Remi Bhugwansing, Stichting STIMULANS/KROSBE
Presentation for the Metropolis Conference in Rotterdam
26-30 Nov. 2001
Thank you Chair, ladies
and gentlemen, good afternoon.
My name is Krishenedew Bhugwansing, born in Surinam (South
America) and my ancestors were brought as indentured labourers by the Dutch to
work on the plantations in the former Dutch colony Surinam (former Dutch
Guyana).
At this moment I am working as a consultant for Stimulans, a
NGO in the city of Rotterdam. Stimulans
NGO foundation is an umbrella organisation encompassing two supporting
organisations for ethnic minorities in Rotterdam. This means that its target
group, consists of major ethnic minorities in Rotterdam.
The major ethnic minority groups are:
-
1st : the 'migrant workers group', such as:
Turkish, Moroccans, Cape Verdians, and
-
2nd: the group from (the former Dutch colony of)
Suriname.
More than 25% of the 600 000 inhabitants of Rotterdam are
ethnic minorities.
The objective of the STIMULANS foundation is to promote the
integration, emancipation and participation of its target group in the
mainstream of the Dutch society.
Special attention is given to the areas of: education,
employment, health care, social inclusion and participation, participation in
neighbourhood activities, as well as participation on the level of city the
council.
Ladies and gentleman,
In my short contribution, I will try to give you an
impression of our Political Participation Project, from a NGO point of view.
As we all know, in a
democratic society as the Dutch, important decisions are made by politicians.
But the question is: How inclusive is the Dutch political
culture ?
Although since 1983 immigrants with the Dutch nationality
have had both the right to vote and to run in municipal elections, the total
ethnic minority representation in the city and borough councils lagged far
behind.
Especially in Rotterdam the turnout of ethnic minorities
during the municipal elections in 1994, showed the poorest percentage of the
five largest cities.
Both, the city council and the leaders of ethnic minority
groups, were concerned about this situation.
Both initiated an intensive campaign for the following
municipal elections, which was held in march 1998.
And, both using different approaches, according to their
view and description of the problem.
Referring to a so-called "Integration Approach", the
government defines the problem of a large number of ethnic minority non-voters,
simply as: "inability of individuals to participate in politics or elections
(active and/or passive)". In general this approach is one sided, and puts the
blame for non-integration mostly on the immigrants themselves.
This approach results into projects that tries to change the
culture of the immigrants in the first place.
Our experience with minority groups in Rotterdam for many
years, let to the conclusion that the problem of non participation by minority
members, is the result of cultural and social barriers in the host society (We
call our approach the Barrier Approach).
One thinks primarily of barriers in education, employment,
healthcare, social services, politics, etc.
In other words: inability of government to create equal
accessibility for all citizens to participate in elections.
When, in the beginning of 1997 the Stimulans foundation
initiated an intensive campaign for the municipal elections of 1998, our
starting point was the above-mentioned Barrier Approach.
All the activities regarding the Political Participation
Project had the following objectives:
1
To increase the number of ethnic minority candidates
2
To improve the turnout percentage of ethnic minority voters
3
To stimulate the use of the so called preferential vote.
As a result I would like to mention, that the high turnout
has resulted in an increase of ethnic minority members in the City council from
2 to 9, and an increase of borough council members from 9 to 36.
Especially the last mentioned objective appears to make a
clear difference with the Integration Approach.
Good use of the preferential vote seems to be very
effective.
For example, in the borough of Feyenoord, as a result of the
use of the preference vote, four of the twelve ethnic minority candidates moved
up to a position, from where they would be eligible.
Illustrative, was number twenty-five (which was the last
number) on the PvdA (the Dutch Labour party) list, mr. S. Bisambhar, who was
elected by preferential vote and became the youngest borough council member in
the region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would now like to present to you a video report of our
efforts to promote cultural diversity in Rotterdam politics
Thank you for your attention !!
Rb271101
