'No kissing': Amsterdam's red light district
reopens after coronavirus shutdown
Sex workers welcome the chance to earn again but with
strict rules about face-to-face contact, hygiene and making clients check for
symptoms
Agence
France-Presse
Published
onThu 2 Jul 2020 01.40 BST
Amsterdam’s
famed red light district has reopened after a long coronavirus shutdown, with
sex workers and clients having to observe new rules to prevent infection.
The
Netherlands ordered all brothels closed in mid-March and had originally planned
to keep them shut until September, but recently brought the date forward as
Covid-19 cases dropped.
Felicia
Anna, a 34-year-old Romanian sex worker, said it “felt very good” to be back at
work.
“During the
lockdown, a lot of sex workers ran into financial trouble so we’re very happy
that we can finally start our job again,” Anna, chairwoman of the Red Light
United trade union, said.
She said
there were fears that there would be fewer clients, since many of them are
tourists and the Netherlands still has a travel ban on many countries.
“But I did
ask some of my colleagues and so far they said that the work is quite ok.”
“I’m
totally booked” for Wednesday, added Foxxy, a sex worker and activist at the
Prostitution Information Center in Amsterdam, using her professional pseudonym.
She “had a
little party” when she heard the government’s 24 June announcement that sex
work could restart, added Foxxy, who rents a room in a brothel outside the red
light district.
While less
restrictive than other countries, the Netherlands’ “intelligent lockdown”
emptied the red neon-lit, street-front windows from which many of Amsterdam’s
prostitutes normally beckon customers.
Now they
are reopening but, as with Dutch hairdressers and masseurs which have already
been allowed to resume operations, sex workers are encouraged to verify that
their clients do not have Covid-19 symptoms.
“Before I
make an appointment, I have to check with the client if they’re feeling ok and
if they don’t have any of the symptoms, or if any of their housemates has
symptoms,” Foxxy said.
Other
measures include “disinfection and washing the hands, cleaning the sheets after
every appointment. Those are the basic needs. But we don’t need to wear any
face masks during the playdates, thank God”.
She added
that “most of us will avoid face to face, so no kissing”.
Felicia
Anna said that “after the customer leaves the room, we’re going to disinfect
everything he might have touched, bed, sink, the toilet if he used the toilet,
the doorknobs, everything”.
But she
said that sex workers were already well versed in hygiene, adding: “We already
dealt with much bigger diseases than corona.”
Dutch
deputy prime minister Hugo de Jonge said on Wednesday that a “new phase in the
approach to coronavirus begins” but urged people to remain vigilant.
The Netherlands
legalised prostitution in 2000 and sex workers have to register with the local
chamber of commerce and pay income tax. Around 7,000 now work in Amsterdam,
according to official figures.
Anna said
the red light district would “certainly” be more affected because “a lot of sex
workers” who often come from eastern Europe and South America returned to their
home countries during the lockdown and are still not allowed to travel back to
the Netherlands.
LETTER FROM
AMSTERDAM
ENGLISH
VERSION
BY ANTÓNIO SÉRGIO
ROSA DE CARVALHO
AMSTERDAM
Before and
after Corona
Thus, many
of the circumstances described in the text have been completely changed.
The long
process of Amsterdam's struggle to free itself from the negative image and
stigma of Europe's 'human sewage' linked to the Red Light District, coupled
with the imperative and urgent need to manage the harms of mass tourism
associated with 'low cost' 'flying and the phenomena of AIRBNB and BOOKING.com,
was suddenly and surprisingly' resolved 'in a radical way by World Lockdown.
We are
therefore on a break, but even during this break, important decisions were made
by the Amsterdam Municipal.
Thus, due
to the decision of the State Council of December 2019 that any rental of
accommodation to tourists requires licensing, the Municipal of Amsterdam has
instituted an absolute rental ban in some important areas of the city
The
Municipal also established an alliance with economic experts from the Doghnut
Economy
, that is,
a circular concept that defends a growth model that respects the limits and
requirements of Ecology.
However, it
is important to know the symptoms described in the following text to realize
the future challenges of the post-corona period, which will undoubtedly be
determined by deglobalization.
