The Asylum Game – Failed Asylum Seekers Compete on TV
During the summer period Dutch public broadcasters come up with all kinds of new formats for TV progams. Several of those ideas are tried in the so called TV Lab in order to test the public response. One of these shows is the ‘Weg van Holland’. In this show failed asylum seekers can win 4.000 euros which helps them to make a new start in their country of origin to which they will send back. The winner is the person who demonstrates he or she knows their adopted country the best. TV viewers can also join the competition and compare their knowledge with that of the candidates. The winner among the TV viewers gets a (return!) ticket to the Caribbean island of Curacao.
The title of the program has a double ring to it. ‘Weg van Holland’ means both leaving Holland and loving Holland (probably this double meaning is best translated as ‘Holland, You’ve got to love it’.Radio Netherlands talked to the producers and the Refugee support network that supports the program (as well as Defence for Children). TV quiz for asylum seekers courts controversy | Radio Netherlands Worldwide
“My first reaction was: terrible idea, we’re not doing that. Then I looked into the issue more deeply and decided: we have to do this! Weg van Nederland focuses attention on the fact that, these days, many asylum seekers who are being expelled have children who have lived in the Netherlands for eight years or more. They have had a good education, speak perfect Dutch and have only seen their country of birth on television. We believe it’s time to stop and think about this.”
Sensitive
He emphasizes that the programme is not a hoax like De Grote Donorshow:
“The candidates are not actors, they are genuine unsuccessful asylum seekers who have to leave this country within a month or two.”It’s a frivolous show about a serious issue. The VPRO is giving failed asylum seekers a public face and demonstrating how important they could be to the ageing population of the Netherlands. It’s a sensitive subject, as was illustrated recently by the case of Sahar, an Afghan girl who had been living in the Netherlands for ten years. Her planned expulsion was cancelled after a storm of emotional protests.
Investment
Wouter van Zandwijk of the refugee support group Vluchtelingenwerk says he can understand that people might find Weg van Nederland tasteless:“The programme is sick but, let’s face it, the reality is sick too. The reality in this country is that people run out of legal options. Meanwhile, their children are receiving a good education and are integrating well. It makes you think: first you invest in people then, as you are about to harvest that investment – just before they all become hardworking Dutch taxpayers – that’s when you send them away.”
Frank Wiering comments: “The candidates are highly intelligent, self-assured people quite capable of deciding for themselves whether to take part or not. In terms of taste, I find a programme like Idols far more objectionable. First people are led to believe they are going to be big stars, then after three performances they’re headed off for a life of disappointment and drink.”
Knowledge
Van Zandwijk: “We’re hoping Weg van Nederland makes more people think about how we treat asylum seekers, that they understand more about what asylum seekers go through. Sometimes it takes far too long before they know whether they can stay. Vluchtelingenwerk would like a fast but careful asylum procedure. Young people who have spent so many years in the Netherlands are often more Dutch than Afghan or Somali and more at home here than in their country of origin.”
RNW compares the program with the Big Donor Show a few years ago in which the winner could receive a donor organ. It proved to be fake but was meant to draw attention to the shortage of organ donors in the Netherlands. So, I’m not sure how serious this program actually is. I doubt it. Words are misspelled in the program and they let the people carve out the shape of the country in cheese for example. Nevertheless in a Dutch press statement the broadcaster VPRO states that they play this game because they want to show how Dutch these asylum seekers have become over time. According to them they are real asylum seekers who really will leave the country. Furthermore the program makes the asylum seeker visible as a real person instead of a number.
The whole idea therefore is to show not only how restrictive Dutch asylum policies are but also how they actually work against the benefit of society by deporting asylum seekers who are successful and have internalized Dutch culture; the contestants are well educated and eloquent and include an aeronautical engineer from Cameroon and a Slavic languages student from Chechnya. This all happens on a very stereotypical level of course contributing to my impression that the show is a spoof.
The show also reminds me of a German program, based upon the (Dutch) Big Brother format, Foreigners Out! (Ausländer Raus! – Schlingensief Container) in which Schlingensief staged an interactive concentration camp right at the heart of Vienna tourist centre.
The whole asylum game (not only referring to this show) is indeed badly in need of some thorough analysis and debunking. Read for example the very useful piece of Anthony Burke on Australia. I watched part of the ‘Weg van Holland’ game and think they very clearly put forward the issues they said they wanted to highlight. I also thought it was mildly funny. As long as those people don’t really have to leave.
See also The Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032647/New-game-failed-asylum-seekers-win-cash-spend-AFTER-theyve-deported.html