Room for Discussion

De Coronacrisis heeft ons leven al maanden in de greep. De noodsituatie die in essentie een gezondheidscrisis is, transformeert zich naar een economische crisis met faillissementen en werkloosheid als gevolg.
Studenten beginnen zich zorgen te maken over de toekomst: lagere kansen op werkgelegenheid, hoge schulden en een recessie in het vooruitzicht. In hoeverre betalen jongeren het bonnetje voor deze crisis? Hoe worden de belangen van jongeren in acht genomen bij beleidsvoering, en moeten we bang zijn voor de effecten op lange termijn?

Om een antwoord te krijgen op deze vragen is Room for Discussion in gesprek gegaan met hoogleraar toegepaste economie, tevens directievoorzitter van de Rabobank, Barbara Baarsma. Mevrouw Baarsma deelt regelmatig haar economische inzichten, bijvoorbeeld bij OP1 en Jinek, om een duidelijk beeld te schetsen van de economische nasleep rondom de Corona-beperkende maatregelen.

We lezen veel over criminaliteit in het nieuws. Zware misdaad is aan de orde van de dag, steeds vaker lijkt georganiseerde criminaliteit hier ook deel van uit te maken. Criminele activiteiten lijken steeds verder door te sijpelen in de samenleving. Klopt dit beeld van toenemende criminaliteit? Hoe heeft zware criminaliteit en georganiseerde misdaad zich ontwikkeld de afgelopen jaren? En wat betekent dit voor de samenleving? Dit soort vragen zullen worden besproken in ons gesprek met Jonne Janssen, het Sectiehoofd Dienst Regionale Recherche van Amsterdam.

Interviewers: Loïs Kok (@loiiskok) en Abel van Toorn (@abelvantoorn)

Must Central Banks go green? If so how? Why hasn't there been any inflation this year after gigantic stimulus packages? Is inflation gonna happen in the future? And why is there such a large discrepancy between the stock market and the real economy?
These questions and more will be discussed with Olaf Sleijpen, executive director of the Dutch central bank and alternate member of the governing council of the ECB.

Interviewers: Tim Vree & Abel van Toorn

We are honoured to announce that we will be interviewing Lucette ter Borg and Carola Houtekamer. Two renowned investigative journalists for the NRC who wrote the article on Julian Andeweg that is the inspiration for this interview.

Besides being an award-winning novelist, Lucette ter Borg is also a well-known art critic writing mainly on the Dutch art scene. She has recently also published work on the lack of diversity within Dutch art institutions. Carola Houtekamer has worked as an editor on manufacturing, construction and tech for the NRC. And she has recently written investigative pieces on datacentres in the Wieringermeerpolder and the impact of windmills.

The article we will be discussing is on the troubling case of Dutch artist Julian Andeweg. A three-month-long investigation by ter Borg and Houtekamer uncovered a trial of accusations of rape, harassment, violence and theft dating back to Andeweg's time at the art school KABK. The incompetence in dealing with these allegations of Dutch art institutions shocked many, but also started a bigger #metoo movement within the Dutch art scene. The Instagram account @calloutdutchartinstitutions was created and gained around 10.000 followers in only a few days. The account featured disturbing experiences of sexual harassment, racism, sexism and the inadequacy of the institutions in dealing with these allegations. This showed that the case of Julian Andeweg was not just an isolated incident but was an indication of a larger problem within the Dutch art world. The problem is a rather non-progressive and unprofessional culture within Dutch art schools, galleries, museums and more. Discussions on the lack of diversity and representation within the Dutch art scene have also gained attraction following the publication of this article.

We will be discussing all of this and more during our hour-long interview with Lucette ter Borg and Carola Houtekamer.

Professor Jack Goldstone is the man who over ten years ago developed a model that predicted the onset of massive social unrest in the United States beginning “around 2020". Incidentally, just two days ago Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. In this age of social unrest, from the George Floyd protests in the US, to the yellow vest protests in France and anti-lockdown protests in Germany, across the world, people are taking to the streets and rebelling against the establishment.

Many people are struggling to understand what is driving continuing social unrest in the West. For some it might seem like this age of unrest came out of nowhere and was totally unpredictable. But not for Professor Jack Goldstone, leading sociologist, political scientist, and historian. With his model, he purports to be able to boil down the drivers of political instability to just three factors. Having successfully applied this model to revolutions and periods of instability both past and present, he is a leading scholar on revolutions, democratic transitions, and demography.

