Palo Verde, I have some specific questions:
- what were you doing there?
- Poland went through what is known as ‘shock therapy’ economic reform - everything changed overnight. It had a major impact in the short run but seems to have worked out well relatively quickly - at least in comparison to other countries that did shock therapy. Still, can you tell us about how those overnight changes impacted daily life in your case?
- you mention violence: who did you think (by 1990) was going to be violent? was there continued fear for SU intervention, or from domestic communists? Some other group?
it’d be great if you could answer some of these questions - I might have some others too but this is all I could come up with now.
Let me put in my two cents as well. I’m from Holland and that country has been a paragon for political stability for a good two centuries or so. During the 20th century, Christian Democrats were in the government for 75 straight years (longer than the communists in the Soviet Union, as political scientist Bart Tromp quipped); the three largest parties (liberals, social democrats, christian democrats) divided two thirds to three quarters of parliament between them. Then came 2002: Pim Fortuyn’s rapid political rise (he might have become PM), his assassination, the collapse of the political center, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the death Theo van Gogh, the arrest of the terrorist ‘Hofstad’ group, some (minor, very minor) rioting in Amsterdam-East, the rise of Geert Wilders, who now stands to win as many seats as Fortuyn won posthumously in '02, and might become the largest party in government doing so - the ‘big three’ will probably not even gain a majority in parliament.
So that’s the macro story. Considering the calmth of the preceding decades if not centuries, I’d say this is political upheaval, and certainly a radical break with traditional politics. Personally, I feel that the ethnic uneasiness that reigns supreme in the country now makes me uncomfortable and I wish it went away. It did not cause me to move to Canada half a year ago, but I was glad to leave it behind and I don’t miss it one bit now I’m here. As far as personal involvement goes, I was in The Hague when Fortuyn was shot (in Hilversum) and as the cars went up in fire in the center of The Hague, we went down-town to check it out and see what was going on (stupid kids, that’s what we were. But I’d do it again!). There was a riotous atmosphere although most of the rioters had been dispersed. There was riot police and I remember that they did not know what they were doing. They told us to walk down one street, away from the riots. A minute later they came charging down that one street, telling us to start fucking running away. We went to a bar but it was later closed down because ‘it was on route to the immigrant neighborhoods, and people might be heading there’. So in all, it was a pretty crazy night and people really thought there might have been violence - and if Fortuyn’s killer had not been a blond Dutch guy named Van der G., which was IMMEDIATELY RELEASED, there might have been. I remember being glad that it wasn’t a Muslim.
For the moment, I don’t think there’s going to be much more violence but I do worry about what’s going to happen after the elections as I don’t see how they’re going to make a coalition. I also fear for the rise of Wilders, who in my view is doing more damage to the integration of Muslims than anyone else. Also, I worry for Wilders himself - the security is pretty tight for a good reason but with all the things that he’s been saying… One bloody fool with a gun is enough to cause a lot of trouble.