Meet Jeffrey Prins: ‘I’m very much an idealist’

Jeffrey Prins  (‘just call me Jeff’) is a member of the city council of Amsterdam for the PvdA. Jeff grew up in the United States, but is now a true ‘Amsterdammer’.

Do you consider yourself a true Netherlander or are you still an American living in the Netherlands?

“Ha! I think I’ve become quite Dutch.”

What makes you think that?

“One example is when I started to really notice how managers of American start-up companies talk about their business. Through my work I have contact with both Dutch and American entrepreneurs. Dutch entrepreneurs are usually quite sober and have their feet on the ground, whereas Americans tend to blow things out of proportion, in terms of what they have done and what they are worth. Sometimes I have to look at valuations of these start-up companies, among them are many that are not yet even active for a year. And even though they have nothing to their name and nothing of value to report about yet, these entrepeneurs will say that the company is worth at least 5 or 10 million dollars. The American mind-set is always how they’re going to make it big, whereas the Dutch take a more sober approach. They want proof first. They usually can show a track-record. Although I have to say that this is starting to change. As with many things, what starts in the States often blows over here.”

One standard complaint by expats and internationals is that the Dutch tend to stick together in their own groups of friends, never letting in anyone from the outside. What is your experience?

“Yeah, I recognize that. And it’s logical, given the fact that mobility – moving from place to place – is not as high in the Netherlands as in the United States. People living in the city often stay in touch only with the friends they grew up with, leaving little room for more. But that’s hindsight. It took me five years to break the code; before that, most of my friends were from other countries. Other expats, so to speak. It required a lot of patience and perseverance and most importantly, learning the language. Learning the language is worth it if you want deeper contacts. I’ve noticed that in other countries, though, the friends of your friend easily become your own friends. Like in Spain. This doesn’t happen in the Netherlands.”

So how did you break the code?

“I love to cook for people. So through the years I invited people over for dinner. Even then the Dutch rarely accept such an invitation – well, unless you draw agendas to make an appointment three weeks later. Perseverance helps. Or you just keep it spontaneous and discover who your ‘real’ friends are!”

Your parents were Dutch and here you are, living in Amsterdam and naturalised as a Dutchman. How did that come about?

“My parents actually met in the state of Michigan. In the city of Zeeland. They emigrated separately from each other at the end of the 1940s. It’s hard to imagine now but in those post-war years in the Netherlands, the situation was dire in economic terms, my parents received help from abroad. Like second-hand shoes and clothes. I believe that my mother or my aunt had to draw her foot on a piece of cardboard to get the shoe size right, to receive the correct size second hand shoe. So coming from that, America was the promised land for my parents. I read an article about my mother’s family after just arriving in 1948/49 – they couldn’t believe the material wealth they found in the U.S. And they thought they’d never return when they left on that boat from Rotterdam. But then came air travel, which made it much easier to visit. I joined them on those visits as a child and that’s how my longing began, to see more of the country. The real ‘itch’ started when I was 14, when I visited a number of Dutch cities. That’s when I decided that, ultimately, I wanted to be here, at least sometime in the future to study, and not to stay in Michigan my whole life.”

Yet the USA was the land of opportunity for your parents. You didn’t agree?

“The midwest, western Michigan, isn’t always the land of opportunities. I grew up in a real working class family. My dad was a truck driver and my mother took care of our family of eight. My father always questioned studying, wondering why anyone would want to spend a lot of money on education. Being working class himself, he said that I should be pumping gas, like my two brothers. My second-oldest brother studied, through, pure determination. He paid it all by himself, working nights and going to school during the day. It helps to have role models like that.”

So your parents were immigrants in the US. And now you’re an immigrant here in the Netherlands.

“It’s a typical immigrant family story. My parents really lived the immigrant life, holding on to the virtues of the Netherlands from before the 1950s. Very religious, very conservative, very working class. That was sort of the shell I grew up in and that didn’t open up to a wider world perspective until I started visiting the Netherlands. Finally, that’s where I met my girlfreind, who is from a somewhat comparable background: the religious community of Urk. Like me, she also wanted to jump out of that environment.”

You’re American, your background is christian conservative, yet here you are, member of a social-democratic party, a political descendant from the socialists. How did that come about?

“I ended up working for the Parliament delegation of the PvdA, Labour, in the late nineties. And I remember my brother asking me, that same role model brother, with some incredulity: ‘So. You’re working for the Socialists now?!?’”

