Hans van der Kamp

It seems that on all historical days in my lifetime I am either redecorating or moving. I was redecorating my apartment when the great Dutch Peace Demonstration (1981) took place in the streets around me. I was moving my belongings to a new apartment when Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death a few years ago. I could give you more examples like that. Today, November 4th very early in the morning I am preparing for yet another day of mixing cement, sanding and painting wooden beams etc. to expand and redecorate my new photo studio.

The Americans are still sound asleep, although I picture Barack Obama sitting up drinking hot coco. The man looked really tired in the last interview I saw tonight, but in a few hours America will wake up to face a historical election day. Whatever the outcome; this day will go down into history much like the moon landing or the day JFK got shot. One of those ‘where were you when it happened’ days.

Well, I do not very well recall the landing on the moon, but I think I can safely assume that my father was redecorating the house — Yes, he too was always redecorating.

Outside there is a thick early morning fog and I have a tremendous head ache of the paint fumes I slept in and I am a little dizzy because the dust circling me really does not help my COPD. A Leonard Cohen song is on repeat in my head.

Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter
but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in
the bedrooms of the poor
And there’s a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the Tower of Song — [ Complete lyrics here ]

I have been following the American Elections on Twitter, which I found was the quickest way to learn about the sense and nonsense of this election. I have heard the words ‘hero’ and ’socialist’ way too often and I have learned that the Dutch and the Americans are more alike than I thought. Both countries, not to be compared in scale or impact, have vast areas of land inhabited by hicks who are scared to death of Muslims and they cling to their phobia like flies on a turd.

It is often said modern societies are two class societies, where the middle class is slowly evaporating, leaving us with the rich and the poor. Actually I think we have passed that point, we now have a two class society based on information and disinformation. Those who are connected to the information stream and those who are not. McCain who does not know how to send an e-mail also ran a campaign that was not taking advantage of contemporary news outlets. With joker Palin on his side those same media crushed most of what he was trying to build and he was left with an audience of hicks, gun fetishists and racists. If there are enough of them in the US to give him the victory he wants still remains to be seen. Obama is in the lead of course, we all know that, but the US elections with their four to five hour waiting lines and legions of lawyers guarding against fraud and malfunction make this election into an event that reminds us of UN supervised elections in Third World countries.

Hopefully Obama’s Change Ideology will be put into effect in a country that seems to be run down by paper shredder bureaucrats and with a little luck we will see an America with less fear, less school shoot outs and most of all less war crimes, but despite the hope I sincerely feel — I still do not see how Obama, who wants more military forces in Afghanistan with an option of policing Pakistan’s borders, will truly better the position of the US globally.

As tough as it is to admit for Europeans who were responsible for the Holocaust and by doing so caused instability in the Middle East decades ago, true peace in that region can only be reached through solving the Palestinian problem and this unfortunately cannot be done by supporting Israel as a military super power — blind to international conventions and human rights — just because one is focused to win Florida where the Jewish voters are.

Even after 14 years, I still enjoy my Internet connection more than I ever enjoyed TV. Today I ran into a piece written by a feminist who thought it was time to defend Sarah Palin. She wrote the following;

<<<< I thought Americans would be proud of her nomination, whether we agreed or disagreed with her on the issues. Was I in for a shock. <<<<

This is the attitude that caused the downfall of feminism I guess. We are all supposed to be proud of women if they accomplish something and treat it as a miracle. Reminds me of a National Geographic documentary I once saw: "Look at that monkey cracking a nut with a stone!"

Give me a (US) female candidate who is not too shy to tell the world that she is a devout Christian *and* a lesbian, maybe then I will be impressed. Or a male politician admitting that he is gay without stepping down.

I am not going to flame this article, because I am sure the author means well. And I can also see that most of Palins texts are scripted by a campaign team, so there must be more to her than we get to hear and see. The main reason I post this entry, is because I want to keep the piece for reference in my archive: Voices of a dying breed.

