Saman Amini’s Integratieplan #2 - Alles is Perspectief

In this second part he delves deeper into identity, culture and integration. This time with a new angle: after 25 years he travels back to his birthplace and looks at Iran through a Western lens. He examines politics, media and welfare and casts a critical eye on the Netherlands with a renewed perspective.

Perspective is everything. Integration, racism and the role of the media are at the heart of this performance. Are migrants a burden or an opportunity? Are far-right youth hostile or mainly afraid of what they lose?

“I was in a taxi the other day with a driver of Palestinian descent. He thought the Netherlands was fantastic. “Don’t you suffer from racism?” I asked. He laughed: “In Saudi Arabia I applied for asylum, but they threw me into the desert. I was almost eaten by snakes!” His story made me realize how powerful it is to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Understanding your opposite – in a debate, a conflict or a conversation – can bring people closer together. Maybe our pain is not in what is done to us, but in the idea that no one understands us.” — Saman Amini