Culture Clash: Nigeria, Russia and the West

Warning: this is an unserious post

American culture is world culture

Supposedly we are living in One World with One World Civilization. And when this World Culture must be specified its American Pop Culture.

How universal is American English really?

Everybody knows American English. Apart from the French.

But it seems that Russians have a problem with American English too. Read this:

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

So far so good.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries......

Boardroom prank?

This made my imagination run wild. What happened in the boardroom? Do those Russian Tycoons really not understand which connotation "Nigaz" has? Or do they know and do they think they would get away with playing a prank on their Nigerian counterparts? A 2.5 billion prank?

And what about the Nigerian board room? The Nigerian upper class is supposed to be English speaking. The must know that "Nigaz" or "Niggaz" has an off-colour connotation. Why do they put up with this?

Nigaz. Let's just file this under weird stuff.

The Wilders effect on Dutch Muslims

The effect of Geert Wilders' rise on Dutch multicultural society

This blog has featured many stories on the phenomenal rise of the Freedom Party (PVV) and the electrifying effect it has had on a section of the Dutch public.

But what about the Muslims in The Netherlands and Islam in Europe? Obviously the rise of a movement hostile to Islam must be a matter of concern, fear and anger to them, right?

Right!

Dutch Muslim politicians think Muslims may turn against society

Rotterdam has a Muslim mayor, the recently appointed Achmed Aboutaleb. A member of Mr. Aboutaleb's council, Turkish Labour aelderman Hamit Karakus (Dutch), gave vent to his feelings. In newspaper "De Volkskrant" he says:

young Muslims (Dutch) do not feel that they are accepted. Young, well educated Muslims wonder whether they have a future in The Netherlands. It may be that this may lead to radicalisation of a small fraction of Muslims in The Netherlands. People who wonder about their future fall back on the certainties of their own group. I can see how the message of radical Muslims strikes a chord amongst a still small, but growing group.

Wilders is responsible for the growing rift between Muslims and indigenous Dutch. Half of the population of Rotterdam has a immigrant origin by now.

Are the words of the professional politician echoed by society?

The opinion of the Muslim in the street

A poll commissioned by a Dutch News and Commentary TV show, called Netwerk, completes the picture painted by the Rotterdam municipal council member.

The Netwerk poll (Dutch) asked 319 Muslims of Moroccan and Turkish origin about their thoughts about The Netherlands since Geert Wilders is becoming popular. Moroccans and Turks constitute seventy percent of all Muslims in The Netherlands.

A majority feels at home, but the trend is downward

The majority (76 percent) of sampled Muslims feel at home in The Netherlands. Half of Dutch Muslims (51 percent) thinks of leaving The Netherlands more and more often.

Dutch Muslims identify less with the Dutch nation. A quarter of those sampled see Dutch as their primary identity. 29 percent felt like that ten years ago. 28 percent feels primarily Muslim, compared with a fifth ten years ago.

A widening rift

The increasing popularity of Geert Wilders amongst the ethnic Dutch hurts the feelings of Dutch Muslims. 57 percent feels less at home. 74 percent thinks the Dutch have a lower opinion of Muslims as a result of Geert Wilders' popularity. 39 percent feels discriminated against more often since Wilders has become a power in Dutch politics.

Fear, uncertainty, doubt

22 percent of Dutch Muslims feels fear. And another 22 percent of sampled Dutch Muslims feel hatred as a result of Geert Wilders' popularity with the ethnic Dutch.

The Muslim in the street agrees with Hamit

The Netwerk poll and the words of Rotterdam Aelderman Hamit Karakus indicate a growing rift between Dutch Muslims and wider society, coinciding with the growing electoral strength of Geert Wilders and the PVV. The Netherlands is becoming a less attractive country for Muslims.

The report on Dutch Muslims' unhappiness with Mr. Wilders can be downloaded here as a pdf.

