Zacht Ei

Blogger asking for crossed fingers

For those of you who've just read the item about the Van Gogh crosses: no pun intended. Really.

This wasteland is where, hopefully, my future penthouse will be.
Although it's already certain the penthouse itself will be built, whether I'll get it is another matter. There is so much demand for good housing in Amsterdam that the number of applicants exceeds the number of new appartments.
So they will have a lottery.
If you like this blog, and have some divine favors left, please don't hesitate to use them now on my behalf.
(Otherwise, there may never be a housewarming party at the 11th floor, which means I can't invite you either.)

15:55

Gruesome picture from ethnically torn Amsterdam West
Did you see that one autumn leaf charging at that poor little broken twig? (This picture was taking about 200 metres from my house, again with my P900. SonyEricsson had better start paying me.)
15:49	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Secretary of immigration doesn't mince her words

'Moslims niet zeuren'

The headline reads: 'Muslims should stop whining.' It's a reference to remarks secretary Rita Verdonk of Immigration made about the way she feels Muslim organizations are victimising themselves. I took this picture at Schiphol Airport (I don't have a subscription to this newspaper, the populist Telegraaf, myself) because it rather drew my attention. A slightly more nuanced version of Mrs Verdonk's words can be found here.

(Yes, this picture is also rather old - it dates from November 15 - and I'm still not done clearing out my P900.)

15:32

Pictures of the Van Gogh wake
Yes, I know, that was nearly three weeks ago, on November 2nd. I finally cleared out all the folders of my SE P900 smartphone and found some pics I took at the 'noise wake' that was held in honor of Van Gogh, the night after his murder. Just before the wake started. The striped van in the middle is a police vehicle. There was quite a lot of riot police as well, but they were customarily kept out of sight as to not provoke deliberate trouble makers. Feel free to do your own 'head' count... ...especially since there were quite a few people standing behind me as well.
15:25	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Any bracelet designers around?
Half the country - well, half the politically correct part of the country - can these days be seen wearing an orange bracelet. Orange, of course, is the color of the House of Orange, of which our ~~unelected head of state~~ much-appreciated monarch is part. In this case, however, the orange bracelets are supposed to show respect. For whom exactly? Well, apparently, for everyone you meet. Which is why I can't wear a bracelet. Respect is something which needs to be earned. There are a lot of people I don't respect, and I'm not just talking about the innkeeper of café Postillon in Utrecht, who managed to launch my $2,000 ThinkPad and threw it onto the concrete this Monday. To randomly start respecting people will do no more good than to randomly start shooting people walking out of a bank, in the hopes of hitting a robber. Keeping a society working isn't about liking everyone. It's about being in the same boat together and sometimes vehemently disagreeing about the course it should go. The person sitting to your left may be smelling really funny and the person to your right may use very foul language. Some of them may wear long dresses and others may wear nothing at all. But a ground rule of any civilized society is that you don't try to throw the people you don't like out of the boat. This hasn't got anything to do with 'respect', but everything with good seamanship. Either keep the boat afloat, or have the ship go down, alongside with all of us. This is the essential distinction between freedom of thought and speech on the one side, and understanding your actions are limited to the point where someone else's freedoms begin on the other, that Mohammed Bouyeri didn't get. You may wish another guy were dead, but there's a huge difference between saying it and whacking an innkeeper in Utrecht with a ThinkPad. Point is, by hurting someone else, you limit his freedom to wish you were dead. Plus, I really respect my ThinkPad a lot more than said innkeeper. Maybe I'll paint it orange. There can be no healthy society unless all people can peacefully wish their neighbors a gruesome end. And I'm only half joking, if that. Now, if anyone were to design a blue bracelet, as in the color of the water the Dutch have been battling for centuries as a community, I would wear it. (Contact me if you're interested.)
9:40	permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

Friday, November 26, 2004

Back to (some kind of) normal
Believe it or not, this blog didn't start with the murder of Theo van Gogh. And now that the stream of news about the murder seems to be dissipating, it's time to resume my regular blogging. Which means that you will see items about different subjects here as well. Of course, I will keep following the Van Gogh case.
22:41	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Dutch education system fails miserably
Mohammed Bouyeri fired twenty shots at Theo van Gogh and the police, according to Dutch PBS. Only eight bullets hit their target, and Mr. Van Gogh was not a small man by any measure. And still Mr. Bouyeri needed a knife to finish the job. One wounded a police officer, which makes for a hit ratio of 45 percent.
18:17	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving; here's two new death threats
I haven't been able to blog today due to a rather nasty cold. Well, you're probably too busy eating turkey anyway. So I'll leave you with two new death threats in the Netherlands. First, somebody has voiced his intent to kill the bassist of BZN, a really awful Dutch band. To see just how awful it is, you can watch a timeless parody here. (There's an English language parody here as well - but it's only suitable for people with a wry sense of humor since it's about Iraq.) Personally I feel it's despicable to threaten the poor guy. Plus, it would be much wiser to simply buy their cd's, wait until it's really dark, and microwave them into oblivion. (I am not responsible for screwed up cd's and/or microwaves.) Second, and not quite as hilarious, Mr. Frank William of the NMO, a Muslim station within Dutch PBS, has been intimidated as well. Mr. William is a very vocal and harsh critic of radical Islam. In other words, he's the sort of guy we need.
23:15	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Dutch imam goes into hiding
Because you're never too early to claim victim status! Maybe I'm being a bit harsh here. Imam van de Ven (read more about him below) probably has a good reason to go into hiding, as the Dutch are furious about his comments he'd like to see MP Geert Wilders dead within two years. Plus, the last thing this country needs right now is some right wing moron killing Van de Ven, thereby creating a radical Islamist martyr. (I personally disapprove of combating barbarism with barbarism anyway, but if there are any hot shots out there who need a good pragmatic reason to keep their aggression in check, the above reason should do.) Van de Ven also explained his position on what he meant when he said he wouldn't mind seeing Mr. Wilders dead. Apparently, he wants Mr. Wilders dead the way many Europeans and Americans wouldn't mind seeing Osama bin Laden six feet under. Yeah, I will never forget the day hijackers trained and financed by Mr. Wilders used four civilian planes as cruise missiles to kill 3,000 citizens from all over the world.
16:41	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Dutch imam wants MP Geert Wilders to die within two years
But he does hope it isn't a Muslim who kills Mr. Wilders. I'm not sure whether to laugh or to cry. The imam in question is not an immigrant. His full name is Abdul-Jabbar van de Ven. Yes, that's a Dutch surname there. Van de Ven converted to Islam twelve years ago. Since he's apparently only 25, that means he converted at the age of 13. Other sources say he converted at the age of 14. Dutch PBS initially announced he was an imam, now his status seems to have changed to 'Muslim teacher'. However, a simple Google search learns there's plenty of people that consider him to be an imam. Van de Ven was a guest in the interview show Het Elfde Uur (The Eleventh Hour), which is produced by a conservative Christian part of PBS (Dutch PBS consists of a variety of different organizations representing various groups in our society). Host Andries Knevel asked Van de Ven whether or not he wanted Mr. Wilders to die within two years, to which Van de Ven responded affirmingly. Well, previous statements of Van de Ven included such pearls as 'The Netherlands is a cancer'. He also referred to Osama bin Laden as 'brother'. The full article from broadsheet Trouw in which he said the latter two things is not legally available online for free, however, this website ripped it. (I explicitly want to make clear I do not endorse that website. It is the online forum of a rather extreme right wing party. However, it's the only site I could find the article at.) Van de Ven also said in local newspaper Rotterdams Dagblad that he had met terrorist suspect Jason W., who was arrested in the raid in The Hague 13 days ago, a few times. However, he felt there was nothing 'extreme or dangerous' about him. Sigh.
22:37	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

The battle goes on
The motion by centrist party D66 to throw out antiquated law articles that prohibit religious insults was today dismissed. The Dutch PvdA Labour Party withdrew its support on the grounds that this was the wrong time for a debate on these articles. Well, I don't see what would be the right time, considering the secretary of Justice brought it up, which means the legislative power has to make up its mind one way or the other. Anyway, D66 doesn't buy this feeble excuse either. My favorite blonde (sort of) of the day (sorry, Brenda) is therefore Lousewies van der Laan, chief whip of D66. She has announced the motion will be resubmitted in December. Let's see if the PvdA will be able to learn how to read a clock before then.
21:40	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

MP Geert Wilders and the leadership problems within the VVD Liberal Party
I've read a lot of what I feel are misinformed articles about MP Geert Wilders. For what it's worth, here's my take on recent events. • First, in the Netherlands 'Liberal' means right wing, not left wing. The word has retained its original meaning of 'having a state with allows its citizens maximum freedoms'. • Jozias van Aartsen has been in a struggle for leadership of the VVD party for quite some time. Van Aartsen is the chief whip of his party in the Second Chamber. He's an MP, and in the Dutch system, it's not possible to be a secretary at the same time (some European political systems allow this). Nevertheless, he has been vying for control over his party with Gerrit Zalm, the Dutch deputy prime minister and finance secretary (Chancellor of the Exchequer, if there are any Brits present), who is also a prominent member of the VVD. • Geert Wilders was yet another threat to Van Aartsen's leadership. Wilders wanted the VVD to pursue a more right wing agenda. A confrontation ensued over a relatively minor point: the admission of Turkey to the European Union. Wilders was against it. Only a few years ago, many members of the VVD had been, so why did Van Aartsen make a big issue out of it all of a sudden? The truth is that Wilders had challenged Van Aartsen's leadership by giving the press a list of changes Wilders would have liked to make in VVD policy. The list was a pure provocation which Van Aartsen couldn't ignore. Wilders must have known. Even though Wilders at the time said the list would be the basis of his own political party, it's telling enough that it can no longer be found at Wilders' website. • After the Van Gogh murder, the Dutch political landscape has changed, in the same way the American political landscape has after 9-11. Whereas a part of the electorate was already sympathetic to Wilders before 11-2, that part is growing by the day. So Jozias van Aartsen yesterday tried to get Wilders back into his own party. If Wilders does return, he will, as the prodigal son, no longer be a threat to Van Aartsen's leadership. On the contrary; Van Aartsen will be hailed for bringing Wilders back. Furthermore, Van Aartsen can give Wilders a lot more room to manoeuvre in the current climate. • The truth of the matter is, of course, that returning to the VVD will offer Wilders many advantages. It is not easy to start a party from scratch. If elections were held today, Wilders would be in big trouble as some polls promise him 26 seats. Wilders would occupy one of them, but where would he get 25 qualified MP's to join him in the Second Chamber? After Pim Fortuyn was shot, his LPF (List Pim Fortuyn) party made a huge mess of things. Over two years after Fortuyn died, hardly a week goes by or his political offspring are once more bickering in the newspapers. • Then again, of course Wilders refused the offer. The first rule of negotiating is that you don't say 'yes' to the first offer. Both Van Aartsen and Wilders will want to make sure they both look like winners. This is in the interest of both: if Wilders looks like a loser, he may not bring as many votes back to the VVD. And if Van Aartsen looks like a loser, potential Wilders voters will probably wonder why Wilders chose to return to such a weak party and withdraw their support as well. This story will probably be ongoing for weeks, if not months.
10:08	permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

Monday, November 22, 2004

All of a sudden, there is talk of her return
There are quite a few conspiracy theories doing the rounds about the continous absence of Ms. Ayaan Hirshi Ali, the Dutch MP who made the movie Submission together with Theo van Gogh. Nobody has seen her since the murder of her friend and partner in art. I usually tend to favor Occam's Razor over complicated conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, I am gradually starting to develop some appreciation for the theory that Ms. Ayaan Hirshi Ali was silenced by powers in the Dutch government, for fear of her causing 'further unrest' in society. Why else would stories about her possible return to politics surface only days after a few prominent Dutch writers started lending their credibility to this theory? For those of you unfamiliar with it, Occam's Razor is all about favoring the simplest explanation possible. Right now, the easiest explanation (other than coincidence, which is not an explanation) for this sudden suggested resurfacing of Ms. Hirsi Ali seems to be that some people don't like the idea that her absence is getting so much attention. (Then again, you're not paranoid if they're really after you ;-), and this rant may simply be due to me drinking too much of that Bushmills whiskey Edwin was kind enough to give me today.)
23:07	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

And while I'm at it...

