Full Circle

The End of Tolerance
Farewell, multiculturalism. A cartoon backlash is pushing Europe to insist upon its values.
By Stefan Theil
Newsweek International
msnbc.msn.com/id/11569485/site/newsweek/
March 6, 2006 issue - The world has long looked upon the Dutch as the very model of a modern, multicultural society. Open and liberal, the tiny seagoing nation that invented the globalized economy in the 1600s prided itself on a history of taking in all comers, be they Indonesian or Turkish, African or Chinese.

How different things look today. Dutch borders have been virtually shut. New immigration is down to a trickle. The great cosmopolitan port city of Rotterdam just published a code of conduct requiring Dutch be spoken in public. Parliament recently legislated a countrywide ban on wearing the burqa in public. And listen to a prominent Dutch establishment figure describe the new Dutch Way with immigrants. "We demand a new social contract," says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague. "We no longer accept that people don't learn our language, we require that they send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments."

What's going on here? Weren't the Dutch supposed to be the nicest people on earth, the most tolerant nation in Europe, a melting pot for minorities and immigrants since the Renaissance? No longer, and in this the Dutch are once again at the forefront of changes in Europe. This time, the Dutch model for Europe is one of multiculturalism besieged, if not plain defunct.

This helps explain Europe's unusually robust reaction to the cartoon crisis, which continued last week with riots in Nigeria and Pakistan that have left over 100 dead. There were apologies, to be sure, for causing offense after a small Danish paper published a dozen cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. But on one point European leaders were united and bluntly clear: they would not tolerate any limits on European newspapers' rights to publish. "Freedom of speech is not up for negotiation," declared Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, summing up a consensus that has only grown stronger as the cries of outrage from the Muslim world grow louder.

Welcome to the end of tolerance, or at least to the nonnegotiable limits to what Europeans will tolerate. Whether it's the Netherlands' rediscovery of Dutch communal values, or the universal affirmations of free speech (to mock religion, or anything else), Europe is everywhere on the defensive. After decades of relatively unfettered immigration and cultural laissez faire when it came to accepting people of differing values and social mores, there are signs that a potentially ugly backlash is setting in. Even before Jyllands Posten published the cartoons last fall, Denmark's Minister of Cultural Affairs Brian Mikkelsen said, "We have gone to war against the multicultural ideology that says that everything is equally valid." These days, he speaks for most Europeans. Danes, and Dutch, and a few other countries might be well on their way to creating multiethnic societies. But make no mistake: they're no longer willing to tolerate a European melting pot—a broadly multicultural society—where different cultures live by widely different norms.

But if Europeans aim to build multiethnic societies that play by their rules, they'll also have to get their heads around the fact that this new world will be multireligious, too—a fact that poses awkward challenges. Over much of Europe, for example, established Christian churches enjoy special state privileges and subsidies. Most mosques, by contrast, are hidden in converted shops or tenement apartments. In Copenhagen, a 15-year plan —to build a national mosque has become mired in red tape and local opposition. A German state recently passed a law banning a hijab in schools—but not yarmulkes or nun's habits. A minister in Baden-Wurttemberg last month resigned over an offensive remark about the local bishop. It's hard to imagine this happening had the aggrieved party been an imam.

Until such double standards can be abolished and a new equality established, Europe's new toughness will feel like forced integration. "It's a form of creating a second-class citizenship," says Tariq Modood, director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship in Bristol. "All the burden of change is placed on the immigrant." And if that's not to be the case, then Europeans will almost certainly have to accord Muslim faiths the same status accorded Christianity—including, perhaps, a media that voluntarily refrains from publishing needlessly offensive images of the Prophet, not under duress from abroad but out of greater respect for local religious sensibilities.

It's also clear that if Europeans want their immigrants to behave like Europeans, then they must be willing to accept them as Europeans, too. That's where many societies that long thought of themselves as culturally homogenous have problems. "Being German can no longer be defined on ethnic lines," says Bernd Knopf at the Integration Commissioner's office. It's an open question whether Germans, Dutch, or Danes will ever truly accept a multiethnic, multireligious "Germanness," "Dutchness" or "Danishness." But given the immigrant and demographic trajectories of Europe's future, there is little choice but to try.

With Emily Flynn Vencat and Stryker Mcguire in London and Ginny Power in Paris

A lot of good a philosophical shift is going to do now that 1/2 their population is from North Africa.

Speak English Dutch or die.  

Quoted: A lot of good a philosophical shift is going to do now that 1/2 their population is from North Africa.

Make it mandatory to eat pork along with speaking Dutch and that should bring the immigrant population down a bit

When in Rome do as the Romans do

Very cool.  

Quoted: Speak English Dutch or die.

I don't think many people will get that.

That article is copied incorrectly; the last four paragraphs are repeat of page #2, and page #3 is absent here.
~

Yeah, funny, you'll wear out your welcome when you demand tolerance from others, but are intolerant yourself. Who would've thunk it.

