In early 2001, Peter van der Heiden travelled to America. He was able to board the plane in no time at all. ‘A few months later – and still today – you have to jump through all sorts of hoops just to check in.’ The same applies to the ESTA, which everyone travelling to the United States must apply for. ‘Before 9/11, you simply had to fill in a short form on board and you were allowed into the country.’
But the most far-reaching changes are the things we don’t immediately see, Van der Heiden emphasises. ‘CCTV surveillance and the enormous flow of information that government agencies and security services collect about us are a consequence of the 11 September attacks.’ Although attacks on American embassies had already taken place in previous years, such a large-scale attack on home soil, in which so many civilians were killed, was entirely new for the United States. ‘That had a massive impact on America, which had always considered itself invulnerable. Suddenly, everyone was a potential victim – and everyone became a potential perpetrator.’
Van der Heiden points to the rise in Islamophobia directly linked to 9/11. ‘You saw this in America, which began to present itself ever more emphatically as a Christian nation, but also in the Netherlands, where Pim Fortuyn was held up as a hero in the months following the attacks, whilst before that day he had been on course for just one or two seats with Leefbaar Nederland.’ And although that link is not always equally clear 25 years on, Van der Heiden believes there is certainly a connection between the 11 September attacks and political developments today. ‘Trump used that xenophobia to become president.’