Even during
the Corona crisis, the ambiguity and effectiveness of policing and enforcement
of the measures imposed by Lockdown remained. This is because the policing and
inspection tasks divided between hesitant, shy and disrespected security
officials from the City Council (the 'Boas / Handhaving') and the police are
not well defined, which creates a vacuum and discredits the authority of the
State.
After all,
in all the themes described below in a polarized and acute way, it is about the search for a fundamental
balance between Cosmopolitanism and Local Culture, between
Internationalization, Globalization and Local Identity.
Letter from Amsterdam
Europe,
which should be pulsating with energy in the full expectations of a promising
future, is hostage to a malaise, a crisis of confidence and a prisoner of an
indefinable feeling of distrust.
Citizen
mistrust and detachment from a political class that feels that he / she does
not represent and does not recognize his / her anxieties.
Deeply existential insecurity determined by
the climate crisis. Insecurity in the reality of everyday life, where chaos
reigns due to the disappearance of references to cultural identity swept away
in the turmoil of the massification of Tourism; Due to the avalanche of globalization and “cosmopolitanism” that
attenuate local references and rituals; For the invasion of the “expats” of the
great International companies that contribute to the inflation of the prices in
the Real Estate; For the eclipse of the
authority of the State and of its indispensable regulatory effect and
controlling and pedagogical function.
Fundamental
and essential rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the State, such as the
right to housing and health, are threatened by the overlap of the values of
the 'Markets' over the values of the State.
Globalization,
where materialism, self-centeredness and greed triumph, fulfilling Ayn Rand's
ill-fated prophecies. Prophecies that, ideologically defined by the Wall Street
gurus and the worlds of finance and markets as 'Neo Liberalism', affected and
eroded all the balances in the social fabric, disturbed the human rituals of
life in society and undermined like a cancer all over the world. organicity of
European cultures.
Dividing
and reducing people exclusively into two types: 'Those who have everything' and
'Those who have nothing'. Life is reduced exclusively to the sole criterion of
success at any cost, and always, superimposing Having on Being.
This
profound crisis, determining a growing feeling of malaise, an 'limbo'
impossible to define that fuels progressive insecurity and resentment (“us” and
“them”), finds a dangerous compensation and, also, an alienated search for
identification, for many a 'consolation', and an intended escape from a
dominant resentment in Populism.
Thus,
Populism intends, through its intended irreverence and hypothetical
authenticity, to “shake the system”, and, through its radical vitality, to
deconstruct the 'politically correct' theses of the elites, according to it,
barricaded in the political “clicks” of the Representative Democracy. (The
Parties)
In an
eclectic, confusing and irrationally emotional cocktail, Populism defines these
elites as distant and unrealistically isolated from the realities and
challenges of citizens in their daily lives. Populism intends to correct this
void and overcome this, according to it, 'dark and corrupt gap', through the
“bridge” of Direct Democracy and Referendums and Plebiscites.
All this
based on a mythical / identity concept of 'People' as an organic entity,
coherent and joined by a common culture and experience, throughout the
centuries of its National History.
In European
cities, at present we find the harmful effects of these globalization phenomena
and the challenges they represent, in their erosive effect, for the prestige
and effectiveness of the Democratic State, in the face of Populist tendencies.
A city, with
specific characteristics, where we can
find all these themes gathered in an explosive cocktail and, although still
latently, directed towards a 'perfect storm' is Amsterdam.
Not that in
cities like Lisbon or Porto, the same fundamental and determining challenges
are not to be found, but in Portugal, in its listless and sleepy state of a
country dependent on 'everything and everyone', the Government and Local
Authorities continue to be pachidermically and passively ignore and deny these
urgent challenges.
In
Amsterdam, the representatives of Representative Democracy have awakened from
their torpor and permissiveness and are recognizing the challenges and dangers
and, although belatedly, trying to react.
The Housing
crisis and the struggle to regulate and regulate AIRBNB.
The
speculative spiral in Amsterdam in the price of housing is comparable to other
European cities, although Holland had known until the late 1980s of the 20th
century, and before the triumph of Neo Liberalism, a unique model, regulated
and balanced, between the market free and controlled, which guaranteed and
offered access to high quality Social Housing.
Times have
changed and in such a way that from the 90's, even the exemplary and important
Housing Cooperatives, alienated themselves from their original objective and
began to privatize their Real Estate and speculate with the sale of it.
