Islam in The Netherlands

Charles Martel from Islamophobic blog asked for my "wise and insightful commentary on the Dutch installment of an series of article the BBC is running on Islam in Europe".

Because I am a sucker for flattery I naturally gave in:

BBC:
"His wife Kareema remembers the critical comments of customers in the shop where she works. The word "Moroccan" was uttered as an accusation - even though she's Dutch born-and-bred."

Snouck:
This is what I meant earlier with the "we are all racist" comment. The measure of man is his measure under duress, under fire. We are all nice people when everything is going fine and dandy, but now that people are feeling threatened by immigration and political Islam people become hostile to groups that they associate with the threat. So we are all racist. I am not going to retract that observation. The same goes for the other side of course. The Dutch in the urban areas feel that they are losing control of their living areas. The immigrants feel the hostility and become (more) hostile themselves. It starts spiralling. All communities strengthen the others in their combative attitude. We are seeing that now in the open in The Netherlands. The Dutch liberalism does not stand up under fire.

BBC:
"Turkish-born Nebahat Albayrak is on the liberal left. She worries about a new generation of Muslims growing up without hope.

The problem, she says, is that the Dutch have never seen themselves as a society of immigration."


Snouck:
Yes, she strangely has a point here. The Dutch have been told by the politicians and the media that immigration was fine. The population would change, but everything else would remain the same. It would all been one big party. However the population noticed the crime rates going up and political Islam becoming a factor and urban areas turning into Third World slums. Reality did not live up to the rosy picture that had been painted.

BBC:
So is the Netherlands' famous tolerance only superficial?

Young Dutch Muslims like Nabil and Kareema work hard, speak Dutch and are in many ways integrated - yet they don't feel accepted in the country that's now their home.

Snouck:
Well, Nabil and Kareema may work hard, but they are part of a demographic group of whom only about 50 percent labours. The other half is receiving benefits. This is resented and Nabil and Kareema pay the price. Manifestly unfair but that is how it works in the real world.