Yes, several train travellers got sick in Arnhem today. I've only just returned home and am reading up on it now. But please don't rush to judgment yet. Even my most gossipy contacts don't suspect terrorism now.
I became an analytical journalist who writes mostly for weeklies because I hated the forced regime of making not yet tangible stories into news. I won't be tempted to start doing that now.

Update Nov 23, 11.29: it has turned out a leaking train transporting chemicals caused the incident.

22:57

The hype about the Turkish demonstration in Germany
I must have read about twenty American blogs tonight about the Turkish demonstration against Islamic violence in Germany. Some of them even went as far as to suggest a connection with the interview Mr. Wilders gave to the Associated Press. Please bear in mind that Germans don't give a s**t about what Dutch politicians say, so that connection is absolutely non-existent. Please bear in mind as well that Turkish Muslims are more secularized than most. (With the possible exception of a Lebanese girl I once met, but never mind that.) And please bear in mind that nothing of this kind has happened in the Netherland. A demonstration by Moroccan Muslims in the Netherlands against the murder of Van Gogh drew a crowd of only a few hundred people, if that. Gathering from the television footage, my personal estimate would be in the dozens. Up until now, other than Ahmed Aboutaleb, the brave Moroccan deputy mayor of Amsterdam, very few Dutch Muslims has even publicly denounced the murder of Theo van Gogh. So while the demonstration is in itself a good thing, maybe it's a bit too soon to talk about a European watershed.
22:55	permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

Sunday, November 21, 2004

AP article on MP Geert Wilders contains errors

I really don't like to lecture my peers, but since this article about MP Geert Wilders is currently being quoted all over the world, I have to make mention of some of the errors inside it. AP journalist Anthony Deutsch writes the following:

But a recent poll suggested his anti-immigrant message was reverberating through the electorate, and he would win 24 seats if elections were held today -- up from 19 seats before Van Gogh's murder.

There are quite a few things wrong with this statement.

• First, there isn't just one important political poll in the Netherlands, there are several. One of them is the TNS Nipo poll, which indeed gave Mr. Wilders 24 seats at the time the journalist wrote the article. (Today, a new poll by Maurice de Hond, the Dutch 'Mr. Zogby' was released, which puts the number at 26). Another important poll however, is the one done by Inter/View. It only gives Mr. Wilders 10 seats. The discrepancy between these polls has been present for several weeks now (all three of them are repeated on a weekly basis). Under those circumstances, using one of them whilst not mentioning the others is at the very least misleading.

• Second, even according to the optimistic De Hond and TNS NIPO polls, Mr. Geert Wilders didn't get 19 seats before Van Gogh's murder. Instead, he got 12 seats in the De Hond poll at October 30 (sometimes dated November 1), and 9 seats in the TNS NIPO poll which the AP were using.

• Third, only after the Van Gogh murder, on November 6, does De Hond put Wilders at 18 seats. At November 8, six days after the murder of Van Gogh, TNS NIPO finally comes up with the figure of 19 seats. The field work for this survey was done from November 4 until November 7, as can also be read here.

There are more inaccuracies in the article. The 'latest video' that the journalist is referring to, was already discovered in early October. Furthermore, the video is not 'in Dutch with Arabic music in the background'; the death threat is actually sung in Arabic. The few Dutch words that get transposed over the footage are hardly representative of the entire movie, which can be viewed here.

18:48

The neocolonialism of Hans van Mierlo
Mr. Hans van Mierlo, the founder of Dutch centrist party D66, feels that immigration secretary Mrs. Rita Verdonk shouldn't have corrected an imam who refused to shake her hand. Mr. Van Mierlo got about a quarter of an hour on Buitenhof, one of the best news shows on Dutch PBS, to explain his point of view. Never mind the 15 minutes he needed, his argument can be summarized in one line. According to Mr. Van Mierlo, if you think you're a member of a superior culture, you shouldn't take offense at ideas from other cultures which you consider to be old-fashioned. Mr. Van Mierlo, the point is not if we, as members of a so-called superior culture, can handle it. The point is that we are insulting other cultures by allowing them to carry on believing in antiquated ideas about gender roles. I'm even willing to go so far as to consider the so-called 'civilized' and 'sensible' attitudes of Mr. Van Mierlo neocolonial. Why is that? Bear with me for a moment. Let's say that someone from another country tells you the Sun revolves around the Earth. Would you correct him, or just snigger behind his back? Which course of action would show the most respect for the person you're having a conversation with? This culture has, for various economic and social reasons, decided that our civilization is best served when both men and women are no longer distinguished by different kinds of treatment. There's not much debate about that; you could argue that the concept that women and men should be treated equal as this benefits us all, is about as normal amongst well-educated Westerners as the idea of the Earth revolving around the Sun, rather than the other way around. Yet according to Mr. Van Mierlo, we should simply ignore it when somebody with a different view of the world treats a woman according to his antiquated ideas. To me, that amounts to extremely condescending behavior. Mrs. Verdonk is not the kind of woman to take offense when somebody treats her in a way even her greatgrandmother wouldn't have had to endure. She's much too mature for that. The reason she corrected the imam was, quite rightly, because he should be corrected, and because she respected him enough to still think he would benefit from that. If your friends don't have the guts to tell you the truth every now and then, they're not really your friends, they're invertebrates. Not educating our new countrymen on basic tenets of Western civilization has long been considered perfectly acceptable and even 'tolerant'. By acting the way we did (or rather: not acting), we have been depriving them of the opportunity to become full members of our society. When Mr. Van Mierlo corrects Mrs. Verdonk, he isn't making the case for respecting the cultures of immigrants. Whether he intends to or not, he's arguing to hold them back as much as possible. There was a time when such behavior by Western cultures was rife, and most of us generally don't feel proud about that era. It's a good thing not even his own party takes Mr. Van Mierlo too seriously anymore.
13:35	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Immigration secretary to Dutch imams: Learn Dutch
Mrs. Rita Verdonk, the Dutch immigration secretary, had a meeting today with several imams. The encounter produced some intriguing moments. For instance, one of the imams didn't want to shake her hand, citing religious taboo as the reason. You can view a small picture here. But the most interesting part of the encounter was when Mrs. Verdonk told all imams she hoped next year she would be able to speak Dutch with them. Today, Mrs. Verdonk had to use a translator to converse with several of the imams. Commercial broadcaster RTL Nieuws just showed two imams fully agreeing with Mrs. Verdonk. Both of them of course spoke Dutch already.
19:26	permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

Student beat up after presentation about Islam
This article was printed in the restricted edition of populist broadsheet De Telegraaf, so my knowledge of it is limited to what's been reprinted here. A student of the Dalton Scholengemeenschap in The Hague was beat up after giving a presentation about Islam and the murder of Theo van Gogh, by a group of Moroccans who hadn't even heard the presentation. According to his classmates, they were acting on behalf of a girl who had, and who thought the lecture was insulting. Neither the classmates nor the teacher were able to identify anything offensive in the presentation. If the opposite had happened, Dutch politicians would be all over the airwaves lecturing the Dutch on our responsibility, and they'd be right to do so. Where are the Moroccan community leaders lecturing their flock? Apart from the deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb, no one has yet stepped forward. That scares me more than the violence itself.
9:18	permalink comment(s) (6) trackback(s) (0)

Interview day at Geert Wilders' secret hideout

I guess I'm a little bit cynical since all of a sudden articles with MP-in-hiding Geert Wilders are popping up everywhere. Apparently, if you want to interview an elected representative these days, you have to wait until security deems it safe enough to bring you to him, along with a number of your colleagues so they can get it over with as quickly as possible and shield Mr. Wilders from the outside world once more. Mr. Wilders was interviewed on Dutch PBS yesterday night, talking about how it feels to live under constant threat. (Not too good.) He also gave an interview to the Associated Press, selected quotes from which can be found here. Money quote:

If in a mosque there is recruitment for jihad it's not a house of prayer, it's a house of war. If it's not a house of prayer it should be closed down.

8:35

Friday, November 19, 2004

'Dutch Muslim leaders could do a better job at renouncing the bloodshed'
The San Francisco Chronicle, not exactly a right wing bastion, lectures Dutch Muslim leaders on their civic responsibilities. Perhaps queen Beatrix should read it too.
22:02	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

Danish imam explains why Van Gogh had it coming

Well, this clears things up. Danish imam Ahmed Abu Laban, Palestinian by birth, has today explained how Van Gogh infuriated Muslims: 'Theo van Gogh provoked all Muslims by showing a naked woman.'
This must be a culture gap - I personally kinda like naked women. Quite a few men seem to, considering the fact there's still quite a few babies being born every day.
The imam also really favors freedom of expression, as long as no one uses it to criticize Islam, or to show naked women.
Well, at least he sticks to his points.

Meanwhile, several politicians in Belgium need to be guarded because of Islamic death threats.

20:38

permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

Dutch Labour Party backtracks on religious insults law
Only a few days after the PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party, voiced support for a parliamentary motion to rid the law of articles prohibiting religious insults, its leader Wouter Bos now seems to backtrack on that decision. Bos has withdrawn initial support to this motion by the centrist D66 party. Since the motion won't be voted on until Tuesday, I guess there'll be a long weekend ahead full of bickering in the newspapers. Without PvdA support, the motion probably will not get a majority of the votes in the Second Chamber (the Dutch Lower House).
10:20	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Ayaan Hirsi Ali roundup

Not too long ago, queen Beatrix visited Moroccan youngsters in Amsterdam. It was a sensible thing to do, but even at the time, I wondered if she shouldn't extend the same courtesy to native Dutch. Up until now, she hasn't.

Two Dutch authors have now called for the queen to pay a visit to MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is in hiding following the murder of Theo van Gogh. The letter by Nelleke Noordervliet and Max Pam reads: 'There should be a picture in the newspaper of the head of state with the woman who was the intended recipient of the knife that was plunged into Theo van Gogh's body.'

Of course, queen Beatrix may already have visited Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. (One can hope.) Since Hirsi Ali is in hiding, it's unlikely they would advertise such a visit.

Meanwhile, Dutch author Leon de Winter voices his intense disapproval of the fact that Ms. Hirsi Ali is still in hiding. According to him, she should be able to do her job as an MP, even if the military have to lock off The Hague for it.

(Amsterdam is our national capital, but The Hague is our political center of power. Parliament as well as the government are based there, as are many government departments, embassies and the International Court of Justice. This way, we can use Amsterdam for the fun stuff.)

Mr. De Winter has a point. For Ms. Hirsi Ali will not be receiving a major Dutch feminist prize for now. The organization of monthly Opzij has postponed the ceremony due to security concerns.

The fact that the translation rights to Ms. Hirsi Ali's books have been selling extremely well recently, surely doesn't offer much in the way of consolation.

17:13

And again, the radical Islamists win

Last year, Dutch cinemas showed the hugely successful comedy 'Shouf shouf habibi!', which revolves around Moroccan immigrants and their difficulties integrating in Dutch society. At the time, there was some minor uproar when it turned out that Moroccan moviegoers in several cinemas regularly burst into applause during a scene in which a second-generation Moroccan son hits his sister. An acquaintance of mine was shocked when she saw how Moroccan girls voiced their consent to this kind of violent behavior. These were not girls wearing headscarves either - they were dressed according to the latest revealing Western fashion.

Since ignorance was still bliss at the time, these incidents got forgotten pretty quickly.

Not it turns out that a sequel may be postponed because director Albert ter Heerdt is afraid of possible repercussions. To quote Mr. Ter Heerdt: 'I don't want a knife in my body.' I guess it would be too easy for me to call him a coward, since (a) I'm not facing his dilemma, and (b) I don't have a family to look after. But it is a damn shame no one else has stepped forward to do the honors.

