From the left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance

[Cees Binkhorst]

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 From the left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance
By John Vinocur
Monday, December 29, 2008

AMSTERDAM: Two years ago, the Dutch could quietly congratulate themselves
on having brought what seemed to be a fair measure of consensus and reason
to the meanest intersection in their national political life: the one
where integration of Muslim immigrants crossed Dutch identity.

In the run-up to choosing a new government in 2006, just 24 percent of the
voters considered the issue important, and only 4 percent regarded it as
the election's central theme.

What a turnabout, it seemed - and whatever the reason (spent passions,
optimism, resignation?), it was a soothing respite for a country whose
history of tolerance was the first in 21st-century Europe to clash with
the on-street realities of its growing Muslim population.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the Netherlands
had lived through something akin to a populist revolt against
accommodating Islamic immigrants led by Pim Fortuyn, who was later
murdered; the assassination of the filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, accused of
blasphemy by a homegrown Muslim killer; and the bitter departure from the
Netherlands of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali woman who became a member of
Parliament before being marked for death for her criticism of radical
Islam.

Now something fairly remarkable is happening again.

Two weeks ago, the country's biggest left-wing political grouping, the
Labor Party, which has responsibility for integration as a member of the
coalition government led by the Christian Democrats, issued a position
paper calling for the end of the failed model of Dutch "tolerance."

It came at the same time Nicolas Sarkozy was making a case in France for
greater opportunities for minorities that also contained an admission that
the French notion of equality "doesn't work anymore."

But there was a difference. If judged on the standard scale of caution in
dealing with cultural clashes and Muslims' obligations to their new homes
in Europe, the language of the Dutch position paper and Lilianne Ploumen,
Labor's chairperson, was exceptional.

The paper said: "The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of
cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance."

Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings
of "loss and estrangement" felt by Dutch society facing parallel
communities that disregard its language, laws and customs.

Newcomers, according to Ploumen, must avoid "self-designated victimization."

She asserted, "the grip of the homeland has to disappear" for these
immigrants who, news reports indicate, also retain their original
nationality at a rate of about 80 percent once becoming Dutch citizens.

Instead of reflexively offering tolerance with the expectation that things
would work out in the long run, she said, the government strategy should
be "bringing our values into confrontation with people who think
otherwise."

There was more: punishment for trouble-making young people has to become
so effective such that when they emerge from jail they are not
automatically big shots, Ploumen said.

For Ploumen, talking to the local media, "The street is mine, too. I don't
want to walk away if they're standing in my path.

"Without a strategy to deal with these issues, all discussion about
creating opportunities and acceptance of diversity will be blocked by
suspicion and negative experience."

And that comes from the heart of the traditional, democratic European
left, where placing the onus of compatibility on immigrants never found
such comfort before.

It's a point of view that makes reference to work and education as
essential, but without the emphasis that they are the single path to
integration.

Rather, Labor's line seems to stand on its head the old equation of
jobs-plus-education equals integration. Conforming to Dutch society's
social standards now comes first. Strikingly, it turns its back on
cultural relativism and uses the word emancipation in discussing the
process of outsiders' becoming Dutch.

For the Netherlands' Arab and Turkish population (about 6 percent of a
total of 16 million) it refers to jobs and educational opportunities as
"machines of emancipation." Yet it also suggests that employment and
advancement will not come in full measure until there is a consciousness
engagement in Dutch life by immigrants that goes far beyond the present
level.

Indeed, Ploumen says, "Integration calls on the greatest effort from the
new Dutch. Let go of where you come from; choose the Netherlands
unconditionally." Immigrants must "take responsibility for this country"
and cherish and protect its Dutch essence.

Not clear enough? Ploumen insists, "The success of the integration process
is hindered by the disproportionate number of non-natives involved in
criminality and trouble-making, by men who refuse to shake hands with
women, by burqas and separate courses for women on citizenship.

"We have to stop the existence of parallel societies within our society."

And the obligations of the native Dutch? Ploumen's answer is, "People who
have their roots here have to offer space to traditions, religions and
cultures which are new to Dutch society" - but without fear of expressing
criticism. "Hurting feelings is allowed, and criticism of religion, too."

The why of this happening now when a recession could accelerate new social
tensions, particularly among nonskilled workers, has a couple of
explanations.

A petty, political one: It involves a Labor Party on an uptick, with its
the party chief, Wouter Bos, who serves as finance minister, showing
optimism that the Dutch can avoid a deep recession. The cynical take has
him casting the party's new integration policy as a fresh bid to
consolidate momentum ahead of elections for the European Parliament in
June.

A kinder, gentler explanation (that comes, remarkably, from Frits
Bolkestein, the former Liberal Party leader, European commissioner, and no
friend of the socialists, who began writing in 1991 about the enormous
challenge posed to Europe by Muslim immigration):

"The multi-cultis just aren't making the running anymore. It's a brave
step towards a new normalcy in this country. "

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