C L O S E R

Telegraph | News | Germans to put Muslims through loyalty test

Posted on December 31st, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Telegraph | News | Germans to put Muslims through loyalty test

By Kate Connolly in Berlin
(Filed: 31/12/2005)

Muslims intent on becoming German citizens will have to undergo a rigorous cultural test to gauge their views on subjects ranging from bigamy to homosexuality.

Believed to be the first test of its kind in Europe, the southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created the two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany.

It is to be taken on top of the standard test for foreigners wishing to become German citizens, which includes language proficiency skills and general knowledge.

It also requires applicants to prove that they can provide for themselves and their families.

Those applying must also have resided in Germany for the previous eight years and have no criminal record.

Germany’s 15 other states will monitor the progress of the policy when the tests begin this week before deciding whether they wish to adopt similar legislation.

The 30 questions, which have been set by a special commission, range from sexual equality to school sports and are meant to trigger a more detailed discussion between the applicants and officials.

Until now, all applicants have simply had to tick a Yes or No box to answer whether they felt loyalty to Germany.

But now they will be quizzed on their attitudes to homosexuality and western clothing for young women, and whether husbands should be allowed to beat their wives.

Other questions covering topics such as bigamy and whether parents should allow their children to participate in school sports have been called “trick questions”, meant to catch people off guard.

The state interior ministry said the test would be used to filter out Muslims who were unsuited for life in Germany. Those who answered “correctly” but later acted against expected behaviour, such as wife-beating, could have their citizenship removed.

Critics say that the test is biased and discriminatory and that if Muslims are obliged to take it, so should all applicants for citizenship.

Brigitte Lösch, a leading member of the Green party in the Baden-Wurttemberg parliament, called for the oral exam to be dropped, arguing that it inferred from the outset that all Muslims were “violent per se” and unable to abide by German law.

“This list of questions is only to be used for applicants from Islamic countries. It is an unbelievable form of discrimination,” she said. “If Germans were asked some of the questions, they would find it difficult to answer them.”

The European Assembly of Turkish Academics rejected the questionnaire as “strongly discriminatory and racist” against Germany’s three million-strong Muslim population, most of whom are Turkish.

Kerim Arpad, an assembly spokesman, said: “The test is shaped by stereotypes and damages integration.”

But Dieter Biller, of the foreign ministry in Stuttgart, the state capital, said the test would help bureaucrats to form opinions as to whether citizenship applicants were suitable or not.

“It covers everything from sexual equality, violence, school sports and religious freedom,” he said. “How the applicants stand on the question of the attacks of September 11 will also be a key question.”

Holland announced yesterday that it was introducing ceremonies for new immigrants as part of efforts to reduce racial tensions and to integrate immigrant communities.

The government is worried that immigrants who do not move outside their ethnic or religious groups hamper integration and stoke fears of militancy. New Dutch citizens will also have to take an “oath of allegiance”.

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Protected: Standaard.be: Sarkozy bijt van zich af over ,,gespuis'' en kwade trouw

Posted on December 24th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: Standaard.be: Sarkozy bijt van zich af over ,,gespuis” en kwade trouw

Posted on December 24th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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NRC Handelsblad – Houd de doos van Pandora gesloten

Posted on December 22nd, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Een opinie-artikel in NRC van Joep de Hart: Houd de doos van Pandora gesloten

Niet helemaal wat ik bij dit onderwerp zou willen betogen, maar wel de moeite waard om er kennis van te nemen.

Bij rouw of rampspoed ontstaat een stand-by saamhorigheid

Steeds vaker zijn we in staat tot spontane uitbarstingen van collectieve emoties. Dit is persoonlijker dan veel oudere vormen van verbondenheid maar kan ook gevaarlijk zijn, meent Joep de Hart.

Sinds enkele jaren weten we zeker dat ook de nuchtere Nederlanders in staat zijn tot spontane uitbarstingen van collectieve emoties. Zowel bij de moorden op Pim Fortuyn en Theo van Gogh als bij de dood van ‘levenspop’ zanger André Hazes voltrokken zich taferelen die tot voor kort alleen bekend waren uit de buitenlandse berichtgeving: de begrafenis van Giuseppe Verdi in 1901 bijvoorbeeld, met een kwart miljoen toeschouwers langs de straten van Milaan, waaruit het Va, pensiero, sull’ ali dorate opsteeg.

Die van Edith Piaf op Père Lachaise voor meer dan 40.000 Parijzenaars (1963) of die van prinses Diana met honderdduizenden langs de Londense route (1997).

Bij dergelijke gebeurtenissen springen vooral de sterke collectieve emoties in het oog, veel meer dan de massale toeloop. Dit laatste was namelijk – ook in Nederland – al eerder vertoond. Bijvoorbeeld bij de begrafenis van Domela Nieuwenhuis op 22 november 1919. Of bij die van Hendrik Lorentz, op 10 januari 1928 te Haarlem, die meer dan honderdduizend mensen op de been bracht. (more…)

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Protected: Elsevier.nl – De voorlijke islam

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Asharq Alawsat The Recovery of New York's Muslim Community from 9/11

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Since the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, the spotlight has been focused largely upon those Muslims in the United States who fell victim to harassment and suffered from psychological pressures resulting from the attacks. This was a relatively new phenomenon especially in New York itself, which has traditionally been tolerant to different races and religions. Since the late 18th century, Muslim immigrants had left their countries and headed for New York in search of a better life. Today, Muslims find themselves having to defend their identity and right of residence in the United States.

Four years after 9/11, the media’s focus on Muslims has begun to recede slowly allowing them to resume with their day- to –day lives far away from the effects of the attacks that targeted their well-being and stability.

New York City, with its population of 19 million, is home to some 800,000 Muslims. It has the second largest Muslim community in the United States after California, which is home to one million Muslim residents. In parts of the city with a significant number of Muslims, one can often hear the stories of Muslims living peacefully, while others speak of receiving death threats representing the level of discrimination and racial tension that emerge after any terror incidents related to Islam.

Since the Muslim community’s arrival in New York, just like other cities with a migrant population, a larger part of the community chose to be based around the mosques of the city and its suburbs. The opening ceremony of New York Central Mosque in 1991 was especially important, as it presented an area where up to 4000 Muslims would congregate for the weekly Friday prayer. The number of smaller mosques has increased especially in Queens and Brooklyn, where migrants have established smaller versions of their original towns.

The Muslims of New York share the same religious practices, yet differ in their traditional backgrounds as over twenty different Muslim ethnicities, including Arabs, Africans and Turks, reside side by side. Each ethnic group usually attends a specific mosque where other members of their original nationality go to pray.

As one enters the New York Central mosque on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, where the New York Islamic Center is located, one notices that various worshippers come here, from sick women to angry men demanding to see the Imam of the mosque. The various visitors and hectic atmosphere resemble, to some extent, a waiting room in a hospital, rather than a place of worship. The number of worshippers increases during the holy month of Ramadan, during which many poor Muslims would come to the mosque to receive Zakat, the charity-tax given by all Muslims who can afford it.

Before the noon prayer, I visited the mosque which was strangely crowded despite it not being prayer time. The visitors were asking for the Imam, causing his assistant much stress as the Imam had not yet arrived. It turned out that many members of the impatient crowd had visited the mosque, not for the prayers but rather to receive their share of the Zakat contributions that reach a total of $100,000 US annually and can only be distributed by the Imam.

There are a number of poor Muslims who visit the center in genuine need of financial aid, as well as others who do not actually require the help of these donations, or those who claim to be followers of the Islamic faith. Whoever claims Zakat must present identification papers and certain documents to prove that they rightfully require this form of charity. Each individual case is documented and kept by the center.

The Central Mosque’s Imam, Omar Abu Namus, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I have a special insight that allows me to determine who is genuine in their demand for financial aid and who seeks to exploit the generosity of Muslims.” He added that there is no doubt that some of the requests for help are not legitimate, especially as the community is aware that the mosque gives money to the poor. He stressed, however, that even if 10% of the cases are fraudulent, at least 90% of them really do need assistance.

In addition to donating financial aid, the Center sponsors many conferences addressing religious tolerance and organizes weekly classes on Islam for both Muslims and curious non-Muslims. Abu Namus spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the increase in the general public’s interest in Islam after 9/11 and the high number of Americans who visited the center to obtain information about the religion. He explained, “The Center’s establishment was sponsored by a number of Islamic governments, therefore, we are generally regarded as an official source of information about Islam.”

A number of Muslim countries contributed to the founding of New York’s Central Mosque and the Islamic Center, the building of which cost 17 million US dollars. Kuwait donated two-thirds of the amount and the Kuwaiti ambassador to the UN is the head of the Center’s board of trustees.

Most American journalists contact the mosque with questions concerning Islam. Imam Omar referred to an American journalist who had contacted him wanting to know his view on another Imam’s comments that indicated that the 9/11 hijackers were not guilty of their crime and that they had been caught up in a conspiracy. “I told the journalist that the Imam’s comments were nonsense. My reply was crucial as this center represents a large number of Muslims.”

Imam Omar expanded that post-9/11 New York was “very difficult for Muslims and for us at the mosque in particular.” He said that two weeks after the attacks, the former Imam of the mosque, Mohammed Gomaa left the United States, leaving those at the mosque in a difficult situation. The former Imam had claimed that it was best for him to return to his country of origin, Egypt, only having later discovered that the Imam had received death threats in New York and had not disclosed this information to anybody else. Imam Omar said, “I, personally, did not receive any death threats, but I was subjected to racial harassment which I decided to ignore and not to report to the police as I believed the incidents were trivial.” The Imam kept some of the threatening letters including one from the ‘United States Catholic War Veterans,’ which called for “the bombing and elimination of Muslims.” The Imam highlighted, “terrorism is not restricted only to those who claim to be Muslims. Members of other religions also practice terrorist behavior as evident from these letters; however, the media does not focus upon them.”

