EU-DIGEST

EU-Digest focus on Ahmed Aboutaleb, the new Mayor of Rotterdam

A European Obama? - Ahmed Aboutaleb chosen as Rotterdam's new Mayor

A Moroccan-born Dutch politician who told immigrants to either integrate or take the next plane home, will become the first immigrant to lead Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands' major cities and Europe's number one container Port. On Jan. 1, Ahmed Aboutaleb will take the reins of Rotterdam, a city and subburbian region of some 1 million people, when incumbent Ivo Opstelten retires. Mr.Aboutaleb was born August 29, 1961 in Beni Sidel, Morocco, and is the son of an Imam. After growing up in his small Moroccan village, he moved to the Netherlands in 1976. He studied electrical engineering and telecommunications, and worked as a reporter for Veronica, NOS-radio and RTL Nieuws. Later, he also worked at the public relations department of the Dutch Health Ministry. In 1988, Ahmed Aboutaleb became the director of the Forum organization, which was directly related to multiculturalism in Dutch society. Ahmed Aboutaleb, who is a Muslim strongly advocates the separation of church and state (secularism).

In 1988, Aboutaleb became the director of the Forum organization, which was directly related to multiculturalism in Dutch society. The government approved Aboutaleb's appointment Friday after the municipality voted overwhelmingly for him. Ahmed Aboutaleb, 47, is presently deputy minister for social affairs in Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's government along with another foreign born deputy minister, Nebahat Albayrak, of Turkish descent. Before taking the ministerial job in 2007, he made his reputation as an alderman in Amsterdam, where he pushed migrants to integrate or leave.

Aboutaleb was propelled to prominence when he went to a mosque in Amsterdam the day after Van Gogh's murder and told the worshipers to either integrate or take the next plane home.

Rotterdam was the power base of populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered by an animal rights activist in 2002. Ruud Lubbers, a former prime minister, said Mr. Aboutaleb is an excellent choice who should be able to keep anti-immigrant sentiment under control in the city. Nearly 36 percent of Rotterdam's population is classed as "non-western immigrant" by the Dutch national statistics office. The immigrants are mainly families and descendants of Turkish and Moroccan guest workers.

Labels: Ahmed Aboutaleb, EU, Integration, Muslims, The Netherlands

Being a Muslim in a Non-Muslim Society - by Masriya

For me, I was born and raised in the U.S., and it's where I'm currently residing. It's been interesting for me to grow religiously and spirituality amongst so many non-muslims. Most of my friends are non-muslims, and I love each one of them as if they were my own brothers and sisters. But, there is, indeed, a difference. One of the reasons why I joined this neighborhood was to connect with more people like me. It's interesting to talk to people and see that I'm not the only one who gets tired of constantly explaining myself. Constantly explaining how muslims in the true sense are in fact NOT terrorists. And how, in fact, all muslim women are not beaten by their men as an acceptable form of punishment.

Those are just the two stereotypes that come to my mind right off the bat. I am proud of where I came from and proud of my beliefs, and it's so sad to me that there are a lot of nutsos out there who don't know the difference between fact and fiction and who also don't care to take the time to find out for themselves. I got an email today from one of my friends talking about the hit TV show "24" and how it's really becoming obvious that there's a reason why it's a favorite of the Bush administration. Unfortunately, this kind of "propoganda" is not what this country needs right now. It's rare you see anything positive about muslims and Islam in general on tv or any other media source. For me, it makes me angry and makes me want to do something about it. But, where I get stuck is where and how can I make a difference? I do educate people around me to the best of my ability, but it seems like the ignorance is spreading so quickly and so fiercely. I'm just putting this topic out there, and I'm interested to see what the response is and how others are feeling/dealing with it. If you respond to my blog, I'm asking you to please respond in an educated manner where we can all be heard. Thanks for reading my blog!

