The Dutch flag is flying upside down on the green fields between Amsterdam and Purmerend. Here in the municipality of Waterland, it hangs from garden fences, in front yards, in the meadow and on bridges over the highway. Sometimes there is a banner next to it that reads “Help!”, “No farmer, no feed” or “We support the farmers”. Sometimes a red farmer’s handkerchief flutters next to it. But much more often only the inverted tricolor: blue, white, red.
And not only in Waterland, also in the Noordoostpolder, Friesland, Zeeland, in the Green Heart, the Gelderse Vallei, the Achterhoek. Outside the cities, the symbol of resistance to the cabinet’s latest nitrogen plans is visible everywhere.
An inverted flag used to mean in shipping that the ship was in distress
The inverted flag was first used in 2019 during farmer demonstrations in The Hague, and then surfaced during demonstrations against the corona policy last year. It’s a sign that comes from seafaring: an inverted flag used to mean the ship was in distress. Since a month you see them everywhere in the countryside.
Both in the Reformatorisch Dagblad if it Dutch daily newspaper sounded criticism of the inverted tricolor. “The farmer’s handkerchief is a better, because more exclusive symbol of the farmer’s protest,” political editor Gerard Beverdam wrote in the newspaper last Friday. ND† “With the flag upside down, you choose the symbol of conspiracies, alleged oppression and anti-government thinking.”
sad farmers
Yet many people feel the need to express their dissatisfaction with the agricultural policy, says Henry Wentink (47), resident of Didam in Gelderland. Large country handkerchiefs are wrapped around the door mirrors of his car. He is not a farmer, but he does support them, he tells in his backyard. Wetink is one of the 600,000 Dutch people who work in the agricultural sector. For years he has been visiting farmers in the Achterhoek and the Liemers on behalf of tractor manufacturer John Deere. “I feel like a social worker lately: I’m just listening to sad farmers.”
In this region, on the border of Wehl and Didam in the Achterhoek, the livestock farmers must jointly reduce by 12 percent, according to the latest plans. Colleagues further down must shrink by as much as 58 percent, say cattle farmer Richard Lucassen (51) and his wife Suzan (49).
Also read: They are still there: young people who want to farm. ‘Why should I give that up?†
In their meadow, near the road, an inverted Dutch flag hangs next to a large banner with the text “with common sense you feed the land”. The Lucassen couple own a small farm with fifty cows. Richard: “They are out in the meadow every day, we take good care of them.”
He feels a lot of support from the local population, he says. “They understand us.” Lucassen does not have a good word for the policymakers who ‘throw over the fence’ with the farmers. “For them it feels like a job, far away, that has to be done. For us it is the threat to our existence. Buy us out with money? Money? I’ve lived here all my life, my father was a farmer. If I give you money, will you also give up your child?”
Most residents of Wehl and Didam do not find the inverted flag an offensive symbol, says Henry Mentink: “I understand the general dissatisfaction with the government. Yes, there is a nitrogen problem, but it’s not just farmers. And they feel that they have done everything they can to reduce emissions. They bought phosphate rights, bought air scrubbers. And now they are being wiped off the map.”
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