Imam Omar Abu Namus stressed that Islam had come under attack by the racists and extremists of America. He emphasized, “The terrorist organizations that carry out their attacks allegedly in the name of Islam offer the biggest pretext for the enemies of Islam. As some groups settle old scores with the US government, the American people and Muslims nations become victims of the ammunition”.

Recently, American media outlets have produced a number of reports concerning the increasing rate of those converting to Islam, especially in America’s prisons. Some of these reports insinuate that certain factions of Muslims are involved in crime. Imam Omar disagrees with this suggestion as he says, “less than one crime in a thousand is carried out by a Muslim in America. The majority of Muslims in prison also do not originate from the Middle East. They embraced Islam in America, leaving Christianity. A large number of Afro-Americans seem to maintain resentment against the white man, who they feel, has persecuted them as a people.” Government statistics indicate that 30% of imprisoned Afro-Americans are Muslims. The discrepancy of the socio-economic backgrounds of American Muslims reflects clearly in their varying lifestyle and backgrounds.

As one leaves the affluent central Manhattan, it is clear that different Muslim communities based on ethnicity live in the suburbs. For example, in Jackson Heights and Harlem there is a large number of Afro-American Muslims in comparison to Astoria, Queens, where there is a large Egyptian and Yemeni community. The communities are usually based around a mosque and its affiliated school. The media frequently focuses on incidents of minor conflict between different Muslim groups, for example the case of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq in Flushing, Queens where leaders of the Afghan Muslim community fought over the management of their local mosque. The case was presented before the American courts and is yet to be resolved. The media further highlights activities of small extremist groups such as the ‘Islamist Thinkers’ Society’, which is closely linked to the dis-banded extremist movement, ‘Al-Muhajiroun’ in the United Kingdom. The majority of New York’s Muslims considers these cases to be marginal and nothing but fuel for those who consider that Muslims are unable to integrate into American society.

Mohamed, from Lebanon, who owns a shop on Steinway Road in Queens told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We live like any other migrant community. I have not suffered from any particular incident and do not know anybody who has. September 11, however, has changed the international situation, and the perception of Muslims by authorities, especially here in New York.” He added, “The American authorities now are very harsh in dealing with any form of illegal immigration. Furthermore, accusations cast upon Muslims are much stronger and abundant now.”

Mohamed explained that he established his own shop five years ago after 24 years of saving money from various jobs since his arrival in the United States. He said that he was keen to enroll his children in American state schools to guarantee integration into their new society and surrounding environment. Nevertheless, he was equally dedicated to ensuring that his children learnt Arabic. Mohamed added, “Muslims have been living here for decades peacefully. After 9/11, it was only natural for us to be put under the spotlight. Today, however, we feel that the wounds have healed and that we can move on with our lives”.

While Steinway Street has a number of Middle Eastern shops, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is home to stores of South Asian and South East Asian origins especially those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ahmed, the owner of ‘Aziz’ gift shop stated that neither he nor his family and friends were ever subjected to harassment after the 9/11 attacks. However, he continued to say, “We all felt a psychological pressure to explain Islam to non-Muslims after what happened.” He stressed that he has lived peacefully in the United States, stating: “Since I moved here in the 1990’s, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. The nearby Farouk mosque makes us feel like part of one large family.”

Ali who sells international phone-cards (low cost calling cards to international destinations), mainly for low-cost calls to Arab and Asian countries, said that he had emigrated from Yemen with his father thirty years ago and is now “comfortable, as income is reasonable and life is good.” However, he added that his wife and children live in Yemen, saying that he believes “it is better for them to remain close to the family.” Although Ali had personally never experienced hostility from society, he did say that Muslims have been placed under the watchful eye of society, which he described as “tiring, as we just want to live peacefully.”

Walking through Atlantic Avenue, there is a noticeable absence of Americans of European origin, except perhaps the occasional police officers who walk past the Asian and Arab shops. However, a little further down the road, one sees a variety of other shops and restaurants with cuisines from Mexico, Italy and China. American society’s combination of people from all walks of life indicates an openness that has prohibited the creation of secluded ghettos, allowing Muslims to live in multi-cultural areas rather than isolating them.

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Asharq Alawsat The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Posted on December 19th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The Recovery of New York’s Muslim Community from 9/11

Since the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, the spotlight has been focused largely upon those Muslims in the United States who fell victim to harassment and suffered from psychological pressures resulting from the attacks. This was a relatively new phenomenon especially in New York itself, which has traditionally been tolerant to different races and religions. Since the late 18th century, Muslim immigrants had left their countries and headed for New York in search of a better life. Today, Muslims find themselves having to defend their identity and right of residence in the United States.

Four years after 9/11, the media’s focus on Muslims has begun to recede slowly allowing them to resume with their day- to –day lives far away from the effects of the attacks that targeted their well-being and stability.

New York City, with its population of 19 million, is home to some 800,000 Muslims. It has the second largest Muslim community in the United States after California, which is home to one million Muslim residents. In parts of the city with a significant number of Muslims, one can often hear the stories of Muslims living peacefully, while others speak of receiving death threats representing the level of discrimination and racial tension that emerge after any terror incidents related to Islam.

Since the Muslim community’s arrival in New York, just like other cities with a migrant population, a larger part of the community chose to be based around the mosques of the city and its suburbs. The opening ceremony of New York Central Mosque in 1991 was especially important, as it presented an area where up to 4000 Muslims would congregate for the weekly Friday prayer. The number of smaller mosques has increased especially in Queens and Brooklyn, where migrants have established smaller versions of their original towns.

The Muslims of New York share the same religious practices, yet differ in their traditional backgrounds as over twenty different Muslim ethnicities, including Arabs, Africans and Turks, reside side by side. Each ethnic group usually attends a specific mosque where other members of their original nationality go to pray.

As one enters the New York Central mosque on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, where the New York Islamic Center is located, one notices that various worshippers come here, from sick women to angry men demanding to see the Imam of the mosque. The various visitors and hectic atmosphere resemble, to some extent, a waiting room in a hospital, rather than a place of worship. The number of worshippers increases during the holy month of Ramadan, during which many poor Muslims would come to the mosque to receive Zakat, the charity-tax given by all Muslims who can afford it.

Before the noon prayer, I visited the mosque which was strangely crowded despite it not being prayer time. The visitors were asking for the Imam, causing his assistant much stress as the Imam had not yet arrived. It turned out that many members of the impatient crowd had visited the mosque, not for the prayers but rather to receive their share of the Zakat contributions that reach a total of $100,000 US annually and can only be distributed by the Imam.

There are a number of poor Muslims who visit the center in genuine need of financial aid, as well as others who do not actually require the help of these donations, or those who claim to be followers of the Islamic faith. Whoever claims Zakat must present identification papers and certain documents to prove that they rightfully require this form of charity. Each individual case is documented and kept by the center.

The Central Mosque’s Imam, Omar Abu Namus, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I have a special insight that allows me to determine who is genuine in their demand for financial aid and who seeks to exploit the generosity of Muslims.” He added that there is no doubt that some of the requests for help are not legitimate, especially as the community is aware that the mosque gives money to the poor. He stressed, however, that even if 10% of the cases are fraudulent, at least 90% of them really do need assistance.

In addition to donating financial aid, the Center sponsors many conferences addressing religious tolerance and organizes weekly classes on Islam for both Muslims and curious non-Muslims. Abu Namus spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the increase in the general public’s interest in Islam after 9/11 and the high number of Americans who visited the center to obtain information about the religion. He explained, “The Center’s establishment was sponsored by a number of Islamic governments, therefore, we are generally regarded as an official source of information about Islam.”

A number of Muslim countries contributed to the founding of New York’s Central Mosque and the Islamic Center, the building of which cost 17 million US dollars. Kuwait donated two-thirds of the amount and the Kuwaiti ambassador to the UN is the head of the Center’s board of trustees.

Most American journalists contact the mosque with questions concerning Islam. Imam Omar referred to an American journalist who had contacted him wanting to know his view on another Imam’s comments that indicated that the 9/11 hijackers were not guilty of their crime and that they had been caught up in a conspiracy. “I told the journalist that the Imam’s comments were nonsense. My reply was crucial as this center represents a large number of Muslims.”

Imam Omar expanded that post-9/11 New York was “very difficult for Muslims and for us at the mosque in particular.” He said that two weeks after the attacks, the former Imam of the mosque, Mohammed Gomaa left the United States, leaving those at the mosque in a difficult situation. The former Imam had claimed that it was best for him to return to his country of origin, Egypt, only having later discovered that the Imam had received death threats in New York and had not disclosed this information to anybody else. Imam Omar said, “I, personally, did not receive any death threats, but I was subjected to racial harassment which I decided to ignore and not to report to the police as I believed the incidents were trivial.” The Imam kept some of the threatening letters including one from the ‘United States Catholic War Veterans,’ which called for “the bombing and elimination of Muslims.” The Imam highlighted, “terrorism is not restricted only to those who claim to be Muslims. Members of other religions also practice terrorist behavior as evident from these letters; however, the media does not focus upon them.”

Imam Omar Abu Namus stressed that Islam had come under attack by the racists and extremists of America. He emphasized, “The terrorist organizations that carry out their attacks allegedly in the name of Islam offer the biggest pretext for the enemies of Islam. As some groups settle old scores with the US government, the American people and Muslims nations become victims of the ammunition”.

Recently, American media outlets have produced a number of reports concerning the increasing rate of those converting to Islam, especially in America’s prisons. Some of these reports insinuate that certain factions of Muslims are involved in crime. Imam Omar disagrees with this suggestion as he says, “less than one crime in a thousand is carried out by a Muslim in America. The majority of Muslims in prison also do not originate from the Middle East. They embraced Islam in America, leaving Christianity. A large number of Afro-Americans seem to maintain resentment against the white man, who they feel, has persecuted them as a people.” Government statistics indicate that 30% of imprisoned Afro-Americans are Muslims. The discrepancy of the socio-economic backgrounds of American Muslims reflects clearly in their varying lifestyle and backgrounds.

