From Europe News:
Searching for Dutch values
Radio Netherlands Worldwide 12 December 2011
Ramsey Nasr is the Dutch poet laureate. In this role, Mr Nasr has written poems and given talks commemorating national occasions. An anthology of his work as poet laureate was recently published, under the title My New Fatherland: Poems of crisis and fear.
Unlike in some countries, this isn't a government appointment; rather it is an elected position established by a group of media concerns. But that takes nothing away from the fact that becoming poet laureate is an acknowledgement of national renown.
Non-native or native Dutch?
Nasr was born in the Netherlands, his father a Palestinian immigrant and his mother native Dutch. He grew up speaking only Dutch, and has always identified himself as native Dutch with no modifier. Nasr says it was only after he came of age that he was forced by those who questioned his Dutch-ness to confront his foreign background.
As poet laureate, Nasr has raised some hackles. His poems and opinion pieces have been particularly critical of the current Dutch cabinet and its reliance on Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom Party. He has been the target of numerous hate-mails.
"You’re not a poet laureate, but a poet of treason" and "You're not really Dutch. Go back to the sandbox you came from. We don’t need dirt like you here." He says he gets many such mails, often telling him to ‘f*** off’, and sometimes threatening him with death. He is surprisingly laconic about all of this, saying it comes with the territory in such a polarised climate.
But how has it come to this, where the country’s poet laureate is routinely threatened? The Netherlands, once known for celebrating debate and welcoming people from other cultures, has, since the beginning of this century, begun turning in on itself and become increasingly nationalistic and anti-immigrant. (...)
Posted December 12th, 2011 by pk
Searching for Dutch values
Radio Netherlands Worldwide 12 December 2011
Ramsey Nasr is the Dutch poet laureate. In this role, Mr Nasr has written poems and given talks commemorating national occasions. An anthology of his work as poet laureate was recently published, under the title My New Fatherland: Poems of crisis and fear.
Unlike in some countries, this isn't a government appointment; rather it is an elected position established by a group of media concerns. But that takes nothing away from the fact that becoming poet laureate is an acknowledgement of national renown.
Non-native or native Dutch?
Nasr was born in the Netherlands, his father a Palestinian immigrant and his mother native Dutch. He grew up speaking only Dutch, and has always identified himself as native Dutch with no modifier. Nasr says it was only after he came of age that he was forced by those who questioned his Dutch-ness to confront his foreign background.
As poet laureate, Nasr has raised some hackles. His poems and opinion pieces have been particularly critical of the current Dutch cabinet and its reliance on Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom Party. He has been the target of numerous hate-mails.
"You’re not a poet laureate, but a poet of treason" and "You're not really Dutch. Go back to the sandbox you came from. We don’t need dirt like you here." He says he gets many such mails, often telling him to ‘f*** off’, and sometimes threatening him with death. He is surprisingly laconic about all of this, saying it comes with the territory in such a polarised climate.
But how has it come to this, where the country’s poet laureate is routinely threatened? The Netherlands, once known for celebrating debate and welcoming people from other cultures, has, since the beginning of this century, begun turning in on itself and become increasingly nationalistic and anti-immigrant. (...)
Posted December 12th, 2011 by pk
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