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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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Elect the Amsterdammer of 2005

2 January 2006 – Het Parool newspaper has put together a list of ten candidates from which the public can elect the Amsterdammer of the year. Mayor Job Cohen and alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb were excluded from the list.

One of the candidates is Rahma el Mouden, the founder of the Amsterdam Multicultural Cleaning Company (MAS). She pays language courses and other courses for her employees. In 2005, she received an award for the company with the employees who have the best learning achievements.

El Mouden: “We offer employees all chances to grow. These are people with few opportunities, who do straining work. Eventually they end up being unemployed or with a disability benefit. Then they become a burden on society, so employers must take their responsiblity”.

Another candidate is Ahmed Marcouch, the former chairman of an Amsterdam mosque organisation, who became a public figure after the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh. He is angry about discrimination of Moroccan youth, but he also says that these youth must not complain. “Do you have to prove yourself three times in order to get a job as a Moroccan? So be it”.

By now Marcouch has changed the mosque for politics. He will be heading the social-democrat list in the elections for the Slotervaart district council in March, and may end up as chairman of the district administration. His example is Polish trade unionist Lech Walesa: “A simple worker who achieved great things”.

The Amsterdam public has submitted candidates, from which a jury made a selection. Mayor Job Cohen was dropped, because he is already receiving sufficient praise both from the Netherlands and abroad (Time magazine elected him one of Europe’s heroes of 2005). Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb received the title last year.

Diversity was probably also a criterium. Almost half the candidates are ethnic minorities. Candidates further include an entrepeneur, a sportsman, several people from the cultural sector, some young people and four women.

Votes must be cast next Friday at the latest. It is obligatory to vote for two candidates, in order to offset the effects of agressive voter mobilisation. Het Parool: “You will thus be forced to form an opinion on your favorite's competitors as well, for which we thank you in advance”.

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