A leaked cable – or forgery thereof – from the US embassy. Brisbane braces for Thursday’s inundation. Haiti looks back as recovery falters. Dutch TV show helps young gays face up to ‘that moment’. Radio station gives award season early launch. 

Quiki-leak from The Hague?
One paper that doesn’t lead with a photo of the floods in Australia (see below) is ‘quality’ free commuter newspaper De Pers.  Instead, it fills most of the front page with what purports to be a copy of a diplomatic ‘cable’ to Washington DC from the US ambassador to the Netherlands. Beneath it, the paper’s headline reads, in English, “Thoughts on the Dutch”. The blurb underneath, mainly in Dutch, ends “Bottom line: they’re pleased with us again”.

And why would Washington be pleased once more with the tiny lowlands by the sea? It’s easier for lazy old me just to quote the text - which, it should be noted and as published by De Pers, contains some strange punctuation and other errors  - itself : “Despite an unstable political climate and lack of popular support our efforts [US efforts clearly, ed.] have paid off. The Dutch now expect to be rewarded.”

And for what do these Dutch (government politicians, one assumes) expect a treat or some goodies? Back to the front page of De Pers “The Dutch are back where they left of [sic, I assume they mean ‘off’] a year ago when the government collapsed over a longer military stay in the Afghan province of Uruzgan.”

All fairly accurate so far, I’d say. The cable continues: “The new minority government of Christian Democrat CDA and liberal VVD  […] is naturally inclined to work close with the U.S. […] a clear illustration is the decision to send a police training mission to Afghanistan [although] polls show 70 percent of the population opposed.”

Again, very true. It goes on to explain how the new government and its decision – yet to be approved by parliament, though that is not a strict requirement – to ‘go back’ to Afghanistan have come about. But perhaps most striking, given that these are reported to be the words of US ambassador Hartog Levin, are the descriptions of some of this country’s leading politicians.

On Prime Minister Mark Rutte: “Rutte seems fine with everything. He surrendered his party’s principles to become the first liberal PM since 1918.”

On Geert Wilders (he who formally supports the coalition government though he and his party are not part of it): “Golden-pompadoured, maverick [who] though tough on Islam […] condemned the Afghan police mission calling it ‘a bad idea’ and stated that ‘not one man should go on a mission wherever’ […] a strong supporter of Israel, he is no friend of the U.S.”

And on main opposition Labour party leader Job Cohen “… inept for modern day politics.”

With the Dutch government clearly coming back ‘into the fold’ be planning a return to Afghanistan that involves the deployment of military personnel, this cable ends by saying that the efforts of PM Rutte and Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen should be rewarded “accordingly” – and mentions specifically an ”Invitation at [to?] the coming G-20 meeting”.  In conclusion “With the EU divided and its direction uncertain, the Dutch serve as a vital transatlantic anchor in Europe”.

Ah, back at the top of the class… At least, that’s how it seems if one believes De Pers’ scoop of today. But those errors are still causing me to doubt … or are they just typos made in transcription? Time will tell! (Indeed, as we go to press, the US Embassy has told RNW this is a hoax!)

Disaster now
There’s no doubting, however, the genuine nature of the colour photos on the front-pages of almost all today’s other newspapers. De Telegraaf, AD, de Volkskrant, nrc.next and another freebie, Metro, all lead with images of the disastrous floods in Queensland, Australia.

Perhaps predictably, the country’s biggest (readership) newspaper, De Telegraaf, stays parochial with a headline under its photo that reads “Dutch nationals in trouble after flood”. However, on page 11 the paper does cover the story from a more Australian angle, quoting Brisbane’s mayor saying that tomorrow, Thursday, will see the situation get even worse for her city.

The country’s youngest (in terms of its own age and target audience) paper nrc.next almost fills its front page with a photo of gushing brownish-white water churning and spattering as it almost engulfs two sets of traffic lights on a road junction somewhere in or close to Brisbane. The accompanying headline almost says it all: “Tsunami in the city”.

Disaster then  - disaster still
Another disaster, which happened precisely one year ago, is still being felt and will continue to do so  some time to come. One paper that doesn’t lead with a Queensland photo is the Christian-based Trouw. Instead, it has a smaller, black and white photo of a laughing, one-legged girl, holding a false leg on her shoulder. She’s Haitian, a dancer the paper tells us, and the headline above the photo is simply: “Haiti, one year on” – so we know when this young women lost her leg.

Of course, most of the other papers cover this story too, though the Australian floods push their reports to the inside pages in nearly all cases. Trouw writes “One year later and the work of reconstruction still has scarcely begun, partly as a result of flawed Haitian and international coordination. Some 800,000 people are still living in tents.”