Belgium wants an amnesty for illegal citizens

Anchor children are politicians excuse to legalize law breakers

The Belgian Minister of Migration Annemie Turtelboom wants a amnesty for illegal foreigners residing in Belgium. The amnesty is specifically for illegals with children enrolled in Belgian schools. These families are said to be "anchored in Begian society".

The amnesty is said to concern 4,000 to 8,000 people.

Experience with amnesty's shows that:

-the numbers are always much bigger than expected. E.g. when an Israeli Boeing crashed into a apartment complex in Amsterdam South East, a Black African neighbourhood, the Labour dominated municipality managed to wheedle a blanket amnesty form the national government. The news set of a stampede of often Frenchspeaking Africans from Belgium and France who came looking for an easy quick path to EU citizensship. The number of applications was 1,588. A multiple of the number of people that the apartment complex could accomodate.
-the problems that have been solved by legallizing the illegals are immediately recreated on a larger scale as new illegals pour in due to the expectation that they too have a future as a legal citizen. Amnesty is not really a fix, but an ongoing hollowing out of citizensship of the country that tries it.

Effect larger than Belgium

The amnesty will have an effect on neighbouring countries like France and The Netherlands too. Belgian citizensship is also EU citizensship and these people will be free to settle everywhere in the EU under the 1992 Schengen treaty.

US Forces withdraw from Urban Centres in Iraq

Operational redeployment

The US is withdrawing its troops from Iraq's urban centres. The troops are arrayed in "belts" around towns and cities. The question is whether this is a victory for the US or for its enemies. According to the NewYork Times:

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has taken to calling the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq’s cities by next Tuesday a “great victory,” a repulsion of foreign occupiers he compares to the rebellion against British troops in 1920.

US political and military leadership is not challenging their supposed ally, Mr. Al-Maliki. (I wrote a post on November 24 2005 advising the strategy of withdrawing US Forces to locations outside the cities.)

The original strategy of the US

The strategy of the US after the attack by the Jihadists on 9-11 consisted of invading Iraq to turn it into a democratic model for the rest of the Middle East. A democratic Iraq would undermine autocratic Middle Eastern regimes and usher in an era of democracy. This democratic era would than take away the "root causes" of Middle Eastern discontent with the West.

Iraq becoming a newer, bigger Lebanon

Rather than becoming a haven for Freedom, Iraq became a violent tangle of sects and tribes. The US was never able to deal with it. After calming the country down after the surge the US military is now leaving the urban centres to the newly constituted Iraqi security forces under the control of Mr. Al-Maliki and the Shia.

Gaining legitimacy in the eyes of the majority sect

Mr. Al-Maliki and his government are now faced with a fight with the Sunni minority. The Sunnis allied themselves with the US during the surge in return for the US paying a tribute. On the other hand Mr. Al-Maliki faces competition for the hearts and minds of the Shia from even more radical elements. For PM Al-Maliki the alliance with the US is increasingly becoming a burden. He needs to divest from the US and strengthen other alliances with local powers. These will be shia Iran (never mind who wins the present power struggle there), the Kurds, Turkey, Jordan and if possible Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

The US is facing different set of problems now

Meanwhile in the US the state of California is so broke that it can not cover 25 percent of the budget. The Federal government is refusing to bail out the state. It the Federal government will not bail out California, will it be interested in continuing to pour treasure into Iraq?

This amounts to something bigger than the US defeat in Vietnam. It is like the USSR having to withdraw from its internationalist duty in Afghanistan.

Why did the strategy of democratization fail?

The US leaderhip are so in thrall of the equality dogma, that they failed to take into account that the Middle East belongs to a different Civilization than Eastern Europe, where democratization has proven more successful. The Islamic faith is extremely hostile to Western ideas of government. This makes it difficult to mobilize the population for an effort supporting a Western-led endeavor and easy to mobilize the population to those who are opposed to the West.

