Ahmed Aboutaleb ( ar, أحمد أبو طالب; born 29 August 1961) is a Dutch politician of Moroccan origin, he is of the Labour Party (PvdA) and a journalist. He has been the

Mayor of Rotterdam This is a list of burgemeester, mayors of Rotterdam. References

{{Reflist Lists of mayors of places in the Netherlands, Rotterdam Mayors of Rotterdam, Government of Rotterdam History of Rotterdam ...

since 5 January 2009.

Early life and career

Ahmed Aboutaleb was born on 29 August 1961 in

Beni Sidel Beni Sidel is a village in the Rif mountain range in northern Morocco. It is situated east of the city of Nador, the provincial capital. Notable people * Ahmed Aboutaleb, Dutch-Moroccan politician, mayor of Rotterdam * Youssef Mokhtari, Morocc ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. He grew up as a son of a Riffian

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...

in a small village in the Nador Province, Rif region. Together with his mother and brothers he moved to the Netherlands in 1976, when he was 15 years old. Aboutaleb had already noticed how he differed from other kids. As he says in an interview: 'I was so different, such a school dork. I wanted to learn, I wanted to know everything.' Aboutaleb then studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

with a specialisation in

Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

at different schools up to the Hogere Technische School where he obtained a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

degree. After graduating he found work as reporter for Veronica TV, NOS-radio and ''

RTL Nieuws RTL Nieuws is a Dutch television news service produced by RTL Nederland. The national and international news service produces 17 bulletins each weekday and six weekend bulletins for RTL4 and RTL Z, reaching a total audience of about 1.5 million ...

''. He also worked at the public relations department of the Dutch health ministry. In 1998, Aboutaleb became director of the ''Forum'' organisation, an institute dealing with multiculturalism in the Netherlands. He also obtained a post as a civil servant with the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. In 2002, he applied for a government position with the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing pop ...

party but chose not to take it up after disagreeing with the LPF's policies. He joined the PvdA a year later.

Politics

In January 2004, Aboutaleb succeeded the scandal-plagued Rob Oudkerk as

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

in Amsterdam. Labour Party leader

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

in his book ''Wat Wouter Wil'' ( en, What Wouter wants) said that if the Labour Party was involved in forming the next cabinet after the 2006 election, Aboutaleb would be offered a ministerial post. Aboutaleb himself claimed at the time he wanted to focus on his work as alderman and that it was "important first that the PvdA wins the election." When the Labour Party really did become part of a new coalition, Aboutaleb was just offered the position of State Secretary for Social Affairs, but said that he did not mind the lesser function, and believed he could learn a lot from

Piet Hein Donner Jan Pieter Hendrik "Piet Hein" Donner (born 20 October 1948) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 21 December 2018. Early life and care ...

, the Minister of Social Affairs. Along with another deputy minister, Nebahat Albayrak, of Turkish descent, Aboutaleb was criticised by Geert Wilders at the time of their announced appointments for holding dual passports. According to Wilders and his party, government ministers should not have dual citizenship, which they say implies dual allegiance. On 31 October 2008 Aboutaleb was appointed (in the Netherlands, mayors are not elected) Mayor of Rotterdam. He succeeded the former mayor,

Ivo Opstelten Ivo Willem Opstelten (born 31 January 1944) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Opstelten applied at Leiden University in May 1963 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bach ...

on 5 January 2009. Jetta Klijnsma succeeded him as State Secretary. Aboutaleb, who came to the Netherlands from Morocco, is the first mayor of a large city in the Netherlands who is of both immigrant origin and the Muslim faith. He is of Riffian

ancestry, and a dual citizen of the Netherlands and Morocco. In 2021 Aboutaleb was the Joint winner of the 2021 World Mayor award by City Mayors Foundation

Translator

Aboutaleb is also a great fan of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

, especially

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...

. He translated poetry of Adunis, the most famous living poet of the

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, very little of whose work had been previously translated into Dutch. In June 2010, he presented a few of his translated poems in Arabic in Rotterdam during the festival Poetry International.

Bibliography

* ''Droom & daad'' (2015; Dream & action) * ''De roep van de stad'' (2015; The call of the city)

Notes

References

External links

;Official *
Ing. A. (Ahmed) Aboutaleb
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Aboutaleb, Ahmed 1961 births Living people Aldermen of Amsterdam Dutch columnists Dutch electrical engineers Dutch Muslims Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch translators Dutch people of Riffian descent Dutch political commentators Dutch political writers Dutch reporters and correspondents Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Mayors of Rotterdam Moroccan emigrants to the Netherlands People from Nador State Secretaries for Social Affairs of the Netherlands Translators from Arabic 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch journalists 20th-century Dutch poets 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch journalists 21st-century Dutch poets 21st-century Dutch politicians Journalists from Amsterdam