A follow-up to The Cost of Looking Away, Discrimination and Safety, and The Cost of Doing the Right Thing; on what happened when the municipality sat down to listen.

Yesterday I met with Fenna Ulichki and Abdellal Tallal from the Gemeente Amsterdam, two dedicated public servants working on improving our district. I left that meeting feeling something I hadn't felt in a while: heard.

I'm grateful for the seriousness with which they approached the conversation. What followed has reshaped how I think about the path forward.

What we discussed

A working group, a different approach

We agreed to form a working group that tackles neighbourhood safety from a different angle. Everyone at the table understood: we cannot convert our neighbourhood into a militarised zone. There is only so much that police and handhaving can do, and they can't be everywhere, all the time.

The municipality already has someone appointed to find creative ways to address this. They asked me to meet and see where we can collaborate, think out of the box. I will.

On my side, several neighbours have reached out since the first article. I have been talking about organising a Coffee with Neighbours: a simple, regular meetup where people from the neighbourhood sit down together. No agenda, no officials, just neighbours getting to know each other.

I will bring the tiramisu.

Solutions need to be embedded in the community itself.

The missing piece: civil intervention

This was the most important realisation of the meeting.

We don't lack police. We don't lack rules. What we lack is civil intervention: the people who scream Stop! when something happens. The neighbours who step out of their door. The bystanders who refuse to look away.

I wrote about this in my first article: a kid getting beaten and a crowd minding their business. That is still the core problem.

We need to make it culturally unacceptable to watch someone get beaten and do nothing. Through the shared understanding that if you don't stand up for others today, nobody will do it for you tomorrow.

Update: it happened again today

Today, biking home, I saw two guys chasing someone. They caught him, pushed him to the ground, and started punching. I screamed Stop!

This time, more people stopped. Others came out. Someone called the police. They came.

I want to applaud every person who stopped, who called, who stuck around. That is civil intervention. That is what it looks like when a neighbourhood decides it will not look the other way.

What I did weeks ago, intervening when a kid was getting beaten, was not heroic. It was just what should be normal. It only got attention because of how rarely it happens. Today was a small sign that it can happen more.

Immediate action

The Gemeente is collaborating with the police and is doubling and handhaving patrols starting next week. This is an immediate measure while longer-term solutions take shape. It is not the final answer, but it shows the municipality is moving quickly where it can.

This is not about religion

I want to repeat something I've said before:

This is not a matter of religion. It is largely a matter of youthfulness: young energy without direction, without boundaries, without accountability. Pack dynamics, social media performance, a subculture of street reputation. These exist in specific groups, not in an entire community. I will not believe that if you go to a Mosquee and ask anybody "Is this a right doing?" I will ever get a yes.

The people who suffer most from that stigma are the families who came here to build a life and contribute. The same people we need as allies, not as targets.

And here is what I think the real opportunity is. We neeed a diaspora made by young people. They have perspectives, frustrations, and ideas that most of us never hear. Instead of grownups deciding what their society should look like, we should be asking them. What do you want this neighbourhood to be? Which Society you wanna live in for you and your relatives? What would you change?

That is not naive. That is the only conversation that leads somewhere real.

Get involved

Here is where things stand:

• The legal process continues. The police investigation is ongoing. Patrols are being increased.
• The working group is being formed. We need residents, not just officials. Reach out if you want in.
• The documentary is not the endgoal, it is the starting point. A way to open the conversation, especially with young people. Not adults lecturing, but listening. Asking them what their neighbourhood should look like and building from there.

I started this series in pain. My eye is recovering, the nerve damage lingers, and the PTSD is there. But something has shifted. The conversations are happening. People are stepping up. The municipality is engaged.

We are not there yet. But we are moving.

Stay safe, keep doing good,
and let's build something better together

A note on charges

An update to my position in The Cost of Looking Away.

When I first wrote about the assault, I proposed dropping charges in exchange for the perpetrators' participation in a documentary. After this meeting, my position has crystallised:

Violence must be punished by law. There should be no legal discount for perpetrators.

The legal process will continue. I will not offer to withdraw charges as a bargaining chip.

Separately, on a moral level, I am willing to forgive if they choose to collaborate, participate in honest dialogue, and contribute to preventing this from happening to someone else. Forgiveness is mine to give; justice belongs to the law.

Education matters more than punishment alone. But you don't trade away accountability to get cooperation. You offer a hand alongside the consequences, not instead of them.