Strong support for Freedom Party amongst Christian voters

Dutch political landscape is splintering

The group of Dutch voters loyal to one party is diminishing. More parties are fishing for a share of the voters. It is getting more and more difficult to put together coalitions of 2 parties as was possible until the 90ies. There are seven parties that can count on roughly 18 percent of the electorate. This means coalition must have up to four parties to gain majorities and will lack stability and a mandate.

Christian parties solid political blocks

Of these people who vote for the Christian parties are regarded as a solid block. The largest, Christian Democrats (CDA) is a almagam of older parties, who were devided along confessional lines. Their voter base is shrinking due to deconfessionalisation. There is also the Christian Union (CU) and the SGP. These parties are small, but demografically stable as their electorate has a birth rate that off sets losses due to sheep wandering away from the flock.

Rate of Defection

In spite of the reputation for solidness Christian voters are defecting to the Freedom Party at a considerable rate. Between 15 and 21 percent of those who identify with a confessional political party voted for the Freedom Party.

Ideological opposition to Multiculturalism and Islam

This means that the Christian parties, whose voters are outside the big cities are not safe. Their voting base is concerned about Multiculturalism despite not experiencing it in everyday life.

(This article is based on analysis by peil.nl, a Dutch political opinion research firm)

Right wing moves against criminal aliens

Right wing wants to turn burden of proof against criminal aliens

This blog recently featured stories about criminal Moroccan brothers in Amsterdam, who the police and Immigration Service (IND) wanted to have expelled. The brothers had incredibly long rap sheets. Both are ultra violent. Menaces to society. The were declared undesirable aliens. During the appeal the judge prevented one of the brothers from being expelled, as the IND could not prove that the facts that had been used to show he had no residence permit were correct.

During a debate between Deputy Minister Nabahat Albayrak (Labour) on one hand and Liberal Conservatives (VVD) , Freedom Party (PVV) and other right wingers on the other the notion was put forward that the interest of security of Dutch society takes precedence over the interests of a Criminal Alien (Dutch). The burden of proof for legal presence in The Netherlands should rest on the immigrant, not on the state.

Writing the refersal of the burden of proof into law

This Fall Deputy Minister Nebahat Albayrak, a Labour Party Affirmative Action candidate of Turkish origin, has to come up with a way to write such a refersal of the burden of proof into law.

European Jewish Congress Frets

Right-wing advance scare organized European Jews

On 9 June the European Jewish congress (EJC), a Paris-based umbrella, released a message stating that:

The success of such rabid groups as The Freedom Party in the Netherlands, the Freedom Party in Austria, the Danish People's Party, the British National Party, and Jobbik in Hungary, among others, will sadly only serve to embolden those who espouse the dangerous concepts of extreme nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia

It has a lot to do with the unviability of Multicultural societies, which have a tendency to dissolve in squabbling tribes combined with the dissolving of financial "glue" of society due to the financial crisis.

The way to deal with it according to the EJC is more repression of the majority ethnic groups:

On behalf of minority communities throughout Europe, we strongly urge the new European Parliament and European Commission to support the implementation and enforcement of comprehensive legislation dealing with racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Such an approach may backfire.

First the Danish People Party and now the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), both parties with strong Pro-Israeli stances have been taken off the list since 9 June.

Freedom of Speech in The Netherlands

Freedom of Speech is important in orienting society

In a democratic society the people are involved in steering the Nation. This makes it important that the people can orient themselves on where the Nation has to go. In order to orient, there must be Freedom of Speech concerning all matters pertaining to the state of the Nation. If there is a narrow judicial elite which decides on what can and cannot be said it will be impossible for the people to know what issues are and so it is really those who set the boundaries of debate who set the course.

Multicultural society overwhelmed by disfunctionality and the Dutch backlash

Issues of disfunctionality of Dutch Multicultural Society could not be publicly addressed after limitations on the Freedom of Speech were initiated by lawmakers in 1983. This led to disfunctionality overwhelming the densely populated country, which has a cultural tradition of extreme bluntness and outspokenness. The dam burst in 2001 with the gains made by the populist Pim Fortuyn and his party. Mr. Fortuyn's assassination ended the immediate consequences of the power gained by him and his followers.