As one leaves the affluent central Manhattan, it is clear that different Muslim communities based on ethnicity live in the suburbs. For example, in Jackson Heights and Harlem there is a large number of Afro-American Muslims in comparison to Astoria, Queens, where there is a large Egyptian and Yemeni community. The communities are usually based around a mosque and its affiliated school. The media frequently focuses on incidents of minor conflict between different Muslim groups, for example the case of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq in Flushing, Queens where leaders of the Afghan Muslim community fought over the management of their local mosque. The case was presented before the American courts and is yet to be resolved. The media further highlights activities of small extremist groups such as the ‘Islamist Thinkers’ Society’, which is closely linked to the dis-banded extremist movement, ‘Al-Muhajiroun’ in the United Kingdom. The majority of New York’s Muslims considers these cases to be marginal and nothing but fuel for those who consider that Muslims are unable to integrate into American society.

Mohamed, from Lebanon, who owns a shop on Steinway Road in Queens told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We live like any other migrant community. I have not suffered from any particular incident and do not know anybody who has. September 11, however, has changed the international situation, and the perception of Muslims by authorities, especially here in New York.” He added, “The American authorities now are very harsh in dealing with any form of illegal immigration. Furthermore, accusations cast upon Muslims are much stronger and abundant now.”

Mohamed explained that he established his own shop five years ago after 24 years of saving money from various jobs since his arrival in the United States. He said that he was keen to enroll his children in American state schools to guarantee integration into their new society and surrounding environment. Nevertheless, he was equally dedicated to ensuring that his children learnt Arabic. Mohamed added, “Muslims have been living here for decades peacefully. After 9/11, it was only natural for us to be put under the spotlight. Today, however, we feel that the wounds have healed and that we can move on with our lives”.

While Steinway Street has a number of Middle Eastern shops, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is home to stores of South Asian and South East Asian origins especially those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ahmed, the owner of ‘Aziz’ gift shop stated that neither he nor his family and friends were ever subjected to harassment after the 9/11 attacks. However, he continued to say, “We all felt a psychological pressure to explain Islam to non-Muslims after what happened.” He stressed that he has lived peacefully in the United States, stating: “Since I moved here in the 1990’s, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. The nearby Farouk mosque makes us feel like part of one large family.”

Ali who sells international phone-cards (low cost calling cards to international destinations), mainly for low-cost calls to Arab and Asian countries, said that he had emigrated from Yemen with his father thirty years ago and is now “comfortable, as income is reasonable and life is good.” However, he added that his wife and children live in Yemen, saying that he believes “it is better for them to remain close to the family.” Although Ali had personally never experienced hostility from society, he did say that Muslims have been placed under the watchful eye of society, which he described as “tiring, as we just want to live peacefully.”

Walking through Atlantic Avenue, there is a noticeable absence of Americans of European origin, except perhaps the occasional police officers who walk past the Asian and Arab shops. However, a little further down the road, one sees a variety of other shops and restaurants with cuisines from Mexico, Italy and China. American society’s combination of people from all walks of life indicates an openness that has prohibited the creation of secluded ghettos, allowing Muslims to live in multi-cultural areas rather than isolating them.

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Protected: Evolutietheorie leidt tot Big Bang

Posted on December 17th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others
Brothers and others

Opinion article by Sameh Fawzi in Al-Ahram Weekly:

While the Muslim Brotherhood courts the Copts, doubts remain as to the movement’s credentials regarding religious and moral tolerance.

In The Conquest of Egypt, a document allegedly compiled by Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater, calls are made for the abolition of plurality among Muslims. “Plurality has given many Muslims excuses for evading organisational affiliation,” it states. “We must realise how important it is that people perceive us as the sole representatives of Islam and that this image becomes so fixed in people’s minds as to gradually eliminate the possibility of others fulfilling this role.”

(more…)

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Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Brothers and others
Brothers and others

Opinion article by Sameh Fawzi in Al-Ahram Weekly:

While the Muslim Brotherhood courts the Copts, doubts remain as to the movement’s credentials regarding religious and moral tolerance.

In The Conquest of Egypt, a document allegedly compiled by Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater, calls are made for the abolition of plurality among Muslims. “Plurality has given many Muslims excuses for evading organisational affiliation,” it states. “We must realise how important it is that people perceive us as the sole representatives of Islam and that this image becomes so fixed in people’s minds as to gradually eliminate the possibility of others fulfilling this role.”

(more…)

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Police look for answers in text messages – National – smh.com.au

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Police look for answers in text messages – National – smh.com.au
Police look for answers in text messages

By Jonathan Pearlman, Josh Paine and Jordan Baker
December 14, 2005

TEXT messages and emails urging gangs to muster for rampages in and around Sydney continued to be widely circulated yesterday, as police announced a taskforce would investigate the use of phones to incite violence.

Residents of Sutherland Shire yesterday reported receiving several messages a day, including one purportedly intercepted from Lebanese gangs that threatened to “exterminate the enemy at Cronulla”. Emails were also sent announcing plans to attack Terrigal, Wollongong and Bondi this weekend.

A Cronulla resident, Cameron Johnston, said he had received about three or four texts a day.

“You are getting text messages from people you don’t even know,” he said. “The next day I would ring the number and it was disconnected. [I have] no idea where it came from. I don’t know where they’re getting my number.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said a 36-person taskforce was investigating the use of mobile phones and could order arrests of those who had incited violence.

Under the Commonwealth criminal code, anyone who uses phones to threaten, menace or offend another person can be jailed for up to two years. The law can be applied by NSW police.

A legal expert said anyone who sent messages inciting racial violence, wore T-shirts with offensive slogans (one that read “Mahommid [sic] was a camel f—ing faggot” was worn at Cronulla) or sang Waltzing Matilda in malicious contexts, which also happened in the Cronulla riots, could be prosecuted under the Federal Government’s new sedition laws.

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C L O S E R – Race, Religion, Culture & ethnicity

Posted on December 12th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The (continuing) riots in Australia sparkle a debate about the relation between these riots and Race, religion and culture & ethnicity.

According to PM Howard Australians are not racists.

Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned,” he said. “Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics.”

But he said the riots were primarily a “law and order issue”.

“I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist.”

But the Premier, Morris Iemma, condemned the weekend riots as “un-Australian”. “What it showed on the weekend was the ugly face of racism in this country,” he said.

“There is no way this disgraceful behaviour will be tolerated anywhere, not in Cronulla, not in Maroubra , not anywhere.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said there appeared to have been an element of white supremacists inciting the weekend violence, and that their attitudes had no place in mainstream Australian society.

According to others such as Aussie News & Views it is religion (ic Islam):

“The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels”

Interesting to see that that also means the attacks are not framed as attacks but as ‘protests‘ Also the role of the mosque is interesting there, with a call for prayer (in the whole article no mention is made of prayer though, only of rumours; a nice example of framing the conflict. Also the ‘protests’ (yes i can play with words as well) of the Muslims are framed as attacks

Nadia Jamal blames ‘culture’ instead of religion but also pays attention to the process of framing:

The search is on for answers. For their part, Muslims need to ask themselves why so many young Muslim men, not Muslim women, have problems; why some men of Australian Lebanese Muslim background seem to be so aggressive and violent.

This might have something to do with the double standards that have taken hold in some Muslim households. There are different rules for boys and girls, especially when it comes to discipline. Anyone who denies this is kidding themselves. The boys are allowed to get away with things their sisters would not. This has everything to do with culture and patriarchal attitude, and nothing to do with religion.

The lack of ambition among some of these men seems to be growing. One teacher who taught in a high school in Sydney’s south-west whose pupils were mostly Arabic-speaking could not understand why some boys wanted to do work experience at McDonald’s, rather than setting their sights higher. There is nothing wrong with working at McDonald’s, but if you can’t see more for yourself at 15, then when can you? And it’s even sadder for the families who came to Australia to give their children a better life.

There are no simple answers to these problems – yet the answers should be so simple. Violence is violence and racism is racism.

Sydney’s young Arab men have had much to deal with. Little has been done to address the emotional and psychological impact Sydney’s gang rapes and recent terrorist bombings around the globe have had on the great majority of decent, innocent Muslim men. Many are treated with suspicion by the broader community because of the way they look and some have been unjustly labelled “rapists” and “terrorists”.

Then there are the inconsistent positions taken by the media and politicians on ethnic descriptions. Middle Eastern can mean anyone from an Aborigine to an Italian. Arab or Middle Eastern always seems to mean Lebanese and Lebanese automatically means Muslim, but most Muslims don’t speak Arabic and more Lebanese are Christian than Muslim.

When a Sydney man was found guilty last week of murdering his girlfriend and stuffing her body into a cricket bag, no one described him as being anything but a Sydney man who had murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her body into a cricket bag. The same is true for the man charged with the attempted murder of teenager Lauren Huxley.

None of this is an excuse for criminal behaviour. But why is it that when men of Middle Eastern background get together, they are described as “gangs”, and when men of Anglo-Celtic background gather they are “groups of people” or “mobs”?

When things go wrong, every Muslim is left to pick up the pieces. So the next time you ask a Muslim to explain another Muslim’s actions, remember that they are not politicians or religious scholars. And they are tired of being told that they need to stand up every time some idiot who claims to share their religion commits a crime. They should not be expected to apologise for the actions of every Muslim who does something wrong in the world. This does not mean that they are being silent to those wrongs but, like everybody else, they want to get on with their lives and leave the politics to the politicians and the religion to the scholars.

Some people warn things will worsen before they get better. I just want things to get better – and they will, with goodwill on all sides.

Andrew West disagrees and insists on focusing on (certain forms of) Islam and has some interesting points to think about:

Australia does not have a race relations problem. We have a clash of cultures and that’s a big difference — and maybe the problem is certain forms of Islam.

