Notes - ME in
Amsterdam
For several
years "ME
in Amsterdam" was part of my site.
This has been removed in the end of May 2003 and it
has been put back on the site in the end of August
2003, and was reformatted and extended in 2007 and
2008.
To quote and
somewhat the
introduction of Notes on the subject:
ME = Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis = the disease I have since Jan
1 1979, especially as this relates to my
adventures, trials and tribulations at the
University of Amsterdam - whence I was thrice
removed "because of your outspoken ideas", its Board
of Directors wrote the third time, briefly before my
M.A. in philosophy - and above semi-legal
drugsdealers with allowance by the mayor to deal in
illegal drugs, who also dealt in murder-threats and
attempts against those who protested, viz. me, and
against which the city of Amsterdam - mayors,
eldermen, city-council, bureaucrats - refused to
protect me.
This is a
chilling and bitter story, but it is in Dutch, and
probably hard to understand for those who are not
fairly familiar with Holland, Amsterdam and the ways
drugs are dealt with there, and the University of
Amsterdam (Municipal), that was democratised during
the time I studied there - where I also, in case you
worry about my not getting an M.A. in philosophy,
did get the best possible M.A. in the end, but in
psychology, but mostly on the grounds of logic and
physics. (Interesting, enlightening and humorous
background to Holland, also well-informed and mostly
true: The UnDutchables, by Colin White &
Laurie Boucke.)
Most of ME in
Amsterdam is in Dutch (and rather good Dutch,
especially given the fact most consists of letters
to Dutch bureaucrats!) but there are some English
explanations (that need editing).
Also, the
interested reader may know that in much I have said,
both about drugs in Amsterdam and about the
educational system in Holland and the UvA, much
later (respectively 7 and 10-30 years), many of the
opinions I expressed about these subjects, which led
to many problems with mayor & aldermen of
Amsterdam and with the board of directors of the
university of Amsterdam have been much justified and
supported by the research and conclusions of two
Dutch parliamentary committees, named after their
chairmen resp. (in short terms) Van
Traa-rapport and Dijsselbloem-rapport, of
which the former is the part about Amsterdam on my
site, with 190 of my helpful notes of 2001.
Even so, and
since 20 years, both the mayor & eldermen of the
City of Amsterdam and the board of directors of the
University of Amsterdam (Municipal), have refused to
answer my complaints, my letters, my mails, or my
site; refuse to speak to me by phone; refuse to
receive me, giving as ground only that they do not
like my prose - while knowing full well that I have
been ill all these 20 years, and without any help by
them, living without help on minimal dole all the
time, being tired and in pain most of the time, and
also effectively refusing, in the form of letters
from the City of Amsterdam, the University of
Amsterdam (Municipal), and the Amsterdam Ombudsman,
to deny, refute or discuss my site and the material
on it, especially as it concerns their legal crimes,
for that is what their behavior to me amounts to,
for which reason indeed I have claimed large
damages, which is another reason I am not answered.
It probably
is true that had I lived in England or America, I
had been rich in awarded damages, but Holland has a
peculiar legal system as regards damages (amounting
to: "every private person is responsible for his own
damage" - damages are only rewarded to legal
corporations, in practice, with few and rare
exceptions).
Also, the
Dutch governmental and municipal dealing with drugs
- about which my complains and damages as regard the
City of Amsterdam are concerned - is most peculiar,
since for some thirty years now it "allows" or
"tolerates" ("gedoogd" in Dutch) that soft drugs are
semi-legally dealt in so-called "coffee-shops, with
special permits by the mayor, but without any
control on what and how much they sell in soft
drugs.
The official
reason for this is sensible enough - to protect the
many users of soft drugs from exposure to hard drugs
- but the effect of thirty years of this policy have
been that the drugs-mafia got semi-legal status,
much power, and lots of money, in part also by
corrupting Amterdam and other Dutch civil servants,
and also by making Holland, and Amsterdam in
particular, the center of the traffic in all manner
of drugs through Europe.
But as I
said, the background of this is hard to understand
without considerable knowledge of Holland, the
Dutch, and Amsterdam, that are three subjects that
also are not what their official spokespersons claim
they are.
And if you
do not read Dutch, you must miss the peculiar charm
and horror of "ME
in Amsterdam", that has the great merit
of telling an true and rather tragical story in
terms of the actual official letters sent,
uncontested since 12 years by their receivers, viz.
the City Government and the Municipal University's
Board, just as none of my conclusions, claims,
explanations and inferences have been contested by
these worthies, strongly incriminating though they
are, if true, as they deny not.
