Astrid’s Journal

Guess what a horrible idea our integration-minister, Hilbrand Nawijn from the LPF, now pointed out! Since he’s governing (although he now has rigned because the government has fallen) he always flew a lot of kytes, like sending Moroccan criminals with a Dutch passport to Morocco and such sickening ideas, but none of them is so scary and terrible as this: he wants to punish murderers like Volkert van der G. (who’s said to have killed Pim Fortuyn) and the (Moroccan) teen who maltreated a guy who advocated for an old woman so heavy that he died, by death. That’s
awful!

Today during our Dutch class we discussed death punishment. Unfortunately five or six of my classmates are pro. I’m really against it, since you don’t punish the killer or whatever but his family, when a wrongdoer’s dead he can’t think of what he’s done wrong, maybe people are punished
undeservedly and then they’re already dead and furthermore it’s so scary that a government kills. Emina said that when people have killed seven or ten people and they are psycholocally ill and can hardly get better, then they should be punished by death. How horrible! Those mentally ill people
should be treated by psychiatrists, be in jails for a long time and when they go out of them be coached very well and maybe life-long so that they won’t repeat their deed.

Oh. on the news I now hear that Nawijn has retracted his words. The leader of Groen
Links (a socialistic party, nearly as left-winged as my favorite SP), Femke Halsema, says that Nawijn’s gone too far. Of course! I don’t know, maybe she means that Nawijn has to step down (he works still because we haven’t yet a new government).

What do you think of death punishment? I know in most U.S.A.-states people like Vokert van der G. would indeed be punished by death, but do you agree with this? I’m really intersted in your view.

Yesterday Jochem Uittien, a member of the SP came for a welcome-talk, as I have become a member of this party as well. He checked some information such as birthdate and asked why I decided to join the SP. I said that I liked politics for years, and when the last elections (May 15th) were held I wanted to join a political party, sought for the pary programmes of the SP and Groen Links and then decided that the SP was the best. In between we talked about his political past, as he’s 88 now and he had joined the communist party in the end of the 30’s, the 40’s (very risky because of the nazis) and the beginning of the 50’s, until he stopped because the CPN was too dependent on the Sovjet-Union, and he didn’t know what party to join for 46 years and then joined the SP. My parents have also been in the CPN, but many years later. When we were talking about what I would like to do for the SP (like bringing around brochures) Sigrid asked if I could get the Tribune (magazine) on a cassette. Then Jochem asked if I had some sort of disability. I was quite surprised that he didn’t notice before and I said that I was blind. This was the second time in two days that I had to tell this offline and I really dislike it, as it is some sort of confession. Although I always say when people ask me if my blindness can maybe be a problem that I don’t think so, but I think most people find it a problem. This is also appearing in coaching younger students in languages, as I like doing and hope I can do. Today my mentor at school asked if I liked it and he would say to the teachers that I was willing, but I think - although I said it was just normal and was told that it could be different - that they would think I’m unable. How complicated is this: since I don’t think I’m unable anymore, others start doubting my abilities, as my Mum, when I told her about bringing round flyers, said: “But can you do that? Oh, but Sigrid can…” Fortunately she didn’t finish her sentence. I AM WILLING AND ABLE! Jochem asked something about my blindness and concluded in my information “is blind, well-developed”. I don’t wanna be labelled, but now I know that it’s good to know. We talked about my political past, but as I have never joined any other party, that was finished quickly. I got my member’s passport (or what it may be called) and a CD
called “Die nemen we mee” with critical songs from the 20th century. He gave me some addresses of other SP-members near me, stood up and went to the door. My parents came downstairs and they talked a little about politics. Then Jochem Uittien left. It’s nice to now be a “real” member of the SP
and I hope I can help bring round info or something like that.

I’m so grouchy! That’s because I had to wait almost two hours for ten minutes of class. We have to create an essay for classical culture and we don’t have that subject now, because our teacher’s ill. So, although we would have had Classical culture in this period (we have periodisation in our school) we don’t have real courses and only one hour a week to ask questions. That’s on Tuesday at 2:50 PM. School however ended at 2:00, so I had to wait fifty minutes to go to that course, because I had to ask how I could get information for this essay, for I have no book (the organisation that makes those available on the computer’s sooo slow) and I didn’t know how to get the literature needed for it. So then I went to that course and I appeared the only one coming to it. So, my questions were answered and I could go and wait another fifty minutes for the cab to take me home. And I didn’t get a sign on my card! We namely have a card on which you can get signs if you go to certain courses. You have to have six of them, including four at a teacher’s and two in de multimedia centre. They would normally be in your timetable, but I’ve only three of those study courses in mine, so I have to go to one after school time or in a free hour. Unfortunately generally this period there are few study courses in the timetables (you can go to any study course when you’re free or you have one yourself, even to another teacher or a course for another form) and at some subjects, like Dutch and math, it’s very useless to go to a study course, because I’ve (nearly) finished all my work until the Christmas holiday. Study courses in the multimedia centre aren’t difficult to get, because I’ve four free hours and the multimedia centre’s always open. But getting study courses at a teacher’s is very hard, because also some teachers (who you can go to for study courses) are absent. Now for the last weeks (three in hour second period) in no week I’ve enough study courses and I don’t want to go to school everyday from the first until the ninth course (until 4:30, argh!) to see if I could might be join a study course, while I’ve such a relaxed timetable. I would really like to give up a few hours for those study courses, but now I’ve been at school to join a study course which wasn’t given for almost as many hours as I need on my card!
Tomorrow I’m going to say it to my mentor, who has to check my card after this period to see if I’ve joined enough study courses.