Now, for the first time in more then 60 years the PVDA is not in control anymore, thanks to the elections which have been a major disaster for the PVDA. Last week three other political parties presented their coalition and their plans for the city, as they will form the new city council at City Hall. The new people who are in control now are D66 (Democrats), VVD (Liberals) and SP (Socialistic Party). An interesting combination of parties who forged a different view on Amsterdam with a new plan.
Of course my interest was what are they going to do with 'project 1012', the project that is focusing on closing down more prostitution windows and coffee shops, reducing the Red Light District into just one street with a couple of alleys.
But as negotiations went along, all we heard about where plans about housing, parking and education, everything but Amsterdam's most famous area itself, the Red Light District. And even when they presented last week their plans, at first it wasn't really clear what the plans for the Red Light District where. Where they going to continue to close more windows down, taking away more safe workplaces for prostitutes, and forcing them into the abyss? Or where they finally going to stop the project that cost hundreds of women their workplace, income and job, under the pretense of 'protecting them'?
It was almost as if the media and the political parties where avoiding talking about the Red Light District, making it seem like other things where more important then the lives of those who are at risk, the prostitutes themselves, and the most famous part of Amsterdam itself, the Red Light District. Perhaps they're scared to talk about it, scared for criticism on their plans even before they begin with their work. Perhaps they don't care at all, and it's one of those things they flipped a coin over.
It wasn't until their entire plan got online, that I could read about their plans for the Red Light District. The plan is basically very simple. They're going to become more 'coffeeshop friendly', which is a good thing for the Red Light District. And they're also going to invest less money in project 1012 to buy prostitution windows. Well, it's a step in the right direction I guess. But why are they 'just' going to invest less money in it? Why not just quit a project that's not only doing the opposite of what it promises, but even makes the situation worse, and above all, is doomed to fail? Spending less money is good, but why spend any money at all on a project that's doomed to fail? Was it really so hard to just quit the project?
After all, they did decide to quit banning coffeeshops, and even embrace them with a 'coffeeshop friendly' approach. So why didn't they decide to make a 'prostitution friendly' approach? Why are they so adamant on closing down windows, even though they're going to spend less money on it?
I don't know what to expect of this new coalition and their plans. It's better then it was, but it looks to me like they still want to continue the plans, just on a lower budget. Does this mean they're also convinced that closing down windows will save women from forced prostitution? And if so, then why would they spend less money on it? Does this mean they care less about those girls who are forced?
The only conclusion that I can draw from the new plans are that they don't care about prostitutes. Not only where they mum on the whole project for the entire length of their negotiations, even though plenty of other plans and ideas they had did get mentioned in the media. But on top of that, they never presented a new plan for the Red Light District in a big way like how they presented other plans. Apparently they don't care so much about the Red Light District.
But they do care about coffeeshops, since they're going for a radical change in their approach towards them. Because where the current city government is focused on closing down coffeeshops, the new one embraces them. Yet when it comes to prostitution, they're still continuing the previous plans, but because they don't care so much, they just don't want to spend so much money on it.
Apparently the new coalition doesn't care about us. They don't care if we're forced or not, they don't care if we're safe or not, we're not even worth mentioning. Well, at least there's one good thing about not being mentioned, we don't get mentioned in a bad way again, as we've been mentioned in the past ten years predominantly through talks about crime, forced prostitution, human trafficking and all that shit. Like crime's the only thing happening in the prostitution industry in the Red Light District. I guess right now no exposure is the best exposure we can get. We're just not that important to them, which is strange if you think about the fact that the new tagline of the coalition is 'Amsterdam is from everyone', I guess everyone except the prostitutes.
Dutch version
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