15:37

Religious un-division

Something struck me about the open letter by Mohammed Bouyeri that was pinned to Mr. Van Gogh's mutilated body with a knife. I only realized it when a reader (thanks, Phil) sent me a hyperlink to this article:

There is one certainty in the whole of existence; and that is that everything comes to an end.

A child born unto this world and fills this universe with its presence in the form of its first life's cries, shall ultimately leave this world with its death cry.

I am an agnostic, but I was raised an orthodox Christian. A very orthodox Christian (by Dutch standards, anyway. Yes, we did use cars and electricity). The one book of the Bible I still read regularly is Ecclesiastes. And what does this preacher say in chapter 4, verses 2 and 3? Right, this:

2 And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.

3 And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes concludes that, if life is indeed meaningless, one might as well enjoy it. From chapter 8, verse 15:

15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

Then again, most radicals don't seem to be that interested in 'joie de vivre'.

12:33

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Just returned from Dublin
Where I spent two days for the VVOJ, the Dutch-Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists. If anybody wants to see how my cat wrecked the house in the meantime, here are 1,500 webcam shots. That should keep you busy until I resume blogging tomorrow ;-)
22:35	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Articles against religious insults may be removed from law

Can't blog much now, but here's a bit of news that can't wait.

It turns out that a majority of the Second Chamber, the Dutch Lower House, may be willing to abolish the articles that deem religious insults illegal.

Funny how things can backfire. It's good to know there are plenty of other Dutch who want to see the tide turn. And it's especially good to feel the faith return.

Not that this will get Mr. and Mrs. Van Gogh their son back.

(Comments will be on again Thursday, that's when the new Movable Type implementation will be finished. My apologies for any inconvenience caused.)

17:48

Monday, November 15, 2004

Bravo, Mr. Afshin Ellian

Mr. Afshin Ellian, a refugee from Iran and currently a university professor of law in Leiden, has condemned Mr. Donner's attempt to reinstitute the ban on religious insults: 'What Mr. Donner is actually saying to Muslim fundamentalists is: you have a point when you are killing people. (...) Donner should have said: keep your hands off our writers and thinkers, we will defend our freedom. Donner should make terrorists fear him, rather than writers and thinkers.' Ellian also agreed with immigration secretary Mrs. Verdonk, who yesterday said that Muslims generally have a lower level of tolerance towards criticism. 'If you look at the list of people who've been killed in the Muslim world you can say that the level of tolerance is very low. Muslims who can't deal with the fact that people are debating their religion, should adapt to the Dutch justice system and the Dutch level of tolerance. And not the other way around.'

An interesting bit of trivia: it turns out that a certain Jan Donner created the law against religious insults. Jan Donner is the grandfather of Piet-Hein Donner, the current minister of Justice, who wants to revitalize the law.

15:39

'How enlightenment dies'

Read this article at NRO. Money quote:

A few days ago, a local artist reacted to the news of Van Gogh's killing by painting a mural that included the words "Gij zult niet doden" ("Thou Shalt Not Kill"). Fair comment, you might think. Apparently not. The head of a nearby mosque complained. The police showed up and city workers sandblasted the inconvenient text into oblivion. Rotterdam's mayor has since apologized, but the damage had already been done.

"Thou Shalt Not Kill." Erased, obliterated, unacceptable. Much like Theo van Gogh.

12:25

AIVD mole used steganography to distribute information
Steganography is a way of hiding information in a seemingly normal picture, which can then be included to distribute secrets through a seemingly normal website. The Moroccan mole that had managed to infiltrate the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD and probably tipped off the terrorist Hofstad Group apparently used this technology to distribute information stolen from the AIVD. GeenStijl has an extensive debate on this subject, including links to the relevant software tools for amateur spooks who want to do a bit of digging themselves.
11:52	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Updates on attempts of censorship by Mr. Donner

(Click here first if you don't know what this is about.)

• Shock blog GeenStijl reminds us that this is the same Mr. Donner who last year tried to censor political satire. I probably repressed that.

• Elsevier News Weekly, the largest weekly in the Netherlands (and one of my largest outlets), will speak out against Donner's plans later on the day. They call it a submission to Mohammed Bouyeri's actions. They also point out the injustice of giving religious people special status under the law, which I've done here as well.

• Chairman Tonca of the Contact Group Muslims and Government (Contactorgaan Moslims en Overheid) thinks that Muslims can take a religious insult as well as anyone. After which he immediately debunks himself: 'A Christian isn't happy either when Jesus or Maria is insulted.' Well, probably not. But the point is what should be done with those insulted feelings. Dutch authors like W.F. Hermans, Gerard Reve and Maarten 't Hart have been criticizing Christianity since the 1950's. Although offended Catholics tried to sue the crap out of Hermans in 1951, he won. Tonca then goes on to endorse Donner's proposal. I think being willing to turn the clock back more than half a century does qualify as overly sensitive.

Update 11.39:
• Police have removed fliers stating that 'Mohammed was a pedophile'. The flier was probably referring to the religious founder of Islam rather than to the Van Gogh murderer. According to the police, there were two other fliers as well, with texts like 'How many will have to come, how many will have to go' (a reference to this song and 'When a Muslim says something, it's his faith, when a white man says something, it's racism'. The article suggest, but does not explicitly say so, that these versions were removed as well. If so, this story reminisces of the ridiculous actions by Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten, who ordered a mural stating 'Thou shalt not kill' removed because it would offend Muslims. Read more about that here and here.

Update 12.56:
• According to this Telegraaf roundup, the last time anyone was fined for religious insults, was in 1965. Student magazine Propria Cures then published a so-called 'Jesus issue', which was deemed offensive, although it's unclear why (the Telegraaf article doesn't say). In 1966, famous Dutch literary writer Gerard Reve was sued under the same law, but got off the hook, even though he had represented (the Christian) God as a donkey he had sex with. In other words, we're having a debate about the past here. In 1995, Theo van Gogh was sued for calling Jesus a 'rotten fish from Nazareth'. First, the Dutch courts cleared Van Gogh, then the European Court of Human Rights.

To all Muslims who have told me in the past few weeks that your religion is the only one being insulted and that Van Gogh only targeted you, can you please reread the previous paragraph?

11:06

D66 party wants to rid Dutch law of censorship articles
I've posted my opinion about the Dutch laws against religious insults here. It shouldn't surprise anyone therefore that I'm quite happy with the position of centrist party D66, who want to remove these articles from the law books. Too bad that the PvdA, the Dutch labour party, actually agrees with Mr. Piet-Hein Donner of Justice and his party, the Christian-right CDA. They want to start enforcing these arcane articles again, thus giving in to the murderous blackmail of Van Gogh murderer Mohammed Bouyeri.
10:17	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

'Threats to daily Metro were ignored'

According to editor Jan Dijkgraaf, radical Islamists made threats to his (free) daily newspaper long before the Van Gogh murder. However, police in Amsterdam dismissed the threats, several of which call for either the killing of Metro staff or the torching of the Metro building.

A free copy of today's Metro, which contains several of the threatening emails, can be downloaded here. Boris Dittrich, leader of the centrist D66 party, has called for a new investigation. It seems that Mr. Donner, the responsible secretary for the Justice department, is more concerned with curbing our freedom of speech these days.

I'm flying out to Ireland tonight, but if any foreign media want to help get this story out, please contact me directly through email.

10:07

Sunday, November 14, 2004

A good time to clean up the law

The Dutch from Twente, the region I hail from, have a saying: 'Scheld'n dut gin zeer, moar a'j mie houwt, dan houw 'k oe weer.'
As the Twente dialect is unintelligible even to many Dutch, I'll provide a translation: 'Name calling doesn't hurt you, but I will hurt you if you lay a finger on me.' (It's somewhat similar to the American saying 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me', except in that version, you don't have to deal with an angry Twent who will hit back ;-)) Or, in other words, verbal violence isn't comparable to real violence.

It turns out though that Dutch law still contains plenty of articles catering to those who are easily offended. Not too long ago a Dutch man was arrested for burning an American flag. This is legal in the USA, but here you can get fined for it, as it constitutes 'an insult to a friendly head of state'. I'm sure Mr. Bush lost a lot of sleep over that.

Likewise, there's apparently an arcane article which makes it possibly to prosecute religious insults.

To my amazement, secretary Piet-Hein Donner of Justice this weekend announced he is going to investigate whether or not there are possibilities yo reinvigorate this forgotten article. Apparently too many sensitive people are being hurt. As I haven't heard any Christians, Jews or Hindus complain lately, this can only mean Mr. Donner is afraid of hurting Muslim feelings.

Never mind that Mr. Donner has tolerated extreme cases of Islamic 'offending statements', for example when it turned out the El Tawheed mosque sold a book calling for gays to be thrown off high buildings. I am not gay, but if I were, I think I might take offense to that idea.

Never mind also that although Mr. Donner stresses this shouldn't be explained as an endorsement of the actions of Mr. Van Gogh murderer Mohammed Bouyeri, it is of course extremely insensitive for Mr. Van Gogh's family. Too bad the Dutch state isn't a religion, otherwise the Van Gogh family could sue Donner under his proposal.

And never mind that this article against religious insults is deeply discriminatory. As far as I know, no other form of ideology is given such special privileges under the law. Or will non-religious people be able to sue a Christian or a Muslim when the latter two claim he's a heathen and will surely rot in hell for all his sins?

The correct response to Mr. Donner's ludicrous plan was offered today by immigration secretary Rita Verdonk. To paraphrase her words: the problem isn't the people that do the insulting, it's the people that feel insulted. Or, in the words of Mrs. Verdonk: 'I think the average Muslim has a lower level of tolerance than the average Dutch. And I can't imagine that my colleague Mr. Donner intends to take us all to that lower level of tolerance.' According to Mrs. Verdonk, we'd be rewarding intolerant Muslims for their intolerance.

Besides, there are major problems asking a judge to rule on whether someone has said something insulting. First, you need to prove the person who said it had an intent to insult. Otherwise, one could simply stifle all his critics by claiming offense. Second, you need to prove the other party is really offended, for exactly the same reason.

A much better way of dealing with hurt feelings is therefore simply not having them. Yes, that's a choice. Andrew Sullivan wrote about this (in a different context) much more eloquently than I ever could: 'Hate is only foiled not when the haters are punished but when the hated are immune to the bigot's power. A hater cannot psychologically wound if a victim cannot psychologically be wounded.'

Methinks here lies a challenge for our new countrymen.

There's also a philosophical reason to let freedom of speech reign, even when some people use (or abuse, take your pick) it to spout offensive statements. For in a marketplace of ideas, it's not just the sellers that determine what happen, it's the buyers as well. If someone uses the marketplace of ideas to sell bigotry, he will ostracize himself for few buyers will want to deal with him anymore. There's no need for the government or a judge to do that for him. Some of the buyers may even organize around a seller condemning the bigotry.

Mrs. Verdonk is right. We should use the Van Gogh murder to get this country to a higher level of tolerance, not a lesser. And we could start by removing laws such as the ones prohibiting religious insults, as well as insults against friendly heads of state, out of our law books.

