What Happened to Dutch Tolerance?

A tolerant society.

As tradition has it, Holland always has been a tolerant society, a safe-heaven for Europs' persecuted. This image is somewhat exaggerated perhaps but on the whole Holland was a fairly tolerant country. Jews from Spain, Portugal, Germany and Eastern Europe found their way to Holland. In the 17th century Jews built a monumental synagogue in Amsterdam, it still stands there. They called Amsterdam the Jerusalem of the West.

The Jews participated in Dutch commerce, banking, science and arts. In religious aspect they stood apart, but their religion was not completely alien to Dutch Protestants, who were of course very familiar with the Old Testament. Recent historical research shows that during the 17th century, there were some intensive and friendly contacts between Protestant and Jewish theologians.

An other group of refugees was formed by Huguenots, who were persecuted in France. They fled to neighbouring Protestant countries. In Holland they found a new home and during the centuries they assimilated completely. Only the French surnames of many Dutchmen and some Huguenot churches remind us of their history.

The rise of the Dutch Republic as a naval power, brought its merchants and seafarers in contact with the Islamic world. Where they met as equals the Dutch treated their counterparts as such. Where they dominated and established colonies, they treated Muslims not too bad and later on even with a benign tolerance.

A new immigration wave.

During the sixties, seventies and eighties of the last century, many man from Turkey, Morocco and some other North-African countries emigrated to Holland to seek employment, mainly as unskilled labourers.
After working here for some years they let their wives and children come over to join them. This development was officially seen as a cultural enrichment of our society and many Dutchmen thought likewise.

Dutch policy-makers went out of their way to make the 'Medelanders' (new fellow Dutchmen, the Newspeak name for immigrants) feel at home. All Governmental communications (leaflets, brochures etc) to the general public, were written in Turkish, Arabic, Chinese and many other languages including Dutch.

Everything was done to create and maintain a rosy picture of mutual happiness. Negative references in the press concerning immigrants were discouraged to the extent that newspapers reported crimes committed by immigrants, without even hinting at the ethnic background of the offenders.

In the seventies and the eighties one or two right-wing politicians were alone in uttering critical noises. They warned against some intolerant aspects of the Islamic religion and protested against the indifferent attitude of the authorities towards crimes committed by Moroccan youths. They were ostracized by their colleagues and ridiculed by the press.

The turning point.

It is difficult to define one particular moment or event when things began to change. Around the beginning of this century a man, of some fame already, developed into a very clever politician. I am talking about Dr. Pim Fortuyn, a flamboyant professor of economics, a brilliant debater and blatantly homosexual.

His political vision was that the Government and Parliament were not in touch with the Dutch population. Healthcare, education and Governmental organisations were in shambles. Down-scaling huge, unwieldy organisations in these fields was his remedy.

He regarded Islam as a backward culture, because this religion has not been through a process of enlightenment, as Christianity has. As long as Islam is not enlightened, it is intolerant and can be even dangerous. Hence immigration from Islamic countries should be curbed.

This was dynamite! He was attacked from all sides but no one was able to silence him, in a nonviolent way that is. In the preelection polls of 2002, his star rose incredibly high. He claimed to become the next prime-minister. Regarding his enormous popularity this was not an idle claim. In a local council election in Rotterdam, his newly introduced party was the clearly the winner and they consequently took over the control of the city.

The polls for the national election in May 2002 predicted a landslide victory for Pim Fortuyn. The ruling politicians became very nervous. In TV debates they were mowed down verbally by Fortuyn. He was perceived by the public as saying out loud the things they have been thinking all the time. He expressed the publics' uneasiness about the incompetent bureaucracy and the problems with Muslim immigrants.

Before the rise of Fortuyn these issues were not discussed in public. Anyone who tried to start the debate was labelled as a fascist. But now a lively public debate began. This debate was fueled by the 9/11 tragedy. On May 6, 2002 Fortuyn was murdered by an animal rights campaigner. Nevertheless his party won the nationwide elections held in that same month.

To cut a long story short, Fortuyns' followers made a mess of it and now, in October 2006 they are a spent force. Despite this sad story the influence of Fortuyns' short appearance is still strong, especially where the immigration policy is concerned. The present government reduced immigration considerably and presses immigrants to integrate in Dutch society.

The murder of Theo van Gogh.

On November 2, 2004 a well known Dutch film-producer, Theo van Gogh, was murdered by a 26 year old Moroccan immigrant, Mohammed Bouyeri. The motive was Bouyeris' indignation about the film "Submission" that Van Gogh made in cooperation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The film was highly critical of some aspects of the Islam. Furthermore Van Gogh wrote vitriolic comments on the Islamic faith, in newspaper columns and on his internet site.

The gruesome killing of Van Gogh shocked the nation. Some Islamic schools and mosques were attacked. The offenders however, turned out to be some mischievous youths.

This limited backlash does not mean that there were no serious consequences. Some columnists and writers admitted that in future they would be carefully choosing their words when commenting on Islamic affairs. A philosopher (Paul Cliteur) said that, for the time being, he would avoid the subject all together.

The present Governments' policy regarding immigrants is characterized by ambiguity. On the one hand they are still trying to mollify the Muslims, on the other they try to convince the general public by a harsh policy against asylum-seekers and 'import-brides', that immigration is under control. But was immigration the problem? Or was it something else?

The Government and our Head of State, Queen Beatrix are of course perfectly right when they urge us to respect our neighbours, regardless of their faith. Tolerance is part of the Dutch way of life. Respect was shown to Jews, Huguenots, Buddhists and Hindus and this respect was shown to us in return. Why should it be a problem with Muslims? Why indeed?

If Muslims living here, accept the western way of life and keep their religious practices and beliefs to themselves, there will be no problem. But will they?

Will tolerance breed tolerance?

Live and let live. That is a well known proverb in Holland. In that spirit we approach other people. It worked well with the various immigration waves in the past. Will it work with the Muslim immigration wave? (Of a total population of about 16 million, roughly 1 million are Muslims).

Certainly it will work for Muslims, they will thrive on it. But will a thriving Muslim community be good for us, the original inhabitants of The Netherlands? In a short term perspective: yes. In the long run it depends on wether the Islam is able to reform itself.

The need for reform is indicated by such events and circumstances as:

• the reaction of the Islamic mainstream to Pope Benedictus' recent and rather innocent lecture
• the protests following the Danish cartoons
• the lack of religious freedom in Islamic countries (can one build a church in Saudi-Arabia or convert Muslims to Christianity in any Islamic country?)
• the ill treatment of homosexuals in most Islamic countries
• the behaviour of Islamic regimes in Iran and the former Taliban in Afghanistan
• the rampant anti-semitism in the Islamic world
• Islamic terrorism

On first sight there are hopeful signs. Holland harbours many young well educated Muslims. They often have good jobs, are politicians, columnists, writers, artists or comedians. Looking at them, one wonders wether they can be regarded as devout Muslims or on the contrary, do they belong to modernity and are no longer part of the Islamic mainstream? If that is the case, they have nothing to do with the image of the Islamic community in The Netherlands.

What happened to Dutch tolerance?

The Dutch are as tolerant as ever before. However, they are now confronted with a rapidly growing Islamic community in their midst and they doubt wether they can expect the same tolerance in return, when, in a not too distant future, the Muslims probably will form the majority.

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