Not many people who move to the Netherlands decide to move into politics. Yet you did, and for the social democrats. Why?

“As said, however religious and conservative my parents may have raised me, they were also very social. For example, they took in a handicapped woman who was rejected by her own parents because of her handicap. She was paralyzed from the neck down. They took care of her for a year while having a big family. My parents would do all kinds of things for religious reasons, with the basis being that you have to be help your neighbours. What you learn from that growing up is that your life isn’t just about you. You also try to improve things for others. If you’re able to help your neighbour improve his or her life, that will also radiate on you. However, to me, religion always made people small. Don’t think, the church will do that for you. Don’t protest, accept your place in society, it’s all God’s will – those sort of things.”

That’s your background. But what triggered your membership of a political party?

“A number of things. I’m very much an idealist. I remember reading newspaper articles about the hole in the ozone layer. I was really shocked and felt that something needed to be done. So I started working for Greenpeace as a volunteer while studying. They didn’t just protest, they also offered alternatives, like the smart car – a super light, re-built French car. They also pointed to ways to replace the use of chemical cleansing agents for Laundromats. Refrigerators that ran without HFC gasses, and so on. They were really good at putting things on the agenda, also the legislative one. As a result of this interest, I got involved in European legislation, which is a pan-European driver for environmental protection. So via an internship at the European Parliament for D66 I got involved in politics. From there I moved into national Dutch politics, thanks to meeting a very good Labour politican at that time, Ferd Crone, now mayor in Leeuwarden.”

The past 12 years the Netherlands seems to have become embroiled in heavy soul searching for its identity. A couple of years ago princess Maximá famously said that ‘there is no such thing as a Dutch identity’. She received a lot of criticism for that. As a son of emigrants who moved back to his parents’ native country, what’s your view on her remark?

“I’d have to agree with her. I was surprised by the controversy. I grew up in the Dutch culture of the 1950s and before. My parents were really negative about the Netherlands when I was growing up, because, in their view, the Netherlands was turning into Sodom and Gomorra in the 1970s and 1980s. I would hear them chastising Dutch youth for always going on holiday, never working, and how you would get state funded financial support if you were out of work, or didn’t want to work, etcetera.. And then I came over to live here and it’s completely different. Identities are changing all the time. When my parents would visit, it was clear every time that so many things have changed, it’s almost impossible to keep up.”

So there is no real, identifiable Dutch identity?

“If there is one, then it’s very fluid, although there are some common denominators. I find the Dutch to be very open, very outward looking, well educated, critical, knowing their culture and languages, not very patriotic – well, unless it’s Queensday. But maybe I’m just describing the people I meet in this great city.”

What makes Amsterdam special to you?

“This city offers so many opportunities. There’s quality education, there are jobs, it offers a lot of culture and different cultures. It’s a great mix. I know what it’s like to be working class. When, for example, I had so many brothers and sisters that we couldn’t buy enough fresh milk. We had to mix fresh milk with powder milk. It was always a huge treat when my father the truck driver came back from a job to Florida with a case of fruit. On Sunday, we would then get half a grapefruit and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. My parents didn’t finish high school but started working early on. Frugal, sober, hard working – those are common denominators of a Dutch identity as well.”

And what about your typical American identity? Dutch people tend to view Americans as being very patriotic.

“Some of that is true. But I remember being in college, where on campus they’d do interviews with students. They asked about Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev and shockingly, huge numbers of people didn’t know who Reagan or Gorbachev were. That was incredible. So yes, there’s patriotism but a lot of it is based on myth. Just like there’s the myth that if you just work hard and are disciplined, then you can make things happen. This certainly isn’t true anymore in Michigan, where it’s hard to even get a good paying job, with unemployment rates at 20 percent. Family, flag, patriotism –  you find this in the rural areas. Urban dwellers are much more critical and questioning, much like here in Amsterdam.”

You were a candidate for the city council in 2010. Are you considering running again in 2014?

“Yes, I’d love to – if they’ll have me, of course.”

What’s your ambition in politics?

“I would love to help make a significant contribution in reducing youth unemployment in the city. When you grow up and you don’t have that many opportunities to get a job or job experience, that determines your chances for later on in life. I can speak from experience. But also: You don’t have to wait for a job ad in the newspaper. Talk to people, reach out. In one of my first official meetings as a council member I took a young intern with me. I would like the small and medium enterprise sector – you see many new start-ups in the city with great new innovations – to thrive in Amsterdam to help create jobs for the youth.”