The Clash

[Peter Korsten]

Op 10-10-2010 20:04, Tony Hardie-Bick schreef:

> Each one of us has these unfortunate and unwanted tendencies, and so each one of
> us has a choice. By making the correct choice, there's a chance that cultures
> with a long memory, will choose to embrace a brilliant future.

Forgive me for focussing on precisely this paragraph, but I think that 
it comes down to these four adjectives:
* unfortunate
* unwanted
* correct
* brilliant

And these four adjectives perfectly illustrate the attitude of 
left-leaning Europe (and, presumably, the world) against increasing 
xenophobia on the entire continent: "You are wrong."

Hey, at least it's an improvement over the "you're a fascist" mantra, 
but not by much.

At the last elections, one in six voted for an outspoken 
anti-immigration and anti-Moslem party in the Netherlands. In Sweden, 
they've made inroads too. In Denmark, they've had a minority government 
with support from an anti-immigration party for quite a while now, and 
in Switzerland they have been in government for ages. In Austria, 
they're no longer in government, but the parties (obviously, they split, 
as extremist parties are wont to do) are still going strong.

I do think that "you are wrong" is completely the wrong approach, and 
whether you're right or not in either saying or implying it, is 
irrelevant. Yet, what we see in the Netherlands is that the left is 
continuing their hautain approach, ridiculing the coming government even 
before it started.

They're still holding on to the idea of the so-called 'multi-cultural 
society', whereas in reality that is a euphemism for voluntary 
apartheid. Face it: if you have more than one culture, there is no 
integration.

It's true that mixing cultures can have interesting results. But if you 
mix oil and water, you can stir until you're blue in the face, it will 
not mix.

I've been living in a different culture for almost ten years now, and 
it's quite a challenge for someone whose communication skills aren't 
exactly his strongest point. But I do think that I've integrated quite 
well, save for the language.

Opposite us, there's an Arab family. They have about five children by 
now, they woman covers about everything except her face and hands, she 
has her children run around in the street (often naked) without apparent 
supervision, doesn't mind smacking her daughter in public, and they 
quite happily stuff the entire family in the cabin of a small truck.

I mean, it's not just the headdress, or the fact that they only see 
other Arab families with the women dressed the same way. Good luck to 
them. And it isn't like the Maltese are that careful when it comes to 
road safety, but all in all, they're quite a bit different, and not 
altogether in a good way.

And when I visit the Netherlands, it's astounding how many more women 
walk around in headdresses, compared with ten years ago. It's really a 
*lot* more.

Again, everybody is free to dress how he or she wants (within certain 
acceptable limits, of course: people walking around naked would upset me 
for the majority of them), but why is there this growing, different 
culture developing, when the Dutch state has tried hard, and succeeded, 
to create a nation state, of which the citizens, despite cultural, 
religious and linguistic differences, all feel part of that state?

And yes, the second and third generation Moslem immigrants feel Dutch, 
too, but they're still caught somewhere between two cultures. We have 
people brushing their teeth with some kind of root, because that's what 
Mohammed did, notwithstanding that, had he lived today, he would most 
likely have used a toothbrush and toothpaste like everyone else.

This sticking to your own heritage, your own language, your own culture, 
makes that you will never be part of the majority culture that you're 
living in. And even though this is in part caused by the reluctance of 
the native population to accept you, bear in mind that you're an 
immigrant. You came to live here. "And if I were to move to your 
country, I would have to behave like them", conveniently forgetting that 
very few Moslem countries are free in the sense that Western democracies 
are. But even if you're not forced to assimilate, doesn't mean you 
shouldn't try to.

That is what irks me. I do think there are legitimate reasons for fear 
of the immigration that has taken place over the last couple of decades 
all over Europe. I can see it here: whereas Malta was a country of 
emigrants, within ten years (only ten!) it's become a destination for 
immigrants, with the boatloads of illegal African immigrants now 
curtailed by Libya, but still many eastern Europeans living and working 
here. And whereas ten years ago you saw maybe one or two black people a 
year, now they're a common sight. (Including our Nigerian colleague, I 
should say. Wonderful guy.)

For such a tiny country, that has a major impact. And for too long, the 
left has been ignoring the growing discontent, hiding it behind fancy 
words, until the disenfranchised electorate figured out that they could 
vote for someone who says what they want to hear.

Immigration has caused problems, and until those problems are properly 
addressed, the anti-this-and-that parties (who usually have quite a few 
other unwholesome ideas) will continue to gain votes.

- Peter