Inside, Trouw quotes aid charity Oxfam saying that Haiti’s recovery process has actually ground to a halt. Oxfam blames this in part on the country’s government – already weak before the earthquake
struck and with the little bit of power it has vested in the hands of a small elite in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Oxfam’s calling for more power to go to local government, which is – by its very nature – closer to the streets and to the people. But is also says aid organisations haven’t helped by starting up projects and operations on their own and not doing enough to make sure Haitian government representatives are also involved.

Today’s de Volkskrant also reports from Haiti – and takes a look at the housing crisis in the wake of the quake. It provides one example of the kind of problems faced, by reporting how Matthew Cochrane of the Red Cross spent months in difficult negotiations trying to get a man in Haiti to allow hundreds of wooden houses to be built on his stretch of ‘no man’s land’. That is, as Mr Cochrane tells de Volkskrant, “Until it turned out that he wasn’t the rightful owner of that land at all. It belongs to Haitian state radio. We are right back where we started.”

It seems that establishing who actually owns land in Haiti is a significant problem in general  and –as much of today’s coverage shows – just one of many that are hampering the country’s recovery.

Closer to home – escaping closets.
As RNW reported on its website yesterday, the ‘coming out’ of young homosexual guys and girls is back in the news right now over here, mainly because of a new TV show - presented by the country’s very own  ‘pin-up Christian Mr Beefcake’ Arie Boomsma. The programme follows young gay and lesbian folk as Mr Boomsma accompanies them at the moment when they tell their families and friends that they are not heterosexual and actually prefer members of their own sex. A process known as ‘coming out’ or ‘coming out of the closet’ (in Dutch: uit de kast komen).

Today’s de Telegraaf also covers the issue in its special section for women, called – appropriately - Vrouw (woman). The headline reads “Mum, I am GAY” with the word GAY (or HOMO in Dutch) printed in big red capitals.

The article begins, “Telling your parents that you’re gay, you’d think it was really easy to do these days. But nearly all young gay people face a struggle before they do”.

Not only do they nearly all face a struggle, there are still some people – even in a country like the Netherlands, the first to put same-sex marriage on to the statute books – who take many years to get through that struggle. A few never really do and an even smaller number, in the worst cases, lose it totally and end up trying to take – or taking - their own lives.  The first thing that has to happen, as de Telegraaf article explains, is for the person in question to accept the sexual preference which comes naturally to them.

The paper speaks to Yvonne Verschragen who works for the main Dutch gay rights organisation COC – one of the oldest of its kind in the world. She is a lesbian who works for the COC and visits schools to talk about homosexuality. As it happens, she has a son who is also gay.

She tells the paper: “Accepting yourself as you are is a lonely process. It’s a struggle that has and always will be around […]  My son didn’t come out until he was 25, even though he could have known that I wasn’t going to have a problem with it.”

Yvonne tells de Telegraaf that it’s key for parents to be supportive when a child tells them about their sexuality: “Say ‘We love you, you haven’t changed in our eyes”. And if an acquaintance or family member says something nasty, always stick up for your child.”

Sounds like good advice to me.

Oh no – already?
Not long after a new year begins, all those award-giving ceremonies start to loom in the not-too-far-off-distance. But here in the Netherlands, Dutch-made-music-playing radio station 100%NL looks to have beaten the competition in the earliest-of-the-year award ceremony stakes.

Yesterday – as free papers Metro and Spits both report - the station - which just happens to have its offices in the same premises as RNW (but I have not been bribed to write this) – handed out its 2011 awards. You will probably not be surprised that you do not know any of the names of the recipients, though you might just know one or two or even more if you are a Dutch expat , but – well  - it’s all part of Dutch culture, and you can always go and seek out these artists out on YouTube or some such web-place. 
       
Marco Borsato - who launched his career back in the 1980s on a show which was copied in the UK, at least, under the name Stars In Their Eyes, and who has oft been named the Netherlands’ best male Dutch singer in various contests - emerges as Artist of the Year.

Male duo Nick and Simon – from the fishing village of Volendam, which is the Netherland’s very own “Liverpool” – get the gong for best recording (in Dutch, of course, and entitled Fier, which means Proud).

The lifetime achievement award goes to Amsterdam singer René Froger (who you may just have seen during the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow as part of the Toppers trio). While best newcomer is a young man called Wesley… and, no, you football fans, it’s not Wesley Sneijder.

Now, off you go and check out their music (complaints not to be sent to me, thank you).