And that’s why we’ve invited him to Room for Discussion to discuss his model, the driving forces behind social unrest in the West today, and what we can expect in the future. Given the recent period of unrest in the United States, but also the uncertainties of a post-COVID world in Europe, it is critical that we at Room for Discussion bring on the experts to help us make sense of these complicated times.

00:00 Intro
01:26 The Capitol Insurrection
10:32 Will Trump Be Removed From Office?
15:52 Understanding the Model: What Drives Social Unrest?
31:53 How America Became so Polarised
41:58 How Elite Competition Facilitates Social Unrest
46:42 How do We Break the Cycle of Elite Competition & Inequality?
53:49 Will There be Less Polarisation Under Biden
56:50 What Reforms can Reduce Polarisation in America?
01:05:00 Predictions for the Future

Vaccination is a big topic with the current Covid crisis happening in the whole world. Most talkshows, columns and interviews talk with medical experts about the implementation and the impact they will have on society. However, in this interview, Room for Discussion wants to explore the ethical and legal sides of this topic. Mandatory vaccination, vaccination passports, vaccination sceptics, all these subjects are of high importance to think about and deal with covid, besides just the medical analyses.
Roland Pierik is an academic experts on this topic, researching it for years. As member of the Dutch Health Council and the Dutch Commission on Vaccination, we can be sure that this interview will provide us with multiple new insights into the current vaccination programme.

For the last 20 years questions of immigration and identity have been at the heart of our politics, yet we have made almost no progress. Why is Özdil not a Dutch name? How did the Netherlands become more ethnically segregated than America? Why are riots in the Schilderswijk an integration problem, but riots in Urk not?

To answer these questions, we’ve invited Zihni Özdil, historian, columnist and former member of parliament for GroenLinks. Yet unlike most of his left-leaning compatriots, Özdil believes that we should do away with the old multicultural consensus in favour of “inclusive” nationalism.

Together with him, we will explore the struggle for acceptance and belonging among those of migrant origin, the historic roots of the Dutch migration story and how we can achieve a truly inclusive national identity.

Benedicte Ficq is een van de beste strafpleiters van Nederland. Ze verdedigde beruchte namen zoals Dino Soerel, Marcel Teunissen, Badr Hari en Jan-Dirk Paarlberg, en is ze deel van het team dat Ridouan Taghi bijstaat. Daarnaast houdt ze grote vervuilers en bedrijven die gezondheidsproblemen veroorzaken aansprakelijk. Zo spande zij een paar jaar geleden een grote zaak aan tegen de tabaksindustrie, en sleept zij nu Tata Steel voor de rechter.
Hoe gaat ze om met grote criminelen, wat wilde ze eigenlijk bereiken met het aanklagen van de tabaksindustrie en wat maakt haar nou specifiek zo’n ontzettend goede advocaat?
Wil je graag de antwoorden op deze en nog vele andere vragen horen?
Kijk dan gou mee!

Interviewers: Rifka Roos (@rifka__r) en Pelle Padmos (@pellepadmos)

We worden nu al een jaar getergd door de Corona crisis. HORECA en andere sectoren hebben het zwaar, maar wat zijn de precieze economische gevolgen van de corona crisis, en hoe komen we daar weer bovenop?
Wat doet de overheid? En is dat verstandig? Zitten wij zo met een enorme staatsschuld of maakt dat eigenlijk niet zoveel uit?
Bas Jacobs is professor Overheidsfinanciën aan de Erasmus Universiteit, hij kan ons precies vertellen hoe het met onze economie gaat, wat we kunnen verwachten en hoe nu verder.

Interviewers: Floyd en Abel

Whether its Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, Turkey’s confrontations with Greece and France or the retreat of the United States from Europe, the strength of the NATO alliance is being challenged at every turn. Where does this place European Security?
To answer this question, we’ve invited former Secretary General of NATO and former Dutch minister of foreign affairs, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for an interview on the 29th of april at 12:00 till 13:00. Together with him we’ll discuss the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, the challenges to the unity of NATO, whether Europe should become a geopolitical heavyweight and the future of European Security.

Interviewers: Simba and Renze