Of course, the marauding boneheads who rampaged through Cronulla on Sunday don’t make this distinction. If they did, perhaps they would realise that when they screech “Lebs out” they are also referring to the majority of Lebanese Australians who are Maronite Christians, in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The problem is not the blood that runs through people’s veins. Any form of discrimination based on race or ethnicity — based on the colour of one’s skin or hair or eyes — is inherently immoral, illogical and evil.

But culture and religion are behavioural. They involve values.

People can be born into a particular culture or religion but sooner or later they reach an age of reason where they can embrace or reject their precepts. And if people freely embrace a culture that is antithetical to the prevailing social mores — in our case, I would hope, liberal, enlightenment values — then we are entitled to judge, object, censure and even discriminate.

Which brings us to this extremely prickly issue of radical Islam.

My colleague on this paper, Nadia Jamal, has mounted a strong and sophisticated argument that the issue is not religion but culture, specifically the patriarchal culture that prevails in many traditional Muslim households. This is a good point but I think it diplomatically sidesteps the fact that some strains of Islam — most obviously the strict, puritanical and downright fanatical Wahhabism — do, indeed, sanction attitudes and behaviour that are not simply patriarchal but repressive. I’m sorry, but to this extent, this particular brand of Islam is most definitely the problem.

When groups of young Muslim men stalk the beaches of Sydney making sexually threatening comments against women in bathing costumes, as they indisputably do; and when they believe they act with the license of a sheik who claims that such women are responsible for their own sexual violation, then I do blame, in part, their religion.

Some multicultural theorists will squawk and say that I prefer only a soft multiculturalism (if they insist on calling it that) that does not offend western liberal values. They would be spot on. My acceptance ends when the assault on the liberality of society itself begins.

None of this erases the points I made yesterday, condemning the lynch-mob mentality of the Cronulla crowds, boozed up, in their thousands, chasing down lone Lebanese teenagers.

But I do accept the need for a debate about cultural, rather than ethnic, compatibility — because the two are not the same.

Enough to think about for the people down under.

0 comments.

C L O S E R – Race, Religion, Culture & ethnicity

Posted on December 12th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

The (continuing) riots in Australia sparkle a debate about the relation between these riots and Race, religion and culture & ethnicity.

According to PM Howard Australians are not racists.

Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned,” he said. “Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics.”

But he said the riots were primarily a “law and order issue”.

“I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist.”

But the Premier, Morris Iemma, condemned the weekend riots as “un-Australian”. “What it showed on the weekend was the ugly face of racism in this country,” he said.

“There is no way this disgraceful behaviour will be tolerated anywhere, not in Cronulla, not in Maroubra , not anywhere.”

The Minister for Police, Carl Scully, said there appeared to have been an element of white supremacists inciting the weekend violence, and that their attitudes had no place in mainstream Australian society.

According to others such as Aussie News & Views it is religion (ic Islam):

“The chief weapon in the quiver of all Islamist expansionist movements, is the absolute necessity to keep victims largely unaware of the actual theology plotting their demise. To complete this deception, a large body of ‘moderates’ continue to spew such ridiculous claims as “Islam means Peace” thereby keeping non-Muslims from actually reading the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, or actually looking into the past 1400 years of history. Islamists also deny or dismiss the concept of ‘abrogation’, which is the universal intra-Islamic method of replacing slightly more tolerable aspects of the religion in favor of more violent demands for Muslims to slay and subdue infidels”

Interesting to see that that also means the attacks are not framed as attacks but as ‘protests‘ Also the role of the mosque is interesting there, with a call for prayer (in the whole article no mention is made of prayer though, only of rumours; a nice example of framing the conflict. Also the ‘protests’ (yes i can play with words as well) of the Muslims are framed as attacks

Nadia Jamal blames ‘culture’ instead of religion but also pays attention to the process of framing:

The search is on for answers. For their part, Muslims need to ask themselves why so many young Muslim men, not Muslim women, have problems; why some men of Australian Lebanese Muslim background seem to be so aggressive and violent.

This might have something to do with the double standards that have taken hold in some Muslim households. There are different rules for boys and girls, especially when it comes to discipline. Anyone who denies this is kidding themselves. The boys are allowed to get away with things their sisters would not. This has everything to do with culture and patriarchal attitude, and nothing to do with religion.

The lack of ambition among some of these men seems to be growing. One teacher who taught in a high school in Sydney’s south-west whose pupils were mostly Arabic-speaking could not understand why some boys wanted to do work experience at McDonald’s, rather than setting their sights higher. There is nothing wrong with working at McDonald’s, but if you can’t see more for yourself at 15, then when can you? And it’s even sadder for the families who came to Australia to give their children a better life.

There are no simple answers to these problems – yet the answers should be so simple. Violence is violence and racism is racism.

Sydney’s young Arab men have had much to deal with. Little has been done to address the emotional and psychological impact Sydney’s gang rapes and recent terrorist bombings around the globe have had on the great majority of decent, innocent Muslim men. Many are treated with suspicion by the broader community because of the way they look and some have been unjustly labelled “rapists” and “terrorists”.

Then there are the inconsistent positions taken by the media and politicians on ethnic descriptions. Middle Eastern can mean anyone from an Aborigine to an Italian. Arab or Middle Eastern always seems to mean Lebanese and Lebanese automatically means Muslim, but most Muslims don’t speak Arabic and more Lebanese are Christian than Muslim.

When a Sydney man was found guilty last week of murdering his girlfriend and stuffing her body into a cricket bag, no one described him as being anything but a Sydney man who had murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her body into a cricket bag. The same is true for the man charged with the attempted murder of teenager Lauren Huxley.

None of this is an excuse for criminal behaviour. But why is it that when men of Middle Eastern background get together, they are described as “gangs”, and when men of Anglo-Celtic background gather they are “groups of people” or “mobs”?

When things go wrong, every Muslim is left to pick up the pieces. So the next time you ask a Muslim to explain another Muslim’s actions, remember that they are not politicians or religious scholars. And they are tired of being told that they need to stand up every time some idiot who claims to share their religion commits a crime. They should not be expected to apologise for the actions of every Muslim who does something wrong in the world. This does not mean that they are being silent to those wrongs but, like everybody else, they want to get on with their lives and leave the politics to the politicians and the religion to the scholars.

Some people warn things will worsen before they get better. I just want things to get better – and they will, with goodwill on all sides.

Andrew West disagrees and insists on focusing on (certain forms of) Islam and has some interesting points to think about:

Australia does not have a race relations problem. We have a clash of cultures and that’s a big difference — and maybe the problem is certain forms of Islam.

Of course, the marauding boneheads who rampaged through Cronulla on Sunday don’t make this distinction. If they did, perhaps they would realise that when they screech “Lebs out” they are also referring to the majority of Lebanese Australians who are Maronite Christians, in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The problem is not the blood that runs through people’s veins. Any form of discrimination based on race or ethnicity — based on the colour of one’s skin or hair or eyes — is inherently immoral, illogical and evil.

But culture and religion are behavioural. They involve values.

People can be born into a particular culture or religion but sooner or later they reach an age of reason where they can embrace or reject their precepts. And if people freely embrace a culture that is antithetical to the prevailing social mores — in our case, I would hope, liberal, enlightenment values — then we are entitled to judge, object, censure and even discriminate.

Which brings us to this extremely prickly issue of radical Islam.

My colleague on this paper, Nadia Jamal, has mounted a strong and sophisticated argument that the issue is not religion but culture, specifically the patriarchal culture that prevails in many traditional Muslim households. This is a good point but I think it diplomatically sidesteps the fact that some strains of Islam — most obviously the strict, puritanical and downright fanatical Wahhabism — do, indeed, sanction attitudes and behaviour that are not simply patriarchal but repressive. I’m sorry, but to this extent, this particular brand of Islam is most definitely the problem.

When groups of young Muslim men stalk the beaches of Sydney making sexually threatening comments against women in bathing costumes, as they indisputably do; and when they believe they act with the license of a sheik who claims that such women are responsible for their own sexual violation, then I do blame, in part, their religion.

Some multicultural theorists will squawk and say that I prefer only a soft multiculturalism (if they insist on calling it that) that does not offend western liberal values. They would be spot on. My acceptance ends when the assault on the liberality of society itself begins.

None of this erases the points I made yesterday, condemning the lynch-mob mentality of the Cronulla crowds, boozed up, in their thousands, chasing down lone Lebanese teenagers.

But I do accept the need for a debate about cultural, rather than ethnic, compatibility — because the two are not the same.

Enough to think about for the people down under.

0 comments.

Race riots spread to suburbs – National – smh.com.au

Posted on December 11th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

In the Sydney Morning Herald extensive coverage of the Autralian race ‘riots’ between ‘Aussies’ and ‘Lebs’ (Lebanese and other foreigners).

Race riots spread to suburbs – National – smh.com.au

RACIAL violence erupted in several Sydney suburbs last night in retaliation for a rampage by thousands of young residents through Cronulla that turned the seaside suburb into a battlefield.

Political, community and religious leaders joined stunned locals to condemn an afternoon of violence by a crowd that turned on people of Middle Eastern appearance and those trying to protect them, with police and ambulance officers also attacked.

As the violence spread, police cars raced through Sydney streets from Cronulla to Miranda, Brighton-le-Sands, Rockdale, Maroubra, Woolooware and Tempe. Police said they had received reports of firearms being “flashed” threateningly but not discharged. “So far we have had no one shot,” an officer said.

A 23-year-old man was in St George Hospital in a serious condition after a fight in Woolooware about 10.25pm. A radio report said he had a knife embedded in his back. Police said the man was with friends when he had an altercation outside a golf club with a “group of males of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance”.

