The opening of the project 'Wolkom yn it Heitelân', Took place on Saturday 15th of September. During the opening there was a presentation of Elke Uitentuis. In this brief presentation she explained the ideas and motivations for organising this project. After this introduction there was music of Bora Aslanargan who played the ‘saz’, an instrument that symbolises the protest against inequality, in Turkish Kurdistan. The first transnational meal of the project was made in co-operation with Dani Adonis, who originates from Chechenia. 

  
Discussion / presentations: Bert Looper, Esmee Lacle, Goffe Jensma, Misja Immink.

During the conversations we tried to question and talk about the importance of traditional stories. We also talked about the importance of capturing unheard and relevant memories to create a more objective historical archive. The questions, we thought were important for this evening were: What is the importance of capturing stories and memories from different social layers? In what way is the cultural identity of a certain population influenced by its preserved collective memory?  Can you say that a strong sense of ones own national and cultural identity immediately creates a distance and a reticence of other cultures? 

  
Discussion / presentations: Harry Westerink, Gerben Hoogterp, Dani Adonis

In general we wanted to speak about the ‘Generaal pardon’, a regulation to give all illegal immigrants who started their asylum procedure in the Netherlands before 1st of April 2001 a residence permit, if they didn’t leave the country for a while between this date and the ‘Generaal pardon’ and if they didn’t commit a crime in the Netherlands during their stay. We wanted to discuss this regulation with Harry Westerink and Gerben Hoogterp. The question we raised was: What are the consequences of this regulation? What will happen if the emergency-shelters for illegal immigrants are going to close in 2009? Why was the discussion around asylumseekers so much focussed on the undefined period that the asylum procedure took, instead of the procedure itself?

 
Discussion / presentations: Gryt Wielinga, Herman Divendal and Jonas Staal

On this evening Jonas Staal presented several art projects he realized in the last years. Furthermore we discussed with Gryt Wielinga the function of the ‘Monitor centre’ (a subdivision organisation of ‘Vluchtelingenwerk Friesland’, an organisation for refugees living in the Netherlands). We asked her, among other things, about the buddy project they started for immigrants who’re getting a residence permit because of the ‘Generaal Pardon’ and we asked about the policies that are set up in order to obligate refugees to return to their home country. The last presentation was from Herman Divendal, who gave a presentation about a project of Parisa Damandan that is realised in collaboration with AIDA.

      
Discussion / presentations with Brenda Ottjes, Sandra Roza, Patrick Gofre and Empathy

The evening started with a presentation of Brenda Ottjes about her ideas in relation to identity, the revival of nationalism and the AIVD (the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service). She explained how she’s developing her ideas, organising and initiating projects for ‘Centrum Tûmba’. After that Patrick Gofre showed us ‘Sykje nei de Muridee Sorix’, a video he made in collaboration with Marten Winters. Sandra Roza spoke about the activities of ‘Kleurrijk Fryslân’, an interreligious organisation and Jonas Staal talked about the motivations of the artist group Empathy and presented one of their projects.

       
Discussion / presentations with Douwine Boomsma-Reitsma, Esther de Meijer, Julius Wijffels, Hrair Sarkissian and Marten Winters

The evening started with an introduction of ‘Drylts oer de grins’, presented by Esther de Meijer. Every year ‘Drylts oer de grins’ is organizing a festival in order to raise more awareness about the milleniumgoals. After this introduction we watched two videos made by Marten Winters and Jeanne van Heeswijk, which were part of the video installation ‘Narratives of Desire’ that was first presented within an exhibition in Kunsthallen Brands, Denmark. After a break Hrair Sarkissian presented the photo series he made in Cairo, Egypt, where he photographed Muslim men with stains on their head, due to their daily rituals. Julius Wijffels talked about the emergency-shelter in Witmarsum and Douwibne Boomsma-Reitsma presented the local organisation of Amnesty International and their activities in Friesland and all over the world.

      
Discussion / presentations with Koos de Vetten, Farshad Bashir, Piet den Blanken.

Koos de Vetten is manager of COA Friesland, a refugee centre of the government. He gave a PowerPoint presentation about migration and the refugee centres in Friesland. He advanced three thesis arguments we discussed about. After a break Piet den Blanken presented his work. He photographs a lot of refugees and migrants during their travel towards Europe and the European borders. Farshad Bashir gave some insight in the activities of the SP (Social political party) and of ‘Doorbraak’ (left-wing activists organisation)

 
Discussion / presentations with Klaas Harink and Mirka Antolivic and Jan Berend de Vries.

The evening started with a short version of the board game ‘De bestorming van Europa’ (The rush upon Europe). This game is developed in commission of ‘Vluchtelingenwerk’ (a organisation for refugees in the Netherlands). After playing the game we interviewed Klaas Harink, the director of Vluchtelingenwerk. Mirka Antolivic presented the discrimination centre in Friesland, related to Centrum Tûmba and Jan Berend de Vries talked about the activities of ‘Vluchtelingencollectief Leeuwarden’ (Refugees-collective). This collective is a group of people who’re, among other things, organizing and participating protests against asylum policies.

      
Discussion / presentations with Ben Marijanan, Huib Haye van der werf, Henk Wildschut, Klaas van Gorkum and Iratxe Jaio.

The theme for this evening was the relation between art and engagement. Klaas van Gorkum and Iratxe Jaio presented their work. With their work they try to unravel social and political systems by presenting documentary observations and doing research. They challenge the viewers to approach different perceptions of reality with a critical attitude. We talked with Ben Marijananan about the efficiency of projects that are trying to accomplish a general awareness towards poverty, injustice, inequality etc. Henk Wildschut presented a number of photographs he made of the shelters of refugees. Despite of the misery he emphasizes the elasticity and the high-spirited attitude of refugees. Huib Haye van der werf presented ‘the List’, a project he realized in collaboration with Banu Cennetoglu. They implemented the list of United, which is a database of refugees who lost their live trying to reach Europe. The list is presented within the city centre of Amsterdam on 101 billboards. Besides this presentation, they organized a seminar and they set up a temporarily documentation center.