Labels: Muslims

Silvio Berlusconi faces Muslim clash - by Malcolm Moore

Silvio Berlusconi is facing a row with the Muslim world over his plans to appoint a member of the far-Right to his cabinet. Roberto Calderoli, 52, a senior member of the Northern League, enraged Muslims two years ago during the row over a set of Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. He appeared on television wearing a T-shirt printed with one of the cartoons. The Italian consulate in Libya was set on fire and 11 people died in riots. Mr Calderoli has also threatened to defile the proposed site of a mosque in Padua by walking a pig over the ground. When Italy beat France in the 2006 World Cup, he said France had "sacrificed its identity by fielding niggers, Muslims and communists".

Note EU-Digest: with friends like Mr.Berlusconi who needs any enemies?

Labels: Berlusconi, EU, Italy, Muslims

When free speech offends Muslims

"Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no axes are being ground," 20th-century American journalist Heywood Broun once wrote. The real test of mettle is allowing free speech to thrive while axes aggressively grind. Just ask Canadian publisher Ezra Levant and author Mark Steyn.

"For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights, and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently did something it was too craven to do two years ago. During a news segment regarding the HRC, Canada's public broadcaster aired – briefly, fleetingly – the Danish cartoons. This is heartening. Much of the Canadian – and Western – left has seemed far too eager in recent years to buckle in the face of, and even sympathize with, Islamist extremism. Let's hope these cases bring about an understanding of what's at stake.

Labels: Canada, EU, Islam, Muslims

The Netherlands: School Exhibition Cancelled following Violence by Muslim Pupils

A school in Nijmegen yesterday canceled a cartoon exhibition about discrimination following threats by Muslim pupils. Before this decision was taken, the exhibition was already literally destroyed. Muslim pupils of the ROC Nijmegen, a large school with largely immigrant pupils, pulled cartoons from the walls shortly before these were to be presented officially. They also threatened to set the school alight. The school management decided to call off the opening. In the exhibition, artists expressed their vision on discrimination in a humorist manner. "My expectation was that the pupils would be able to laugh about it", Ralph Sluis stated. He heads a local anti discrimination organization. Sluis was the exhibition's coordinator. A total of fifteen cartoonists worked on the exhibition. According to Sluis, the trouble was sparked by a work by cartoonist Peter de Wit, which shows two women in niqabs, the all-covering Islamic garments.

Labels: EU, Muslims, The Netherlands

Labels: EU, Islam, Muslims

Dutch Muslims React with Restraint to MP's Controversial Film

Muslims in the Netherlands have reacted calmly to the Internet release of a controversial film critical of Islam by Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders, but elsewhere passions run high.Initial reactions from the Muslim community in the Netherlands were restrained. The evening after the film's release passed without incident, in contrast to the unrest that swept the country following the murder by an Islamic militant in 2004 of film director Theo van Gogh, another Dutch artist who was accused of offending Islam.

Prime Minister Balkenende praised the efforts of his government to defuse Muslim anger in the months preceding the release of the film and welcomed the initial Muslim response. "The government is heartened by the initial restrained reactions of Dutch Muslim organizations," he said. "The Dutch government stands for a society in which freedom and respect go hand in hand... Let us solve problems by working together." Dutch politicians distanced themselves from Wilders and his film. "The Netherlands does not need Wilders as a filmmaker," said Mark Rutte, leader of the Dutch Liberal VVD party -- of which Wilders himself was a member until being thrown out in September 2004. "We need Wilders as a legislator, to debate about the Netherlands and to find solutions for serious problems, including the problems of integration and immigration."

Note EU-Digest: In Holland Muslims appeared much less motivated to take action against Wilders. The possible reason for this passive reaction? Dutch Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists seem to have found a common denominator: EU Citizenship, Democracy, and Free Enterprise. It might not be perfect, but its certainly better than cutting each others throat or having some fanatic blow up your family.

