C L O S E R Blog

De mislukking van het anti-multiculturalisme I – Windmolens 4

De mislukking van het anti-multiculturalisme I – Windmolens

In navolging van Merkel en Cameron hebben nu ook Verhagen en Rutte gesteld dat de multiculturele samenleving mislukt is. Maar wat bedoelt men daar nu eigenlijk mee? In een serie van blogposts geef ik een schets van de maatschappelijke context waarin deze redenering opkomt en het blootleggen van de gevaarlijke cirkelredenering van het falen van de multikul. Dit is deel 1.

José Casanova – God in a Cold Climate. Religion in the Secular Public Sphere: Challenges and Responses 0

José Casanova – God in a Cold Climate. Religion in the Secular Public Sphere: Challenges and Responses

José Casanova will deliver a lecture at Radboud University Nijmegen on 10 March 2011 on the topic of religion in a secular public sphere. Within Western societies, some of which are secular through-and-through, the activities or religious movements that claim a prominent role in society cause a climate of conflicts and tensions. But the success of these religious movements proves that modernity and religion are far from mutually exclusive phenomena and that modern secularized society must find a way of integrating them in its fabric.

On democracy – From Tahrir to the Netherlands 0

On democracy – From Tahrir to the Netherlands

Today the Netherlands has regional elections. The current campaign is dominated not by regional issues but by national themes. This, hopefully could lead to a high turn out rate but I doubt it since the 1995 elections not even half of the population voted in 1999, 2003 and 2007. This has inspired a Dutch journalism student to make video with the protesters on Tahrir Square in Cairo calling upon the Dutch to go and vote.

Closing the week 8 – A need to read list of the uprisings in the Middle East 3

Closing the week 8 – A need to read list of the uprisings in the Middle East

A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.) This week featuring the uprisings in the Middle East, again.

Jemen als 'Wild Card' 0

Jemen als 'Wild Card'

Terwijl er de afgelopen dagen op het internet gediscussiëerd werd hoe de naam Mubarak omgevormd kan worden naar een Arabisch werkwoord en wat dat woord dan zou moeten betekenen, gingen in Jemen mensen de straat op om te protesteren tegen het regime van Ali Abdallah Salih, de man die de afgelopen 33 jaar Jemen heeft geregeerd. In het Midden-Oosten, maar ook elders, word uitgebreid gegist over de vraag ‘wie is de volgende’. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt Jemen (in casu: president Ali Abdallah Salih) kandidaat te zijn. Annemarie van Geel gaat dieper op de situatie in.

Tunisia: from paradise to hell and back? 1

Tunisia: from paradise to hell and back?

Miriam Gazzah reflects on the current situation in Tunisia. Work and freedom of speech and expression, that is all that Tunisian youth want. It is a simple request. Based upon her own impressions and those of her father Gazzah makes clear that these wishes are not easily achieved for a country where more than half of the population consists of people under 25 years old. Tunisia’s new government will hopefully find a way to give new impulses to the economy, with help of Europe and the United States. But most importantly: tourists must come back to Tunisia as soon as possible.