What to do with the VVD?

Those working in the cultural sector should not expect much from the VVD. Recently, however, the party has been trying to show a different face. After all, the new culture spokesperson of the right-wing liberals only recently tabled a motion in which the VVD even gave back 10 million of the more than 250 million the national government took from the arts. The best part is, the money was not even swiped from somewhere else, as was the usual practice until now.

To make the party complete, a couple of local VVD departments have started a very nice campaign: residents get to decide where the culture budget is spent. The sites are only available to people who know their municipality's culture budget. For example, the Utrecht VVD is running a site 'http://www.wattedoenmet44miljoen.nl/' and VVD The Hague has spent a few euros on an easily copied and hacked (we don't , mind you) little website with the original title: http://wattedoenmet52miljoen.nl/. There are bound to be more, but for that you will have to look for yourself. So what is the fun of this form of citizen participation by the VVD? We couldn't think of anything at the moment, other than that it is yet another form of art bullying, the sport the VVD has practised so energetically in recent years.

In fact, the public participation that the VVD offers residents makes no sense as long as the VVD does not allow those citizens to see the subsidy applications, which are still confidential. The People, Freedom and Democracy Party is also not asking its citizens for any careful judgement. So that's also why no site wattedoenmet2500miljoen.nl, on which residents can have their say on the entire budget of The Hague with nice sliders.

Imagine if someone were to point out that councillors' salaries are too high. Or imagine if someone were to realise that that 52 million, so deliciously insinuatingly lifted from the budget by the VVD, amounts to no more than 2 per cent of the total budget. No, the VVD would rather engage in propaganda against art under the guise of democratic renewal. Logical, at a time when politics has traded PRinciples and Morality for PR and Marketing.

We have now claimed the domain 'watedoenmetdevvd.nl'. We haven't put anything on it yet. Anyone have an idea? In the comments below!