more like “common resources” to the people in this city. Well, when you park your bicycle among hundred others in the same space, it would more or less degenerate to such a situation despite the least of kleptomaniacal intentions.

“God created the world but the Dutch created Holland.”

Atlas

Atlas: “Domestic governments should not be subject to international opinions. Do you agree?”

In the words of Spanish politician Antonio Maura, “Let those who govern prevent anyone else from doing so.” With increased integration of countries through trade and commerce as well as amalgamation and confrontation of the media in these nations, it is an understatement to say that opinions of one nation affect those of another. Since the inception of the UN in 1945, there is a clearer sense of “international community” and what the general consensus says about various issues though nations do not agree on everything in the General Assembly. To use another quote, the Under Secretary General of the UN, Shashi Tharoor pointed out, “It is not important that we agree on everything, as long as we agree on how we will disagree.” UN and the world media have served as easy platforms for this general consensus being developed ever since 1945, to be proliferated, infiltrated and debated worldwide as “international opinions”. All causes of concern globally, whether affecting one nation or more, are of interest to the world community today due to the sheer economically and politically intertwined destinies of these nations. The question that looms is how much ear then should a nation lend to these international opinions. Given the extent of symbiosis among nations in economics, politics and beyond today, I believe that by and large, a domestic government should be subject to international opinions of the aforementioned nature.

Hades: “Domestic governments should not be subject to international opinions. Do you agree?”

I am writing this as a proud citizen of the global village. In this era of globalization where countries are increasingly interconnected, domestic issues in one country may easily affect the rest of the world. It has become necessary for the international community to monitor its members and pressurize those who may potentially bring harm to the global society. Therefore, it is mandatory for a country to consider the interest of its counterparts before making a domestic decision, as decisions that are conflicting with the international interest would ultimately undermine international peace and harmony. However, allowing too much of international influence on one’s domestic affair would prove detrimental and disruptive in the long run, as one’s sovereignty is undermined. In my opinion, a country should not too much space for international opinions in the dealing for domestic issues as it would ultimately deteriorate the country’s well-being and survival in the unpredictable world of international affairs.

Atlas: “Taming the Leviathan”

One of the founding fathers of political science and one among the greatest philosophers the world has ever seen, Thomas Hobbes is a name unknown to few. Thomas Hobbes posited the most accepted political theories of the last few centuries. His book the “Leviathan” is among the landmark political works that man has ever known. In his book, he explicates not just on the nature of man but also that of political institutions and key prerequisites that keep the establishment from total collapse. To give a brief insight into his understanding of humans, I would say his three key foundational assumptions of the human being are the desire to compete for gain, the inclination to distrust for safety and the pursuit of glory for reputation. The “Leviathan” is the term he coined to call the government formed by the people as a result of their innate and unalterable disposition as aforementioned. He argues that these characteristics of the individual are instinctive and necessary for his survival, hence justifiable and ineradicable. At the same time, these same attributes are subjected to a zero-sum game where according to Hobbes, there is no way for co-existing of two individuals unless they “confer all of their power upon one man or assembly of men”; their Mortal God, the Leviathan. Although monstrous does the name sound, what Hobbes did not delve into was that the Leviathan, being a product of men of the aforementioned attributes, would inherit the same attributes and hence live up to its name.

Atlas: “At the Mercy of the Cupid”

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

William Shakespeare

 People live all their lives fighting death. They eat, they pray, they love and still they doubt whether they have done enough of each. Eating gives physical nourishment, prayer gives us hope but love is above all, it is the salt of the prince’s feast and the beggar’s morsel, it gives purpose to every soul; a purpose that seemed inexistent till the moment the heart sways but seems non-negotiable once it does. People fall in love neither with their own consent nor for any rhyme or reason. People rise in love with a new found strength that always seemed humanly impossible. Love is the trait that immortalises the mortal and makes human the divine. Despite how weak it makes the strongest and how desperate it makes the most unrelenting soul, people fervently love love. We love being in love.

Atlas: “The Insecure Grandstander”

It’s easy to get people’s attention, what counts is getting their interest.

A. Philip Randolph

Occasionally and increasingly, have we seen the rise of the braggart. With the rise of the media in terms of numbers and penetration, this phenomenon has become easier and more proliferated. There are enough news agencies and sufficient websites to quench the thirst for limelight of these exhibitionists. Often times, they surface as “victims” of harassments or injustices inflicted by someone important enough to hurl them onto the grandstand: the eyes of their community. I am solely targeting those attention-seekers who have surfaced just for the sake of seeking media coverage, they disgust me and every additional word written for them though satiates their sole malign desire for limelight, scornfully, I can’t hold it back.

Hades: “The True Value of the Olympics”

The 2012 Olympics that was recently held in London has arguably been one of the most dramatic olympics of all time. The sheer amount of controversies that added to the excitement of the game was barely expected. The event started with a breath-taking performance by Ye Shiwen, a 16 year-old female Chinese swimmer who won 4 gold medals and had broken the world’s record for both male and female categories. Apparently, it was so breath-taking that many accused her for alleged doping. Next, we saw Shin A-Lam, one of the South Korean fencers, bursting into tears while refusing to leave the fencing arena in protest against the referee’s decision to announce her defeat for receiving a hit after the game had ended by a fraction of time. More controversially, a decision by the committee to disqualify several badminton players from China, Indonesia, and South Korea for their concerted effort to rig the game, had invoked serious debate on whether it was a fair decision. Surely, the 2012 Olympics was a joy to watch if one can afford the time.

Hades: “Democracy and Autocracy: A face beneath the masks”

Across the spectrum of various political system and governance, democracy has remarkably stood up as the most praised system in the world. In contrary democracy’s greatest villain, autocracy, has been spitted and criticised unanimously by developing and developed economies alike. The recent upheavals sparked off in Tunisia, the Arab Spring, arguably is the quintessence of the world’s repugnance at the face of autocracy. Such a great shift in political system seen in Egypt, Tunisia and Lybia may convince people that democracy should be the ends of every nation, while autocracy should not exist in our modern era. Democracy has proven to ensure the well-being of countries, facilitated power check and balance, and empowered the people, or at least that is how most people believe. However, the aforementioned judgement call may not be necessarily valid, especially when one takes into consideration the varying geopolitical condition of different countries. The truth is, a certain suit may not fit everyone, so is democracy not for everyone.

Atlas: “When Aphrodite Turns Artemis”

Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can’y have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had notin’ to do wid Him. Sojourner Truth

The inherent nature of every society ever built after the stone age, the predestined foundation of every constitution ever written yet preferred to be unsaid, men have always taken precedence over women. It goes without saying that all societies are patriarchal, if anyone were to challenge that, at least I can bet my bottom dollar that no society is matriarchal today. Men, by the grace of nature, have physiques that are generally more able in dealing with strain than that of women and I choose to believe that this meagre competitive edge of the “dominant” sex is sufficiently balanced by the mental stress that women are capable of handling. There is definitely feminist bias in saying so as there is no elaborate scientific data to prove that notion however I choose to see aspects like women go through adolescence much earlier than men which to me means that there is perfect certainty that given both sexes started at an equal intellectual capacity, the woman is bound to be more mature than the man for the same age.

Hello world!

Catonomist is an initiative in the common interest of man run by Hades and Atlas.

Hades comes from an Austronesian background while Atlas hails from the Indo-European one.

Let the games begin!

Mahalo