The violence followed a week of simmering tension after an attack the previous Sunday on two lifesavers. Appeals by text message for “Aussies” to descend on the beach to reclaim it drew a crowd estimated at 5000 people, but a carnival atmosphere in the morning gave way to an ugly mood as a hard core of about 200 turned violent. Thousands chanted them on.

The trouble began with scuffles about midday. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area, a man on the back of a utility began to shout “No more Lebs” – a chant picked up by the group around him. Others in the crowd yelled “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie … Oi, Oi, Oi”. Members of the mob set upon their prey with fists, feet, flags and beer bottles. Two paramedics were injured as they tried to get victims out of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, where they had fled to escape the rioters. One of the women had fled into the clubhouse for safety after her headscarf was ripped off.

An account of the events on the streets and Cronulla beach is also given: Thugs ruled the streets, and the mob sang Waltzing Matilda

A BARE-CHESTED youth in Quiksilver boardshorts tore the headscarf off the girl’s head as she slithered down the Cronulla dune seeking safety on the beach from a thousand-strong baying mob.

Up on the road, Marcus “Carcass” Butcher, 28, a builder from Penrith, wearing workboots, war-camouflage shorts and black singlet bearing the words “Mahommid was a camel f—ing faggot” raised both arms to the sky. “F— off, Leb,” he cried victoriously.

It was one last act of cowardly violence on a sad and shameful day that began as a beach party celebrating a kind of perverted nationalism that was gatecrashed by racism.

A crowd of at least 5000 – overwhelmingly under 25 – took over Cronulla’s foreshore and beachside streets. Police were powerless as 200-odd ringleaders, many clutching bottles or cans of beer and smoking marijuana, led assaults on individuals and small groups of Lebanese Australians who risked an appearance during the six-hour protest.
Cronulla was possibly Australia’s biggest racist protest since vigilante miners killed two Chinese at Lambing Flat in 1860.

Yesterday’s violence had been brewing for months. It came to a head last weekend when some Lebanese Australian men attacked members of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club after they asked the visitors to stop playing soccer because it was disturbing other beach users.

“Steely” – who did not want to identify himself “for fear the Lebs will come and shoot up my joint during the week” – said his children had been scared by Lebanese Australians coming in from the western suburbs.

“I’ve got a four-year-old girl and a boy who’s 11, and they see these bastards come here and stand around the sea baths ‘cos their women have got to swim in clothes and stuff, or they see them saying filthy things to our girls,” he said. “That’s not Australian. My granddad fought the Japs to see Australia safe from this sort of shit, and that’s what I’m doing today.”

The word went out last week that the Shire boys would not take it lying down any more. Yesterday was shaping as a giant clash if Lebanese Australians came to run the gauntlet.

Chairman of the Community Relations Commission and President of the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW responds in SMH: Worst possible outcome – vigilantes rip unity to shreds

Forget race and bring all criminals to justice, writes Stepan Kerkyasharian.
AdvertisementAdvertisement

YESTERDAY we witnessed a sight that I thought we would never see in Australia.

A few years ago Australians of all backgrounds – indigenous, Muslim, Asian, European – united to display national pride, Australian pride, to put on the best ever Olympics.

A few weeks ago tens of thousands of people, young and old, combined to help our Socceroos ride the wave to the World Cup. Those Australians were, again, of all backgrounds. Young girls wearing the Islamic hijab were proudly displaying green and gold.

And then at North Cronulla beach we had a bunch of thugs bashing that great symbol of Australian devotion to their countrymen, surf lifesavers.

It is sad that these thugs appear to be more or less of the same ethnic background, or are perceived to be, because that causes pain to the hundreds of thousands of people of that background who live and work peacefully. That community’s leaders condemn the actions of these young thugs just as the rest of us do. Yesterday, as if on cue, people took this opportunity to reclaim territory – whatever that means.

SMH links the troubles to a major question in Australia’s identity politics: Ethnic tension troubling the whole neighbourhood

WHILE Sydney grapples with a problem of ethnic identity on the beach at Cronulla, Australia has resolved the most significant question of its international identity in a conference room in Malaysia.

For decades, Australia has been asked whether it is a Western nation or an Asian nation.

When John Howard flies into Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to represent Australia at the inaugural East Asia Summit of 16 nations, he will be providing the answer.

Australia is Western – and Asian.

An account of Mustafa one of the victims of the riots: A day at the beach becomes a nightmare

The Lebanese were too scared to come to Cronulla today, “and that’s why there is so few of us. The Lebanese did not come because there were too many pigs. Today the beach might be theirs. Tomorrow it will be ours.”

The trouble had started earlier in the afternoon when a Lebanese youth and his girlfriend were walking along the North Cronulla beachfront.

According to their account, two girls turned around and screamed “Lebanese get off our f—ing beaches”.

Mustafa said “at that point the whole street turned on us”.

As usual is the case with events like this, most local people don’t want this mess: Locals talk of fear and disgust after violence of bloody Sunday

STUNNED by the racist rampage in their suburb, Cronulla residents have condemned the violence perpetrated by local youths, saying they felt shamed, saddened and disgusted.

A long-time beachfront resident, Jeanie, said she would be moving her family to live with a son in Thirroul for a few days until the violence abated. Like many residents the Herald spoke to she would not give her surname for fear of reprisal.

“It’s a sad day for Cronulla and a sad day for Australia when the locals are behaving like pack animals,” she said.

“It’s absolutely disgusting, and I don’t want to live here any more. I’ve made arrangements to get out of town because it’s not safe any more. This isn’t how I want to live, like I’m in Beirut. The local surfers are boozed up and behaving just as bad as the Lebanese gangs.”

One outsider in the crowd, who would only give his name as Tony, wore a T-shirt that read on the front, “I’m ashamed to be an Australian in Cronulla”, and on the back, “December 11, a day of racism”. Tony, from Caringbah, said: “I know people who are saying that this is enough, they don’t want to live here any more [and] I can’t blame them.”

0 comments.

Protected: NRC Handelsblad – Een verlichte ayatollah

Posted on December 10th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Geenstijl.nl – Bukken voor Jabri

Posted on December 10th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Hij kan het wel die Jabri. Zijn interview met Simek is velen opgevallen en ik heb het ook beluisterd. Heren, het ging werkelijk nergens over. Simek kan beter en Jabri ook. Onderstaand is zijn reactie op Geenstijl.nl op alle commotie. Het is niet zo lang. Je hebt het binnen vijf minuten gelezen en gelijk meer inhoud tot je genomen dan met dat hele interview. Ook leuk voor de jongens (en meisjes?) van Geenstijl.nl; hebben ze ook nog eens wat inhoudelijks:
Geenstijl.nl – Bukken voor Jabri

Op verzoek een gastcolumn, naar aanleiding van alle sensatie die op GeenStijl veroorzaakt is door het interview dat ik had met die gestoorde Tsjech met dat overdreven gecultiveerd accentje. Ik kreeg van vrienden een link die verwees naar meer dan 500 reacties op dat interview, op GeenStijl.nl. Hebben jullie geen leven ofzo? Maar goed, hier gaat ie.

Tussen de vele, typische “Nederland-hatende kutMarokkaan”-reacties zag ik hier en daar toch een lichtpuntje. Er waren mensen die wel doorhadden wat ik deed bij de Ivan Lendl-wannabee van de radio. Maar voor degenen die het intellect niet bezitten om dat te zien, zal ik het zelf maar even duidelijk maken.
(more…)

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Protected: AD.nl – Fawaz: ‘Alleen vrije imam heeft invloed op radicaliserende jeugd’

Posted on December 9th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: AD.nl – Fawaz: 'Alleen vrije imam heeft invloed op radicaliserende jeugd'

Posted on December 9th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: AD.nl – Imam laat zich niet muilkorven

Posted on December 9th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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The New Yorker – Fact Letters from Kashmir: After the earthquake, some strange new alliances

Posted on December 3rd, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The New Yorker: After the earthquake, some strange new alliances.

FAULT LINES
by STEVE COLL
After the earthquake, some strange new alliances.

In Muzaffarabad, I found the main Jamaat ud-Dawa camp on the west bank of the Neelum River, in a part of the city that had been severely damaged. Mohammed Khalid, the youthful chief of the group’s regional media committee, welcomed me into a tent strewn with carpets and cushions. He had a soft beard that fell far below his chin. Unlike the Army, the group had mobilized quickly after the quake, and I asked how it had done so. “We had a seminary here, with two hundred students, and a hospital,” he said. “The hospital crumbled. We then dug out medicines, and doctors started working within thirty minutes.” The students handed out food and set up a generator. “It was all darkness and dust,” he said. “People saw the light and they started coming, and that was where our work really began.” By now, Khalid said, Jamaat ud-Dawa had about three thousand volunteers throughout the area struck by the earthquake.

The camp in Muzaffarabad covered about ten acres. In one tent, doctors set broken bones, and in a metal shipping container with power delivered by a generator, surgeons from Karachi and Lahore had assembled an operating theatre with an oxygen machine and medical monitoring equipment. Altogether, Khalid said, his group had brought dozens of doctors to Azad Kashmir, and they were seeing between seven hundred and eight hundred patients a day. When I asked if it bothered him that the American government had branded his group, or its predecessor, a terrorist organization, he said, “If you accuse someone, that doesn’t mean it’s true. I would invite the American doctors and medical staff to come and join us. Our doors are open. . . . Any American kid or boy can come work with us. They are most welcome.”

(more…)

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Expatica’s Imam told to behave or leave

Posted on December 3rd, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Expatica’s Dutch news in English: Dutch news in brief, 2 December 2005
Imam told to behave or leave

Hague Mayor Wim Deetman told Imam Sheich Fawaz of the As Soennah mosque in the city to moderate his views or leave the country, the cleric claimed on the mosque’s website on Friday. A spokesman for Deetman confirmed a meeting had taken place, but declined to comment further. Fawaz said Deetman was unhappy about his comments on the internet in relation to Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali. He wrote that the MP who criticises aspects of Islam would be “blown away by the winds of changing times”. Hirsi Ali took this as a threat but the prosecution service said the imam had not committed any crime. Hirsi Ali has received several death threats due to her views.