This
coincides with a wave of privatization of Public Services, also recognizable in
several countries in Europe.
An army of
young urban professionals emerged with their technocratic myths of management
efficiency, like a plague of locusts that devour everything in their dynamics,
dominating with their theories of 'managing' the whole European culture.
An
exemplary illustration, constituted the scandal of one of the Princes of
Oranje, to have proved to be a maximum speculator in the real estate in
Amsterdam, owner of many hundreds of buildings that were profitable to the
maximum, disrespecting and speculating, simultaneously taking advantage and
contributing to it. housing crisis,
which caused a lot of ink in the media.
The idea
ofsharing economy and local accommodation seemed at first a nice and
interesting initiative. Genuine and personal contact with the locals. Friendly
prices. A way to guarantee a personalized and more authentic stay. But, through
the Globalization and massification of Tourism made possible by the 'low cost
flying', this initial idea, quickly degenerated into a gigantic speculative business with serious inflationary investments and with the known
effects on price and access to housing. The historic centers of European cities
have become a no-go zone for locals and are now occupied exclusively by
tourists and 'expats' from international companies who can afford the required
prohibitive prices.
AIRBNB
started its activity in 2008. In Amsterdam it started its activity in 2011. Due
to Amsterdam's fame of tolerance for the consumption of the so-called 'soft
drugs', quickly the cheap flight package, Local Accommodation 'on a loose rein'
and Red Light District, led to the opening of the famous 'coffee shops'.
The recent
news coming from the Balearic Islands (Ibiza and Mallorca /) of heavy fines and strict police control for
this type of Tourism, saturating and causing high irritation and hostility of
the indigenous and local inhabitants, no longer surprises anyone.
Now,
returning to AIRBNB. The Amsterdam City Council reached an agreement on the
annual 60-day limit in 2016, where AIRBNB was committed to collaborating in the
control of this limit established by the City.
But this
'dialogue' was apparent because AIRBNB, despite having technically adapted its
platform for the 60-day limit, has always refused to provide the addresses of
its customers, a fundamental condition to make it possible to control and
police compliance with the rules 60 days.
The
Municipality has always been obliged to use reports of irregular situations in
order to apply sanctions and fines.
In 2018,
faced with the perverse effects of the explosive increase in Local
Accommodation on access to Housing, the Municipality decides to impose a new
annual occupancy limit. 30 days.
In a new
meeting with AIRBNB and other platforms, the Municipality always represented by
Councilman Laurens Ivens also imposes the obligation to register customers.
Here the mask of 'collaboration' by AIRBNB falls.
This
confrontational situation, where the Municipality explicitly does not give up
the principle that cities have the right to decide on their management, had
already been confirmed in the strategic union with 9 other European cities.
This set of 10 cities intends to have the European Commission's recognition of
their right of self determination.
A first
battle was lost (but not the War) in December 2019, through the opinion of the
European Court that did not recognize AIRBNB as a powerful Hotel Agency, but
only as a mediation platform.
However,
very recently, as a reaction to all these developments, Berlin confirmed its
autonomy of decision, by freezing rental rents for a period of 5 years.
(January 2020)
In another
surprising opinion, very recently, the Dutch Council of State declared that any
type of rental to tourists is in absolute need of a license. Thus, all the
activity of Local Accommodation, is and is therefore illegal. (December 2019)
This
surprised the Amsterdam Municipality itself. The new legislation now has to be
established through the Central Government and the parliament in The Hague
(which should happen in July 2020). The procession is therefore still in the
churchyard.
Also
noteworthy is the surprising recent electoral victory of Sinn Féin, not
directly determined by the issue of Brexit, but by the themes of Housing Rights
and Health ... Despite Brexit opening the Pandora's box, leading to the victory
of three crossed Nationalisms (English , Scottish and Irish), which could mean
the end of the United Kingdom, Northern Irish people did not vote for a Party,
but fundamentally for two Themes that concern them
Throughout
2018, Arre Zuurmond, the Amsterdam City Ombudsman developed a study in direct
contact with the city and its nightlife. Thus, the Leidsplein area, one of the
centers of the 'night', was set up and inhabited during the first period and
then the area of the 'Red Light District' known as 'de Wallen'.
