Job Cohen
Marius Job Cohen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɔp ˈkoːɦɛn]; born October 18, 1947) is a Dutch politician of the Labour party (PvdA). He served as Mayor of Amsterdam from January 15, 2001, until March 12, 2010, when he resigned from office, in order to take up his candidacy to become Lijsttrekker (key candidate) for the Labour Party for the Dutch general election of 2010.
On March 12, 2010 Wouter Bos the leader of the Labour Party resigned and named Cohen as his successor going into the general election. [5] [6] [7] On April 25, 2010 Cohen was officially elected as Lijsttrekker of the Labour Party. [8]
Before serving as mayor Cohen was State Secretary for Justice in the Cabinet Kok II, Member of the Senate, Parliamentary leader in the Senate and State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the Cabinet Lubbers III. During the Dutch general election of 2003 Cohen was the Labour Party's candidate for Prime Minister.[9].
Biography
Family and education
Marius Job Cohen was born on 18 October 1947 in Haarlem, Netherlands. He is the son of history professor Adolf Emile Cohen and Hetty Coster, who were members of the local liberal Jewish community. He has an elder brother Floris Cohen (1946).
Cohen went to primary school in Heemstede. He attended the secondary school Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem from 1960 to 1966. He studied law at the University of Groningen, where he obtained his degree in 1971.
Cohen is married since 1972.[10] He has two children, son Jaap (1980) and daughter Lotje (1983).
Academic career
Between 1 September 1971 and 1 September 1981, Job Cohen held a scientific position at the Bureau Research of Education at Leiden University. He obtained a doctorate from this university in June 1981. On 1 September 1981 he joined Maastricht University in a higher scientific capacity, and was chairman of the commission that prepared the establishment of a faculty of law. On 1 September 1983 Cohen became professor of methods and techniques at the faculty of law; on 1 January 1991 he also became rector.
Political career
State Secretary
On 2 July 1993 he became State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Education in the third cabinet of Ruud Lubbers. The term of this post expired after a year and Cohen returned to his post in Maastricht. However he remained as a member of the Senate. Cohen began a sabbatical year on 1 January 1998, but in February took on the function of interim-director of the broadcasting organization VPRO, lasting until 15 August. On 13 August he resigned from the Senate to take up the position of State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice in the second cabinet of Wim Kok, dealing chiefly with immigration. In this capacity he was responsible for a new immigration law, intended to restrict entry of refugees to "genuine cases".
Mayor of Amsterdam
He resigned his position as State Secretary on 31 December 2000 in order to take up the position of Mayor of Amsterdam (burgemeester) on 15 January 2001. Mayors of Dutch cities are appointed by the cabinet in the name of the monarch.[11]
At midnight on April 1, 2001, Cohen became the first public official to wed same-sex couples, following the passing of legislation opening up marriage to people of the same gender (see Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands).[12]
In November 2004, controversial film maker Theo van Gogh was killed in Amsterdam by a Muslim extremist. Time awarded Cohen the title "European Hero" in 2005, for his inclusive approach towards the Muslim community after the murder, defusing tension in the city.[13]
Cohen found himself thrown into the role of mediator between the city's Muslims, the original Dutch population and other groups in the cultural and racial mix. Almost half Amsterdam's residents are of non-Western descent, a majority of them Muslims."Islam is here to stay, in this country, in this city (...) We have to deal with Islam as a fact, not whether we like it. So the real question is how to get on with each other." Cohen took pride in the fact that in Amsterdam no violence or arson occurred in response to the killing. [14] By his visiting ethnic groups, organizing debates among religious leaders and his listening and promoting dialogue, he received from opponents the mocking nickname of "tea drinker" - an image that would be exploited by them when he returned in the Dutch national politics in 2010[15].