15:46

A Saturday night with Hitler
I wanted to spend my Saturday night with something blonde, but the pet store was all out of golden retrievers. So Blue Eye and me decided to go to 'Der Untergang', a supposedly shocking movie which supposedly would show a 'human' Hitler. All I saw, for about 150 very long and boring minutes, was someone without any human depth at all. (This from a guy who sits through five documentaries from 'The World at War' in a row.) Bruno Ganz portrayed a Hitler very much like the monster we knew already: a ruthless murderer who (don't they just love these wonderful little contradictory quirks - yawn) was also a vegetarian and really kind to Eva Braun and his cook. Thanks, Bruno, but we knew that. What we'd like to know is if there was anything more to him than clichés from a junior high history book. The truth is that Germany probably isn't ready to make a truly innovative film about Hitler. That country has been nearly masochistic in wallowing about its World War II guilt. This film, by laying at least part of the responsibility of what happened by the Nazi ideology and Hitler rather than endless emotional flagellating, means they are finally moving beyond that. (Not that they forewent the flagellating entirely.) Perhaps they should have put a little sign on the cinema stating 'Germans only', although I suppose I see how that could have offended some people. I did like the part where nearly defeated Nazis had mindless sex, though that could just have been my imagination trying to overcompensate for lots of overacted bunker scenes.
10:57	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Imminent attacks on Hirsi Ali and Wilders prevented
According to NRC Handelsblad, the arrests in The Hague took place for fear of a terrorist attack on the lifes of MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and MP Geert Wilders. The Dutch-American Jason W. and Ismail A. were arrested in The Hague on Wednesday after a siege which lasted from the middle of the night till dusk. NRC Handelsblad refers to 'various' anonymous sources to support their claim. Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote the script for Theo van Gogh's film Submission. Geert Wilders has been critical of radical Islam for a long time.
14:36	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

New picture of Van Gogh murderer Mohammed Bouyeri
Broadsheet Algemeen Dagblad publishes it on their website. Mr. Bouyeri wrote articles for a small door-to-door newspaper which, according to these examples obtained by tv station RTL Nieuws, turned more religious in tone as time went by.
14:09	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Maintenance messages
Blogging will be brief today, as there are several looming deadlines. Comments will be off for longer than expected, pending an upgrade to a new version of Movable Type.
14:09	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

And there goes another mosque
This time in the village of Helden, which is Dutch for 'heros'. I therefore suggest we build a new prison and call it 'Lafaards', which is Dutch for 'cowards'.
14:02	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Friday, November 12, 2004

Vacancies at the AIVD
Amongst others, the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD is looking for an 'operational' staffer. You'll be charged with surveillance assignments, during which you'll be inconspicuously following people and cars. Does that sound spooky enough to you? Then click here for details on how to apply.
20:39	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

New anti-terrorism unit
Here's the interesting part: it was founded on the first of September, before the Van Gogh murder. According to the Reformatorisch Dagblad (a Christian broadsheet - yes, we have those here too), it's called BBE-SIE (Bijzondere Bijstandseenheid - Snelle Interventie Eenheid), or Special Support Unit - Fast Intervention Unit. The article can be found here. It sounds pretty much James Bond to me: the team is comprised of marines, police officers and MP's. According to the anonymous source in the article, BBE-SIE has been deployed a number of times already. Which makes it rather likely they were on duty during the siege in The Hague as well.
19:42	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

Queen visits immigrants
I am a (rather passive) supporter of the Dutch Republican Society, but nevertheless I think it's a good thing queen Beatrix went to speak with several immigrants today. I hope she will follow up with a visit to a group of native Dutch. There's plenty of frustration there as well, and the last thing we need now is someone accusing the monarchy of one-sidedness.
15:00	permalink comment(s) (8) trackback(s) (0)

Paramilitary training camp discovered in the Netherlands
A paramilitary training camp of the Kurdish separatist organization PKK was dismantled in Liempde, in the south of the Netherlands.. A total of 29 people were arrested. The Kurds used a camp site as their base. Later today, three people were apprehended in Rotterdam, and there are rather vague reports about other arrests in other places. The PKK is on the European Union list of terrorist organizations. According to the very tight-lipped authorities, the bust had nothing to do with the Van Gogh murder, but I find that a little bit hard to believe. Never before have there been so many terror-related arrests in only ten days time.
14:50	permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

Parliament and Balkenende administration want drastic measures to combat terrorism

Although the bickering about the position of secretary Johan Remkes was ongoing, the Second Chamber and the Balkenende administration have actually done some work in the meantime as well. The list of proposed measures to combat terrorism is pretty long, so I put them on a separate page, which you can reach by clicking 'Lees verder'. Thanks to my colleagues at Elsevier News Weekly for providing the bulk of the information.

14:34

After the debate

For reasons which seem as inexplicable to me as my love for jelly beans, secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs survived the debate in the Second Chamber. A 'motion of distrust' was filed, but it didn't get enough votes. In fact, only the LPF voted in favor of it (the same party whose chairman sent a fake threat letter to MP's of his own party), as well as maverick MP Geert Wilders. The latter isn't really that surprising since he filed the motion in the first place.

Considering the huge number of 'backroom meetings' during the night, it seems likely that Remkes is still hanging by a thread. It's probably easier to let him continue for the time being, whilst a suitable replacement is sought in the meantime. After all, it's not like he could do more damage than he has already, and changing captains while navigating the cliffs is never a good idea.

Read more about the debate at Expatica, and don't forget to visit Peaktalk.

14:27

Tasteless pictures
I'm not going to steal their glory, so I'll just post this link to the 'FotoFuckFriday', the weekly Photoshop contest of Dutch blog Retecool. This week, the subject is of course the aftermath of the Van Gogh murder and the war against terror. Warning: do not go there if you are easily offended, for example by coarse language, nudity or politically incorrect jokes. Quite a few of them are in English. The level of jokes varies from childish to brilliant.
13:19	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

Freedom of cowardice
Of course, Index was just being 'ironical' in its diatribe against Theo van Gogh. Irony is the perpetual defense of a person who desperately wants to say something, but lacks the courage to say it. No wonder Index tried to tear down a dead man who had plenty of the latter, but only when he couldn't defend himself anymore.
11:50	permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

He's still there

Johan Remkes is allowed to remain as secretary of Domestic Affairs.

More later, got to run for the hospital to get hepatitis shots for a trip to Jordan.

8:24

Remkes on a knife's edge
What exactly did secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs think he was doing tonight? His political future depends on the debate with the Second Chamber, the Dutch Lower House, he's engaged in. He has to redeem himself after the AIVD failed to properly assess the risk that the murderer of Theo van Gogh, Mohammed B., posed. The AIVD didn't consider B. dangerous enough to follow him around the clock. If that had been the case But what did Remkes do? He again tried to blame his colleague Piet-Hein Donner of Justice. Donner is indeed responsible for the coordination of all counterterrorism efforts. But at the time the crucial mistakes regarding Mohammed B. were made, this wasn't yet the case. I will not shed any tears if I wake up tomorrow morning and it turns out there's a vacancy at Domestic Affairs
0:30	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Wire tap on Mohammed B. till the 21st of October
The Dutch intelligence service AIVD had a wire tap on the murderer of Van Gogh until the 21st of October. Mohammed B. killed Van Gogh less than a fortnight later. Why is Johan Remkes still in charge of the department of Domestic Affairs?
0:26	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

The Dutch 9/11
According to Jozias van Aartsen, chief whip of the Liberal Party (which is a right-wing party), the 2nd of November was the Dutch equivalent of the attack on the World Trade Center. Although the loss of life in the USA was a lot larger from a numerical point of view, I can't say it's an unwarranted comparison. If someone dies as the result of an accident it's tragic. But if someone is murdered, not for what he is but for what he represents, as was the case both in NYC and in Amsterdam, it is a disaster, for it is the entire country that is attacked by proxy.
0:23	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Terrorism is all about family values

Two of the seven terrorism suspects that were apprehended yesterday, turn out to be brothers.
Yeah, I got a warm fuzzy feeling too.
What's more, they're not Moroccans. They're Dutch Americans, both from Amersfoort. Their father is an American soldier based in Europe. Their mother is Dutch. The oldest of the two is names Jason W. He is 19 years old and, according to some sources, converted to Islam five years ago. Another source states he converted at the age of 13, which at least isn't contradictory. At that time, he got a new name: Abu Mujahied Amrik, according to shock blog GeenStijl. Jason left a goodbye note for his parents in Dutch. It is mainly rethorical drivel, although one sentence intrigues me: he begs his mother not to erect another altar like the last time.
Jason was arrested in The Hague yesterday and got hurt. This probably means he's the guy that didn't follow police orders. Yesterday it was reported that one of the suspects was subsequently shot in his shoulder. GeenStijl has a really small picture of Jason here. His brother Jermaine is 17. He was arrested in Amersfoort.
Jason had finished VWO (the highest level of secondary school in the Netherlands) and had started his university studies. As with Mohammed B., who was also well educated, and as with many of the hijackers during the 9-11 attacks, this goes to show we are not dealing with mindless drones, but misguided ones.
It would be foolish to underestimate them.

(Information compiled from RTL Nieuws, De Telegraaf and GeenStijl.

23:59

permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

Update: Siege in The Hague
Only three grenades were found in the Antheunisstraat, so the fear for a huge cache of explosives turns out to have been unfounded. Nevertheless, police have conducted a number of operations in the past few months looking for a large weapons cache. There was even a bit of uproar when they busted what was apparently the wrong house of a Moroccan family in Utrecht. I wouldn't expect them to tell the public anything about an ongoing investigation, but perhaps they don't even need to. The siege in The Hague combined with their earlier activities make it rather likely that they think they're on to something.
16:07	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

New attacks on mosques and schools
• Racist slogans as well as symbols (White Power, swastika) were painted on the walls of a mosque and the city hall in Veendam. • Police discovered a small fire in a church in Utrecht. Fortunately, only a chair got damaged. I'm not sure it's a coincidence the church was on the Marokkodreef, which means Morocco Drive. • An attempt to burn down a church in Rotterdam failed due to bad throwing and molotov cocktail making skills on behalf of the arsonist(s). • An attempt to attack a mosque in Venray was scotched by the police.
15:41	permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

Chairman of political party threatens his own people
In what is one of the most depraved things I've read since the attack on Mr. Theo van Gogh, Sergej Moleveld, the director of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) party was arrested today for sending a threatening letter to two LPF MP's. The letter was sent in the name of an Islamic organization. Its content has not been made public. The LPF is the party of the late politician who was murderd in 2002. The LPF party organization and the LPF MP's are currently not on speaking terms. In the Netherlands, it is possible for MP's to sever their connections with their party and retain their seat in parliament. Of course, LPF MP Van As immediately declared this incident proves they made the right choice in separating from their party. Why Moleveld did this, is unclear. It may have had something to do with the strained relations between the MP's and the party. It's also possible he wanted to capitalize on existing fears in society. Either way, it's deplorable. I hope the judge gives him an alternative sentence. Six months (the maximum length for an alternative sentence) of teaching immigrant school children in Uden to write Dutch letters might just have a wholesome effect on his personality, although I am not keeping my hopes up. Yeez. (Breathing in deeply...)
15:03	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Arrested men belong to 'Hofstad Group'

The seven men which were arrested yesterday in The Hague, Amersfoort and Amsterdam, are part of the so-called Hofstad Group (Hofstadgroep in Dutch). 'De Hofstad' is a colloquiall Dutch name for The Hague, where two of the men were arrested. I wonder whether this is an informal name used by authorities, or the name the group has given itself. Either way, Mohammed B. was in regular contact with one of the people from this group, Samir A., who as this blog has previously reported, was already arrested some time ago on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks. There is very little known about de Hofstad Group, but of course, I'll post it if more information becomes available.

Update 16.14: Three members of the Hofstad Group travelled to the European soccer championships in Portugal, De Telegraaf reports. The Dutch intelligence agency AIVD tipped off the Portuguese, who arrested them.

13:19

Van Gogh song

Since this blog is brimming with Americans, I thought y'all might appreciate a bit of Dutch 'gangsta rap' ;-). This is a song by Lange Frans & Baas B (Long Frans & Boss B.) called 'Zinloos' (Meaningless). It's currently high up in the Dutch charts. After Van Gogh was killed, a special version was made, which can be listened to here (streaming WMA).
My apologies to anyone who expects talk about glorious gun fights, beautiful biatches and fast cars. It can't be found in this song. Instead, it's about a number of people who have died as a result of what is colloquially known in the Netherlands as 'zinloos geweld' or 'meaningless violence': people who were murdered for no reason whatsoever, or because they stood up to wrongs in Dutch society and public life. From Joes Kloppenburg, who tried to end a brawl in Amsterdam and paid for it with his life, to René Steegmans, who got clubbed to death in Venlo with a helmet after he corrected two fellow young men who nearly ran over a senior citizen with their scooter, this is their song.
Please buy the record if you can, as all proceeds will go to the Stichting Kappen Nou! (Foundation 'Cut it Out!'), which tries to combat 'meaningless violence'. 'Kappen nou!' were the final words of Joes Kloppenburg.