Quoted: That article is copied incorrectly; the last four paragraphs are repeat of page #2, and page #3 is absent here. ~

Oops, I had a little problem cleaning it up, I'll fix it after I finish eating

Quoted: Yeah, funny, you'll wear out your welcome when you demand tolerance from others, but are intolerant yourself. Who would've thunk it.

Its a new concept

Quoted: When in Rome do as the Romans do

Exactly !!!

If you are going to live in someone elses country, you live by their rules.

When I spent 10 years living in France, I learned French, I adopted their way of life. If I had decided to stay there I would probably have taken French citizenship and participated in their elections.

Having moved to the US, I have learned to mis-spell words, mis-pronounce others and mangle my grammar . I have taken US citizenship, and try to live as any other person in this country.

I expect no less of anyone else moving to either my country of origin, or here to my adopted country.

Im a way i am GLAD and in a way i am SAD . As a person who had a psychic connection to to the Nederlands i see a change but i miss the old ways. I first started to "summer" in Holland in 1987. Amsterdam, Den hague, Rotterdam etc. I loved it and i loved the people, tens times more civil and "understanding" than any rude ass new yorker more intellectual AND political. If you went into a cafe in NY you had to talk about the Yankees cause most Americans dont know shit about the world around them and dont care too much for politics. The dutch love to debate and they LOVE to defy authority, I saw a picture once of a man sitting on the street argueing with a cop. Not in the NY style ends in a fight kind of way but a passionate debate about  "totalitarianism". That to me was the picture of the dutch attitude. Also my Brother befriended a guy in college from holland so i made friends with him and stay in his place now whenever i went there. He has been my Bellweather in this reguard.
                                                    A BREIF HISTORY OF HOLLAND 1995-2006.
                                   Well Anyway, I noticed that as time went on from 1987 to 1995 that More and More Muslims were living there and in my opinion taking advantage of the Dutch. I ask Mikule about this and he defended them as an "oppressed minority". To which i said, Theres a billion of them and they are a minority? Then i gave my apprehensions saying "i dont know, these people dont want to assimilate, they consider their religion and culture and language to be superior to yours, why should they assimilate? if anything they'll demand special priveledges" then i added "these people are religious reactionaries they don't understand your "tolerance"". To which he Dissmissed it as American "racism". Now fast foward to 1999. It was at about this point that Muslims started to demand special treatment in reguards to their culture. If Holland was "multicultural" then she should accomodate this culture! They wanted to be able to get wives in foregin lands then bring them back, They wanted "special Muslim courts" to deal with divorce and fighting. Although against the law, men were "co-habitating with more than one woman" (polygamy). They were sneaking their daughters into N. Africa to get them "circumsised" (declitorsed!) and they were getting more militant in their opposition to assimilation and America. This worried the Dutch. Then a guy named PYM Fortyun came into politics. He was a GAY gay who thought maybe the Dutch should slow down immigration until they could assimilate. He was branded an "extreme right winger" and a racist, even though he was GAY! Well the so called peacful tree hugging leftists literally were calling for his silence. So a white Dutchman killed him for being a racist!!This peacenik murderer was a Vegan BTW, just like Hitler. This was the first time in 200 years that a person had been killed for their views. So much for leftist tolerance. It shocked holland and made them reconsider things. THEN 9-11 happened. While the rest of Holland was in mourning the radical Muslims were dancing in the streets! Another shock to the Dutch! They were like "these are our neighibors? They call themselves Dutch?" Finally Brave people like Ayyan Hirsi Ali and other began speaking out against reactionary Islam. The Dutch started to realise that these people had no intention of assimilating but would rather live in "autonomous" areas free from Infidels and their wicked ways.
                      The final Blow to "old dutch tolerance" came when a Dutch born (hence a symptom of the younger generation NOT assimilating) Muslim killed Theo Van Gough in broad daylight, he remains unrepentant to this day. It was a symbol of Reactionary Muslims killing the sprit of  Dutch tolerance. It seemed that the Muslims of Holland did'nt understand what dutch tolerance was.
For the first time since the REFORMATION the dutch attacked houses of worship! They began firebombing mosques. (when you can push the DUTCH to bomb your Holy places you got a very serious problem!!!!!) Things have just gone down hill from there like the French riots and the cartoon Jihad. The dutch are now becoming more cynical and angry than ever. I miss the old naive innocent land of pot and wooden shoes and tulips.

Quoted: Quoted: Speak English Dutch or die.   I don't think many people will get that.

I had a friend over there that had a sticker on his car: Speak Dutch or get the fuck out.
Yeah, in English {lol}

Quoted: Quoted: Speak English Dutch or die.   I don't think many people will get that.

Quoting SOD are we?

I give you "Fuck The Middle East"

FUCK THE MIDDLE EAST

STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH

Fuck the middle east
There's too many problems
They just get in the way
We sure could live without them
They hijack our planes
They raise our oil prices
We'll @$#% them all and have a ball
And end their fuckin' crisis
BEIRUT, LEBANON-Won't exist once we're done
LIBYA, IRAN-We'll flush the bastards down the can
SYRIANS and SHIITES-Crush their faces with our might
Then Israel and Egypt can live in peace without these dicks

Attn mods, this is lyrics from an 80's thrash band, posted for instructional purposes only.