Running into the boundaries of Political Expression

Since then especially Mr. Geert Wilders has been fuelling the debate concerning the threat of Islam against The Netherlands. Mr. Wilders has run into the boundaries of Free Speech. Because the ability to speak one's mind is a important cultural value in The Netherlands, people is receiving more and more support from well educated Dutch citizens. They see him as a defender of their Freedom.

Stealing Wilders' Thunder

Mr. Wilder's old party, the Liberal-Conservative VVD is losing these affluent voters. Freedom of Speech is a value that fits well into their program and in late May, just before the European elections the VVD-leader Mark Rutte came out with a proposal to completely decriminalize speech.

Mr. Mark Rutte announced his proposal for full Freedom of Speech and was subsequently interviewed on Dutch TV show Knevel en van den Brink. During the interview Mr. Rutte defended full Freedom of Speech, including the Freedom of Imams to call gays inherently sinfull, similar to the homosexual Mr. Fortuyn, who had said:

Imams should have the freedom to call me a pig and I should have the freedom to call their religion backward.

A full transcript of the Freedom of Speech interview is at Danish blog Balder. Remarkably Mr. Rutte also said:

Well there are idiots who deny the holocaust, I would want to know who that is, then I can show them; boys, I got a whole library full of evidence, and there are still people alive who went through all those horrible things, or lost members of their family, let's look at the facts.

This was picked up by the media who made a lot of hay against Mr. Rutte and his idea to decriminalize political speech. Former VVD leader Bolkestein, Wilders' mentor, supported decriminalizing political speech on June 3rd. Mr. Rutte must have been thunderstruck when the Freedom Party (PVV) declared being against the freedom to deny the Holocaust! This most likely in order not to lose PVV's halo as a Pro-Israeli and generally Jew-friendly party.

In the end the hullabaloo died down within a few days. The PVV achieved a historic victory in the European elections on June 4th. And the VVD did not as badly as expected, so perhaps their move to protect Freedom of Speech did pay off after all. This possibility will not have escaped the political strategists at the headquarters of Dutch political parties, especially PVV and VVD. headquarters. It is therefore to be expected that support for Freedom of Speech will continue to be strong in the future.

House prices come down in the Eurozone

House prices come down in Europe

According to the European Central Bank (ECB):

House prices in the Netherlands have gone down just 0.3% in the first three months of this year

However according to the Dutch Realtor Association NVM prices fell by 3.1 percent in the same period. The ECB further stated that:

national figures and its own calculations showed prices were falling year-on-year in at least six of the 16 nations sharing the common currency and worse was to come.

Freedom Party Website has the largest presence Online

Freedom Party (PVV) building its own media

According to an article on hyped.nl (Dutch) the Freedom Party (pvv.nl) website has become the most popular website political to a political party measured by monthly traffic in 2009. The visitor counter has passed the five million. Pvv.nl got 30.000 visitors per day during the European election campaign, slightly better than the D66 website, which was the next best contender.

The trends can be verified on Alexa.com.

Affirmative Action in the Dutch Police

Increasing the number of women and minority policemen

The highest principle of Liberalism is the law of non-discrimination. This makes Liberalism a reality denying creed. People are unequal.

This blog previously featured articles "affirmative" hiring of women and minorities by Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst in the "White men rule" and "White men rule 2" miniseries. The goal of the Department of the Interior is to employ 15 percent women and minority candidates by 2010. The Minister of the Interior can not find suitable candidates and as a result she is losing the support of Parliament.

The Amsterdam Police Department (APD)

The scandal is now moving from the ministerial level to the level of high ranking functionaries. The Department of the Interior today made public that the Police Chief of Amsterdam, Bernard Welten (Dutch), had budgetted a sum of 3.2 million Euros to find ten candidates for top positions in the Amsterdam police. That is 320.000 euros per functionary.