For a partial translation, click 'Lees verder'.

permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

12:36

Moroccan leak in intelligence service
The mole in the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD turns out to have been a Moroccan translator. His name is Outmar Ben A. (family names are customarily abbreviated in Dutch journalism) and he is 34 years old. After the Van Gogh murder, it became apparent that secret AIVD documents got into the hands of radical Islamists. This afternoon, secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs will have to answer to the Second Chamber, the Dutch Lower House of Parliament, for the failures of the AIVD.
9:23	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Returning home
No word yet if any explosives have actually been discovered in The Hague, but at least people living in the Antheunisstraat are allowed to return home now.
9:11	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali in IHT

Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who made the film Submission (download it here or here) together with Theo van Gogh, speaks out in the International Herald Tribune.

(Hat tip: Deining.)

8:43

Nudity and zebras
In Douglas Adams' infamous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there's a philosopher who conclusively manages to prove that white is actually black. He then gets himself killed on a zebra crossing, for if there's no difference between black and white anymore, the crossing can't exist. Andrew Sullivan criticizes an article on the British online magazine Index, in which Van Gogh is blamed for censoring others. How did he do that, according to Index? Well, apparently by saying what he thought. So, according to the warped world view of the writer, if other people are such cowards they daren't speak out about their hurt feelings in the public arena, or can't find their way to a judge, but can only channel their feelings in acts of aggression (and that goes for killers as well as mosque arsonists), it's your fault if you happen to have infuriated him by maintaining a contrary opinion. This way of reasoning can only boil down to no one saying anything meaningful anymore, for fear of offending the other. It ends with a society which is so 'tolerant', even (and especially) against intolerance, that the public debate becomes subdued as a result. Does that remind anyone of anything? A small country with a lot of dykes and coffee shops perhaps? It's for a good reason that Theo van Gogh was considered by many to be a breath of fresh air, even by those who didn't always agree with him, like me. He was the proverbial child (for childish he could be) who pointed out the tolerance-clad emperor wasn't wearing any clothes. Surely the Dutch of all people can also tolerate a bit of nudity?
8:38	permalink comment(s) (8) trackback(s) (0)

Please do not post full articles in the comments section

For a number of reasons:
• It's illegal. You're infringing upon someone else's copyright.
• Under recent Dutch jurisprudence, I am liable for any wrongdoings of other people posting on this site. I really don't like judges, at least not when they're judging me.
• It clogs up the comments. Nobody likes to scroll down endlessly in order to be able to comment.
• It takes ages to clean it all up. I'm a guy. I don't like cleaning. I like whiskey, jellybeans, and wearing pink lingerie under my business suits. Forget the last sentence.
For the sake of debate and the continuation of this blog, please just post the links. Do not use href's, the content management system will remove them. Instead, a simple http://www.thisisareallygoodurl.com will suffice. It will be auto-converted into a clickable link.

(Comments are off for the night anyway. See you all tomorrow!)

0:59

After the siege in The Hague

• The Antheunisstraat in The Hague will remain closed off. The official reason is that 'there's no guarantee there are no explosives in the house'. In non-bureaucrat lingo: the house is probably full of explosives, meaning the rumors were right.
• As was already known, two suspects were taken into custody.
• During the arrest, one of the suspects 'did not follow orders from the police'. He was shot in the shoulder.
• A third suspect was arrested in Amersfoort. Despite an extensive search, no explosives were found.
• Four other suspects were arrested in Amsterdam today, bringing the total number to seven.
• The evacuated people in The Hague will have to spend the night elsewhere.

Update 1.08:
• Two people were arrested in Baexum. The police won't say why. It makes me wonder: if they can find all these guys this quickly now, why couldn't they have done this before? Especially since:
• Mohammed B. turns out to have been in the scope of the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD since August 2002. If this were America, and we had a dual party political structure, some people would have a field day.
• Well, they may have it anyway, since this information comes from the letter secretaries Johan Remkes (Domestic Affairs) and Piet-Hein Donner (Justice) have sent to the Second Chamber (the Dutch Lower House). Remkes is under a lot of criticism, and he was the sole responsible person for the AIVD at the time.
• Idiots seem to be in no short supply outside of politics either, as there has been yet another torching of a junior high, this time in Eindhoven. Apart from one destroyed classroom, the damage seems limited. The interesting thing is that this was not a Muslim school, so it may have been a retaliation - or an 'ordinary' arsonist or copycat. Yesterday, a Muslim school in Uden was completely destroyed by fire. On Monday, some equally mentally challenged people tried to blow up a Muslim school in Eindhoven. They failed, but did destroy a lot of windows as well as the entrance of the school.

0:18

permalink comment(s) (21) trackback(s) (0)

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

The politics of apologetics

On the one hand, I meet plenty of people, both Dutch and Muslim, who say they condemn the Van Gogh murder. But. They understand it.

On the other hand, I meet a slightly smaller number of people, mainly Dutch and not as many Muslims, who say they don't want to condone the attacks on mosques. But. They understand it.

May I offer a heartfelt raised middle finger to both groups?

23:03

House in The Hague 'full of explosives'

The siege has ended, two people have been arrested, which you can read more about in this article from the LA Times or this one from Expatica.

What you won't read there, however, is that Dutch PBS just announced there is a 'very persistent rumor' that the house they were in, is filled to the brim with explosives.

The press conference about the siege by the mayor of The Hague, Wim Deetman, was announced for the early evening, but is still pending.

22:48

permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

From the comments section

"There is a sobbing of the strong
And a pall across the land,
But the people in their sobbing
Bare the iron hand.
Beware the people sobbing
When they bare the iron hand."
(Herman Melville, on the occasion of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln)

Thank you, Jeffersonian, for posting this in the comments section. I've just returned home after a really long day. Blogging will resume after I've dealt with some email backlog and the cat.

22:43

permalink comment(s) (28) trackback(s) (0)

Update on anti-terror action

• Even more police have arrived in The Hague from Amsterdam and all over the country. I don't think I've seen this much police in one location ever before.
• Police have climbed the roofs.
• A 'number of suspects' are in a house on the Antheunisstraat.
• Surrounding houses have been evacuated.
• One police officer turns out to have been severely wounded.

An action using force seems imminent. Unfortunately, I have to drive to Utrecht in a few minutes. I'll try to keep you posted as best as I can.

• In Utrecht now, where there's WLAN. Here are some pictures of the area.

9:54

A bit of roaring lion

The Dutch tend not to like nationalism, except when it's about soccer or when we are really, really mad.

So I liked this comment at Tim Blair's site:

'Never ever f**k with them. Slow to anger, they are utterly determined and utterly ruthless when they have to be, this is how they defeated the Spanish, built an empire, and taught the world about commerce.'

In other words, beware the anger of a patient man. Considering the things that have happened the past week, which I would never have deemed possible two weeks ago, I'm inclined to agree. After all, the motto beneath the two lions in our coat of arms doesn't say "Je Maintiendrai" (I Will Maintain) for no reason.

9:36

Massive anti-terror action in The Hague

If I can believe RTL Nieuws, there's about forty different arrest teams currently active in the Laakkwartier precinct of The Hague in what seems to be a huge anti-terror action. Here's what I know so far:

• Airspace above The Hague has been sealed off until further notice.
• At 3 AM, arrest teams tried to enter a house on the Antheunisstraat in The Hague.
• Three officers were hurt, two of them allegedly quite severely to their stomach and legs, after explosions were heard. RTL Nieuws reports that a hand grenade was thrown at them. Two of the officers are still receiving hospital treatment.
• At 3.30 AM, shots were heard.
• No one is allowed into the area or even go back into their house. People can leave, but can't get in again. This led to strange situations in which a woman who had let out her dog couldn't return home. All those people are brought to a shelter.
• People who try to leave the area and have no identity papers, or turn out not to be registered on any address in the precinct, are brought down for further questioning.
• Around 8 AM, a man wearing only underwear who is reportedly of Asian descent, was apparently arrested. RTL Nieuws reports he's probably an illegal alien who had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing is known about further arrests.
• However, a negotiator has been brought in. This suggests that the initial bust went wrong, and the people who this is all about, are still inside.
• The number of officers and soldiers down there must be huge. Some of the units are military anti-terrorist teams, which implies that they expect a huge potential for violence. The military units, the BBE (Bijzondere Bijstands Eenheid or Special Support Unit), were first founded in 1973 after the terrorist actions during the Olympic Games in 1972. They are not the kind of people you bring in for arresting a shoplifter.

Meanwhile, the police refuses to make any statements about the attack on the Pauluskerk (Church of Paul) in Boxmeer yesterday night, only hours after an Islamic school in Uden was completely destroyed.

9:06

IFILM now hosts 'Submission'
IFILM has decided to be braver than Dutch tv stations and host the Van Gogh murder Submission (the film can be found here too, if you want to store it on your hard drive). I'm not too happy with the number of views, 484 at the time I'm writing this. Let's get that rating up. I'll be satisfied only when the counter reaches 16.292.526 people, or the number of inhabitants of the Netherlands. Spread the word.
8:46	permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

Comments are off for the night
I need to get some sleep every now and then as well... One final update before I clock out for the night: the Islamic school that was set on fire in Uden was completely destroyed. Racist slogans were found painted on the walls. Pictures can be found here. In nearby Boxmeer, a church is burning. No details on that yet.
0:11	permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

Tears

I'm not exactly the most bottled up of fella's, but even for me it's rather exceptional to nearly start crying whilst driving a car.
I never cry. But the sadness which struck me got close to getting me there.
Fortunately, I was stuck in a traffic jam, so no one got hurt.
What caused all this was a radio broadcast about the cremation service for Theo van Gogh.
His sister read out a poem by Henk van Randwijk, an underground resistance fighter during World War II.
The last three lines are known to virtually all Dutch. However, I had never heard it in full.

I couldn't find an English translation, so I had a go at it. I'm not a literary translator, nor a native speaker of English, so please bear that in mind while reading it. There is very little rhyme in the poem already, so I've tried to preserve as best as possible without making it sound too artificial. Here goes:

All of us who've gathered here

All of us who've gathered here
The living, the dead
The hand's breadth which parts us is small
We have been jointly summoned
Before the court
Remember the loved one lying here
Brother, friend or father
But open your eyes to a wider sight
Behold the land and people jointly
Hear this word:
We stand together before the court
To elect either good or bad
A people which to tyranny consents
Will lose more than life and goods
Then light relents

(Thanks to Richard and Martin for offering suggestions. Read the Dutch original by clicking 'Lees verder'.)

permalink trackback(s) (0)

21:53

Attacks on churches

Does this stuff get you girls these days?
As I am really old already (29!), I can't really understand why adolescents (either in a mental or a physical sense) all over the country seem to think this would be a great time to fullfil a lifelong dream of becoming an arsonist.
Recently, we had a couple of mindless jerks who tried to torch a few mosques and bomb a school, and now there've been some equally braindead w*nkers who tried to set fire to churches in Rotterdam, Amersfoort and Utrecht.
Nice going, guys! Say, why don't you dress up the way people did during the Crusades? Wearing mediaeval garb you'd be much easier for the police to identify.
Also, it's much harder to chop up a mosque or church with an old-fashioned sword. It keeps you busy while we call the cops.
Alternatively, we could lock you up with Mohammed B., thrown in a few knives, and keep score of the decapitations from a safe distance of the bars.
We'll make it a pay-per-view event, and then we'll use the money to throw a real good party for everyone who actually still gives a damn about this country. After sunset, so everyone can come. The native Dutch will bring the booze and our Muslim countrymen will prepare the food, because the other way around would make no sense to me. (Anyone who's ever been to a Dutch restaurant, will agree.) And at the end of the night, just before the sun rises once more, we'll have a good breakfast and one last toast, thanking whatever supreme being people happen to believe in for you no longer being with us.
Jeez, these assholes get me mad.

