Interview with youth candidate - Marcel Vonk #12

Where are you from?

I grew up in Mijdrecht, near the Vinkeveen lakes. I had a very ordinary childhood, but we were definitely poor at home. As a child, I didn't experience this very consciously, but looking back, we really lived in poverty. That was sometimes quite difficult, for instance while studying for my exams. Three years ago, I lived in Utrecht for a while, in the old ‘Zusterflat’. That was an anti-squatting project of the (youth) housing organisation Socius. When that project came to an end in June 2015, I went back to live in Mijdrecht. And since eight months I am back in Utrecht! Now I once again live in a special housing project, namely Place2BU in Leidsche Rijn. Four residential towers have been built there with a total of almost 500 studios. Half live with young people between 23 and 27 years old, and the other half with status holders and people from social care who are going to live independently. That way, I meet a lot of different people.

What do you do now in your daily life?

I did an MSc in Retail, after which I worked in sales for three and a half years. You gain so many different skills there. I have since quit that job and now I consciously work flexibly through a temporary employment agency. That way, I work at the Bijenkorf department store, at FC Utrecht behind the bar on the Bunnikside and as a doorman at various places. Many things I experience during my work provide inspiration for the management position I hope to take soon at FNV jong. There, I want to deal with, for example, the flex law and the zero-hours contract. And of course with making the importance of Mbo'ers clear, which is very important to me. My work and GroenLinks do not really overlap. I try to keep those things separate for myself. Two different worlds, which gives me peace of mind.

How did your career at GroenLinks begin?

Last year, in the run-up to the elections, I filled in a voting guide, and GroenLinks came out. Since I had just quit my job, I could start looking for something I really liked in life. That turned out to be politics. I am mainly very left-wing myself, but under that social policy must always rest a progressive thought. Everything we are going to do should be done as green as possible. This manifests itself, for instance, in my plan for solar panels on social housing. The money saved by this can be distributed back to the residents to increase their disposable income.

What all do you hope to achieve in the municipal council?

I can bite into a subject very well, make it my own quickly and then talk about it very easily. I expect that will help me a lot later on in the council. The most important thing for me is to represent people from the lower social class later on. There are different wings within the party and that group is sometimes a bit forgotten. That sometimes stings, but it also provides extra motivation because you basically conduct all debates from your own background and conviction. At the same time, that also becomes my biggest challenge. I like to tell my own story, but sometimes you have to go along with the choices made by the group or coalition. On the other hand, everyone thinks along with each other, regardless of your background. That is also why I feel so at home with GroenLinks. People look at who you are and what you can do, instead of where you come from.

How did you come across DWARS?

Through my fellow candidate councillor Sebastiaan Rood, I ended up at DWARS. From GroenLinks Utrecht, I am the volunteer coordinator of the campaign team and we were both busy organising door-to-door actions ahead of the municipal elections. We then contacted DWARS ourselves. We want to involve them as much as possible in our campaign, but I also want to make sure they can run their own campaign with as little resistance as possible from GroenLinks. For us, it is great to be able to appeal to a very large group of volunteers at once.

What are your experiences in door-to-door promotions?

People generally react very relaxed when you visit them. After all, they are creatures who like to talk about things, especially if they don't completely agree with something. The conversations we have with local residents are always interesting. They are often about typical neighbourhood topics such as safety, nuisance, traffic and green spaces. I liked the action in Overvecht the best. Of course, I am most connected with that neighbourhood, because that's where my life in Utrecht started a few years ago. That's when I really started to love this city with all its diversity. It sometimes feels like a big village. In the future, we may level out a bit more, but actually Utrecht doesn't need to change very much. The city is already doing very well.