The mayor is a Muslim
Last year Bolkestein of the liberal VVD talked about who should be the boss of the police. Minister of the Interior (Remkes) or the mayor (in Amsterdam Cohen). According to Bolkestein the Minister of the Interior should be the boss:
We have to deal with a huge problem and everyone knows that. In 10 years Amsterdam has an islamic majority and soon we have an elected mayor (mayors are not elected now in the Netherlands but appointed by the Minister of the Interior – MdK). This means that Amsterdam could have an Islamic mayor who, as Cohen wants, as a mayor is the head of the police.
He is supported in this by Geert Wilders (former VVD MP and now his own political group):
Muslims are and remain welcome in the Netherlands. When they live here, they have to adjust to that dominant culture, ours. When they don’t, then they have a problem and there is the way out. But the immigration of non-Western allochtones should be stopped for five years. Amsterdam PvdA (social democrates- MdK) leader Van Ascher recently said that he saw no problem when Amsterdam has an islamic mayor. For me that would be totally unacceptable. We have to be proud about who we are and fight for that.
The question is what are they afraid of. Why is being Muslim (in the eyes of Wilders) not compatible with Dutch culture? What is threatened when a Muslim becomes mayor? And what does it mean when Bolkestein says that Amsterdam will have a Muslim majority? He seems to know what that will mean because every Muslim is practicing his religion? And what is that religion?
An interesting case for them is the mayor of Brussels. Yes she is Muslim and that seems to be an important aspect: Meet the Mayor of Brussels: She’s a Muslim
Faouzia Hariche (38) is the acting mayor (or “bourgmestre†– burgomaster, from the Dutch burgemeester) of Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of the European Union. Ms Hariche was born in Algeria in 1967. She moved to Belgium when she was seven years old. Though Brussels was historically a Dutch-speaking city and is also considered to be the capital of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, the city was forcibly “frenchified†after the establishment of Belgium in 1830 by French radicals who used French-speaking Wallonia, Belgium’s southern half, as a power base to conquer Flanders.
Ms Hariche, who replaces Freddy Thielemans whilst he is on sick leave, is bilingual too, speaking French and Arabic but no Dutch.
This has upset many Flemings, who no longer feel at home in their own city with a mayor who does not speak their language. The Belgian regime has encouraged North African immigrants, who come from former French colonies, to apply for Belgian citizenship. This was done in a deliberate attempt to force the Flemings into an ever shrinking minority position in what used to be one of their most important towns.
Like Eerdekens, Faouzia Hariche is a member of the Belgian Parti Socialiste (PS). After 175 years of Belgian rule Brussels has almost completely lost its original Dutch (Flemish) identity. It has been left with an identity vacuum, which is now being filled up by a Muslim identity. While this process is taking place in many West European cities, in Brussels it is the result of a deliberate policy. The Belgian establishment, which includes the Socialists, is afraid of the growing electoral appeal of the Vlaams Belang (VB), a party which aims for Flemish independence, and there are municipal elections in the Fall of this year. The VB is currently the biggest party in Flanders (and Belgium) and all other parties are teaming up in an effort to stop it. Leona Detiège, the Socialist mayor of Antwerp, said in an interview in Knack Magazine on 13 September 2000, that immigrants should be granted citizenship (and the subsequent right to participate in elections) on the grounds that “the VB is currently overrepresented as the immigrants are not allowed to vote.â€
In an attempt to persuade the Muslim immigrants to vote for them, the Socialists are selling out to them.
The Muslim influence on Belgian politics has tangible consequences. Secretary Kir wants to demolish the monument commemorating the 1915 Turkish genocide of 1.5 million Armenian Christian civilians. According to Kir, who is responsible for public monuments, the “so-called Armenian genocide†is a hoax, concocted by “imperialists.†Last year Kir lodged a complaint against two journalists who had criticized him for taking part in a May 2004 demonstration to demand the destruction of the Armenian monument. The journalists had described the secretary as a “genocide denier.†On November 14, 2005, a Brussels court ruled against the PS politician, confirming that the Armenian Genocide was a crime against humanity.
The verdict said that the journalists were “by no means wrong†in branding Emir Kir as a genocide denier. It went on to note that this type of clear labelling serves the common good and advances the purposes established by Belgian law to penalize genocide denial. Secretary Kir has appealed against the verdict. Genocide denial is a criminal offence in Belgium. Laurette Onkelinx, the Belgian minister of Justice and the PS deputy Prime Minister, told the Belgian Senate on 17 November that “additional legal and historic research†is needed to ascertain what really happened in Armenia in 1915. Clearly, courting the Muslim vote has led the Belgian government to doubt the Armenian genocide. How long will it take before Belgian parties start questioning the Shoah in order to attract Muslim votes?
In this case the demise of the flemish identity is caused by the french speaking and the Muslims have jumped into this hole in the market. The writer, Paul Belien, is more outspoken about his fears although as far as I can see the acting mayor has given no apparent reason for that. Except perhaps her inability to speak Dutch? But we don’t know about her political views (except she a social democrat) let alone her religious views and practices. It seems to be of little importance in this case. It led another blogger to the conclusion that an ethnic cleansing of Flemish people of Brussels is going on.
One might also say that a Muslim mayor is a sign of integration and upward mobility. But if that is the case, an increase of integration will cause more conflicts, certainly if Muslims and/or Islam is still viewed as detrimental or an enemy to society.