Update 22.04: Apparently, I am not very intimidating, because a Muslim school in Uden burnt down tonight. Previous fires in Muslim buldings caused only superficial damage.

21:26

permalink comment(s) (10) trackback(s) (0)

Mohammed B. was on welfare
I kid you not. Unfortunately, you'll have to take my word for it, as the source is entirely Dutch.
21:23	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

The Syrian connection
The hunt is on for a Syrian national who was allegedly in contact with four men being held in the Netherlands on terrorism charges. Read all about it here.
21:21	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

'Islamist threat against the Netherlands'
According to Reuters, an radical Islamist group warns the Dutch there will be further attacks on the Netherlands if there's more violence against Muslim buildings.As has been reported here, an Islamic school in Eindhoven was bombed and several mosques all over the country were targeted by arsonists. Meanwhile, Dutch shock blog Geen Stijl found what they claim is the original threat in Arabic. It can be viewed here. Could someone try and translate it? The date in the left hand side of the screen really puzzles me.
20:57	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

'Intelligence documents leaked to terror cell'
My theory that secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs will soon be out of a job gained further credibility today. NRC Handelsblad, the same newspaper that yesterday printed an interview in which Remkes lambasted his colleague Piet-Hein Donner of Justice, today reports that secret documents of the Dutch intelligence service AIVD got into the hands of radical Islamists associated with Mohammed B. Which, if it's true, most likely means that we will finally be rid of Mr. Remkes, who has made quite a few mistakes already combatting terrorism. In other AIVD news, the service will probably get an extra 100 million euros to combat terrorism, some of which will be spent on the DKDB service, which is responsible for guarding VIP's. Of course, Dutch PBS had to immediately conjure up two experts denouncing this move. One of them was Roger Vleugels, who is an excellent journalist and a member of the Dutch Society of Investigative Journalists (as am I). Mr. Vleugels makes a living challenging the government on Freedom of Information Act requests, taking them to court if needs be. It's no surprise that someone who's been combatting secrecy all his life isn't happy with a funding increase for a secret service; it is however quite surprising that Dutch PBS chose to ask him to comment. Oh wait, it isn't. Tossers.
20:36	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Stylish murder

De Balie, a left-wing cultural center, has deemed it fit to organize a debate about style and the art of conversation. The words 'extra' in the electronic invitation would seem to suggest the debate has something to do with the murder of Van Gogh. And so would the subject: 'The art of conversation.'
Under the banner there's a quote from a book by Charles Bukowski, who apparently wrote: 'You can say everything, and do everything, but do it with style.'
It's an interesting statement for its countless ambiguities. Was Theo van Gogh a stylish man? Is nearly decapitating someone a stylish act? Is De Balie organizing a stylish debate?
Well, perhaps the subject of the debate will help determining that:

'Not a meeting on the freedom of expression. Instead, a meeting on the art of conversation. Those who haven't mastered this art, will resort to calling names, and who can't even master that, will resort to violence.'

Theo van Gogh used a lot of profane language, but was also a masterful interviewer, capable of conversation which could be gentle even at its hardest. His murderer used violence, but wrote a glowing call to Jihad, which was at least an attempt to reason with the infidels. De Balie wrote a very vague invitation, but without any insults (well, at least no unambiguous ones), and they've never hurt anyone there (although their coffee can be murderous).
Who could have guessed that the art of communication would be so confusing?
The most interesting thing is that Van Gogh is never mentioned in the invitation, and yet he seems to be present in every line.
For the invite goes on: 'No noise, but control.' Ah. They wouldn't be referring to the noisy wake we held for Van Gogh on the Dam Square, now would they? It's a good thing they aren't too clear about what they mean, or someone might challenge them.
But they don't seem to want to be challenged, or to engage in a debate. For then their invite says: 'No opinions, but thoughts.'
I hope they will a nice civilized evening during which absolutely nothing will be said.
Actually, I am sure of it.

19:22

Maintenance messages

The entire Tuesday I'll be teaching internet research skills to a group of fellow journalists, so blogging will be sparse. Especially since immediately afterwards I'll have to interview someone on sleeping problems in middle-aged men, after which I'll channel some of my frustration in my weekly Wing Chun lesson.

Normally I wouldn't mention this, but since the number of visitors septupled in the past week, I thought it would be a good idea.

Since the number of people calling for genocides and the likes has dramatically decreased in the past few days, comments will remain on while I sleep.

Thanks for being civilized, and thanks again for your kind words.

0:46

Party when you're dead

A lot of booze. A lot of well-dressed women. A lot of your best friends.
Throw me one of these parties when I die (although I hope no Jihadi is going to jump my neck anytime soon).

It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life.

There must have been some truth to Theo van Gogh's labor, for a great many people showed to celebrate it.

0:40

permalink comment(s) (11) trackback(s) (0)

Monday, November 8, 2004

Secretary of Domestic Affairs squirming after Van Gogh murder
This must be the last hoorah of secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs, who is not known for his lack of opportunism. Mr. Remkes has been under a lot of criticism lately, mainly because the Dutch intelligence service AIVD, who failed to keep a closer eye on Van Gogh murderer Mohamed B., is his responsibility. Today, he tried to deflect blame from himself by launching an all-out assault on secretary Piet-Hein Donner of Justice. Donner has recently been put in charge of all counter-terrorism efforts, however, so recently that it is absolutely ludicrous for Remkes to even try to shift blame on his colleague. In broadsheet NRC Handelsblad, Remkes blasts Donner for 'being too restrained' in combatting terrorism. One immediate sign that Remkes has overplayed his hand can be found in the same NRC article. Jozias van Aartsen, chief whip of the Liberal Party, to which Remkes belongs as well, is quoted as saying that 'it remains to be seen if Remkes has an adequate sence of urgency himself'. Ouch.
20:58	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

At least foreigners get to see 'Submission'

For sure, there's not a Dutch tv station that dares to broadcast Submission anymore, the film that Theo van Gogh made in conjunction with MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and which takes a critical view of the treatment of women in Islam. It's a good thing then that the Dutch travel a lot. If they happen to be in Australia, Japan, Canada, France or Denmark, they can see it there. Stations in all of those countries bought the broadcasting rights after the murder of Van Gogh. Israel, the UK, the USA and Denmark had done so before.

Of course, you could just download it.

18:58

International developments and press roundup

• The Wall Street Journal mentions the possibility of a Spanish connection. Apparently, Spanish police are investigating whether terrorists residing in their country ordered Van Gogh's assassination. The article isn't online (at least not for free), but a Dutch version can be found here.

• The Christian Science Monitor mentions there are apparently imams who tell their flock they don't need to pay taxes. This could actually bridge the gap with the native Dutch... ;-)

• The New York Times explores the possibility of Al Qaeda links.

• In Belgium, the government is taking stern measures to combat radical Islamism. Radio stations and websites that promote hatred will be closed, radical imams will be denied entry to the country, and fanatical Islamic organizations disbanded, according to proposals that are up for debate today.

13:23

permalink comment(s) (10) trackback(s) (0)

Bombed Islamic school had connections with fundamentalist Islamic organization

Two interesting developments. It turns out the school had been attacked before the Van Gogh murder as well. It is also reported that the school had connections with the fundamentalist Islamic foundation Al Waqf al Islami. A member of this foundation has been connected with Al Qaeda. Dutch PBS last year reported this member was a part of a group of twenty businessmen that had provided financial support to this terror organization.

Which is all the more reason to leave this kind of stuff to the authorities, rather than being a coward and trying to blow up a junior high in the middle of the night.

If any of you really want to do something, then distribute the film Theo van Gogh died for. You can find both a download location and a BitTorrent file by clicking here

11:16

permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

Not-so-silly measures against El Tawheed mosque
The Balkenende administration intends to prosecute the board of the now infamous El Tawheed mosque, where Van Gogh murderer Mohamed B. went. Also, its imam is to be extradited. It's now up to the lawyers to come up with the legal framework.
10:34	permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Silly comments by MP Femke Halsema
I know GroenLinks, or the Green Party, makes a living pussyfooting around the world, but when MP Femke Halsema, also chief whip, says that 'war' is such a 'warlike term', I can't hold back my laughter. The Balkenende administration, as some of you will now, has declared war on radical Islamism on Friday. And rightfully so. Discussing semantics does not make for serious politics.
10:28	permalink comment(s) (2) trackback(s) (0)

Silly proposal by MP Wilders
Populism from maverick MP Geert Wilders, who allegedly is himself on an Islamic hit list: he wants to take away certain constitutional rights, such as the right to found schools, from Muslims. Never mind that this in itself is unconstitutional and would be anathema in every Western country.
10:24	permalink comment(s) (4) trackback(s) (0)

Attacks on Islamic school and mosques

Some 'heros' have bombed an Islamic school in Eindhoven. The bomb went off at 3.30 in the morning. Also, arsonists have tried to set mosques in Breda, Rotterdam and Huizen ablaze.

No 'buts': there is no excuse for cowardly acts like these. I am ashamed some people apparently feel the need to combat barbarism with barbarism. If people want 'to do something', let them join or found a political party (I did the former this weekend) or organize a demonstration. That's the way you exercise power in a civilized country. If we start taking bombs to the streets, what will distinguish us from the butchers that slit throats? After this is all over, and it will be one day, I'd like there to be a bit left of the civilization and the ideals we claim to be defending.

And can I also give the 'Double Standards Award' to Mayor Alexander Sakkers of Eindhoven? He immediately concluded this was a deliberate attack on Muslims. I agree this has been a likely possibility from the start, however, it's a good habit amongst authorities to forego speculation and suspend judgment until the facts are reasonably clear. The authorities did so when Van Gogh was murdered, to the point that for a long time it wasn't known the murderer was wearing a traditional Islamic garb. Sakkers has been all over the airwaves condemning the attack as an 'act of 'terrorism' by an 'idiot'. That's the kind of reassuring, sensible language we need from our authorities in these times, Mayor!

Update 9.27: Sakkers just gave a press conference. Now the perpetrators (apparently, he feels sure there's more than one) are 'a couple of idiots'. Sakkers, please go home, have a drink and sleep for a few hours, because this way, you're doing nobody any good.

9:10

On a personal note
Thank you for the many encouraging words the past few days in what was a dark week. It's a privilege to have you as my readers.
0:18	permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

'Murderer Van Gogh nearly decapitated him'

The Sunday Times features a digest-type article with some information I don't think I've seen reported in this detail before, for instance the exact way in which Van Gogh was butchered (for that is the only fitting term). Money quote:

'“There will be no mercy” said a document that the killer had held over van Gogh’s chest before skewering it there with a final knife blow to his heart. By then van Gogh, 47, had been shot several times and was seen by one witness on his knees, pleading with his assailant, “Don’t do it . . . we can still talk about it.” The response was a knife to the throat. The killer sawed through the neck and spinal column, almost to the point of decapitating him.'

0:17

Sunday, November 7, 2004

'Murder is normal'

A Muslim from Amsterdam explains his position on the murder of Van Gogh. Footage courtesy of local tv station AT5. If anyone feels the need to prepare a Dutch translation, it would be appreciated. To summarize: he agrees with the murderer. The guy is married to a Dutch woman and has five children.

Update 23.48: Reader Iwan was kind enough to provide a translation. You can read it by clicking 'Lees verder'.

permalink comment(s) (11) trackback(s) (1)

19:49

Moron of the week

Apparently, an anti-nuclear activist has lost his legs after a train in Avricourt drove over them. He had tried to stop the train by chaining himself to the tracks. Are there any partial Darwin Awards too?