The
conclusions were devastating. Chaotic cyclist traffic where no one respects the
signs. Trafficking and widespread
consumption of drugs (Chemicals, Heroin, Cocaine). Drunks and riots dominating
the public road. All of this in an explicit disrespect for the police authority
or for established rules that nobody obeys, because impunity reigns.
Amsterdam
closed the main police stations in the city center. You rarely see a police
officer.
Although
the city has established a fine of 95 euros for alcohol consumption on public
roads, no one respects this measure.
There was a
feeling of impunity. The feeling of malaise described at the beginning of this
text, can constitute a permanent source of food for Populist feelings, and
therefore constitutes an important potential for political change, since what
is permanently discredited and eroded, is the image of Democracy.
Femke
Halsema visiting the Red Light District
In view of
this, the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema commissioned a study from experts
Pieter Tops and Jan Tromp. The results were known in August 2019 and caused
great political commotion.
This same
Mafia has resolved its wars on the public road in recent years with lynching,
carried out by minority youths who, for small sums, are willing to execute
someone on demand.
This spiral
reached a climax, with the execution in the middle of the day of the lawyer
Derk Wiersum on September 18, 2019 (44 years) who represented one of the main
witnesses of the accusation of top criminals.
This
constituted a direct attack on the rule of law, and everything indicates that
the Netherlands is finally waking up, for this combination of factors, which
constitute a 'perfect storm' and which put Amsterdam on the 'front line' of the
confrontation with this European crisis. Representative Democracy.
Femke
Halsema wants to end the coffee shops and move prostitution to the outskirts of
Amsterdam. It is proven that this measure will lead to a 50% decrease in
'low-cost' tourism, and to the control of permanent disorders on the public
road.
Something
is happening in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam in particular.
The culture
of debate and consensus that dominated the post-war period and ensured the
creation of a true and exemplary Social-Democracy, is directly threatened by
new phenomena, which led to the creation of a 'no man's land', a gray area that
is slowly being occupied and covered by the mantle of evil forces that threaten
Representative Democracy itself.
The return
of policing, direct control and the requirement to comply with the laws and the
respective respect for the rule of law, has become an imperative urgency and
citizens want, as never before, to feel represented and protected.
António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho
Architectural
Historian
This article is more than 4 months old
Amsterdam considering moving red light district
indoors
City council releases plans to build an ‘erotic
centre’ to prevent rowdy tourists
Femke Halsema, Amsterdam’s mayor, has vowed to clean
up the city’s red light district after complaints of drunk and rowdy tourists.
AFP in
Amsterdam
Published
onWed 19 Feb 2020 21.42 GMT
Amsterdam
is considering moving part of its red light district indoors to an “erotic”
complex where prostitutes no longer beckon customers through street-front
windows that often attract rowdy tourists.
In plans released
on Wednesday, the Dutch city said the complex could include a bed and breakfast
for prostitutes as well as a sex club, sex theatre and cafes.
The
Amsterdam city council said the two choices mooted are a sex hotel or an
“erotic centre” which will be a “sex hotel plus, plus, plus”.
“All in
all, a prostitution hotel with indoor windows or an erotic centre is the most
obvious choice,” the city council said in a statement.
“These
options have the most advantages and the fewest disadvantages,” it said in the
statement.
Amsterdam’s
mayor, Femke Halsema, has vowed to clean up the city’s red light district as
her staff complain that throngs of tourists, often drunk and rowdy,
“disrespected both prostitutes and residents”.
Halsema
also wants to fight a new trend, a “major increase in unlicensed underground
prostitution” around the city centre’s Wallen area, near the central station,
for centuries the haunt of sailors and sex workers.
Over the
last few months city officials have sounded out sex workers, business owners
and others about how to reform the prostitution business.
“A number
of scenarios were then chosen. This included the location of sex work spaces in
our city,” the council said.
For
instance: “If the location is too remote, there is a bigger safety risk and it
becomes more difficult to supervise it. Also, it must be easily reachable via
public transport.
“Sex work
is a normal job and the idea is not to chase prostitution from the city,” the
council said.
The erotic
centre will not just cater to pleasures of the flesh but also house a beauty
salon, a hair dresser and a tanning studio.
The council
said it hoped to finalise its plans before the summer.
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