A Dutch week in 10 bullets.

• Last week the free daily Metro had an interview with businesswoman Elou Akhiat who opened a wine bar in Rotterdam. In this interview a tension between being Muslim/Moroccan and having a wine bar was stressed by both the reporter and Akhiat; the latter stressed ‘I’m the director of my own life.’. The interview yielded a lot of comments on Facebook over the weekend resulting in an headline of Metro last Tuesday: Muslims want woman dead after start wine bar; which caused a little stir. Akhiat got a lot of support from people, including the Rotterdam mayor Aboutaleb, minister of Social Affairs Asscher and the frontman of the Council of Moroccans in the Netherlands Mohamed Rabbae and Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. On Facebook a group of Moroccan-Dutch launched a solidarity campaign announcing they are going to visit Akhiat’s bar and have some drinks.
• A group of militant activists established their own internet radio station: Radio Ghurabaa. Last week the Dutch coordinator of Counter-terrorism and Security requested the webhost to shutdown the station because it aired propaganda for armed struggle and hate. The radio station denied the allegations and published the email on its site. On Tuesday a report was published in NRC Next; the radio station (at that time already requested the coordinator for a dialogue) wasn’t happy with the report and als published the email exchange with the journalist. Later they thanked the coordinator for booming their visitor’s stats. According the coordinator these actions are also meant to create awareness among companies who provide radical groups with a platform. The issue was discussed on radio and several websites such as the conservative Dagelijkse Standaard.
• Chris Allen wrote an article on Muslim women (in particular women who look ‘visibly Muslim’, disproportionately targeted by Islamophobic abuse: Giving a voice to the invisible Muslim women victims of Islamophobia.
• On Kenan Malik’s Pandaemonium an essay by Linda Woodhead about the changing landscape of religious identity in Britain: Religion is not what it used to be.
• On Dutch TV a debate between social-democrat (PvdA) Hamit Karakus, local frontman in Rotterdam, and the frontman of the local Rotterdam NIDA party (a Muslim political party). They discuss the added value of the latter party for local politics.
• In daily newspaper Trouw a report on 25 years after the Rushdie-Affair.
• Denmark to ban halal and kosher slaughter methods / rituals
• The court ruled prison sentences (time served) and community service for several perpetrators of a large exam fraud at secondary Islamic school Ibn Ghaldoun in Rotterdam. The three main perpetrators have to pay a fine of 86.000 euro together.
• According to Yasin Elforkani, chairman of Contact Orgaan Moslims Overheid (CMO – Contact Muslims Government) the police takes complaints about discrimination not seriously enough.
• The local Freedom Party in Almere wants to ban ‘un-Dutch‘ clothing (meaning headscarves) at the city market.