Update 17.37: Turns out the guy just bit the dust. I guess nuclear energy is dangerous after all...

16:28

permalink comment(s) (10) trackback(s) (0)

Bravo, Mr. Frits Bolkestein
Soon to be former EU commissioner Mr. Frits Bolkestein, one of the most well-educated men in Dutch politics, compared the climate of fear to express oneself that is being created by silly moves such as banning a mural, with that under the Nazi occupation in World War II. He did so in Buitenhof, one of the best news shows on Dutch television. I am a big fan of Godwin's Law, but usually these kind of comparisons are made from a left-wing point of view, rather than a libertarian. (Mr. Bolkestein is a member of the Dutch Liberal Party, which is liberal in the literal, not leftist sense.) Rob Trip, one of the best interviewers Dutch PBS has (I'm wondering he still works there), immediately asked him if this was a proper comparison. To which Mr. Bolkestein rebutted: 'I was born in 1933, so I think I know a little bit about it.' Mr. Bolkestein caused great furor in the Netherlands in the early nineties when he warned about the problems integrating immigrants into the Dutch society. At that time, he was severely criticized for bringing the subject up, and comparisons between Mr. Bolkestein and Nazism were rife. I guess today was payback time.
14:05	permalink comment(s) (6) trackback(s) (0)

Can we have this in the Netherlands, please?

From Wikipedia:

Freedom of speech in United States is generally protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. (...) In its free speech jurisprudence, the U.S. Supreme Court has favored allowing as much expression as possible. The public policy of the U.S. has been to cultivate a "marketplace of ideas." Rather than let people simmer with rage or wander around with their blind ignorance, it is thought that they should be encouraged to express their ideas and hopefully good ideas will triumph over the bad. (...) This is why people can criticize the government in all kinds of ways in the U.S., with both language fair and foul, and can even advocate unpopular ideas (for example, racism) which most people would find distasteful or against public policy. They cross the line only when they advocate imminent violent action against particular persons (the Brandenburg rule).'

I'd settle.

1:23

permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

Angry

I've written the essay below chastising Duch PBS, I've emptied nearly a bottle of (non-French) wine, and I am still mad as hell. How can anyone even suggest Mr. Van Gogh went too far using his freedom of expression? Even if he did, there are courts and judges to determine that, not radical Islamists slitting throaths. (I checked our Constitution and there's no mention of Jihadi law enforcement. Trust me on this.) It is extremely unsavoury to hold such a debate after such a horrific murder, thereby suggesting a connection between the two (granted, from a freedom of speech point of view it is warranted).
Besides, there's only one way to abuse freedom of expression: by trying to diminish someone else's right to use his. Mr. Van Gogh didn't do anything like this - you could even argue that by angering so many people, he actually propagated freedom of speech, as they tended to voice their criticism. The murderer of Mr. Van Gogh however did threaten Mr. Van Gogh's freedom of speech, and that of the entire nation, to the extent that tv stations are now employing self-censorship in not airing Mr. Van Gogh's movie.

But of course, Dutch PBS has to argue on and on trying to find self-blame somewhere hidden in this mess.

It is sickening. Really.

Did I mention I am really, really angry?

(American jellybeans always make me happy. Please send them to... No, just kidding.)

0:55

permalink comment(s) (11) trackback(s) (0)

Saturday, November 6, 2004

How the Dutch robbed immigrants of their individuality

Tonight was a depressing night.
Whereas the Dutch population is pretty sure about what the problem is with our society, Dutch PBS tonight decided to spend half an hour arguing about something I feel is completely besides the point.

(Click 'Lees verder' to read the rest.)

permalink trackback(s) (0)

23:17

'Theo was right'
Entrepreneur Ron Eilers from the Hague hired a plane to fly over Amsterdam today. The banner, which can be viewed here and here, contains the text 'Theo was right - no theocracy'. Further corroborating the statement that Theo may have had a point criticizing radical Islamism is the fact that yet another politician, Moroccan Labour Party member Fatima Elatik, needs to be guarded after 'an object which provides information about her personal life' was stolen from her office.
20:39	permalink comment(s) (5) trackback(s) (0)

Go to paradise, kill a Member of Parliament!
If anyone still had any doubts about the kind of people we're dealing with: shock blog GeenStijl has put a film online in which Dutch MP Geert Wilders is threatened. (Warning: RealAudio.) According to the film, the person who kills Wilders will end up in paradise. (To be completely honest, GeenStijl discovered the film about a month ago, but it went largely unnoticed then. Quality broadsheet NRC Handelsblad 'discovered' the film today, but credit to whom it's due, so here's another link to the item GeenStijl made about this issue today.)
20:20	permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)

Film Van Gogh online

Below I've reported on the rebroadcasting of the film Submission, which was directed by Theo van Gogh and which drew the ire of his murderer. Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, currently in hiding, devised the script. For those of you who are interested, it can be viewed here (44 megabytes, 10 minutes playing time). A Torrent file can be found here.

I'd be very happy if some of you could put up American, Canadian, British and Australian mirrors. If you have contacts at your local tv station, you might want to use your influence to get it broadcasted there. The best way to deal with these thugs is to not give in to their attempts to censor us. Let's make sure as many people as possible see the film that radical Islamists don't want us to.

If you have any problems viewing the film, you may need to download the XviD codec as well. You can find both a Mac and Windows version here.

19:57

permalink comment(s) (3) trackback(s) (0)

Nearly a third of Dutch Muslims against closure of radical schools
'Nearly 70 percent' of Dutch Muslims want to close radical Islamic schools. That sounds good in itself, but the rest of the surveyed are against closure of such schools, even if they preach anti-Western sentiments. The same article also quotes Nico Landman, an expert on Islam, who suggests the survey probably provides a flattered image of reality, since the survey was done by computer and probably reached a disproportionate amount of well-educated and somewhat secularized Muslims. Nice. May I suggest that the people from Group 1 have a long and hearty conversation with the people from Group 2?
14:05	permalink comment(s) (6)

No more tolerance towards intolerance

The Dutch are fed up, according to a survey by broadsheet Algemeen Dagblad:

• Three out of four Dutch want 'radical measures' to combat Islamic terrorism
• A similar number is in favor of increasing the capabilities of law enforcement agencies, the Attorney General and intelligence services. This in a country where even a few years ago, you would have been branded a 'Nazi' or a proponent of a 'police state' for even wanting to have a debate on this subject
• A 'big majority' agree our country has changed irrevocably after the 2-11 attack on Van Gogh (I'm using the Dutch date notation on purpose)
• Only one in five see the attack on Van Gogh as just a tragic incident. Yes, 'only'. Usually, these percentages tend to be much higher in the Netherlands
• An interesting remark near the end of the article: the survey took far more time than expected since many of the 400 interviewed needed to get something off their chest.

The Dutch pride themselves on being tolerant of many different opinions. Many of us now seem to agree that there is one thing that can never be tolerated: intolerance.

13:31

permalink comment(s) (8)

More arrests
Two people have been arrested for threatening MP Geert Wilders. Also, one guy got busted for making a bomb threat yesterday night against an American target in the Hague. This caused significant traffic jams as roads had to be partially closed. The center of the Hague, where the American embassy is, was locked down at the time.
13:19	permalink comment(s) (0)

Victory in Rotterdam

(Picture ripped from 2525.)

If we want to fight the war against terrorism, the first thing that needs to be achieved is internal clarity on our objectives.
Mayor Ivo Opstelten of Rotterdam Wednesday ordered a mural removed stating 'Thou shalt not kill', because it apparently offended Muslims. You can read about it here.
Today, broadsheet De Volkskrant tells us dat Opstelten has apologized. The mural should not have been removed.
I am relieved.
If we don't agree about what freedom of speech truly means, how can we defend it from attacks by the enemy?

13:05

Excellent reply to Mohamed B. by friends of Theo van Gogh

Warning! Don't read this if unless you've got a well-developed sensitivity for irony!

'We, the friends of Theo van Gogh, are sorry for having gone too far this time. We politely request you provide us with clear directives on what we can and cannot say. We didn't want to put Mohamed B. in such a difficult situation. Is his leg alright? We will do our utmost to understand his culture better so we will never cause an incident like this one again. Finally, we wish Mohamed B. the best of luck in the coming days, and we kindly request he keeps his sense of humor.'

What was that about the pen being mightier again? This makes my day.

(Hat tip: Sargasso. The full text in Dutch can be read by clicking 'Lees verder'.)

12:29

'I think it's freelancers, not Al Qaeda'
Qu'ran translator Fred Leemhuis comments in NRC Handelsblad on the five page Mohamed B. letter: 'We shouldn't ignore the possibility this act was perpetrated by an international, pan-European group. However, it could be a smokescreen, but at this time I don't think they have anything to do with Al Qaeda. It sounds to me more like a group of freelancers who started their own business.'
11:54	permalink comment(s) (1)

UPDATED We will not be censored

Since Van Gogh was murdered partly because of making the film Submission, in which the abuse of women in Islam is criticized, it seems very fitting that some local tv stations (RTV Noord Holland, RTV Utrecht) are considering to broadcast the film again. This of course will increase the chance of retaliation against them, but editor-in-chief Dink Binnendijk says he won't be stopped by that. Instead, extra security precautions will be taken. Battlestations!
I am however disappointed by the decision of national tv station VPRO not to rerun the film. They try to shift the blame on MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who corroborated with Theo van Gogh in making the film. Hirsi Ali, currently in hiding, doesn't want to provide 'context' to the film and thus the VPRO won't broadcast it. This to me seems to be total and utter nonsense, since the VPRO has stock footage in which Hirsi Ali provides all the 'context' anyone could reasonably need. It seems to me they were trying to use her as a preemptive lightning rod for any Islamist backlash. Good for her she didn't fall for it.
Apparently, to quote a famous Dutch comedian, the events of Tuesday have awakened the animal inside the VPRO: the chicken.

Update 20.00: Website Fok mentions that Rotterdam tv station TV West doesn't want to broadcast Submission since they fear for the safety of their employees. Right. Meanwhile, here are the email addresses of the VPRO and RTV West if any of you want to send them a note just how you feel about them giving in to Jihadi demands: tegenlicht@vpro.nl and west@rtvwest.nl. Yes, nearly all Dutch are able to read English.

Update 20.40: To my astonishment, it was just announced that the Stedelijk Museum (where a lot of modern art is displayed) has decided to cancel the screening of Submission which had been planned for tonight. They apparently were afraid it might cause an uproar. Funny how different people have different priorities. I'm more concerned that now it won't. Their email address is info@stedelijk.nl.

Update 22.01: RTV Noord-Holland and RTV Utrecht have backtracked on their earlier decision to broadcast Submission. This is really strange. You don't let the largest newspaper of the country write an article about something and then suddenly change your mind. I can only hope they've been ordered to cancel the broadcast, or have some other damn good reason, as I am severely disappointed. So far, both stations are refusing to comment.

11:47

'Bickering amongst Dutch law enforcement officials'

According to De Telegraaf, there is a lot of merry bickering going on between Dutch law enforcement and intelligence agencies on how to handle the investigation into the Van Gogh murder.

Please bear in mind that De Telegraaf is a populist newspaper. It needn't be true. But if it is, I don't feel this is a bad thing. There have long been signs that something is amiss in many of those agencies. It's probably good that it can't remain hidden anymore. Politicians, as well as many Dutch, are so angry that they won't ignore it this time. Maybe (I'm hoping here) justice minister Piet-Hein Donner will actually dismiss the current attorney-general Joan de Wijkerslooth, who is in my opinion a legalistic bureaucrat who should stick to enforcing manure policy, rather than fighting terrorism and crime. This is the guy that tried to get a Dutch soldier convicted for murdering an Iraqi, who was (probably, there's no body) shot when a group of Dutch soldiers tried to protect supplies against Iraqi looters. The military tribunal dismissed all charges, and even then the guy appealed the verdict.
So yeah, this is a perfect time to do some proper cleaning. Something about forging iron when it's hot, or as the Dutch say, castrating the bull when his testicles are already stuck in the barbed wire fence.
(I made that one up.)