And this is at a time when the Department of the Interior is slashing the budget for entry level policemen. Large numbers of people have to enter the police as a significant part of the force is retiring in two years! This economy is meant to cut the budget by 190 million Euros. If all 25 Police Departments would spend 3.2 million Euros to recruit Affirmative Action candidates it would cost 80 million euros. That is forty percent of the entry level policemen cut!

The news was picked up by "De Telegraaf" newspaper. The spokeswoman of Bernard Welten (Dutch) quickly came with something of a retraction. The actual amount that will be spend on recruiting the ten candidates will be less than 3.2 million Euros. Which is a liberally vague statement.

What does a 320,000 Euro premium tell us about equality?

Nevertheless the fact that it costs such an amount of money to find these candidates is evidence of how rare these candidates are. PC savvy functionaries are using the funding entrusted to them to buy away candidates before other Police Departments put their hands on them. Rather than using the money to increase the sustainable security of the citizenry.

The Affirmative Action target is unrealistic and crime fighting ought to be far higher on the list of priorities in crime ridden Amsterdam.

Freedom Party's program moving into the mainstream

Making friends and influencing people

Political power is not just the power to be in government and to make laws and policy. It is about influencing society as a whole and in particular other political parties.

Addressing voter's concerns by offering alternatives

Under the reign of Liberalism the cartel of political parties would look the other way if certain phenomena ran counter to the dogma of radical egalitarianism. Parties would not be corrected by the voters, as voters were not offered policy alternatives. This was the situation before 2006 after the Fortuynists had destroyed themselves and before Geert Wilders formed his Freedom Party.

The level of Immigration

For instance, citizens concerned with the overwhelming numbers of immigrants coming to The Netherlands would not be able to express their concern through the ballot box. There was no party stating that immigration was a problem, and there was no party offering policy countering immigration.

The value of real opposition

With the election of the Freedom Party PVV to Dutch Parliament this has changed. The other parties have taken notice. The Liberal-Conservative VVD party is concerned about losing their voters to the PVV. To counter the threat they are copying a positions that the PVV has pioneered. However, they do this with a typical lack of conviction (Dutch). Perhaps they are testing the waters?

Giving the old right a right wing profile

The man who has to give the VVD a rightwinged profile again is Mr. Paul de Krom. Recently he took issue with a report by Minister Eduard van der Laan of Integration. Minister van der Laan presented to Parliament research by a thinktank of the Ministry of Justice, the WODC. This is the Research and Documentation Centre. The thinktank reported that the number of immigrants had fallen after 2001. After 2005 it rose again to a whopping 140.000 in 2008. This relative to a 16 million population.

This is mainly caused by labour migration from counties in Eastern Europe, whose citizens can enter without applying for a permit. The succesful policy against marriage migration from Turkey and Morocco is losing its effectiveness, particularly by Muslims finding brides from other Middle Eastern countries.

The thinktank says that the government has no real influence on the number of immigrants settling within the Dutch borders. And the Minister of Integration says that it will be impossible to integrate such numbers of immigrants.

Mr. De Krom said:

"The government is a restauration government. We are going back to the 90ies. Obviously nothing has been learned from Fortuyn".

The goal: assimilation of immigrant communities

Mr. De Krom has uttered other assimilationist remarks: closing Islamic schools, limiting benefits to migrants, no child support for polygamous families, no tax money to support pensions of immigrants, against influence of the Moroccan State on European politics, against the Burqa, calculating the expenses of the 2006 amnesty for asylum seekers, closing the borders to uneducated immigrants and outlawing the possibility of double nationality.

The goal of the VVD is assimilation. This is a departure of the Multiculturalist policy that all parties supported before 2001. The present centrist government is failing to defend the nation, despite the fact that it has inherited a toolbox of effective policies against migration.