You will find the article here:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20081026_Palin_deserves_our_respect.html

Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests from Plexifilm on Vimeo.

Loyal Ameanet friend Norski aka Normano sent me a link to the above video and it made my day.
About a year ago, I guess, a friend asked me to see the Andy Warhol exhibit in Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. I never liked brick and mortar museums very much and in particular that museum, because of the atmosphere — that all too familiar look in the eyes of Museum curators and staff. “What are you doing here? This is *our* exhibit!”
I may very well misinterpret their attitude, but the least one has to admit is that few museums give their visitors a warm welcome. Instead you feel like being checked in by airport security people. Why is it, I often ask myself, that those people devote their entire lives to the arts? Most artists I know are quite modest — with the exception of the trend hoppers or those who create media hypes for a living, of course.

Opposites attract, I know, but there must be more to it than that.

Since my friend had already visited the Warhol exhibit we skipped the paintings and silk screens and immediately headed for the space where multiple screenings of Warhol movies took place. I was in awe. Although I had seen much of the material more than once I felt I was in paradise. This is was all so well done and so unlike the normal frigid atmosphere of the Stedelijk Museum. In my enthusiasm I got bold and tapped a man wearing a museum tag on the shoulder. “What happened?” I asked him. “Did they fire the entire museum staff?”

I immediately regretted my remark when I saw the look on his face. It took him a few seconds but he actually managed to control his initial anger to inform me that this particular show was curated by a German guest curator. A woman and I forgot her name, which is stupid because I like to see more shows curated by her. Or better, she should be the next managing director of the Stedelijk Museum.

With all my charm I tried to make up for my clumsy remark and the museum stiff actually melted a bit and managed to produce a smile. A very museum like smile of a person who had studied the Mona Lisa too often and too long. But I had a field day — despite the fact that he kept following me the rest of the afternoon with a quality poll and a questionnaire to be filled in — both longer than your average tax form.

Those poor, delicate guardian angels of the Arts living in a world where populism is unstoppable, I thought on my way home. They must suffer immensely. You can almost taste their bitterness when they kick off yet another uncalled for comment with the remark: “There is nothing wrong with populism, but…”

I applaud the decision of appointing a man of Moroccan descent as mayor of the city of Rotterdam where the far right has spun out of control and where more problem areas exist than in any other city in the Netherlands, but I really do not like the choice of Ahmed Aboutaleb.

Aboutaleb was the man who told Muslims during a gathering in a Dutch Mosque on the day after Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death, that “everybody” who did not share the Core Values of Dutch Society should leave on the next plane.

Well, a few more of him in governing positions and I better pack my bags too. Although I obey Dutch laws, I most certainly do *not* share Dutch Core Values. Unlike Mr. Aboutaleb I have only one passport, a Dutch passport, but in the last decade I have learned to despise this country more than any other country in the world. When asked where I come from, I answer Europe and not The Netherlands.

What are these Core Values actually?

Without listing them all; the two main Dutch values that made this country to what it is today are greed (a very Calvinistic virtue) and hypocrisy (fueled by Catholicism and Judaism). These two Core Values have created a nation that pirated the seas and shipped slaves, while slavery was forbidden by law in our own society. No need to elaborate on the greed, The Dutch have created a reputation as pathological cheapskates.

Even today with a country that is hardly visible on a world map our only real competition in the export of illegal narcotics is major league player Colombia. But we like the world to see us as happy freeloaders who invented gay marriage. Well, fuck the Dutch and fuck their Core Values.

In my vision Mr. Aboutaleb finished his integration course with flying colors. To me he is a puppet on a string, hired to control the Muslim society in Rotterdam. A sort of WW II kapo. For the outside world it looks as though we are tolerant enough to appoint a Muslim as mayor, while in fact we are trying to charm the anti-Muslim league by hiring a carefully brainwashed Muslim who has learned to spit on his own roots to make a career.