Media laden…
Hello everyone,
the weekend of the 13th of june, I went out on Thursday, to a festival I won free tickets for on Friday, the Night of the Refugee on Saturday, and the Red Line for Gaza on Sunday.
This time I’ll work my way backwards from Sunday instead of starting at the beginning, as I feel like that’s the order of their importance. 😊)
sorry this is so late. a lot happened, and i needed time to write it all down. some things also happened in the political arena that were closely related to both the protest and the night of the refugee, so i also decided to mention them.
as always, picture descriptions are a.i. generated, so may not be 100% acurate.
On Sunday, we went to The Hague to draw the red line for Gaza. 150,000 people showed up, even more than for the last Red Line demonstration. It was really nice to see!
The atmosphere was great, the weather was amazing, and the company was wonderful. Unfortunately, I doubt this is going to be the last Red Line demonstration.
Our politicians don’t seem to get the concept of a red line.
All the current government had to say is that they are also “concerned” about the situation, and that they also feel our concern.
This wasn’t just concern—this is a red line.
You’re concerned when a friend is having a breakup, or when the food you just ordered doesn’t show up.
You’re not concerned when 56,000 people and counting have been killed in Gaza alone, when the West Bank is taken over piece by piece, and Israel is just bombing whatever it feels like. That calls for much stronger feelings.
A red line is a red line. That isn’t a gentle request to please do better, but a demand to do so—and to put action behind your words.
And until they do, we’ll probably be drawing a lot more red lines.
Politics is worth nothing without ideals and conviction backing it—without doing your utmost to create change and a better world.
There was a motion in Parliament on Thursday that called for a complete weapon embargo against Israel.
Sadly, it didn’t pass, and Volt voted against it. As such, I left the party.
Before I get into this more, I want to thank Volt sincerely. I’ve had a wonderful time with Volt—met amazing people, contributed to meaningful work, and learned a lot.
But I’ve also changed a lot personally. The more I experience in advocacy, the more left-leaning I’ve become.
There are three main reasons behind my decision.
The immediate trigger was our vote against the arms embargo on Israel. That is simply incompatible with my values, and I cannot support that in any way.
Under international humanitarian law, there is no distinction between offensive and defensive weapons. Weapons are weapons—it just depends on how you decide to use them.
When I stood in The Hague on Sunday, that was truly the red line for me. I made that decision for myself. I didn’t go there for nothing.
No more weapons to Israel—not with this government and these human rights violations.
If Volt thinks differently about this, then our paths diverge. It’s that simple.
Either you truly act on your words, or you keep coming up with excuses for why that line isn’t really red after all.
This is something everyone should reflect on.
Next time we stand in The Hague—on the Malieveld, with 100,000+ people around us—ask yourself again:
Is this the real red line? Or are we shifting it once more because it’s inconvenient?
This is my red line. But what’s yours?
Think about it, and make a conscious choice.
As long as you have a point for yourself where you’d truly draw the red line—and one you can explain to yourself and to others.
My second reason is related to this: I believe Volt is far too eager when it comes to armament, military buildup, and warfare.
Personally, I think you should think once, twice, or even three times before buying weapons or expanding militarily—and set clear ethical boundaries while doing so.
I understand the need for self-defense, but are our weapons really only going to that cause? Of course not.
Among NATO allies are also countries that actively exploit and abuse other regions. The U.S. has been guilty of this for decades, interfering in places where it has no business being.
But being part of NATO means you’re also obliged to protect those countries, even if they themselves are the cause of the conflict.
It’s a shield without any humanitarian preconditions.
On top of that, I don’t believe an arms race leads to anything productive—we’ve seen this during the Cold War.
The more weapons every country acquires, the greater the risk of a global conflict. It only takes one reckless moron to spark it—and boom.
And the more weapons are in circulation by then, the more devastating the outbreak of violence will be once it happens.
My final reason is Volt’s diversity policy—or rather, the lack thereof.
Volt is still a very white party, and in my view, we’re doing very little to change that.
They are not asking themselves the questions they need to ask, and they also lack the reflection to take concrete steps toward improvement.
I sincerely hope this will change over time, that the party will become more diverse, and that it will grow naturally from there.
But right now, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Even though I’m leaving Volt, I will definitely stay politically active—more on the left side of the spectrum.
I still hope to collaborate with Volt in the future, perhaps on a local or national level.
Accessibility and inclusion are topics that concern all parties—issues that require broad societal change.
I’m more than happy to commit myself to those causes and fight for change, alongside anyone who shares that passion.
Thanks again to everyone at Volt!
The Night for the Refugee was also really nice. They raised 1.7 million, which is really amazing.
Making sure everyone is able to live an equitable life has always been important, but now more so than ever, with the growing negative sentiment against people with a migration background.
