My countries political elite are at each others throats over the way they intend to spend the tediously earned taxpayers money. Two days ago, our cabinet of ministers presented its budget for the coming year and as tradition prescribes it, they are now being dissected by parliament. It is “Prinsjesdag” again…
It’s all very entertaining yet not overly interesting. I’ll see soon enough how much I’ll have to pay or what I’ll get back. I don’t mind donating half of my salary to the state, so that they can do all these wonderful things with it.
My eye caught something very peculiar, though: As was to be expected, the debate in parliament was temporarily hijacked by our local populist, Geert Wilders, who made a point of emphasizing (huh?) the nuisance that is caused by the Moroccan youth, who are making our outside space an increasingly unpleasant place to be. He calls them street terrorists, explicitly meaning the uncontrolled, uncorrected and uncivilised kids from Moroccan families, who lack any guidance as to how to display “proper conduct” in our society. They are causing the lion share of the trouble on our streets.
Wilders is, in his hall-mark provocative way, forwarding his concern about street safety and the integration of non-Dutch ethnic groups into our society.
Wilders does have a point there. But then comes Femke Halsema, leader of the Green Party. She remarks on Wilders extrapolating his concerns about a small group of people who spoil the fun for everyone “…to an entire neighbourhood, an ethnic group – Moroccans – and even a faith” – the Muslim faith – who are, according to Wilders, bent on “taking control of our country”.
So far so good. Wilders’ populist ways are simple and sometimes irritating, and his low level rhetoric should be opposed. But then Halsema says something very stupid: “… I find this kind of reasoning [about ethnic groups] unsustainable and unethical…” Well, I think that Halsema is dead wrong there.
Whether or not something is sustainable, is a subject of research. The trouble in society – violence on the streets, theft, vandalising of public property, caused by a small group of Moroccan kids, might very well be a feature of their ethnicity. This is in any case an observation that is made by many people, and it seems supported by crime statistics and the composition of the population in our jails. I would like to be proven wrong on this.
Being an ethnic Italian living in the Netherlands myself, I know that integration into society is something that needs to be carried by the “house” one comes from. My father, who was a direct import from Friuli, a northern Italian province, was very adamant for us to be successful in life. He pushed us to study, learn languages, to work hard at school AND to behave properly. And trouble “outside” always meant big trouble with him. His objective was that we should learn to not cause any trouble, and be good guests of this country. And to go with the flow… but to also be better than the Dutch themselves.
It worked, and not only for me. Most of my fellow Italians of the same generation have been quite successful in this country: good jobs, good educations, good businesses. And good taste, but that comes with being Italian… In short, we were highly controlled by our parents and it paid off. And whenever I see a pack of Moroccan youths lousing up the street vibe with their aggression and carelessness, I think to myself: “where are your fathers?” So unsustainable? I think it is pretty sustainable what Wilders says.
Femke Halsema’s second objection to Wilders’ opinion is that according to her the discussion is unethical. She thinks it is unethical to talk about ethnic groups in the light of specific problems they obviously cause. Well, that is of course a very nice, soft, hippie statement of which I fail to see the relevance. Why is that unethical? I don’t think it is unethical to address problems by trying to essentially root them out. For that, one has to go to the root indeed: the laid-back attitude the Moroccan fathers have when it comes to the misconduct of their sons on the streets. I have heard it said literally, coming from the mouth of one of these fathers: “At home, I am the boss. On the streets, the police are the boss. Let them take care of those boys..”
Now how can that ever lead to healthily integrated young Moroccans? It can’t! And I think that the attitude we see here is a typical Moroccan one, one that derives from the Moroccan streets, where kids are being controlled by other adults who are related or in some other way an authority bearing example to them.
I am not a Wilders fan. For one, because he has the most ridiculous hairdo since Don King. He also gives a very right-wing impression and he focuses on his populist favourites too exclusively. But I do think he gives us a valuable warning nevertheless. And I know what I am saying, being progeny of immigrants myself.
To add something more to the story above: it has come to the diplomatic surface that Morocco’s secret service is active in the Netherlands and that it even acquires, and has acquired, Dutch policemen and politicians with Moroccan origins as their agents. What the hell are they trying to do? Mess up this country from the inside?
