From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Sun Jan 12 2003 - 20:41:10 GMT
Dear Patrick,
You asked 12 Jan 2003 07:49:45 -0800 (following Platt) for my opinion (as
Dutchman) 'on Muslim groups and the whole of political matters in general
currently at hand here in Holland'.
I already gave that opinion 22 Sep 2002 23:38:33 +0200 in reply to Platt's
comparable questions of 17/9 16:08 -0400:
Platt wrote:
'I've read about concerns among native Hollanders that the uncontrolled
immigration of Muslims and their higher birth rates threaten to overrun the
country with a Muslim majority in a generation or two. Is this true?
Is this desirable from your viewpoint?'
I replied:
'You are mixing up things a bit I think:
1) A majority of Dutch voters are concerned about the volume of immigration
and have voted a new coalition government into power that is going to
restrict immigration even further. Immigration is far from "uncontrolled".
Reasons given are (hesitantly, because they long were perceived as
politically incorrect) mainly related to security (among immigrants are more
criminals) and economics (e.g. immigrants are profiting more from 'our'
social security system than they contribute to our economy).
2) Most Dutch know better than to associate negative effects of immigration
exclusively or chiefly with the Islamic religion or culture. If the
immigrants causing problems are distinguished by descent, those from the
Caribbean (Netherlands Antilles) are heading the list even if those from
Morocco (especially those born in the Netherlands ..., not the first
generation immigrants) are a good second.
3) The idea that the Netherlands could be 'overrun' by those of foreign
descent because of higher birth rates figures only in drivel and in racist
"literature". These do exist in the Netherlands of course, but aren't likely
to influence the behavior of a lot of people.
4) If I am well-informed, the birth rates (and other cultural
characteristics) of those of foreign descent converge with those of "pure"
Dutch descent within a few generations. The Netherlands has a long history
of integration of immigrants, which is often recalled publicly, and a
tradition of tolerance of cultural differences, which we are publicly proud
of (even when we don't always stick to it). Integration of immigrants is
never achieved without stresses of course and a higher volume of immigrants
creates more stresses. In the present political climate the problems are
voiced more than they were a few years ago. The voices expressing the
desirable effects of being a multicultural society and its inevitability in
the
context of economical globalization are far from subdued however and I
expect the political pendulum to swing back in due course.'
Platt reformulated his question to me somewhat in his 9 Jan 2003
11:13:07 -0500 e-mail:
'Do you see the influx of Muslims in the Netherlands to be a growing threat
to your society's values?'.
I agree with the general drift of Gert-Jan's answer of 11 Jan 2003 13:44:11
+0100 to this question.
I see it as an opportunity rather than a threat and as a declining one
(because of a more restrictive government policy, which I disagree with)
rather than a growing one.
Dutch values aren't worth supporting if they aren't stable and versatile
enough to survive the very limited influx of immigrants (of which only a
part are Muslim) compared to the immigration into (mostly poorer) countries
near to conflict areas (like Pakistan and Iran) and compared to immigration
into countries inviting immigration (like Canada),
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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