Posted on 11/13/2004 1:43:40 PM PST by Ginifer
Kneeling in the sodden, charred remains of the primary school, Hari Boukameans took a Stanley knife to a melted computer. He twisted and he gouged -- trying to recover the hard drive, hoping to salvage a little bit of the precious Dutch culture of live and let live from the flames of hatred that consumed his workplace.
The Moroccan gave up. He slumped in the smelly, black mass of ashes. "This is really evil," he groaned. Spray painting a white cross and White Power slogans on to the grey brick walls of the Muslim school the previous night, Dutch racists had set the place ablaze. The fire gutted the school and traumatised this comfortable town of 40 000 in the middle of the Netherlands.
"We never used to have problems here. Now everything is destroyed," said the computer engineer as teachers embraced in tears and strangers arrived from neighbouring towns bearing flowers and cards.
Uden is in mourning for the loss of its only Islamic school. And the Netherlands is in mourning for the loss of its innocence and optimism after the murder by a Moroccan Islamist of the film-maker and Muslim-baiter Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam 10 days ago. "Normally you see this sort of thing on the television, from Amsterdam or from a foreign country," said Jacques Bonnier (39), a financial adviser in the town. "Now it's come to your own town and to your own life. What comes next?"
When thousands assembled to grieve for Van Gogh in Amsterdam this week, they pleaded to no one in particular: "Give us back our old Holland." But Boukameans fears that the old Netherlands he has enjoyed for 31 years lies buried among the cinders of Uden, where 120 Muslim under-12s no longer have a school to go to.
The Netherlands is grappling with its worst epidemic of ethnic and religious violence and is struggling to come to terms with what it means for a country that prides itself on liberalism, openness and tolerance. "These fires and attacks are revenge for the murder of Van Gogh," said Stefaan, an 18-year-old student. "Ordinary people are looking for revenge, educated people are saying that's not the way we do things here. We prefer to make deals. But times are changing. It's a kind of war."
From marijuana cafes to euthanasia, prostitution to immigration, the Netherlands has long been Europe's pioneer liberal, secure in a political culture that shuns confrontation and prizes consensus. But political violence first shook the system two years ago when the maverick populist politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated. The murder of Van Gogh, who revered Fortuyn, shared his contempt for over-generous Dutch hospitality, and specialised in verbal hooliganism against Muslims, has come as an even bigger jolt and triggered a national bout of agonising centred on the question: "What's wrong with this country?"
The centre-right government which came to power following the Fortuyn killing thinks that the fabled fairmindedness of the Dutch has become part of the problem, that tolerance is no response to fatwas and fanaticism, that something must be done.
Over the past 10 days there have been some two dozen arson attacks on mosques, churches and schools -- a scale of violence unheard-of here -- as well as government and intelligence revelations about the menace of alleged Islamist terrorism in the heart of the Netherlands.
In the biggest security operations seen here in decades, 13 suspects have been arrested -- mostly Arabs but including two teenage brothers of mixed Dutch-American parentage who converted to Islam -- in connection with the Van Gogh murder and other alleged terrorist plotting.
On Friday at the Parliament in The Hague there was traditional Dutch consensus between government and opposition on tougher measures to combat terrorism and racism and to crack down on immigration. Dozens of the country's 500 mosques may be closed down. It was proposed that only Dutch-trained imams be licensed to run mosques. The security and intelligence services are to be expanded. Police powers of search and arrest are to be expanded. Websites and broadcasters inciting hatred could be censored.
"It's better to have 10 possibly innocent people temporarily in jail than one with a bomb in the street," said Maxime Verhagen of the governing Christian Democrats.
The prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, characterised the last 10 days of violence and tension as simply "un-Dutch". It is also "un-Dutch" to speak out provocatively on matters of race and religion. But Fortuyn and Van Gogh made their mark by breaching the taboos of political correctness. Others are following suit.
The influential former EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein is repeatedly warning of the impact of Muslim immigration. Compulsory "integration" of Muslims is becoming the government's watchword.
The Muslim population, mainly from Morocco and Turkey, is almost one million, or 6%, commonly double that in the big cities. If nothing is done, according to Bolkestein, cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht will have "non-European" majorities within a couple of generations. "The most common first name registered at birth these days in Amsterdam is Mohammed," he recently told the International Herald Tribune. "This, they say, is the Europe-to-be."