On January 27, 2006 Cohen announced he would be willing to serve a second term as mayor of Amsterdam. On July 12, 2006 the municipality of Amsterdam almost unanimously (Democrats 66 opposed, being in favour of an elected mayor) supported Cohen to prolong his career as a mayor after January 15, 2007 when his first term ended. The Queen's Commissioner Harry Borghouts of North Holland will now have to offer this advice to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Cohen's politics towards ethnic minorities in Amsterdam is characterized by the slogan "keeping things together" (de boel bij elkaar houden). On 2 May 2006 Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk of the centre-right VVD accused Amsterdam of becoming a "banana republic", with a lax safety policy: she cited the criminal liquidations and the disturbance caused by young people as examples of this. In the yearly crime meter of the Algemeen Dagblad Amsterdam did not perform particularly badly in safety policy and crime fighting, one of the reasons for this is Cohen's targeted approach towards those who commit multiple crimes (veelplegers). Cohen stated that his policy which combines soft and hard approaches, fighting crime and fighting the causes of crime, was the key to his successful safety policy.
In 2006 the World Mayor organization determined Cohen to be runner-up in the award for World Mayor of 2006, behind Melbourne mayor John So, and ahead of Harrisburg mayor Stephen R. Reed. World Mayor praised Cohen's leadership following the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004, and his efforts at bringing together the diverse population of Amsterdam.[16][17]
In late 2007, Cohen moved to reduce prostitution in Amsterdam, following allegations that Hells Angels and other organized criminals had taken over the prostitution industry. The city council bought 18 buildings in the red light district De Wallen from Charlie Geerts in order to convert them into upscale establishments and revoked the license of the luxury brothel Yab Yum.[18]
2010 Dutch elections
On March 12, 2010 Wouter Bos resigned as leader of the Labour Party. Cohen was named by Bos as candidate for the position, which he accepted. With the upcoming elections, Cohen was a candidate for Prime Minister. He was expected to be a strong opponent to Geert Wilders in these elections and was described in the press with the remark to be "authoritarian but enlightened."[19] Exit polls showed the Labour Party as the second largest with 30 seats and 19.6% of the total vote.[20]
He is chair of the Labour Party in the Tweede Kamer since 10 June 2010 and he is a member of the Tweede Kamer since 17 June 2010.[10]
References
- ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/201069182921890709.html
- ^ Template:Nl icon Job Cohen, promotor van het cynisme
- ^ Template:Nl icon Joodseomroep
- ^ Template:Nl icon Het Vrije Volk
- ^ Template:Nl icon PvdA-leider Bos stapt op/Cohen mogelijk opvolger
- ^ Template:Nl icon "Cohen wil lijsttrekker PvdA worden"
- ^ "New Labour leader Cohen: hard man, soft touch"
- ^ Template:Nl icon Cohen officieel lijsttrekker PvdA
- ^ Template:Nl icon Cohen kandidaat-premier voor de PvdA
- ^ a b Dr. M.J. (Job) Cohen
- ^ Profile: Mayor Job Cohe
- ^ "Going Dutch". The Guardian. 2001-04-02. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Abi Daruvalla (2005-10-08). "Job Cohen - Key to the city". Time. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "In Amsterdam, mayor is a job for a mediator"
- ^ "New Labour leader Cohen: hard man, soft touch"
- ^ "Amsterdam closes a window on its red-light tourist trade" by Anushka Asthana, The Observer, September 23, 2007.
- ^ "John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne wins the 2006 World Mayor Award". www.worldmayor.com. 2006-12-05.
- ^ Amsterdam mayor to clean up red light district, Pink News, 8 January 2008
- ^ "Cohen: authoritarian but enlightened"
- ^ (NOS)
External links
- Template:Nl icon Dr. M.J. (Job) Cohen at parlement.com
- CityMayors profile
- "Pimping ban in Amsterdam?" by Eric Hesen, Radio Netherlands Worldwide (website), September 21, 2007.
- "Job Cohen's unique way of running Amsterdam", Globe and Mail (website), July 11, 2008.
- 1947 births
- Dutch academics
- Dutch atheists
- Dutch civil servants
- Dutch Jews
- Dutch jurists
- Dutch legal academics
- Dutch politicians
- Jewish atheists
- Leaders of political parties in the Netherlands
- Leiden University alumni
- Leiden University faculty
- Living people
- Maastricht University faculty
- Mayors of Amsterdam
- Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
- Members of the Senate of the Netherlands
- People from Haarlem
- Politicians of the Labour Party (Netherlands)
- State Secretaries of the Netherlands
- University of Groningen alumni