Mayor Jozias van Aartsen of The Hague issued a warning to his audience during his opening speech at the annual Feel at Home in The Hague Fair on 5 February in The Hague City Hall. ‘Nationalism offer simplistic ready-made solutions to the huge challenges facing our world today. But a huge and empty void lies behind these sweeping statements. Now, more than ever, we need to work together to build bridges.’
He went on to say:
‘After a period in which international cooperation was seen as the way forward, it would now appear that the opposite tendency is gaining ground. Once again walls and borders are being thrown up, international treaties revoked, together with increasingly loud calls of ‘my country first’. A worrying development.’
Cooperation and bridge building
‘Populism and nationalism offer simplistic ready-made solutions to the huge challenges facing our world today. Which also explains their success. But a huge and empty void lies behind these sweeping statements. Now, more than ever, we need to work together to build bridges. To ensure that everything we have built in recent decades is not swept away. I am sure that even though we live in an age of so-called ‘alternative facts’, reason and an optimistic view of the world, originating from Kant and Mondrian, will ultimately prevail.’
Fair for internationals
The Feel at Home in The Hague Fair in City Hall was organised this year for the 10th time. During the fair expats can become acquainted with local sports and social clubs, health care providers and volunteer organisations.
Source: www.thehague.com
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