Ismael Taspina heatedly contests that view and says that such outspokenness is dangerous. The director of the Uden school and of a further seven Islamic schools in the central Dutch region of Brabant argues that freedom of speech may be very well. "But when we have all these different backgrounds, maybe we should have limits on what you can say. I am from Turkey. But I feel Dutch, I think Dutch. I dream Dutch. I am Dutch. I'm a Dutch Muslim."
To his admirers, Van Gogh is a martyr to freedom of speech. To his many detractors, Van Gogh was a loudmouthed racist hungry for attention and himself a victim of the hatred he helped to foment.
In the school in Uden, the arsonists also spray painted "Theo RIP" alongside their White Power taunts. "We're not going to accept this. Things will get worse," said Suleiman Sinan, a Turkish teacher at the school.
"It's not just one incident," said Taspina. "This has been developing for years and now it is escalating. It's very deep."
This is maybe a 0.5 on a ten-scale of recent racist attacks on schools, with Beslan at the top.
"We never used to have problems here. Now everything is destroyed,"
Excuse me but isn't this coming from the people who embrace euthanasia for children, the infirm, and the elderly? Perhaps they ought to start looking in their own closets for a change.
The Dutch have sown to the wind, and now they must reap the whirlwind. The Dutch have left God, and they made a mistake when they thought that they could dwell in peace with the Muslim savages. It just is not going to happen.
That's why I don't understant why they are letting so many Turkish immigrants into their country. It's as if they have become so liberal they want to prove it by allowing in a bunch of foreigners that will never fit in. Hopefully, those with a bit of sanity will demand an end to this invasion.
I agree..
Well, every thing (good, bad, or indifferent - the only known exceptions are meanness and stupidity) has its boundaries. Toleration, too, has (or must have) its limits. The easiest limit would be that toleration is to be extended only to those subscribing (without reservations) to toleration credo.
Along this line of reasoning Islam, since it does not support, and is antithetical to the First Amendment - does not deserve, and should not be given its protection.
"Their 'tolerance' will be the death of Europe. Idiots."
And government fianced abortion.
More Mohammeds that Jans.
What's the term for "National Suicide"?
The anti-racists must be working overtime to formulate a carefully crafted response that will say, 'the Dutch have the right to have Dutch culture' but that 'immigrants must be allowed to infiltrate, dismantle, and re-build their "host" nations in their own image because anything which prevents this nation-changing process is racist.'
I believe the "anti-racists" have a growing reality problem.
However, our problem is that they are working within the heart of these governments and their goal is not the recognition of "distinct cultures" but the eventual merging and melting of all cultures, religions, and races thereby ending any pretext for aggression and war (that being the working theory and goal of the one-world, multi-culturalists).
I know zip about Theo Van Gogh, other than is recent passage into the fertilizer business. What's a Muslim baiter?
Bad response. Better to cut it off now.
OK folks..imagine if John Ashcroft had said this..
The Netherlands is just the first of many European states that are becoming awakened to the Islamic threat.
Islamics do not come to your country to join in your culture, they come to change your culture to theirs and the ones who are now living amongst you so quietly will arise when their numbers are great enough. There is but one answer , confine them to their own countries, keep them out of yours.
Does this sound politically Incorrect? Yes: but its your best chance for survival.
"Kneeling in the sodden, charred remains of the primary school, Hari Boukameans took a Stanley knife to a melted computer. He twisted and he gouged -- trying to recover the hard drive"
Such a shame. Guess he'll have to cancel that 'name the ten essential beheading implements every good muslim should own' pop quiz he had planned for Monday.
I can't imagine..Resignation and multiple hearings called for..ACLU up in arms..World condemnation..UN resolutions;Multiple editorials condemning..Psychological profile of the man gone beserk on 60 minutes.
Very profound.
Not that the violence is justified, but those (like the Guardian) who have crushed free expression carry a great deal of the responsibility when it finally breaks out.
Not that any of the PC-people will accept any such responsibility.
"It's better to have 10 possibly innocent people temporarily in jail than one with a bomb in the street," said Maxime Verhagen of the governing Christian Democrats.
Some time ago I advanced the proposition that, given a problem, Euro's will opt for security at the expense of liberty. Historically, America has done the opposite, which accounts for some of the implicit differences and conflicts between us.
This statement illustrates the idea perfectly. Compare this with the American focus on civil liberty and the argument about the Patriot Act, for example.
In the US we usually endorse the idea that "it is better for ten guilty men to go free rather than one innocent man to be unjustly deprived of his rights." Even post 9/11 we lean this way. It is what makes America great, and possibly unique.
A non-muslim.
The opposite of master baiter.
The straw maybe be finally breaking the camel's back. Let's hope so.
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