Leidsch Dagblad, 9 March 2001, p. 19 (Culture and Art section)
redactie.ld@damiate.hdc.nl[The following article appeared above the name of one of the newspaper's reporters, Jan Rijsdam, with his photograph. I recognize him as the person who was chosen by the town to moderate public discussions of the Aalmarkt Project as if neutral.] [translated by Jeremy Bangs, whose comments are in square brackets]
Afraid of Bangs
Shouldn't the residence permit of Dr. Jeremy D. Bangs be withdrawn immediately?, I asked myself recently when he lauched a few misunderstandings into the world once again in this newspaper. I don't know what you think, but it seems to me that the activities that Bangs has been developing for a long time now in Leiden as an enemy of the city have reached the point where it ought to be enough to get him a one-way ticket to the U.S.A., with a premium for getting his ass out of here if necessary. The American Bangs is making it his life's work to protect the wall remains of the Vrouwekerk in Leiden from demolition. His good right. Myself, I have been following the discussion about it for some time now with a certain ambivalence. Initially I went along a bit with the idea that the wall remains are an important symbol of Pilgrim history. But I have to admit honestly, that every time I hear Bangs's jeremiads about the ruin, the feeling takes over that it's time to let the bulldozers loose, or, if I'm in a milder mood, to let the wall remains get shipped out to Appelscha [a remote village in the northeast of the country, - remote if your horizons are limited to Leiden. JDB] I think that the American-Leiden resident will accuse me of inadequate cultural historical consciousness. Oh well, I can't do anything about that, - the man arouses the worst that slumbers in me. And whatever he thinks, I'm not going to lie awake over it. Also not about the fact that he accuses the Labour Party of [carrying out a] demolition policy. That last point makes it very clear that Bangs has absolutely zero understanding of Leiden history in the last 25 years, in which successive Labour Party aldermen have played a prominent role in the urban renewal process. [See item 4 in the section False Claims in the website vrouwekerk.org, on the urban renewal projects of the last 30 years. - JDB] What really does disturb me is the lying and blackmail-like practices by which Bangs is damaging this city. Via Internet he's stoking up all sorts of rabid right-wing clubs in the United States with the suggestion that the Vrouwekerk wall remains have to disappear because of the Aalmarkt Project. That's how he makes companies and banks that want to invest in the project afraid, becuase they do not want to be depicted as demolishes of the "Pilgrim monument." Albert Heijn, with not insignificant interests in the United States, has in the meantime bowed before Bangs' blackmail, and has withdrawn from the project. Bangs evidently does not understand that in Dutch politics things go on a bit more politely than in American politics, where the former president, looking straight in the camera, lies, "I never had a sexual relationship with that woman," while the spots haven't even been washed out of his pants yet. The only interest that Jeremy Bangs is serving with his Aalmarkt story is his own self-interest. Bangs lives, namely, in the Beschuitsteeg, next to the Weigh-house. [Here Mr. Rijsdam in his fury has confused the Beschuitsteeg, where the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum is, with the Mandenmakerssteeg, where I live. - JDB] It's therefore not about the wall remains of the Vrouwekerk, but his own little dwelling that has to give way for the Aalmarkt Project. [My house, built before 1600, is one of the numerous monuments that the urban renewers want to destroy, according to their published plans. Behind my house is the St. Catherine's Hospital wing associated with Myles Standish, which they also want to demolish according to those plans. - JDB] There is actually only one thing that makes me even angrier than Bangs does. That is the fearfulness of the town government. In the hopes of shutting Bangs up, the alderman for culture Pechtold has pulled out 150,000 guilders for a Pilgrim archive. Take note: for the entire history of this city there is only a single room available in the Municipal Museum "De Lakenhal," and then the alderman thinks he has to put 150,000 guilders on the table for a footnote in the history of the city. As far as I know this intention was not part of a single political party program, and furthermore no one asked for it. Even stronger: such a Pilgrim archive leaves the Leiden citizen cold. And the fraidy-cats in the Leiden City Council even go along with it. Even someone like [council members] Margje Vlasveld or Cor Vergeer (who have complaints to make about everything, don't they) are afraid of Bangs. If Leiden politicians had a bit more courage, instead of flattering Bangs they should haul him before the judge to put an end to his intolerable activities as an enemy of the city. Jan Rijsdam
redactie.ld@damiate.hdc.nl