Labels: EU, Geert Wilders, Integration, Muslims, The Netherlands

The Dutch and Their Muslims - working and living together

Historically the Netherlands has always been closely associated with Muslims. At the end of 1930 the Kingdom of the Netherlands had a total population of 85 million people. Nine million living in the Netherlands and 75 million living in what is now Indonesia. Of these 75 million inhabitants there were 56 million Muslims. The Dutch consequently learned a lot about coexisting with Muslims. To review this interesting history there will be a dinner and special lecture on April 11, starting at 18.30 in the Dialog Academy, Rochussenstreet 221, Rotterdam. The lecture entitled "the Dutch and their Muslims" will be by Professor Emeritus Karel Steenbrink of the University of Utrecht. For reservations and further information please contact Mrs. Iris Creemers at info@dialoogacademie.nl , or call +31- (0)10-4257533"

Labels: EU, History, Muslims, The Netherlands

Bin Laden Threatens Europe Over Mohammed Cartoons

In a new message, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Europe of a "reckoning" for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Intelligence officials said there was no indication when a possible attack might occur. Bin Laden's audio message, heard over a video image of him holding an AK-47 automatic rifle, coincided with the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. It was posted on al Qaeda's Web site on Wednesday, March 19, which is also the day observed in the Muslim world as Mohammed's birthday. The militant leader said publishing the controversial caricatures of the Muslim prophet was a greater offense than the "bombing of modest villages that collapsed over our women and children," in a reference to the invasion of Iraq by US and European forces.

Note EU-Digest: Mr. Bin Laden who calls himself a Muslim would do himself and the world some good in reading what the Qur’an (القرآن ‎ al-qur'ān) says about violence. Any Muslim who accepts Mr. Bin Laden as the spokesperson for Islam is probably just as crazy and fanatical as he is. Mr. Bin Laden has got the blood of many innocent civilians, including large numbers of Muslims on his hands. Finding him (if he is still alive) and bringing him to justice is essential.

Labels: Bin Laden, Europe, Islam, Muslims

Iraqi Youth Losing Faith in Muslim Religion

Iraqis in their teens and 20s, having been reared in a world of kidnappings, disappearances, beheadings and bombings, have grown weary of the severe “do’s and don’ts” Islamic extremists imposed upon them. Caught smoking? Be ready to have your fingers broken. Boys who wear long hair? Be ready to have it cut, and then forced to eat it. Even wearing shorts brings severe penalties. No longer wanting to live under the burden of extremism, many young people in Iraq are turning away in droves. Weekly prayer sessions are shrinking in attendance. Graduate students are losing interest in attending religious classes.

“‘I used to love Osama Bin Laden,’ proclaimed a 24-year-old Iraqi college student. She was referring to how she felt before the war took hold in her native Baghdad. The Sept. 11, 2001 strike at American supremacy was satisfying, and the deaths abstract.

“Now, the student recites the familiar complaints: Her college has segregated the security checks; guards told her to stop wearing a revealing skirt; she covers her head for safety. “‘Now I hate Islam,’ she said, sitting in her family’s unadorned living room in central Baghdad. ‘Al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army are spreading hatred. People are being killed for nothing.’”

Labels: Iraq, Muslims

Dutch anti-Semitism revisited - by Manfried Gerstenfeld

A poll taken earlier this month in the Netherlands found that only 53 percent of the Dutch would consider voting for a Jewish prime minister. In the rankings, Jews figured far behind women (93%), homosexuals (78%) and blacks (75%), but well before Muslims (27%) and people over 70.

The xenophobic findings of the Dutch poll are worse than those of an earlier British one. In the Netherlands, 31 percent considered a Jewish prime minister unacceptable and 16 percent had no opinion. A poll conducted at the beginning of 2004 in the UK concluded that almost 20% of Britons thought that a Jewish prime minister would be "less acceptable" than a non-Jewish one. This was particularly relevant at the time when the then Conservative leader Michael Howard was Jewish, albeit highly acculturated.

