Hicham El Ouahabi | Amsterdam Is a city full of contradictions
Amsterdam is a city full of contradictions, writes Hicham El Ouahabi in honor of the city’s 750th anniversary. “We vote socially, but happily rent out our second apartment for €300 a night on Airbnb. We are an open city, yet also think tourists should just sod off.”
Living in Amsterdam, you quickly start to believe the world works this way everywhere. That a metro running five minutes late is a violation of human rights. That bike lanes are forces of nature, cash is a thing of the past, and walking forty-five minutes to your car is perfectly normal.
This sense of inevitability isn’t just in our infrastructure, but in our thinking. We celebrate King’s Day like no one else and yet believe Amsterdam ought to be a little republic of its own. We vote socially, but rent out that second apartment for €300 a night on Airbnb. We are an open city, but also feel that tourists can just get lost. That contradiction? That’s who we are.
Solidarity, too, is second nature here. When it matters, we gather by the thousands outside the home of Ajax player Nouri, and we take to the streets to stop the deportation of Mikael, who was born here. Amsterdam makes you both soft and stubborn, down-to-earth and naïve at the same time. Above all, the city teaches you to switch effortlessly between worlds.
Zigzagging between cargo bikes and fatbikes, yuppies in a hurry and drerries with stories. Sometimes you order coffee in English, then grab a grilled sausage sandwich from Kaddour. You sink into a chair on the terrace of De Ysbreeker with the best beer in hand. Or you dive headfirst into a debate at De Balie. Or soothe your soul with the Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest, which can silence you with a single chord.
The Amsterdam in all this? All those contrasts within a fifteen-minute bike ride. At least, if your bike’s still there. Johnny Jordaan sang it long ago: “Better in Mokum without a dime than in Paris with a million.” And that’s exactly right.
This was the last column of Hicham El Ouahabi for Folia.