I read today that the centrist party D66 now wants to keep refugees outside the country while they wait for their asylum procedure to finish.
Before the procedure finishes, they don’t want to let anyone in to await the results.
In the words of D66 leader Jetten, “a centrist party like theirs shouldn’t leave the migration discussion up to the voices on the flanks of the political spectrum.”
First of all, to me this just comes across as such a pretentious, know-it-all statement.
Like they are just so much better than everyone else—that they can’t leave it up to all those bumbling people in the other parties and have to step in.
If you enter the discussion, it should be because you have something meaningful to say—not because you think you’re better than everyone else.
To me, it looks like just an election stunt to win votes. Nothing more, nothing less.
The ironic part is that D66 researched why they lost so many votes during elections a few years ago, and one of the main findings was that people didn’t like this exact attitude of thinking they are better than everyone else.
Second, I wonder how they have the nerve to say that while looking at the epic failure that is the European migration policy outside their borders.
With the Tunisia deal, human rights are being violated on a daily basis with the political and financial backing of the European Union.
It is also sickening to watch the suffering of others become a premium commodity to win votes during elections.
All the parties in the current government coalition couldn’t wait to get the post of Minister of Migration when the PVV left.
So much so that a little spat broke out over who would get it.
Normally, politicians in The Hague avoid complicated issues like the plague—taking responsibility are two words they find very difficult to understand.
It’s like watching vultures fight over a rotting piece of meat.
Of course, I don’t know what that actually looks like, but thinking of all the novels I’ve read and comparing those descriptions to what is happening now—it fits perfectly.
In the debate on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the 10th of December, none of the party leaders deigned to show up.
Basic human rights and fighting for an accessible and equitable society are all very complicated topics for politicians—especially when they cost money.
But now, when it comes to migration, they see so much opportunity that they all can’t wait to get a piece of it.
Thus, causing other people pain and misery is suddenly very popular in The Hague.
I am ashamed I ever voted for D66 to begin with, and the only way to console myself is that the party isn’t the same now as it was back then, nor am I the same person I was at that point in time.
Damn, reading this section back, it is so depressing and negative—and that doesn’t fit my personality at all.
But I can’t help my emotions, and I won’t pretend they don’t exist either.
To all the parties that at least care a bit about human rights and fighting for what is right: please set a better example than this.
I don’t want to be sad and disillusioned with politics—not more than I already am.
Anyway, getting back on track:
I walked 20 km with two others I hadn’t met before, but we are in the same group chat.
They turned out to be lovely people, and I had a great time while contributing to a great cause. 😊)
Three young people are outside in a park. They are all wearing yellow safety vests with the text “Night of the Refugee” on them.
The person on the left has short reddish hair, a light green sweater around her neck, and is smiling broadly at the camera.
The person in the middle has short dark hair, a white polo shirt, and is pulling a funny face.
The person on the right has long blonde hair in a ponytail, is wearing a grey sweater under the vest, and is making a cheerful peace sign with her fingers.
In the background, there is a grassy field with trees and a few people in the distance. The atmosphere is cheerful and relaxed.
Two people in yellow safety vests are walking together along a road next to a lake or river.
They are both wearing a badge around their neck and seem to be talking or laughing.
The woman on the left has blonde hair in a bun and a grey sweater draped over her shoulders.
The man on the right has short dark hair.
In the background, you see water, grass, and trees, with the sun low in the sky, casting a warm glow over the landscape.
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly.
Two people wearing yellow safety vests are walking along a river or lake at sunset.
They are wearing badges from the “Night of the Refugee” and appear cheerful.
In the background, there is water, green bushes, and trees, with the sun low in the sky casting a warm glow over the landscape.
The woman on the left has a light grey sweater over her shoulders and a backpack on, the man on the right is also wearing a backpack.
It is a calm and positive atmosphere.
It was just a bit stressful to get there. Because some parts of the highway were cut off, I just missed my train to Rotterdam.
The signups for the event closed at 18:30, but I was scheduled to arrive between 18:35 and 18:40.
I was originally supposed to meet up with my group at Rotterdam Central and travel together from there, but because I ended up delayed, they went ahead.
At the same time, I tried to find a phone number to see if I could still join, but there was nothing on the website.
I ended up meeting some lovely people on the train, and they also started to help me look.
In the end, one of them found a number on their Instagram. So I called the organization from her phone.
The person on the phone said she didn’t know and couldn’t help me herself, but that she would pass along my question.
After about 15 to 20 minutes, they called me back saying they didn’t know and had to ask the person who was going to walk last, to keep the group a bit together for safety.
About 10 minutes after that (we were almost in Rotterdam by then), they called me back saying that I could attend if I showed up at the time I told them.
I ended up being there at 18:37, so it was fine. 😊)
However, this is a bit problematic from an accessibility standpoint.