Note EU-Digest:
"polls in a democratic society usually reflect perceptions of people on whatever issue they are being questioned. The poor rankings for Muslims and Jews in this Dutch survey certainly can not be blamed on the Dutch population or its government. People all over the world, including the Netherlands, are continuously fed "blood dripping" news in their living room on atrocities in the Middle East, with Jews and Muslims as its main actors. It therefore does not take an Einstein to figure out that Dutch citizens, when questioned, are presently not super enthusiastic about having a Muslim or a Jew to be their Prime Minister. It has nothing to do with religion but all about perception".

Labels: EU, Israel, Muslims, Netherlands

RIOTS IN DENMARK! Muslim Youths Go On Torching Rampage

Six youths were arrested in Copenhagen for setting cars and dumpsters ablaze and throwing stones at police in a fifth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant area of the Danish capital, police said Friday. "We've had six arrests so far. They've been charged with throwing stones at police and setting fires to cars and waste containers," Chief Inspector Henrik Olesen of the Copenhagen police told AFP. At least 11 cars were torched in various neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, and 10 others in the nearby town of Kokkedal. On Thursday, 17 youths were arrested for rioting the previous night. "We don't know why they're rioting. I think it's because they're bored. Some people say it's because of the cartoons but that's not my opinion," Olesen said.

Note EU-Digest: Even though the Danes asked for this by republishing the cartoons in Denmark, Muslim immigrants need to understand a) that we have a secular society in the EU and B) that the EU respect the freedom of the press, religion and also consider women equal to men. We can only hope the Danish government will revoke the Danish/European citizenship from these vandals and extradite them to their country of origin.

Labels: Cartoons, Denmark, illegal immigrants, Muslims, Vandalism

Dutch/Turkish TV producer Senay Özdemir

For the complete report from Radio Netherlands click on this link

The right of young Turkish Muslims to have sex

Muslim parents in the Netherlands tell their daughters to stay virgin until the day of their wedding. An impossible requirement, says Senay Özdemir. It only leads to hypocrisy and disturbed family relations. Young Muslim women should have more freedom to experiment with sex before marriage.Former tv-presenter Senay Özdemir is a young Dutch woman of Turkish origin. As the editor of a digital magazine for women of immigrant background, SEN Magazine, she knows very well what is going on in the minds of young Muslimas in the Netherlands. Last week she published her view in an opinion article in the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. What many Muslim parents in the Netherlands are forgetting, writes Ms Özdemir, is that they themselves were mostly married at a young age and thus could legitimately have sex. In modern Dutch society, however, the age at which young Muslim women marry is steadily rising. The average age is now 23 years, but more educated women often do not marry before 30.

Ms Özdemir knows what she is talking about. As editor of SEN Magazine she daily receives e-mails in which young Muslim women speak freely about their love-life. "Young women of immigrant background increasingly consider oral sex as something quite normal and feel they can't refuse their boyfriends when they ask for anal sex, as that would not damage their virginity."She calls it the 'virginity paradox'. The prohibition of sex, argues Ms Özdemir, is totally ineffective. It has in fact the reverse effect that young Muslim women as well as men become obsessed by sex.

Labels: EU, Muslims, Netherlands, Sex, Turks

Germany - Gay Muslims Pack a Dance Floor of Their Own - by NICHOLAS KULISH

Six men whirled faster and faster in the center of the nightclub, arms slung over one another’s shoulders, performing a traditional circle dance popular in Turkey and the Middle East. Nothing unusual given the German capital’s large Muslim population.But most of the people filling the dance floor on Saturday at the club SO36 in the Kreuzberg neighborhood were gay, lesbian or bisexual, and of Turkish or Arab background. They were there for the monthly club night known as Gayhane, an all-too-rare opportunity to merge their immigrant cultures and their sexual identities. European Muslims, so often portrayed one-dimensionally as rioters, honor killers or terrorists, live diverse lives, most of them trying to get by and to have a good time. That is more difficult if one is both Muslim and gay. “When you’re here, it’s as if you’re putting on a mask, leaving the everyday outside and just having fun,” said a 22-year-old Turkish man who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear that he would be ostracized or worse if his family found out about his sexual orientation.

