Hi All, Feel I must respond as Platt has used an article specifically focussing on the Dutch situation and since I am one.... but have not lived there for 3 years....and do not really feel Dutch ... still here is my 2 bob's worth:
Yes, the Dutch have prided themselves on being a pretty tolerant bunch ( think of abortion issues, gay marriages, euthanasia laws etc) and it is a multi-cultural society (historically a trading nation which gave it its riches) which developed understanding and associated tolerance I suppose, and an ability to 'easily' pick up other languages. Major groupings are Turkish, Moroccan, Lebanese, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Antillians, Nigerians etc etc. All went reasonably well untill the murder of Fortuyn (a gay, populist would- be politician considered not politically correct for naming elements in society causing problems (this is a crucial development) and of course the murder of Theo van Gogh, filmmaker and definately having views and expressing these (protectionist of Ayaan Hirsi Ali with whom he made short movies criticising Islam/Koran fundamentals). A director of a college in Rotterdam, I believe, was murdered in the school canteen by a frustrated Turkish 15- year old who felt his 'honour' was damaged. Theo was killed by a young Muslim extremist who felt the Koran was being insulted. Heap 9/11 in there, the Madrid and London bombings,the bombings in Indonesia(?) where so many young Australians were killed and one has potentials for a deep, conservative, intolerant backlash. Freedom of speech and freedom of movement was under attack and I realise having been here in China for 3 years, how incredibly valuable these (taken-for-granted) achievements are. But this 'political correctness' was broken. The culprits were named, the cultural backgroung named, so that a more focussed investigation could take place honing in on the issues these, often young people, were confronted with. And what was found? We are talking about , no more than approximately 1000 young people!! Little bastards they are spoiling things for many, many people. Giving their own culture a bad name because the vast majority of them are proper, hardworking, law abiding citizens respecting the freedoms of the country. The media has played a big role here as well by simply blowing up the incidents and issues, giving a distorted picture of the true size of the problems. We are talking of a very, very small minority out of a population of 16 million! Of course nothing is perfect, but multicultural societies have a dynamism of their own. They enrich the place. When I lived in Melbourne there were 2 streets I mainly frequented...those with Greek, Italian and Turkish restaurants and flavours.There was nothing else. But now, 20 years on Melbourne is thriving: it still has these but now also Japanese, Chinese, Lebanese etc etc. One should see and experience Amsterdam where I live when not here: it is a thriving, thrilling, multy- coloured/ multi-cultured place. It is dynamic! And the back lash call (by some politicians) to return to good old Dutch (religiously inspired) values and norms of behaviour is understandable (as Pirsig would say as well) but we need to re-assess them in the light of the advances made, achievements gained and not returning to walking on fucking cloggs again carrying tulips. Analyse what went wrong and where, and take measures and stamp out (mercilessly) those who threaten the achieved intellectual patterns of value. Must add that I would have liked to have spent more time on this important issue, but alas. Many things to wrap up here. No doubt some will re-surface again somewhere along the line. Regards to you all Andre Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
