Early 1970s: Surprising Amsterdam

[The Lawspeaker]

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A Tour of the Dutch city of Amsterdam in the 1970s
The city (and country) we lost..

[Bard]

What's different now? (apart the impressive amount of blacks)
I've never been there, sadly.

[The Lawspeaker]

What's different now? (apart the impressive amount of blacks)
I've never been there, sadly.

1) The impressive amount of immigrants.

2) The prices have gone up dramatically.

3) The atmosphere is different from what it used to be- this can be linked to crime. The cozyness and lay-back attitude are gone and has been replaced with coldhearted commerce. The international atmosphere has all but fully replaced the Dutch character of the city. There are even places where they don't speak Dutch and traditional Dutch shops are being replaced with international stores. The traditional sandwich bars fi by McDonalds.

3) It has become more criminal.

4) The social-democratic government is fighting a war to "clean up" the city.. mainly from it's famous prostitution and curtailing the freedom of the entrepreneur. There is fi. a smoking ban, pubs are closing down at 1AM, there are exact procedures for each entrepreneur to follow (for instance terraces are being banned). Prostitution is being forced underground and in it's place come subsidized businesses. Thus entrepreneurs depended on the whims of the social democrats (and thus forced to vote for them).

And this is just a snapshot of what it going on in the centre of the city.