One of the regular D.J.’s, Ipek Ipekcioglu, 35, said she got her start rather suddenly, when one of the founders of SO36 walked up to her and said: “You’re Turkish, right? You’re lesbian, right? Bring your cassettes and D.J.” Ms. Ipekcioglu spins everything from Turkish and Arabic music, to Greek, Balkan and Indian, a style she calls Eklektik BerlinIstan. She has been a full-time professional D.J. for six years and performs all over the world.

Labels: EU, Gay Community, Germany, Islam, Muslims

Poll: British more wary of Muslims than people on continental Europe- by Daniel Dombey and Simon Kuper

Britons are more suspicious of Muslims than are people on continental Europe and the U.S., according to a new poll for the Financial Times conducted by Harris Interactive.

France emerged from the poll as the country most at ease with its Muslim population. Only about a fifth of French people said the presence of Muslims threatened national security or that Muslims had too much political power, the lowest proportion of any country polled. The French were the people most likely to say they personally had Muslim friends, to agree that one could be both Muslim and a citizen of their country, to accept their child wanting to marry a Muslim, and to say that Muslims in their country had received unjustified criticism and prejudice.

Patrick Weil, political scientist at the Sorbonne in Paris, said: "In France we are very good at cultural integration, making people feel members of the same community. We are very bad in fighting discrimination, especially in high-level jobs. In the U.K. it is the opposite."

Labels: Britain, Discrimination, EU, France, Muslims

France gets first Muslim minister - by Susan Bell

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, sent out a powerful message to the country's five million Muslims yesterday by appointing Ms Dati - whose family roots are in North Africa - to the senior cabinet post of Justice Minister. It is the first time a French Muslim has held a top government job.

Mr Sarkozy fulfilled a campaign pledge to improve the political gender balance by naming seven women in his 15-member cabinet, headed by François Fillon, the prime minister.

Labels: Council of Europe, France, Muslims, Womens Rights

Islamophobia, racism grip Europe

Europe is gripped by a dangerous rising of racism and xenophobia and the traditional European values of tolerance and welcome are washing away with European politicians fueling racist prejudices against foreigners across the continent, said a new report by a pan-European rights commission.

"The overall picture as regards contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination is complex and worrying," said the report which was released Friday, May 15, by the Council of Europe's Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). The report said that intensified manifestations of racism and intolerance can be observed in all Europe of Council's 46 member-states.

"We're starting to shut people out of our communities, it's a very sad development," ECRI president Eva Smith-Asmussen told reporters to mark the release of the report.

Labels: Europe, Muslims, Religious tolerance

Labels: Muslims

Christian Conference Focuses on Muslims in Europe

Christians from across Europe gathered in Leicester earlier in the month to engage in the issue of being Muslim within Europe. The Joint Committee for Relations with Muslims in Europe of the Conference of European Churches and the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences met from 3 to 6 May at St Philip’s Centre in Leicester, a Christian centre for study and engagement in a multi-faith society. The committee met two Muslim groups currently engaged in interfaith dialogue made up of seven men and three women from the Muslim community in Leicester and the staff from the Islamic Foundation in Markfield, Leicestershire.

Discussions with the groups focussed on the issues of being Muslim within Europe and the training of Imams and Christian clergy.

Labels: Christians, Europe, Muslims

Turkey's militant Muslims should worry West - by Con Coughlin

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, was no friend of Islam. Late at night, and in his cups, Turkey's iconic leader would often refer to the nation's Islamic past as "a necklace of corpses" that defiled the new state he was trying to create from the ruins of the Ottoman empire.