Interesting... Though I wonder whether they've finally grown a backbone, or it's just too little, too late.

Quoted: "It's a form of creating a second-class citizenship," says Tariq Modood, director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship in Bristol. "All the burden of change is placed on the immigrant."

I think thats the idea. You move somewhere new, its on you to adapt.

Yeah, all the backlash over cartoons.........................

When the Taliban blew up a mountainside that depicted Bhudda, standing-which is rare, which was one of the oldest Bhuddist artifacts, where was Muslim outrage over that act?

Cartoon = highly offensive, and an excuse to kill.
Blowing up a religious atrifact = shrug shoulders.

Quoted: Im a way i am GLAD and in a way i am SAD . As a person who had a psychic connection to to the Nederlands i see a change but i miss the old ways. I first started to "summer" in Holland in 1987. Amsterdam, Den hague, Rotterdam etc. I loved it and i loved the people, tens times more civil and "understanding" than any rude ass new yorker more intellectual AND political. If you went into a cafe in NY you had to talk about the Yankees cause most Americans dont know shit about the world around them and dont care too much for politics. The dutch love to debate and they LOVE to defy authority, I saw a picture once of a man sitting on the street argueing with a cop. Not in the NY style ends in a fight kind of way but a passionate debate about  "totalitarianism". That to me was the picture of the dutch attitude. Also my Brother befriended a guy in college from holland so i made friends with him and stay in his place now whenever i went there. He has been my Bellweather in this reguard.                                                     A BREIF HISTORY OF HOLLAND 1995-2006.                                    Well Anyway, I noticed that as time went on from 1987 to 1995 that More and More Muslims were living there and in my opinion taking advantage of the Dutch. I ask Mikule about this and he defended them as an "oppressed minority". To which i said, Theres a billion of them and they are a minority? Then i gave my apprehensions saying "i dont know, these people dont want to assimilate, they consider their religion and culture and language to be superior to yours, why should they assimilate? if anything they'll demand special priveledges" then i added "these people are religious reactionaries they don't understand your "tolerance"". To which he Dissmissed it as American "racism". Now fast foward to 1999. It was at about this point that Muslims started to demand special treatment in reguards to their culture. If Holland was "multicultural" then she should accomodate this culture! They wanted to be able to get wives in foregin lands then bring them back, They wanted "special Muslim courts" to deal with divorce and fighting. Although against the law, men were "co-habitating with more than one woman" (polygamy). They were sneaking their daughters into N. Africa to get them "circumsised" (declitorsed!) and they were getting more militant in their opposition to assimilation and America. This worried the Dutch. Then a guy named PYM Fortyun came into politics. He was a GAY gay who thought maybe the Dutch should slow down immigration until they could assimilate. He was branded an "extreme right winger" and a racist, even though he was GAY! Well the so called peacful tree hugging leftists literally were calling for his silence. So a white Dutchman killed him for being a racist!!This peacenik murderer was a Vegan BTW, just like Hitler. This was the first time in 200 years that a person had been killed for their views. So much for leftist tolerance. It shocked holland and made them reconsider things. THEN 9-11 happened. While the rest of Holland was in mourning the radical Muslims were dancing in the streets! Another shock to the Dutch! They were like "these are our neighibors? They call themselves Dutch?" Finally Brave people like Ayyan Hirsi Ali and other began speaking out against reactionary Islam. The Dutch started to realise that these people had no intention of assimilating but would rather live in "autonomous" areas free from Infidels and their wicked ways.                       The final Blow to "old dutch tolerance" came when a Dutch born (hence a symptom of the younger generation NOT assimilating) Muslim killed Theo Van Gough in broad daylight, he remains unrepentant to this day. It was a symbol of Reactionary Muslims killing the sprit of  Dutch tolerance. It seemed that the Muslims of Holland did'nt understand what dutch tolerance was. For the first time since the REFORMATION the dutch attacked houses of worship! They began firebombing mosques. (when you can push the DUTCH to bomb your Holy places you got a very serious problem!!!!!) Things have just gone down hill from there like the French riots and the cartoon Jihad. The dutch are now becoming more cynical and angry than ever. I miss the old naive innocent land of pot and wooden shoes and tulips.

Wow, that's the first I've heard of any of that except for the Van Goh thing.  And I only mean the murder, not the reaction.  Thanks American media!

. For the first time since the REFORMATION the dutch attacked houses of worship! They began firebombing mosques. (when you can push the DUTCH to bomb your Holy places you got a very serious problem!!!!!) Things have just gone down hill from there like the French riots and the cartoon Jihad.  The dutch are now becoming more cynical and angry than ever. I miss the old naive innocent land of pot and wooden shoes and tulips.

A Viking Renaissance!!!
And everybody thought The Dutch were pushovers,

Quoted: When in Rome do as the Romans do

Ah, the Roman's, now those SOB's knew how to take care of a problem like the ROP.