Reaction from the imam (in Dutch):

Vrijheid en het vrije woord!

Nieuwsrubriek

Op donderdag 01 december 2005 om 09:40 uur had ik op het Haagse stadhuis een afspraak voor een gesprek met burgemeester Deetman. Ik werd voor dit gesprek telefonisch uitgenodigd via een medewerkster van het stadhuis. Voor deze uitnodiging had zij op dinsdag jl. contact opgenomen met Moskee As-soennah. Samen met een tolk werden wij door de burgemeester en de wethouder Piere Heijnen ontvangen. Bij aankomst had ik nog geen enig besef van de aanleiding voor het gesprek, maar kort na de aanvang van het gesprek werd mij al duidelijk dat dit gesprek geen tactvolle en humane karakter zou krijgen. Want toen ik iets wilde vertellen betreffende de verdwijning van de drie Haagse jongens en mijn standpunt betreffende radicalisme bekend wilde maken, werd ik onverwachts uitgesnauwd en voor leugenaar uitgemaakt. Toen drong het tot mij door dat dit een terechtstelling was waarbij Deetman de aanklager, de rechter en de beul was. Zelfs de tolk werd het zwijgen opgelegd; hij mocht aanvankelijk geen van de woorden van de burgemeester voor mij vertalen. Het was echter niet al te moeilijk voor mij om bepaalde waarschuwende en bedreigende uitspraken van de burgemeester te begrijpen, vooral omdat deze gepaard gingen met een steeds in mijn richting wijzende wijsvinger en een steeds harder wordende toon. De burgemeester wilde de volgende boodschap overbrengen: ,,Je houdt je mond, anders dwingen wij je wel op onze eigen manier tot zwijgen.” Het behoefde ook geen vertaler toen de burgermeester met zijn linkerhand langs zijn rechterschouder naar de deur wees en mij herhaaldelijk vroeg te vertrekken naar mijn ‘eigen land’ als ik mijn houding niet zou willen veranderen of toen hij vrij stellig aangaf dat dit het ‘laatste gesprek’ met hem zou zijn en dat er in de toekomst ‘andere maatregelen’ tegen mij zouden worden genomen. Bang nog bevreesd was ik, wel enigszins verrast door het optreden van de burgervader. Hij zei dat mijn preken ‘deels duivels’ zijn en dat hij ‘actie zou ondernemen’ tegen mij. Vlak voor het einde van ons halfuurdurende gesprek zei ik dat ik enig begrip kon opbrengen voor zijn betoog en zijn bezorgdheid betreffende onze samenleving, maar vroeg hem: ,,Heeft u zulk een gesprek ook met Hirsi Ali gevoerd die de moslims steeds provoceert met haar uitlatingen?” Het antwoord op deze vraag kwam dit keer van de wethouder Piere Heijnen. Hij zei dat Hirsi Ali een parlementslid is en dat ik ‘niet het recht heb’ om haar woorden te weerleggen. Op dat moment keek burgemeester Deetman stilzwijgend toe. Toen kreeg ik het gevoel alsof de geldende wetten in Nederland niet voor iedereen zouden zijn bedoeld (in ieder geval niet voor mij) en dat de vrijheid van meningsuiting voor mij niet was weggelegd. Maar wat dit betreft laat ik het woord aan de gespecialiseerde juristen om zich erover te uiten als ze dat wensen!

Toen gaf ik aan ten overstaan van beide gemeentebestuurders dat ik beloof conform de wet mijn strijd te zullen voortzetten tegen eenieder die leugens over de Islam verspreidt. Met deze woorden van mij kwam dan ook een einde aan dit gesprek met de burgemeester.

Op grond van het voorgaande en omdat ik dit soort chantage, vernedering, bedreiging, valse beschuldigingen en verdenking van leugens verwerp, omdat ik weiger een slaaf te zijn voor een ander dan Allah en omdat ik nimmer zal accepteren dat wie dan ook onder welke omstandigheden dan ook mij enige religieuze overtuigingen dicteert, heb ik het bestuur van Moskee As-Soennah voorgesteld om te stoppen met mijn vrijdagpreken. De broeders hebben mijn voorstel echter meteen verworpen en hebben mij gevraagd om mijn werk voort te zetten, omdat zijzelf daar geen aanleiding voor zien.

Ter voorkoming van enige vorm van beschuldiging aan mijn adres door welke persoon dan ook die mij zodoende in verband zou willen brengen met welke vorm van extremisme en/of terrorisme dan ook, wil ik nog het volgende vertellen:

1- Hierbij laat ik de Verhevene Allah getuigen dat ik terrorisme –vooral in Nederland- verboden verklaar.

2- Hierbij verwerp ik het gebruik van geweld en/of (be)dreiging tegen mensen die hun eigen mening en/of persoonlijke overtuiging verkondigen.

3- Hierbij verwerp ik het ronselen van de moslimjongeren in Nederland om ze te sturen naar welke plaats dan ook in de wereld, en ik zoek toevlucht tot Allah en neem afstand van eenieder die dat doet.

4- Wie mij van maar iets daarvan beschuldigt, nu ik (hierbij) mijn standpunten duidelijk heb gemaakt, hem moge de vloek van Allah en de Engelen en de hele mensheid treffen.

5- Bovendien wil ik hierbij alle soorten media mededelen dat ik niet bereid zal zijn om hen te woord te staan zonder juridische garanties vooraf, nu de bovengenoemde wethouder zulke een uitspraak heeft gedaan. Mijn excuses hiervoor!

Sheich Fawaz Jneid

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Expatica's Imam told to behave or leave

Posted on December 3rd, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Expatica’s Dutch news in English: Dutch news in brief, 2 December 2005
Imam told to behave or leave

Hague Mayor Wim Deetman told Imam Sheich Fawaz of the As Soennah mosque in the city to moderate his views or leave the country, the cleric claimed on the mosque’s website on Friday. A spokesman for Deetman confirmed a meeting had taken place, but declined to comment further. Fawaz said Deetman was unhappy about his comments on the internet in relation to Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali. He wrote that the MP who criticises aspects of Islam would be “blown away by the winds of changing times”. Hirsi Ali took this as a threat but the prosecution service said the imam had not committed any crime. Hirsi Ali has received several death threats due to her views.

Reaction from the imam (in Dutch):

Vrijheid en het vrije woord!

Nieuwsrubriek

Op donderdag 01 december 2005 om 09:40 uur had ik op het Haagse stadhuis een afspraak voor een gesprek met burgemeester Deetman. Ik werd voor dit gesprek telefonisch uitgenodigd via een medewerkster van het stadhuis. Voor deze uitnodiging had zij op dinsdag jl. contact opgenomen met Moskee As-soennah. Samen met een tolk werden wij door de burgemeester en de wethouder Piere Heijnen ontvangen. Bij aankomst had ik nog geen enig besef van de aanleiding voor het gesprek, maar kort na de aanvang van het gesprek werd mij al duidelijk dat dit gesprek geen tactvolle en humane karakter zou krijgen. Want toen ik iets wilde vertellen betreffende de verdwijning van de drie Haagse jongens en mijn standpunt betreffende radicalisme bekend wilde maken, werd ik onverwachts uitgesnauwd en voor leugenaar uitgemaakt. Toen drong het tot mij door dat dit een terechtstelling was waarbij Deetman de aanklager, de rechter en de beul was. Zelfs de tolk werd het zwijgen opgelegd; hij mocht aanvankelijk geen van de woorden van de burgemeester voor mij vertalen. Het was echter niet al te moeilijk voor mij om bepaalde waarschuwende en bedreigende uitspraken van de burgemeester te begrijpen, vooral omdat deze gepaard gingen met een steeds in mijn richting wijzende wijsvinger en een steeds harder wordende toon. De burgemeester wilde de volgende boodschap overbrengen: ,,Je houdt je mond, anders dwingen wij je wel op onze eigen manier tot zwijgen.” Het behoefde ook geen vertaler toen de burgermeester met zijn linkerhand langs zijn rechterschouder naar de deur wees en mij herhaaldelijk vroeg te vertrekken naar mijn ‘eigen land’ als ik mijn houding niet zou willen veranderen of toen hij vrij stellig aangaf dat dit het ‘laatste gesprek’ met hem zou zijn en dat er in de toekomst ‘andere maatregelen’ tegen mij zouden worden genomen. Bang nog bevreesd was ik, wel enigszins verrast door het optreden van de burgervader. Hij zei dat mijn preken ‘deels duivels’ zijn en dat hij ‘actie zou ondernemen’ tegen mij. Vlak voor het einde van ons halfuurdurende gesprek zei ik dat ik enig begrip kon opbrengen voor zijn betoog en zijn bezorgdheid betreffende onze samenleving, maar vroeg hem: ,,Heeft u zulk een gesprek ook met Hirsi Ali gevoerd die de moslims steeds provoceert met haar uitlatingen?” Het antwoord op deze vraag kwam dit keer van de wethouder Piere Heijnen. Hij zei dat Hirsi Ali een parlementslid is en dat ik ‘niet het recht heb’ om haar woorden te weerleggen. Op dat moment keek burgemeester Deetman stilzwijgend toe. Toen kreeg ik het gevoel alsof de geldende wetten in Nederland niet voor iedereen zouden zijn bedoeld (in ieder geval niet voor mij) en dat de vrijheid van meningsuiting voor mij niet was weggelegd. Maar wat dit betreft laat ik het woord aan de gespecialiseerde juristen om zich erover te uiten als ze dat wensen!

Toen gaf ik aan ten overstaan van beide gemeentebestuurders dat ik beloof conform de wet mijn strijd te zullen voortzetten tegen eenieder die leugens over de Islam verspreidt. Met deze woorden van mij kwam dan ook een einde aan dit gesprek met de burgemeester.