I decided that if I couldn’t attend, I would just take the train back to Amsterdam and grab a coffee somewhere—or do it in Rotterdam.
The weather was really nice anyway.
However, it was still stressful to try to fix this type of thing on the train, on your way to the destination.
Moreover, they also had the event in Amsterdam, so it could have been a lot easier.
But I only sort of knew people going in Rotterdam, so it was a lot nicer to go there—I at least had a point of contact.
While I can also just go to the location and join whatever group I first encounter (I’ve done it before, after all), this takes a lot more energy.
I also already went out twice on my own the days before, and I still had the Red Line to go on Sunday.
This is why I have been advocating for large events to introduce a buddy system.
Basically, just create a field in the signups asking if someone is alone or in a group—and if they’re alone, if they would like to be assigned to a group or other people traveling alone, so you can have a nice time together.
This wouldn’t only be useful for people with a disability, but basically anyone that wants to go but hasn’t found someone to go with yet.
For Friday the 13th of June, I won a free ticket to Central Park Festival in Utrecht. On that day, they had a lot of cover bands for famous artists from the 70s/80s/90s—it was quite nice. After walking a bit with several groups, I ended up meeting someone who also came to the festival alone, so we basically just chilled for the remainder, until around 22:30.
Two men are taking a selfie together inside a tent.
The man on the left has short black hair, light skin, and is wearing a white polo shirt with green accents.
His left eye appears cloudy, which may suggest a visual impairment. He is smiling broadly.
The man on the right has short blond hair, light skin, is wearing a light T-shirt, and has sunglasses hanging from his collar. He is also smiling.
In the background, a woman with brown hair wearing a black-and-white dress is sitting, and some technical equipment is visible.
It seems to be a relaxed and cheerful moment.
After that, I decided to stay in Utrecht for a bit to go out. I went to Janskerkhof and then to my favorite snackbar / Turkish bakery in Utrecht—Bambies. I asked someone at the bus stop to walk with me there. It ended up being a nice conversation. Even though she originally didn’t intend to get anything, the food smelled really nice and she didn’t have any plans yet anyway, so we ate together. After that, she brought me to a local bar and went home. I met a nice group there that had just finished having a date dinner, and I just chilled and danced with them for a bit. They split up after that, and I ended up going with a few of them to Jansbar, but we went our separate ways after that.
It was quite nice overall. I had some good conversations, met some kind people, and exchanged Instagram handles with multiple people. It’s always nice to make friends in different places 😊)
But you always have to be prepared for at least some weird people if you go out on your own with a disability. Drunk people do stupid shit.
There was this one incident where I went to the toilet, and there were some people just standing there in the way. The person with me told them I was almost blind, and asked if we could pass. The reply? “Blind? Uhhh… sign language? drunken laughter”
They basically treated me as if I couldn’t communicate, which is both insulting to me and the Deaf community. The person with me got angry about it, but I told him not to worry. When people get drunk, they either become really nice or really stupid. I’ve found that it’s a total waste of energy to spend emotional energy on it.
A friend once told me that everything is either a good experience or a good story—and this is a good story.
They’ll feel really ashamed when they wake up, if they even remember any of it to begin with.
There was also this well-meaning guy who just grabbed my shoulder and started bringing me somewhere. So I asked him where he was taking me, and his answer was:
“I’m just bringing you to the side so you can find your friends again.”
I told him that I was here on my own.
“Ohh, sorry! Enjoy the rest of your night!”
If you want to help someone—super nice! Just ask. There are very simple steps you can follow:
First, ask if someone needs help.
If so, ask what they need help with.
At around 3 AM I took the train back to Amsterdam.
On Thursday, the weather was also too nice to stay home. I first went to a little café on Leidseplein and grabbed a coffee there. I just sat there, listening to music and enjoying the (semi) fresh air. People were smoking there as well, so hence the semi part haha.
After that, I decided to go to Heren van Amstel. I took tram 12 from Leidseplein to Rokin. From there, it was about a 10-minute walk to Heren van Amstel. The person I ended up asking for help was really nice—his brother was playing at a place nearby (Afro music). I got their Insta and promised to go support them next time they play. 😊)
Anyway, once there it was also nice. I hung out with multiple groups. The first was a group from around Den Bosch, in the south of the Netherlands. The second group consisted of two girls from Amsterdam. The third were internationals—I honestly don’t really know where they were from as we mostly just danced for a while, but I didn’t really have the chance to talk to most of them. The final group was a mix of uni students and high schoolers—apparently, one of them had just passed their high school exams and they were celebrating. I talked to them for a bit, and after that decided to go home. It was already around 02:30 at that point.
And that was my weekend. 😊)
I hope you enjoyed the read.
Yours,
Ihab
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