multiculturalism and integration - is it working out in your

Hi everyone,

I live in Holland and recently there have been some developments here which have me deeply worried about his country. Before I embark on a long-winded explanation of the situation here, the reason I am posting this is that I would like to hear from other people what the situation is like in other countries: do you have large immigrant communities, and if so, how is it working out? Is there 'integration' or do separate communities live alongside each other? Are there similar problems in your countries to the ones we have? Have solutions been found for them? What do you think should be done?

The story below is pretty long-winded, if you want to skip it the summary is: the 'native' dutch are becoming more and more anti-immigrant, and naturally immigrants are beginning to deeply resent the dutch. Society is becoming ever more polarised and there is a pretty unpleasant atmosphere here now. The government, the media, the 'native' dutch community and the immigrant communities (to a lesser degree) are all contributing to the problem. I'm worried and have very few ideas as to how we can reverse the trend, especially since most people don't seem to particularly want to see it reversed. i focus mainly on Moroccans because that's where the biggest problems lie at the moment. I have tried not to use any language that might in any way offensive to anyone, the only reason I distinguish between 'native dutch' and the rest is that one of the problems we have IS that people here make that distinction, even to people of foreign descent who have been here for generations and are of course as Dutch as the rest of them.

Ok, here's the Dutch story:
There are immigrants and descendants of immigrants from all over the world living here, and the four largest groups are people from Indonesia, Suriname, Turkey and Morrocco. Most of the people (descended from migrants from) Turkey and Morocco (there are around 600,000 of both living here in a total population of 16 million) came here by invitation in the 60s and 70s when the economy was booming and there weren't enough dutch people willing to do the 'dirty work' (e.g. production line and factory work). To make coming to Holland more attractive the government made it very easy for the men to bring their families here, and also to bring new brides/grooms from their home countries: these laws have been tightened somewhat, but they're still in place and also applicable to 2nd and 3rd generation 'immigrants' living here. This, in combination with a relatively higher birth rate, means that these groups are growing faster that of the Dutch native population.

For many years Holland prided itself on its 'open' and 'multicultural' society, though underneath the surface I don't think it ever truly existed to any great extent: when the recessions hit in the late 70s/early 80s and again in the early 90s there was much grumbling about 'foreigners' (people who had come here by invitation, had Dutch nationality and had been living here for 20-30 years or who had been born here!) taking "our" jobs. Also there was very little real integration: migrants and their children congregated in certain neighbourhoods and went to certain schools, had their own social events, shops and venues.
However, there was hardly any overt tension and on the whole people got along pretty well: it certainly wasn't socially acceptable for the 'native' Dutch to vent their negative opinion on 'foreigners' even if they had one.

And then came Pim Fortuyn. In 2001 he broke the taboos on being anti-immigration by starting a political party based on it: I don't hink he actually represented feeling already pervasive in society, he just managed to convince people they felt that way: the events of 9/11 definitely helped him a great deal, because of it people were already nervous about Muslims, and two of the main immigrant groups - Turks and Moroccans were on the whole Islamic.
It was a terrible thing for freedom of speech and democracy in the Netherlands that he was shot and killed by an animal-rights activist just before the elections, which he had looked very likely to win, but I can't say that I wasn't relieved that he didn't come to lead the government: his party won a landslide victory, but without the man himself to rally around they quickly collapsed into internal dispute, and the government came crashing down with them. New elections were called and the 'old' parties won again.
However, the damage had been done: Pim Fortuyn had broken the taboo and now everyone felt justified in complaining about the 'foreigners', in the open to their hearts content. As a result, a gulf was opened and has continued to widen between the native Dutch and the (descendants of) immigrants. Naturally, many of the immigrants don't feel in the least bit welcome anymore- quite the opposite in fact - and don't see a need to make an effort to fit in in a society that has turned against them. Kids of Moroccan descent, many of whose parents were born here too, who felt mostly Dutch until a few years ago are now pushing their Moroccan identity, because the Dutch aren't letting them be Dutch.
Last year things were made even worse by the murder of a filmmaker called Theo van Gogh by a Dutch Moroccan-by-descent Islamic fundamentalist. His murder was followed by a spate of arson attacks against Mosques, Churches and Islamic schools, and rising tensions between especially the Dutch and Moroccan communities.