The fact that other parties are adopting the rethoric of the Freedom Party shows the way to a new government coalition after the elections in 2010. Which would be the crown on Mr. Wilders' work since he left the VVD in 2006.

Belgium: the left and the right growing and splintering

Belgian elections on June 7

Similar to what is happening in The Netherlands, to the North of Belgium, in politics the center is weakening and splinters are forming in the wings.

Belgium's communities

Belgium is devided in the Flemish North and the Walloon South. The Flemish speak Dutch, the Walloons speak French. Traditionally the country was Walloon dominated. Since the 1970ies the Flemish part has become economically dominant. But this is only very slowly translating into political gains for the Flemish. Increasingly however the Flemish are turning their backs on the Walloons. The Walloons have never been much interested in Flanders, apart from Flanders as a source of income transfers.

Sponging Wallons find a new sponge

This is evidenced by the dominance of the Socialist Party in Wallonia. The 19th century heavy industry has become a grave yard. The workers are laid off. Their unemployment benefits are unaffordable for Wallonia. Dynamic Flanders makes up the balance in the name of "solidarity". Socialist dominated Wallon society is never reformed and it has become a backward, socially and morally bankrupt rust belt.

The elections in Wallonia for the Wallons parliament saw gains at the expense of the Socialist Party by the Greens (Ecolo). The Wallons are voting for a new sponge with a different colour. It is still a sponge.

Dynamic Flemish inch towards the right

The Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang of Filip DeWinter lost both in the European Parliament elections and the Flemish Parliament elections. Their voters were picked up by "Lijst DeDecker" and the "NV-A". They are both right-wing parties, expousing anti-socialist and Libertarian positions. They agree with Vlaams Belang on more autonomy for Flanders. However they are much more moderate with regards to immigration and Islamisation. The Flemish centrist parties were further weakened.

It will continue to be difficult to form governments in Belgium. The authority of government coalitions which can be put together will be low. The attitude of the Wallons voters seems unchanged. In Flanders the retreat of the Vlaams Belang is remarkable. It is the first retreat of the Vlaams Belang. It may be interpreted that under the influence of the world wide recession Flemish voters (Dutch) are more interested in economic issues than in issues of culture and identity.

Expelling criminal foreigners and public charges

Incredibly violent criminal foreigners

In the middle of April I blogged on the case of two Muslim brothers from Amsterdam-West. They had criminal records of more than 300 items. And no Dutch nationality. And had even forgotten to renew their permit to stay. In a sane world it would be obvious: expell the brothers.

Appeal, appeal!

However we live in a world of crazy ideologues. One of the brother immediately succesfully appealled the decision by the Immigration Service (IND). The other brother did the same and yesterday a judge (Dutch) decided in his favour. He is not yet saved though. He will get an extension of his stay and his permit will be reconsidered.

What does this mean?

Obviously this is nuts. They are public charges. These chaps are very violent. They have no conideration for the lives and property of other citizens. They are undisirables. They do not have Dutch nationality. So if the judge were to take into acoount the interests of Dutch citizens and the obvious fact that the brothers consider other citizens rights as non-existent it would be best to protect society by expelling the brothers.

And yet there is light

Realize that the police is throwing its weight behind having these criminals removed, in ADDITION to the efforts by the Immigration Service. The civil servants of the Immigration Service have often shown their willingness to revoke the permits of immigrants on grounds of principle. In fact one of the parlementarians of the Freedom Party (PVV), Sietze Fritsma, is originally from the Immigration Service and he was assisted by his former collegues in opposing plans by the government to grant "refugees" amnesty. That the Amsterdam police has now joined the Immigration Service shows that there is support amongst the Dutch Civil Service for the plans of the Freedom Party.

The perspective

If the Freedom Party will continue to grow and become part of a government coalition it may be possible to get its program passed. A moratorium on immigration and the expelling of foreign criminals. The Immigration Service already seems to be on their side and the police is coming over. Geert Wilders' plans are looking more and more realistic.