Op grond van het voorgaande en omdat ik dit soort chantage, vernedering, bedreiging, valse beschuldigingen en verdenking van leugens verwerp, omdat ik weiger een slaaf te zijn voor een ander dan Allah en omdat ik nimmer zal accepteren dat wie dan ook onder welke omstandigheden dan ook mij enige religieuze overtuigingen dicteert, heb ik het bestuur van Moskee As-Soennah voorgesteld om te stoppen met mijn vrijdagpreken. De broeders hebben mijn voorstel echter meteen verworpen en hebben mij gevraagd om mijn werk voort te zetten, omdat zijzelf daar geen aanleiding voor zien.

Ter voorkoming van enige vorm van beschuldiging aan mijn adres door welke persoon dan ook die mij zodoende in verband zou willen brengen met welke vorm van extremisme en/of terrorisme dan ook, wil ik nog het volgende vertellen:

1- Hierbij laat ik de Verhevene Allah getuigen dat ik terrorisme –vooral in Nederland- verboden verklaar.

2- Hierbij verwerp ik het gebruik van geweld en/of (be)dreiging tegen mensen die hun eigen mening en/of persoonlijke overtuiging verkondigen.

3- Hierbij verwerp ik het ronselen van de moslimjongeren in Nederland om ze te sturen naar welke plaats dan ook in de wereld, en ik zoek toevlucht tot Allah en neem afstand van eenieder die dat doet.

4- Wie mij van maar iets daarvan beschuldigt, nu ik (hierbij) mijn standpunten duidelijk heb gemaakt, hem moge de vloek van Allah en de Engelen en de hele mensheid treffen.

5- Bovendien wil ik hierbij alle soorten media mededelen dat ik niet bereid zal zijn om hen te woord te staan zonder juridische garanties vooraf, nu de bovengenoemde wethouder zulke een uitspraak heeft gedaan. Mijn excuses hiervoor!

Sheich Fawaz Jneid

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Protected: Het Noordhollands Dagblad: Politie verijdelde brand moskee

Posted on November 30th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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The Diversity of Cham Muslims: Where Indian, Chinese, Arabic, and Malaysian cultures meet

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

A nice informative story by Antonio Graceffo about Cham Muslims: The Diversity of Cham Muslims: Where Indian, Chinese, Arabic, and Malaysian cultures meet

Indochina is one of the culturally richest and most diverse locations on earth, as it is the place where Indian and Chinese cultures meet. But the Cham Muslims of Indochina are the pinnacle of diversity, as they represent the mixing of Indian, Chinese, Arabic, and Malaysian culture.

Ratanakirir Province is an unlikely location for the Cham Muslim minority, who often live on houseboats or in floating villages. Sixty-three year old Dun Lee Han, the leader of Ratanakiri’s Cham community explained how the 452 Cham families, who migrated from Kompong Cham province, began making a new life for themselves, as land-bound farmers. According to Dun Lee Han, the first Cham families arrived here ten years ago.

In lower Cambodia 70% of Cham make their living as fishermen. “The fishing just became too crowded.” He said.

Many Cham families were driven into poverty. Seeking a better life, Cham families began abandoning their traditional work, and taking advantage of the free land and fertile soil in Ratanakiri, to become cash crop farmers, growing cashews and soybeans.

Dun Lee Han, who had been a schoolteacher in Kompong Cham, was invited by the Cham community to come to the remote province and educate the Cham children. He now lives in a village of 120 Cham families, beside a large wooden mosque, which doubles as a school.

“Finally, we are building a new mosque.” He told me, proudly. The foundation for the brand new concrete structure had already been poured. “Unfortunately, it won’t be ready for the feast tomorrow.” He said sadly. Ramadan would be ending the next day, and all of the provinces 425 Cham families were expected at a grand celebration, to be held at the building site.

As a linguist, I have been particularly fascinated by the Cham. Their traditional language is an ancient derivation, originating from India. Historically, the Cham had their own writing system, which is still being used among Cham communities in Vietnam, but which has all but died out in Cambodia. Although the traditional written language used in the religion of Islam is Arabic, reforms, originating in Malaysia and Indonesia, the centers for Islamic learning in Eastern Asia, resulted in the widespread printing of Muslim texts in Malay language.

This means that a Cham Muslim student in Cambodia would be able to speak or read at least four languages Arabic, Cham, Khmer, and Malay. But the mathematics of linguistics is not so simple. The word Malay includes two separate writing systems and linguistic origins. There is Bahasa Malay, the language spoken in modern Malaysia. This language is similar to Bahasa Indonesia and the language spoken in Brunai. Bahasa utilises the Latin alphabet, and the majority of texts, which Dun Lee Han showed me were written in Bahasa Malay, with Latin script. I was also pleased to find a number of books, written in the Cham alphabet. Many reports I had read said that the Cham alphabet had completely died out in Cambodia. In fact, even the Muslim association in Phnom Penh had told me that the Cham had no writing system. But here it was a textbook, a school, and a teacher maintaining the ancient writing system, in a small village, in the middle of the jungle.

For me, it was like discovering the Rosetta stone. For not the first time on my voyage of discovery through Cambodia, I felt like Indiana Jones.

The word Malay could also mean the ancient Malay writing system, which to my untrained eye looked somewhat similar to the Indian based writing systems of Indochina, but with a strong influence from Arabic.

So, that means the Cham students were actually juggling five languages, with five alphabets. But we still aren’t finished.

Cambodian Cham don’t have a broad knowledge of the outside world. The Muslim networks of Eastern Asia are now forming, and connecting, supported by donations and teachings from both the Middle East and Malaysia. But, while Malaysian teachers and sponsors have visited the Cambodian Cham, not many Cambodians have been abroad. This further complicated my research, when I would ask Dun Lee Han specific questions about which languages and writing systems they were learning.

In both the Cham and Khmer languages, they often refer to the scholastic language of Chams as Jawei or Javei. This is the same word, which both cultures use for the island of Java, but also for the languages of Malaysia and Indonesia. For this reason, it was often very difficult to understand if the students were learning Bahasa or ancient Malaysian. Interestingly, Dun Lee Han didn’t seem to recognise the name Bahasa. He just kept repeating “Javei, Javei.”

To have students learning a language, but not knowing the origin, or even the proper name of the language raised a number of troubling questions. To what extent could the young, Cham students understand their Kranic lessons, or any other message brought to them by outside teachers? The Chams are an Islamic people surrounded by Buddhists and animists, isolated by both their language and their culture, even less of the global world is reaching Cham communities. Illiteracy rates are high among Chams, many of whom have little or no access toschools, living in floating villages. With the exception to those clustered around Phnom Penh, most Cham don’t have access to the internet or even TV.

In Muslim circles, throughout Asia, the Cambodian Cham have been viewed as either a cowboy Muslim sect, making their own rules, or as a long lost cousin, in need of education and aid. Cambodia’s Cham community is divided into a number of groups, each following their own separate version of Islam, which, understandably, varies greatly from standards in other countries. The more orthodox groups tend to pray several times per day, and keep as closely as they can to Koranic teachings. Others have maintained many of their animist beliefs, and pray only on Fridays. One group doesn’t even refer to themselves as Cham. They are called Khmer Islam. They have Khmer names and speak Khmer language. But they are Muslim. Further, according to my research, five percent of Cambodian Cham did not convert to Islam, and have retained their Hindu religion.

Abdul Hamid, an ancient Imam, sporting a grey beard, and dressed in a long white gown and head covering, explained the religious teachings in the Cham community.

“There are four kinds of Islam.” He began. “Sunni, Sofi, Maliki, Hambali, and Hamani. But we Cham don’t choose just one way. All ways lead to Allah.”

“Islam here is different from other places,” continued Abdul Hamid. “We don’t teach politics. We don’t want to kill anyone.”

Although I was always politely, even kindly, received by Muslims in South East Asia, I believe that on some level there was a certain distrust of Americans. With my close-cropped hair and big shoulders, there is often suspicion that I am a soldier or some type of government agent. As a result, when it comes to questions about religious doctrine, people often go way out of their way to convince me that they are not Jihadists or terrorists. As I am always grateful for the help the Muslim people give me in my research of language and culture, I am willing to tolerate the long dissertations on peace and anti-terror. I am particularly sympathetic of the Cham, who are a poor, simple people, who would be content to be left alone, in their fishing communities, untouched by the outside world.

“I can’t kill anyone.” Said Abdul Hamid, “Because I follow Islam. The people who are doing the killing are not obeying Islam. They use Islam to support their actions. Islam means being a good person, who doesn’t want to kill or have problems with anyone.”

I often have the feeling that the Cham see me as a microphone to the west. And they are anxious to get their message out to the world, “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Abdul Hamid, Dun Lee Han, and I were sitting in a small house on stilts, devoid of furnishings or possessions. Even with the movement from fishing to cash crops, the Cham were still terribly poor. Cambodia only reopened to the west in 1990. As recently as the 1970s, the area where we were sitting had been saturation bombed by the US. Within a period of less than five years, the area had also served as a battlefield for not one, but two invasions by Vietnam. During the Pol Pot era, entire villages of Cham were slaughtered.

Poor, defenceless, and historically victimized, the Cham have a right to fear the outside world. Cambodia on the whole has proven time and again that it was incapable of dealing with a modern world, and has typically had bad experiences with international relations. How much more unprepared must the Cham be to deal with the larger world? And, to what extent do they understand that they had become the unwitting pawns in a global chess game, with ten times the scope and social impact of the Cold War?

The new mosque was being built with funds provided by Muslim relief organizations from both Kuwait and Malaysia. Throughout Cambodia, a Kuwaiti NGO had been building modern bathrooms in Cham villages. Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey had been supporting schools and educational programs. A large Cham school, similar to a university, had opened in Phnom Penh. Those students who excelled in a course of studies, taught in Arabic, would be offered scholarships to study in the Middle East. Others, studying in Thai would be sent to Thailand. And still others, following a program of Bahasa, would be sent to Malaysia. All paid for by foreign governments.

