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You are here: Home Life in News Focus Amsterdam grapples with integration since...

02/11/2009Amsterdam grapples with integration since filmmaker's murder

Five years after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist in Amsterdam, where half the population is of immigrant origin, the city is grappling with social integration.

"It was as if, before Van Gogh, they had never seen a Muslim in the Netherlands," Ahmed Marcouch, the Moroccan-origin mayor of Amsterdam suburb Slotervaart, told a recent press event.

"From one day to the next, they realised that Muslims existed and that something had to be done -- there was much panic."

Mohammed Bouyeri who shot, stabbed and cut the throat of virulent Islam critic Van Gogh on 2 November 2004, had been a resident of Slotervaart.

Though of Moroccan origin, he was born and bred in the Netherlands.

Bouyeri was jailed for life for the murder that stoked ethnic tensions in the Netherlands and raised fears of home-grown terrorism.

During his trial, Bouyeri said that "the law compels me to chop off the head of anyone who insults Allah and the prophet".

PHOTO WIKIMEDIA Creative Commons
Amsterdam: demonstration at the Dam square after Van Gogh was killed

Amsterdam and the Netherlands, a city and country once known for their "multicultural tolerance", became places of "mutual fear and ignorance", according to Amsterdam policy advisor Joris Rijbroek.

Several mosques were burnt around the country after the murder of Van Gogh, a distant relative of post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.

In a bid to prevent a spiral of retaliation, the city adopted an emergency plan by the end of that year, at an annual cost of between EURO five and seven million (USD seven to 10 million), to combat Islamic radicalisation and stimulate social cohesion.

The council subsidised projects of immigrant associations and pursued dialogue with mosque representatives.

Even a television reality show, featuring the daily lives of Turkish, Surinamese and Moroccan families, was financed and broadcast on a local station.

A recent study commissioned by the Amsterdam municipality found that two percent of the capital city's Muslim population, some 1,000 to 1,500 people, were orthodox and politically active and "sensitive to radicalisation".

2 reactions to this article

Simon posted: 04-11-2009 | 11:41 AM

The problem in Dutch society is that there are too many Moroccans who despise western society, so they are not suited to integrate.
It would have been better if people from Arab cultures, which are so different to western civilisation, were not encouraged to stay in NL, but that is too late now. Soon enough they will outnumber causasians.

It is like bringing people from the New Guinea or Congo jungles and expecting them to fit in, when they would probably just rob, kill and eat people. We need to accept and respect the fact that people are different. Not many Westerners would feel the need to cut the throat of someone who questions their beliefs - so these people need to be kept separate from the civilsed world.
You don't mix lions and tigers at the zoo, or chimps and baboons.

jan posted: 08-11-2009 | 12:40 PM

i agree,i dont understand why muslims want to live amongst what they call infidels.why dont they live where thier religion is practised by everyone.i dont think the two different worlds can ever intergrate its like water and oil.

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