Activism in general

Week 5 in 10 Bullets

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The week in 10 Bullets:

  • Islamic preacher Haitham al-Haddad visited the Netherlands, received by Arnoud van Doorn of the Islamic Party of Unity (PvdE) and a Muslim youth organization in Almere (MJA). Some opponents qualify him as part of the ‘Islamic Far-Right in Britain‘ based upon several controversial statements and in several media he is qualified as a ‘hate-imam’. In a press release MJA emphasize the respect the preacher has among their youth and they do not recognize the allegations against him. Van Doorn PvdE is to receive Al Haddad at the city hall in The Hague.
  • The orthodox Christian Pary (ChristenUnie – CU), after already asking Muslim youth to denounce Al Haddad, engaged Al Haddad at the MJA Debate: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5fgp9Q2FAg] Note: video is not made by MJA nor by CU
  • Several Moroccan-Dutch organisations united in the National Council of Moroccans ( LBM: Landelijk Beraad Marokkanen) discussed ‘a voting strategy’ for the upcoming elections.
  • The The Hague local party Islam Democrats initiated a campaign against Wilders’ Freedom Party: Geertolax. A pill you can take when you suffer from too much Freedom Party rhetoric.
  • A recruiting agency refused 18 year old Leila Kallal because of her headscarf. The owner, a Muslim, denies the allegations and stated he only pointed out the difficult in getting work for women with headscarves. Leila Kallal taped her conversation with the employee of the agency: The Dutch minister Asscher (whose field includes integration) supports Kallal filing a complaint with the police. She was accompanied by Ahmed Marcouch (social-democratic politician; same party as Asscher) who stated on Twitter that the complaint was met by the police with a lack of competence, expertise and even trivializing the experience.

    Kallal also received critique by people who emphasized the right of employers to hire who they want and who stated this was not discrimination since wearing a headscarf is (unlike racre) a matter of choice. Others claimed the right of a religion-free working place.

  • Dutch mosque organizations united in the CMO (Contactorgaan Moslims en Overheid, including Mill Gorus) have asked to Dutch government to be included in the counter-radicalization policies. They emphasize the need for the government to be aware of the local circumstances of radicalization although it often occurs outside the mosques.
  • In 2013 the construction of the new Al Hijra mosque in the city of Leiden started. This however is met with resistance from local residents who claim they fear parking problems and a loss of value of their homes.
  • Minister Asschar announced new measures pertaning to well-being and safety for private Islamic boarding schools.
  • Art, activism or vandalism: The shop windows of fashion shop Manzaram in The Hague were covered to cover the models on posters and a few posters had the tag ‘shame?‘.
  • World Hijab Day 2014 (1 Feb) Antwerp Edition: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGld1mKNsU4]

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