Posted on 10/26/2003 9:00:37 PM PST by chance33_98
Dutch Muslims Growing Tired of Hostile Climate
THE HAGUE, 27 October 2003 — On the eve of the holy month of Ramadan many Dutch Muslims are worried about the increasingly hostile climate toward Islam in the traditionally tolerant Netherlands.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Netherlands was one of the European countries with the highest increase reported in verbal or physical attacks on Muslims or Islamic symbols, according to a United Nations report on human rights.
The meteoric rise of rightwing populist politician Pim Fortuyn, who called Islam “backward” in 2002, marked a polarization in the political debate.
“Since Fortuyn it is like you can say whatever you want to Muslims or Moroccans, there is no respect,” says Moroccan-born Karima Belhaj, a project manager in an organization that helps minorities get better access to health care.
“It seems like all Muslims are backward, all Moroccan youths are criminals and all Muslim women are oppressed.”
At 32, Belhaj, an elegant woman with jet-black hair, wants to show the other side of Islam.
“I have a job, I speak Dutch, I stood up to my parents ... I believe in the freedom of religion and that religion and politics should be separate. I did that and hundreds of other Muslim women here did the same.”
The weariness that Belhaj feels is a sentiment that is shared by many of the Netherlands’ 920,000 Muslims, most of them of Moroccan or Turkish descent.
“I have had it up to here. I am fed up with the anti-Islamic mood in the Netherlands,” Surinam-born Muslim Hikmat Mahawat Khan explains in perfect Dutch.
“I do not have a problem with the discussion about my religion but I take issue with the aggressive way it is being conducted,” he adds.
Unfortunately voices like Belhaj’s and Mahawat are not often heard in the discussion.
“At the moment there is no room for dissent in the debate. The media are looking for the more extremist views because they score better with the public,” Belhaj sighs.
“Yes, there are extremist imams but we distance ourselves from them but why point the finger at the entire community,” says Mahawat Khan.
“If Ahmed steals a bike, I would like people to say Ahmed is a thief and not Muslims are thieves.”
Many Muslims criticize the role of the Dutch media in the debate about Islam and integration.
In December 2002 when the Dutch national security service AIVD said several dozen Dutch Muslims had been recruited for jihad or holy war the head of the AIVD stressed that this was a very small minority in the Dutch Muslim community.
The morning after the announcement many papers headlined “Muslims recruited for jihad in the Netherlands” without putting the figures in a broader perspective.
“All of a sudden people are afraid of Islam,” says Hikran, a 23-year-old woman of Turkish descent preparing for the Ramadan.
This single policewoman who has lived alone for the past few years says she tries to explain “that our religion is not barbarous.”
Many fear that pointing the finger at the whole Muslim community for the actions of a few will push young Muslims to turn away from Dutch society.
“They believed they had been accepted by Dutch society but now they are being branded criminals or extremists because the misconduct of small group.
“The risk is that they will turn away from the society that rejects them to become an easy target for extremists,” Belhaj added in Dutch.
Or Iran....
If they were decent, they would go after the extreamists who have and are causing the problem.
You believe in "freedom of religion?" What kind of a moslem are you, Ms. Belhaj?
Come and cry to us about it after Morocco allows Christian churches to operate unthreatened in their country. Until then, just shut up and be thankful that you are even allowed to live.
Once the district veterinarian in Schweinfurt called me out to investigate a case of supposed "animal abuse" connected to the US community. Right outside the US kaserne someone found a large dog skeleton, shot through the head.
I went up there, expecting the worst. We met at the vet's office, then went out to the "scene of the crime" where a Polizei and representative from the Tierschutzverein were taking pictures.
I went up to the jumbled pile of bones and could hardly contain my surprise. Biting my cheek, I picked up the "dog skull" and held back my smile. The cop asked if it looked more like a bullet wound or a blunt object trauma.
I couldn't resist, and showed the bottom of the skull to the vet - flat molars, no upper incisors - and said: "Todesursache (cause of death) - Ramadan."
The bones were the remains of someone's sheep barbecue.
Jeez, I wonder why?
Oh, yest it is. And it will only stop being barbarous when every Muslim sect prevents religious based discrimination of any type against non-Muslims forever.
According to Fortuyn, the major problem the Dutch are having with the Muslims, is the fact that many are single moms (dad stays home in Arabia, mom and kidlets go to Europe to collect welfare) who culturally aren't allowed to discipline their sons, therefore these boys are running verrry wild in the streets of the Netherlands.
I don't blame the Dutch for being p.o.ed.
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