Dun Lee Han was very happy, because this year, he would finally be making the Haj to Mecca, sponsored by a group in Kuwait. This would be his first travel to abroad. The fear, of course, in the west, was that these donations came with a price. Foreign influence and foreign ideas would be transplanted into the Cham community, perhaps teaching a more fundamentalist brand of Islam, or even advocating terror.

From what I could gather, these fears were shared by the Cham, who, because of their desperate financial situation, had no choice but to accept the aid.

This visit to the Cham headman was the final stage in my quest to discover and understand the Khmers. In fact, a glance at my watch said that I was scheduled to fly back to Phnom Penh in less than an hour. After that, I would travel onto Hong Kong to file my stories, and then back to New York to meet my publisher.

Although they probably wouldn’t or couldn’t express it in words, the Cham seemed to know that they had become an “ism.” For outsiders, they had ceased to be individuals. And, their Muslim dress and culture symbolized an unpopular religion, associated with violence. At the same time, I had become a symbol of the warlike policies of the American government.

But for me, at least, by the end of the interview, we weren’t isms, we were Abdul Hamid, Dun Lee Han, and Antonio Graceffo, three men, who met, to share their culture and who didn’t wish harm on anyone.

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Arre moede

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Armoede toegenomen, daling verwacht in 2006 – SCP

Armoede toegenomen, daling verwacht in 2006, dat is zeg maar de conclusie van de armoedemonitor 2005.

De Volkskrant geeft behoorlijke gedetailleerde cijfers.

Armoede treft steeds meer gezinnen met kinderen, blijkt uit de monitor. Een op de acht Nederlandse kinderen groeit op in een gezin met een laag inkomen. Het gaat in totaal om 430 duizend kinderen onder de 18 jaar.

Niet-westerse allochtone Nederlanders hebben van oudsher vaker een laag inkomen dan andere Nederlanders. Hoewel de verschillen kleiner worden, is het aandeel lage inkomens bij Turken, Marokkanen en Antillianen nog steeds vier keer zo hoog. Veel zelfstandig werkende allochtonen, zoals kleine winkeliers, hebben een laag tot zeer laag inkomen.

De situatie is het minst rooskleurig onder allochtonen, met dien verstande dat dit wel verbeterd naarmate men langer hier blijft. Onder andere onder Turken en vooral onder Marokkanen is de verbetering zichtbaar. Onder ouderen is dit juist weer niet het geval.

Allochtone Nederlanders hebben altijd een gemiddeld lager inkomen gehad dan geboren Nederlanders. Dit verschil wordt kleiner, maar is nog altijd groot. Vijf jaar geleden had 33 procent procent van de niet-westerse allochtonen een inkomen onder of rond het sociaal minimum. Nu is dat 29 procent. Bij autochtone Nederlanders was het 8 procent. Dat percentage bleef gelijk.

Surinamers doen het relatief goed. Minder dan een kwart van die huishoudens heeft nu een laag inkomen. Onder Marokkanen is het 33 procent, maar dat is 5 procent beter dan vijf jaar geleden. Ook bij Turken en Antillianen nam het aandeel arme huishoudens met enkele procentpunten af.

De inkomenspositie van allochtone ouderen is slecht. Terwijl het de Nederlandse 65-plussers financieel steeds beter gaat, gebeurt bij de allochtone ouderen het omgekeerde. Veel van hen waren al voor hun pensioen arbeidsongeschikt waardoor ze geen aanvullend pensioen hebben opgebouwd. Ook krijgen velen een onvolledige AOW omdat ze geen veertig jaar in Nederland hebben gewoond.

Gemiddeld bedraagt het inkomen van niet-westerse allochtonen bijna 17 duizend euro per jaar. Voor autochtone Nederlanders is dat gemiddeld 22 duizend euro. Surinamers doen het, met gemiddeld 19 duizend euro per jaar, onder allochtonen het best.

Er wordt wisselend gedacht over de groeiende armoede, zeker als die zich langs etnische lijnen gaat manifesteren, zo blijkt uit de NRC:

De kloof tussen arm en rijk, en daarmee veelal allochtoon en autochtoon, wordt groter in Nederland.

De verschillende groepen trekken zich steeds meer terug in hun eigen scholen, opereren op een eigen deel van de arbeidsmarkt, wonen in hun eigen straten en bewegen zich binnen hun eigen sociale netwerken. Als de onderklasse blijft trouwen met een partner uit de ‘eigen groep’ worden achterstanden doorgegeven aan de volgende generatie. Zo duurt het nog lang voordat de integratie kan vorderen, zegt Latten

aar niet iedereen is zo somber als Latten. Helga de Valk bijvoorbeeld, onderzoekster bij het Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI), denkt dat het opleidingsniveau onder allochtone jongeren sneller verbetert dan Latten denkt. En scholing is een belangrijke motor voor integratie, zegt zij.

,,Latten betrekt in zijn analyse de hele allochtone groep, van 25 tot 65”, zegt De Valk. ,,En op grond daarvan zegt hij dat hij amper vooruitgang in scholing ziet met de vorige generatie. Het lijkt mij dat als je de jongere generatie van 12 tot 24 vergelijkt met de oudere, je wel degelijk een grote vooruitgang ziet. Ik zie nu al een grote sprong in opleidingsniveau van de eerste naar de tweede generatie allochtonen. Ik kan geen enkele reden bedenken waarom die trend zich niet zal voortzetten in de derde generatie.”

Volgens haar is het bovendien nog maar de vraag of het trouwen binnen de eigen groep doorzet, en dat zo dus achterstanden worden doorgegeven. ,,We zien bijvoorbeeld nu al dat het aantal importhuwelijken afneemt.” Een ontwikkeling die ook Jaco Dagevos van het Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau positief noemt, ,,omdat een daling van het aantal huwelijksmigranten positief uitwerkt op de integratie van groepen. Datzelfde hebben we gezien bij Surinamers.”

Tegelijkertijd ziet het NIDI ook steeds meer allochtone jongeren die trouwen uitstellen en langer doorleren, ook een verandering in attitude die integratie zal vergemakkelijken. Jonge allochtonen ambiëren ook veelal een lager kindertal dan hun ouders, zegt De Valk. Ook zijn de opvattingen van Marokkaanse jongens over de verdeling van taken binnen een huishouden ,,verbazingwekkend modern. Moderner dan die van veel autochtone jongens en Turkse jongens, die veelal het kostwinnersmodel als ideaal zien.” Uit onderzoek van het NIDI blijkt bovendien dat de meerderheid, ook van de Marokkaanse jongens, ongehuwd zou willen samenwonen. ,,Je moet je afvragen of ze dat dan ook straks gaan doen, maar hoe ze erover praten is in ieder geval al een trendbreuk te noemen.”

Maar je kan het ook omdraaien, zegt prof. dr. Justus Veenman, hoogleraar Economische Sociologie aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. Helpt trouwen buiten de eigen bevolkingsgroep écht bij integratie?

Maar ook op andere gebied vindt Veenman de conclusies van Latten dat de segregatie steeds verder voortschrijdt, te ver gaan. Inderdaad is het zo dat de inkomensongelijkheid in Nederland is toegenomen, zoals Latten signaleert, zegt Veenman. Maar dat komt niet vooral door trouwen binnen de eigen groep, maar doordat de witte elite meer is gaan verdienen, onder andere omdat er meer tweeverdieners zijn gekomen. Maar het komt ook doordat er bezuinigd is op de sociale zekerheid en door het steeds verder loslaten van wat ooit geleide loonpolitiek was in Nederland.

Bovendien, zo zegt Veenman, ,,de arbeidersklasse is enorm afgenomen, die omvat nog maar 8 procent van de bevolking en krimpt verder. En kijk ook eens naar de dynamiek binnen de onderklasse, zegt Veenman. Het is waar dat een kwart van de Nederlandse bevolking een keer op 95 procent van het sociaal minimum terechtkomt. ,,Dat is een grote groep”, zegt Veenman. ,,Maar negentig procent daarvan weet daar binnen twee jaar uit te komen. De meerderheid weet dus relatief snel aan achterstand te ontsnappen.”

De arme klasse krijgt meer en meer een woning ‘toegewezen’, helaas toch vaak in wijken bij elkaar”, zegt hij. ,,De woonsegregatie heeft de sociale segregatie bevorderd, zo blijkt uit ons onderzoek”, zegt Jaco Dagevos van het Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.

Dagevos ziet verder, net als Latten, vooruitgang van de onderklasse op de arbeidsmarkt slechts met ,,horten en stoten tot stand komen”. Er is echter ook een andere kant, zo stelt Dagevos. ,,Behalve achterstand zie je veel allochtonen in snel tempo integreren. De doorstroom naar het hoger onderwijs, en dan met name het hbo is spectaculair. Maar tegelijkertijd zie je in het onderwijs ook nog steeds een grote achterstand bij jongeren, blijkend onder andere uit een hoge drop-out. Op de arbeidsmarkt zie je hetzelfde. De allochtone middenklasse groeit, terwijl aan de andere kant de conjunctuur allochtonen zwaar treft. Kijk maar naar de snel gestegen werkloosheid en dan met name bij de jongeren. En dan hebben we het over de criminaliteit nog niet gehad”, zegt onderzoeker Dagevos.

Als ik het dan toch kort moet samenvatten mbt tot Marokkanen:
1) De groep die arm is wordt minder
2) Dit geldt niet voor ouderen
3) De jongeren zijn het eerste de dupe van de economische crisis (tegelijkertijd met vrouwen waarschijnlijk)
4) Er ontstaat een middenklasse.

Met andere woorden behoorlijke positieve ontwikkelingen en behoorlijke negatieve ontwikkelen. Een groep die zeg maar behoorlijk aan het gisten is.

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