A fifth seat for the Freedom Party?

Will the Freedom Party be second?

Press agency ANP reported that Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) may get a fifth seat in the European Parliament (EP). It was widely reported that the PVV stood at 4 seats. But the latest results show more gains for the PVV.

The Christian-Democrats (CDA) still stand at 5 seats. If the PVV gets 5 seats they will be equally large as the CDA and they will be equal to what used to be the biggest Dutch party in the EU parliament. All the other Dutch parties will be smaller than the PVV in Europe.

This may serve as a constant reminder to all the Europhile politicians that there is a strong undercurrent of hostility to greater power to the EU and its institutions.

Voter turnout and legitimacy of the EP

The voter turnout was not impressive. In The Netherlands around 36-37 percent of those eligible to vote, did. This alone should make the legitimacy of the EP, which passes around 80 percent of all legislation of the EU member states, questionable.

Turkey's membership of the EU

The PVV will be able to voice its opposition to allowing Turkey in the EU. It is essential that this country be stopped. Membership of the EU would mean free access of Turkeys 70 million citizens to Europe's Housing and Labour markets. With Turkey's double digit unemployment this would mean a dangerous reinforcement of the existing Turkish and Muslim communities in Europe's towns and cities. Turkey would be the second biggest nation in the EU, measured by population.

Wilders has categorically stated that Turkey can not be a member of the EU. Because it is a Muslim country.

That message must continually be restated in the EP.

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party comes as Second in EU elections

Dutch provisional election results

Election results come in earlier in The Netherlands than in other European countries.

The provisional election results have been calculated in The Netherlands. The Netherlands has 25 seats in the European Parliament (EP). It looks like the Christian Democrats (CDA) are number one. They stood at 7 seats and go to 5 seats. Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) is second. From zero (0) seats to 4 seats.

Icing on the cake: the Dutch Labour Party is the biggest loser!

The Minister and the Merchant

Dutch media: less restrained on the downside of immigration

This blog previously featured a story on the Dutch media increasingly catering to the need for news reflecting the public's suspicions about immigrants, particularly Muslims.

The Minister and the Merchant

When Dutch commentators and pundits reflect on the soul of the Dutch nation, they will often use the parabel of the Minister and the Merchant. This is the "Koopman and the Dominee" parabel. On the one hand the Dutchman has always tried to project an image of stern Protestant rectitude. The Minister. On the other hand he REALLY wants to make money. The Merchant.

The Media as the Minister

In the pervailing climate of Political Correctness or Neo-Marxism it was the Minister who usually won out in the way the media reported from the multicultural frontlines. With the advent of the internet and readership of the dead tree media falling like a felled fir tree, the Merchant is in ascendance.

The Merchant strikes back

Today leftist newspaper "De Volkskrant" hawked a "More Morroccan Criminals in Rotterdam" story, which I used as one of the sources for my previous article. What is remarkable is the prominent place the article received in the paper version of the "De Volkskrant" today: frontpage in the upper left hand corner.



(The painting is a portrait of the 17th Century Dutch Merchant Jan Six by Rembrandt)

PC losing its grip as glasnost

As far as I know it is a first for "De Volkskrant". It is exemplary of where the media in The Netherlands are heading. The Soviet Union embarked on a policy of openess "glasnost" in 1985. This was meant to assist in reforming the Communist system. But the relaxing of censorship caused so many absurdities of the system to come to the fore, that the elite lost its faith in the ideology altogether and this spelled its doom withing less than a decade.

Rotterdam, The Color of Crime

Non-discrimination as the highest principle

There is a remarkable correlation between crime and ethnic the origin of criminals. It is necessary for the elites of Western societies to see this and to steer society in a direction that strengthens society, rather than weakening it. However Liberalism is the orthodoxy of the West. According to Traditionalist Conservative Laurence Auster the highest principle of Liberalism is the principle of non-discrimination.

This principle non-discrimination inhibits researchers from being able to see the most obvious patterns.

