Waiting for better times: 'Hey dirty whore, I want to help you'

Well this was certainly an interesting year and you know what the Chinese say: that you may live in interesting times (do they actually?). For some we hope it is less interesting in 2005.

Time takes a toll on me, sometimes
and I know all the reasons, but I just can’t make it rhyme
(and) my time runs out, and I could scream and shout
I’m getting strangled by the speed of life

For me it was quite hectic, certainly after the killing of Van Gogh. The shock when it happened, the shock of the burnings of mosques and islamic schools….it was not the first time of course. The same shockwave had hit the county after 9/11 when islamic schools and mosques were set on fire. And immediately after the murder a lot of people shared the same thought as after the murder on Fortuyn; please don’t let it be a muslim or a Moroccan. Well it was a Moroccan-Dutch muslim. It made clear that the integrationdebate was a debate on nothing. I did this radiobroadcast on Radio 1 where I told a few things about my research. After this their was a debate that was more or less typical for the integrationdebate; everybody screamed and shouted en nobody listened and the real issues were not tackled.

That we have extremists in this county is nothing new; we always had them and they will always be there whether they are muslims, leftwing radicals or rightwing radicals, environmental radicals and so on. The issue is how do we cut of the recruitment for these group from the more moderate groups? The Dutch intelligence and security agency (AIVD) stated that a lot of young radical muslims are searching for the pure islam. Certainly not all of them are potential terrorists but the AIVD states that the radical non-violent groups pave the way for these terrorists because of the similarities in their ideology. This might be true and then the same counts for the native Dutch radicals who are obsessed with the ‘problem of islam’ . The way the pose their criticism that for example in the case of Wilders is most of the time not true and a false reproduction of the facts, is creating furtile ground for boys (some with radical-right views, others just as an act of vandalism) who want to burn down mosques and schools. Of course this is a little bit to simple. Nevertheless the similarities between the native non-muslim radicals and the muslim radicals are striking. They have a closed worldview. Everything is an attack on islam or everything is an attack on the basis of Dutch society and identity. It is clear for them who they are (the good ones) and clear who the other is (the bad ones). When they talk about islam it is clear for them what they talk about. This is striking because for most muslim boys and girls this is not clear: it is a search for a true islam or a pure islam. The goal is not clear for them and the path is not clear. For the muslimradicals en native non-muslim radicals this is not the case; the goal is clear (islamic victory or defeat) and the path as well (by segregation or confrontation). Another feature of these radicals is that their core-business is, among other things, degrading their brothers and sisters who are not on the right path. The muslimradicals do this on their websites where they accuse other (even radical) muslims of being hypocrits, mushriq or munafiq. The native non-muslimradicals do this in the newspapers, in parlaiment where they accuse the moderates of being blind, traitors and supporters of islamofascism.

In the meanwhile nothing is done. Young muslims still do not feel welcome in this country and have no place in the islamic religious institutions in this country. They are more or less driven into the arms of the radicals who do know what the desires and questions of these young people are and have simple black and white answers. The debate certainly does not help to improve the situation. Submission was not a smart thing to do, calling muslims goatfuckers is not helping. When, for example, you want to help your neighbourwoman because she is driven into prostituting herself, you do not say, ‘Hey dirty whore, I want to help you’.

What we need is a government that works together with islamic institutions in order to keep the young people into community and prevent isolation. We need people who can build bridges. Politicians like Wilders (girls with headscarves? I eat them raw!), Hirsi Ali (Submission I) and muslims like Abduljabbar van de Ven (Question: You do not mind Wilders dying? Answer: No i don’t, i hope it will not be a muslim who kills him) have more or less disqualified themselves for this task; they cannot represent an important part of the Dutch people anymore; something that is certainly for politicians a point to think about.

So let’s do something constructive in the year 2005 instead of kiling eachother and calling names. That is the same as:

and I’m gonna wait for better times, better times
no sweeter lie than time

Ideas are welcome.

All the best for the year 2005!

Martijn

PS
In the beginning of 2005 this blog will move from Moveable Type to WordPress. You can already see this on: http://snl45244.web09.talkactive.net/martijn/

PPS
The quotes are from:
Speed of Life & Better Times
all by the Fatal Flowers