The 15 years he governed the country is most remembered for the almost obsessive purge he undertook of the country's Muslim identity as he sought to create a society more attuned to the ways of modern Europe.

Note EU-Digest: Europe must not allow Turkey to slide back into its past and support the forces that want to protect the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Labels: Muslims, Secularism, Turkey

Turkish PM makes appeal for unity

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appealed for national unity in the row that has erupted over the disputed election of a new president.Mr Erdogan's ruling Islamist-rooted AK party has put forward Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul for president. But the army has hinted it may block him.

As many as one million people marched through Istanbul on Sunday, opposing Mr Gul. They were supporters of Turkey's secular values.

The president is traditionally a key upholder of the country's separation of religion and state. Mr Gul has Islamist roots, and his wife wears the headscarf, which is very controversial in Turkey and banned from universities and public offices.

Turkey's currency and stock market have tumbled amid fears the army may intervene, which could undermine the country's attempts to join the European Union.

Labels: EU, Muslims, Turkey

Europe's Sharia law: "How to Break the stranglehold of archaic religious laws and abuses"

"Europeans are learning that just defining 'moderate' Muslims as those who do not want to blow things up is not enough. 'Non-violent' Muslim extremists who want to replace Western laws with Islamic sharia law, and democracy (rule by man-made law) with theocracy (rule by God's law, as interpreted by Islamic clergy and jurists) may actually pose a more serious threat to Europe. A poll last year in Britain showed that four out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country.

Sharia law conflicts with Western law in several key areas. First, it considers blasphemy -- saying or writing negative things about Islam -- as a crime punishable by death. A second area is apostasy, the 'crime' of abandoning a religion. A direct challenge to the very concept of freedom of religion, apostasy too is punishable by death under sharia law. Muslims are enjoined to do their best to spread Islam, but it is a one-way street -- no one can opt out. The impact of this is to stifle free speech and action among Muslims. Women's rights are a third and most important area of conflict.Muslim women in Europe often pay with their lives in so-called honor killings carried out by other family members. Their crime: adopting a modern lifestyle or showing interest in a non-Muslim man. In many parts of the world women are harassed and assaulted if they do not cover themselves. There are now places, even in Europe, where non-Muslim women have begun to cover their head to avoid being molested.

The majority of Europeans including European Muslims want sharia law to be outlawed in the secular EU. The fact that it is being tolerated so far has nothing to do with freedom of religion, but rather by political expediency. There should be no misunderstanding possible. Sharia law is a religious dictate which stifles democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of action. Instead, European advocacy groups should embrace, protect and encourage Muslims who want to modernize their religion. Muslim Reformers can do the same for their religion what Martin Luther's Reformation movement did in the 1500's on behalf of the Christian faith, break the stranglehold of archaic religious laws and abuses."

Labels: EU, Muslims, Religion, Sharia law

The Dutch Immigration Disaster: Is It happening also in the US? - by Bruce Allen Roberts

An Islamic imam calls homosexuals "pigs." One homosexual responds that Islam is "a backward religion," and that the country should close its borders to Muslim immigrants. This exchange took place in the Netherlands in mid-2001.

This event, though a microcosm of immigration-influenced tensions, was but a blip on the radar screen. Since then, the Netherlands has continued a policy of internationalism, importing massive numbers of Muslim immigrants. The Dutch government now "subsidizes mosques," supports separate social and welfare arrangements for immigrant minorities; and has established a separate consultation system with community ‘leaders.’ Some of these "leaders" have even advocated that sharia law apply to civil disputes between Muslims. Inevitably, this coupling of immigration and multicultural politics has triggered resentment among native Dutch, an unfolding drama to which When Ways of Life Collide devotes a considerable portion of its pages.

US readers might wonder at face value, if America’s immigration dilemma differs from that of the Netherlands’?

Labels: Immigration, Integration, Muslims, Netherlands