Anyways, what we are left with now is a divided, polarised Dutch community, and a very, very unpleasant atmosphere. I blame the government, the media and the 'native Dutch' very much for what is happening, and only to a far, far lesser extent the Moroccan community itself.

The government: especially after the murder of Theo van Gogh, various ministers and government officials came out with some incredibly stupid phrases and ideas:
- one claimed that we were "a nation at war" - one lone gunman shoots a filmmaker, and this parlementarian places "us" (the Dutch) at war with the community this man coincidentally hails from but DOES NOT REPRESENT
- a minister suggested that the right to hold double nationality should be withdrawn: people should be forced to choose between Dutch nationality and whatever other nationality the might hold. I'm half English half Dutch myself, and though I have never lived in England, don't ever want to, and have no particularly strong feelings about the place, i like holding double nationality: my English nationality represents a part of my heritage and identity that I would like to hold onto. I was extremely irritated by this ministers suggestion, and as a result felt a lot more English than i have ever done before - attacking peoples right to their identity is not precisely the way to make them feel more Dutch!!
- another very dumb suggestion, also by a government representative, was that if a holder of double nationality commits a serious act of violence, they be expelled from Holland and sent to their other nation for that country to deal with - this law would also cover people who were born here!. i.e. if i were to go out now and beat someone to a pulp, I would be kicked out of Holland and extradited to England - a country where i have never lived and that bears no responsibility for my eductation, sense of morality etc. - for it to deal with me. Yes, this really makes me feel the Dutch state views me as a Dutch citizen. I can barely begin to imagine how this must have made Moroccans feel, since it was very obviously aimed at them rather than ALL people of non-Dutch descent.
- after the murder of Theo van Gogh, the government and others immediately organised a big rally in condemnation of it and in defense of freedom of speech - which is fine, but no similar rally was organised for people to show their condemnation of the arson attacks on Mosques and Islamic schools.

The there's the media, which has been loving all this:

- after the murder of Theo van Gogh they went around asking every person of Moroccan descent they could find for their opinion, reinforcing the idea that the murderer represented the will of the Moroccan community.
The media then went on only to broadcast the most radical views thay could get people to express.
- after every incident the media flock to every politcian of Moroccan descent they can find, asking them to represent their views: in this way these people are portrayed only to be 'Moroccan' politicians. What their feelings and political ideas on any other issue is is ignored. This reinforces the divide between 'us' and 'them'
- we have, I think, accross all the tv-channels, one Surinam newscaster, the rest are all Dutch-by-descent. There is still nothing in the mainstream media that in any way shows immigrants to be a normal part of our society
- even 3rd generation descendants of immigrants are still referred to as 'foreigners'

The media has an immense influence today, and I find it abhorrent that they are not taking the responsibilty that comes with that. They are dividing our counrty even further.
That goes for both the media and the government: the history of nazi-germany shows that if you tell people for ten years that Jews are "untermenschen", they will come to believe it eventually - and we all know the results of it. We in Holland have been fed the information for about four years now - since the rise of Fortuyn - that Holland is "full", that Muslims are terrorists, and that "foreigners", and especially Moroccans are not really part of our society. The fact that their parents were born here makes no difference. And everyone is beginning to believe it - now, as I pass someone of obviously non-Dutch descent in the street I automatically label them in my head. If they're Arabic-looking, terrorism, islamic fundamentalism, the 'us' and 'them' mentality, all of it, immediately comes to mind. Young Arabic men with beards and wearing djallaba's (sp?) scare me.

That is where Dutch society (including myself!) as a whole is to blame: people are not bothering to think for themselves, view things objectively, to just talk to their Moroccan neighbours etc.

Finally, I will not go so far as to remove all blame from the Moroccan community itself: I think that the fact that problems have arisen with this community above all other does signify that they are doing something differently from the rest. Their children are doing worse in schools than those of other immigrant communities, and crime rates are excessively high by comparisson among Moroccan youth. This does obviously not go towards improving the native Dutch image of them.

All in all, i only have a limited grasp of what is going on, too - I cannot comprehend how we got to this point in a society that is so open in regard to so many other things - drugs, homosexuality & gay marriage, euthenasia etc. Where did it all go wrong?

Damn that turned into a long story, sorry!! As stated above, i'm very worried and unhappy about what is happening, and I'm very interested in hearing stories from other countries: do things work better where you come from? Did you have the same problems in your country and have they been effectively addressed? What are your personal views on how these problems could be effectively tackled?

hug

Neph

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