Belgian Anti-Semitism

INN ^ | 5/21/13 | staff

[Nachum]

Interview with Prof. Mark Elchardus of the Free Univ. of Brussels: "At the Brussels secondary schools, almost every second student is a Muslim."

“There is a major difference in anti-Semitic attitudes between Muslim students and non-Muslim ones in Dutch-speaking secondary schools in Belgium. About 50% of the Muslim students express anti-Semitic attitudes, as opposed to 10% of the others. These findings resulted from our study in Brussels titled “Youth in Brussels” and studies thereafter in Antwerp and Gent. In general, anti-Semitism is somewhat lower in Gent than in Antwerp and Brussels.

“The youths we studied were generally in the age group of 12-18, while others were above 18. Some studies were based on the age group from 12 years old. Others such as the analysis of anti-Semitism, cover from the age of 14. Surprisingly, we found that the presence of Muslim students was much higher in schools than we had expected. At the Brussels secondary schools, almost every second student is a Muslim. Usually the number of Muslims is underestimated, as they – more often than others – do not answer surveys. This is due to poorer language skills and/or a low interest in society at large in that community.”

Professor Mark Elchardus teaches sociology at the Dutch-speaking Free University of Brussels. His research focuses on cultural sociology. The aforementioned studies were undertaken in the framework of the JOP program, which aims at analyzing views and attitudes of Flemish youngsters in the age group of 12-30.

[BenLurkin]

Belgium — its cruelty and incompetence in Africa will always be a permanent black mark against Europe.