The color of crime in Rotterdam

Dutch Criminologist Frank Bovenkerk yesterday published figures on Crime and Ethnicity for Rotterdam (Dutch). Amongst other things Mr. Frank Bovenkerk found that:
55 percent of Rotterdam males between 18 and 24 years of Moroccan origin (Dutch) was at one or more times suspect of a crime. Caribbean Black have 40 percent and Turks 36 percent. Ethnic Dutch of the same age group have a whopping 18 percent quote.

The scope of the snapshot

Professor Bovenkerk notes that these figures are conservative as they are annual 2007 figures. Only Rotterdam does statistics in this way. Mr. Bovenkerk combined figuers from the Central Statistical Service (CBS) with police data in order map suspects from the first and second generation of immigrants. Further data including ethnicity from other social services are added.

Repeat offenders

According to the professor 90 percent of the Moroccan criminals is a repeat offender. For ethnic Dutch this is 60 percent. It is expected that a similar pattern is found in other major Dutch cities.

Persistent Liberalism syndrome

In an interview with `De Volkskrant` Professor Bovenkerk astoundingly insist there is no connection between crime and ethnic origin of criminals. He is against seeing crime as caused by ethnic origin and uses the word `stereotyping` to tar this approach. Instead he sees a correlation betweeen social organisation and crime. The Turkish ethnic group has the strongest social cohesion and the lowest crime figures. Apart from the Ethnic Dutch.

Non-discrimination rules supreme

And Professor Bovenkerk goes further. He is against a law that would gather add data on ethnicity in the crime stats. `In trying criminals according to the penal code the principle of equality should be paramount` says the Professor who is leaving the Utrecht University as a Professor of Criminology.

A May 2009 article on the Color of Crime.

Why do people join gangs?

Why do youngsters join gangs?

Randall Parker at Parapundit quotes a criminologist on the reasons why people join gangs:

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Children who join gangs feel safer despite a greater risk of being assaulted or killed,

Randall wonders whether this is evidence of innumeracy of gang members:

I'm reminded of a recent post where Razib brought up the term "alief" as distinct from "belief" and a discussion of aliefs. Is this feeling of safety a demonstration of an alief?

I think that people who join gangs are typically innumerate. But I think that people who are good with numbers will also want to join gangs if the circumstances encourage it.

Are gangbangers innumerate?

Being numerate will not stop people from joining gangs.

People who live in a violent neighbourhood feel frightened and not in control. By joining a gang and using group violence against others increases one´s perceived control. Join the doers, rather than being a lone object. The perceived control trumps any understanding of the risks of joining a violent gang. Control is rewarding in itself. So is being part of a group.

Masculine values encourage gang membership

Add that in many communities the ability to use violence is a positive value, connected to masculinity. This value may trump selfpreservation.

Add that wherever there are many young males, there will be competition through violence. It is only a bad thing when society is so out of control, that violence is used to take something that does not rightfully belong to the taker. Not to mention that it is nothing out of the ordinary to bring knives and guns to this violence.

So even if people understand that they are choosing a `deathstyle` the immediate reward of joining a gang is enough to compel people to do it.

Positive sides of forming gangs

Forming a gang may be the first step to forming a lawful militia, defending the interests of the community. Provided a given community has adherence to the law rather than anarchy in its patrimony.

The formation of youngsters into gangs is caused by ethnic diversity and insecurity caused by high incidence of violent crime. Rather than the innumeracy of prospective gang members.

To the voting booth

Went to the voting station early this morning. Cast my ballot for Barry Madlener the Freedom Party (PVV).

Before

When I got the vote I usually voted for the Liberals (VVD), something always gnawed at me. It must have been their lukewarm commitment to our country and our people. In the late nineties the VVD moved to the multicultural Left. First under Mr. Dijkstal and Mr. Rutte.

Now

It feels wholesome to have a political group that unabashedly represents the interests and the identity of the Dutch Nation in Europe.