11:36

Update: formal declaration of Dutch war on terror

Friday evening, several counter-terrorism measures were announced:

• More money for the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD
• More legal possibilities to combat terrorism
• A thorough review of existing counter-terrorism laws to see if they need to be amended or supplemented
• A new law which will make it possible to take away Dutch nationality from a terrorist who has both the Dutch and a second nationality
• Better government protection for people who may be at risk of a terrorist attack.

Could it actually be that more than two years after the brutal assassination of Pim Fortuyn, who was a columnist at Elsevier News Weekly (the same magazine I have contributed to since long before his murder), we've actually learned something?

Update 19.47: Expatica has an English language article.

0:25

permalink comment(s) (8)

Denial and that river in Egypt again

After Islamist terrorist suspect Samir Azzouz skipped a few weeks of school to be able to attend military training in an Islamic camp in Chechnya, Dutch teachers prepared a special remedial course so he'd still be able to move to the next grade. Teacher Cor Meijer: 'This week I have wondered if perhaps we've been too naive.'

Gee, you think?!

I need something which is 80 percent proof at least. (80 percent proof chocolate will do, too ;-))

0:06

Friday, November 5, 2004

More victimization after Van Gogh murder

• The El Tawheed mosque, where Mohamed B. often went and which was earlier the subject of heavy debate because of the fact they sold a book telling Muslims to throw gays of high building, now has conjured up a fancy lawyer who used some airtime on Dutch PBS to accuse a prominent Christian-Democrat MP of making *them* feel unsafe and fear for their lives. As the Dutch say: dit moet niet gekker worden. (I'm not going to translate it. Try to pronounce it if you don't understand; it'll sound funny and you'll laugh anyway.)

• Powerlineblog points out the newspaper that brought us Jayson Blair is currently telling the Dutch how we should deal with people like Van Gogh murderer Mohamed B. The problem is not radical Islamism, according to the NYT, it's us: 'The problem is not Muslim immigration, but a failure to plan for a smoother transition to a more diverse society.' (Remind me to only read the WSJ next time I'm in the States.)

• Yasin Hartog of the 'Stuurgroep Islam en Samenleving' (which roughly translates to Control Group Islam and Society - I kid you not) gets an opportunity in NRC Handelsblad to explain why offended Moroccans didn't sue Theo van Gogh if they were really that pissed off. That's because they thought they would probably lose. Right. So of course it makes perfect sense someone had to take matters into his own hands. On behalf of all Dutch my most sincere and humble apologies. Henceforth, we will pre-emptively jail anyone with opinions that might actually offend someone.

23:45

permalink comment(s) (3)

Formal declaration of war against Jihadism

We are at war with terrorism, according to vice prime minister Gerrit Zalm (Liberal Party). Finally.

(Our prime minister is the chairman of the European Union at the moment, and he was therefore unavailable for the weekly press conference of the council of ministers.)

18:01

permalink comment(s) (5)

Full English translation of letter by Van Gogh murderer

Dan-Cannon has translated the five page note that Van Gogh murderer Mohammed B. pinned to his victims body with a knife. Two remarks regarding Dan's translation. First, he questions his translation of the Dutch word 'leiding', which means either 'leadership' or 'guidance', depending on context. From the context, I agree with Dan's assessment that 'leadership' offers the best approximation. Second, Dan wonders about a passage in which Hirshi Ali is criticized for wanting to screen job applicants for their ideological background. Dan suggests Mohamed B. may be referring to the application of a staying permit or passport, but that isn't the case. His original translation is correct: Hirshi Ali was indeed referring to job interviews.

Press 'Lees verder' to read the entire translation.

17:29

Dutch links roundup

• A very interesting, albeit slightly older, interview with Van Gogh's opinions on the Ten Commandments can be read here. It's in Dutch, and not for the faint of heart. If you think Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore can be crude, think again ;-)

• It's been an overly serious couple of days. Therefore, some pleasantly insensitive cartoons by Fokke and Sukke. I'll translate the top one. The headline says 'Fokke and Sukke have the wrong shopping list'. The character on the right then reads, from his shopping list, the text 'Die, you have to die!'

16:31

permalink comment(s) (3)

Welcome, visitors from LittleGreenFootballs and AndrewSullivan.Com
Thanks for your interest in the Van Gogh murder. Since I am Dutch, I may accidentally leave out certain facts which are widely known here, but not abroad. In those cases, feel free to drop me a line.
13:02	permalink comment(s) (9)

Hirsi Ali now blamed for Van Gogh murder

In an insane case of role reversal, a Moroccan inhabitant has decided to file a complaint (presumably with Dutch police, although the article doesn't say) against Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali for being an accomplice to the murder of Theo van Gogh. According to the 31-year old guy, Hirsi Ali dragged Van Gogh into the danger zone by making him complicit in her criticism of Islam.

Come and visit Amsterdam! Our weed is really this potent!

12:27

permalink comment(s) (9)

Police: there's no Islamist hit list
Amsterdam chief of police Bernard Welten just said: there is no Islamist hit list, but if there is one, media should hand it to the police. Right. This reminds me of Tuesday, when the police denied Mohamed B. was known by the AIVD, the Dutch intelligence agency. That rumor turned out to be completely true, however. In the same press conference, district attorney Leo de Wit chastized his boss, secretary Piet-Hein Donner of Justice, for bringing the Mohamed B. letter into the public domain before they were able to show it to a judge. Two days apparently weren't enough for Mr. De Wit. Yesterday, I reported on how Rotterdam police removed a mural which featured a dove and the Biblical commandment 'Thou shalt not kill'. It was deemed offensive. I think this would be a great opportunity for various Dutch institutions and organizations to stop trying to tell the people what we can or cannot say, can or cannot know. We are the people. They are our civil servants, not the other way around.
11:38	permalink comment(s) (3)

Dutch blog: letter contains hidden reference to Al Qaeda

Dutch shock blog Geen Stijl speculates about a connection with Al Qaeda. Money quote:

'The signature was "Deen alMuwahhied" but this is an anagram. What was meant is "alMuwahhieddeen", which is a reference to the Mujahedeen. It is however, a very odd way of spelling it, which can only be found in one other location: at the website AlMuwahhiedDeen.com. This is a disabled Al Qaeda website that contained a forum.'

I don't find this too convincing yet, but it is interesting enough to keep an eye on. Especially since secretary Piet-Hein Donner of Justice vehemently denied the existence of any connections between Mohamed B. and Al Qaeda.

Update 13.03: the blog Sargasso has a far more convincing explanation of the al Muwahhied remark. Apparently, it means 'Those who conform the unity of God.' (Hat tip to AvdK.)

10:51

Suicide squads?
The same article from De Telegraaf that mentions the hit lists also contains the following sentence: 'The Netherlands is threatened by an Islamic martyr brigade, consisting of youths who have been trained to commit suicide attacks.'
10:30	permalink comment(s) (0)

Islamist hit list made public

According to populist broadsheet De Telegraaf, there's a radical Islamist hit list which contains the names of other prominent Dutch that should fear for their lives.

They are:

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch M.P., a former Muslim and a vocal critic of radical Islam
• Geert Wilders, Dutch M.P., also critical of radical Islam
• Rita Verdonk, secretary of Immigration
• Job Cohen, the Jewish mayor of Amsterdam
• Ahmed Aboutaleb, the Moroccan vice mayor of Amsterdam
• Frits Barend, left-wing talk show host

I've writen about Aboutaleb here. He's a courageous guy who dares to criticize his fellow Muslims.

Hirsi Ali and Wilders spent the night in heavily guarded 'safe houses', according to De Telegraaf.

10:23

permalink comment(s) (4)

Silent killers

The last words of Theo van Gogh were allegedly: 'Don't do it, have mercy.' Other accounts state that he wanted to talk with Mohamed B., even though he'd been shot at already. I tend to believe this, and I think it's typical of this country.
Dutch people have one thing in common: they really like to talk. A survey once showed that we have more personal websites per capita than any other country, including the USA. We may not know anything about a certain subject, but we reserve the right to spout our opinions about it anyway. An acquaintance of mine said: 'I don't understand why Van Gogh was killed. We were just talking.'
The Netherlands is slowly waking up to the realization that perhaps not everyone wants to talk.

Update 10.34: so of course our queen to be, princess Maxima, thinks there should be more dialogue. I know talking to yourself is often the only way to have a truly intelligent conversation, but can we please have a republic now?

10:14

Partial English translation of Mohamed B. letter online

Read it here. Money quote:

I know for sure that you, Oh America will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Europe, will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Holland, will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh Hirsi Ali, will go under;
I know for sure that you, Oh unbelieving fundamentalist, will go under.

I think they're not referring to a dyke breach here.

9:50

permalink comment(s) (11)

'I am certain the Netherlands will meet their end'

It's one of the sentences from Mohamed B.'s letter, the one that was pinned to Van Gogh's lifeless body with a knife. The full text can be read here. There's something for everyone: hatred of non-Muslims, hatred of fellow Muslims who are not Muslim enough, hatred of Jews, hatred of Americans, of Europe, of the Netherlands...
They're a fun bunch, for sure.
I guess we're at war then.

(Oh, by the way, there's also a part about leaving pregnant camels at an unspecified location. No, I don't get it either. An Ozzie mate suggested this would be something a father camel could do before running off to the desert whilst screaming really loudly. I guess I'm just not cut out for Jihadi hermeneutics.)

1:13

This would explain a lot
It's been noted that Mohamed B. appeared to be such a well-adjusted young man before he radicalized. Newspaper De Telegraaf suggests that B. was a member of terrorist sect Al Takfir Wal Hijra. This is the same radical Islamic cult that Al Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri apparently belongs to. Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, currently frustrating democracy in Iraq, is also said to be part of this fine organization. TIME wrote about Takfir Wal Hijra: 'Takfir wal Hijra is a sort of Islamic fascism.' However, even more interesting is the assertion that Takfir Wal Hijra apparently allows its members to appear non-radical, and even non-Islamic, if the mission requires it: 'The threat of Takfir is that its cold, heartless killers could easily be the boy or girl next door. Takfir Wal Hijra members are permitted to disregard the injunctions of Islamic law in order to blend into infidel societies. In other words, Takfirs can have sex with loose women, drink alcohol, eat pork and do whatever else they feel is appropriate to advance their mission.' Perhaps the reason nobody noticed anything odd about Mohamed B. was that he didn't want anyone to.
0:42	permalink comment(s) (0)

Big City 2004: Van Gogh-inspired song
Courtesy of VolkomenKut.Com (which means TotallyCunt.Com for all you Yanks): here's a new version of the old song 'Big City'. It starts funny, it ends rather politically incorrect, if not totally xenophobic. Then again, never have I believed in the maxim 'Publish and be damned' more than this week.
0:29	permalink comment(s) (1)

Thursday, November 4, 2004

Letter of Mohamed B. contained direct threat of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Dutch government just released the five page letter which was pinned on Van Gogh's body with a knife by his murderer Mohamed B. The pages can't be found on the internet (yet) but it was just reported that they contain a direct threat of Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a vocal critic of radical Islam. Which makes it all the more ludicrous that her security was extremely lax even on the night directly following Van Gogh's murder on Tuesday.

Update 23.00: according to Dutch PBS, even several experienced journalists were shocked by the contents of the letter, which was written in excellent Dutch. This further compounds the theory that the murderer radicalized in the Netherlands, and not in a distant poor Middle Eastern dictatorship. He was one of us, before his mind got poisoned by radicalism. Very few people have dared to suggest that the murderer was a victim of terrible circumstances that drove him to his act. However, since it's now obvious that he was well educated and led a normal life before he radicalized, these excuses can now be disqualified permanently. He even was a well known and loved volunteer in his neighbourhood. This radical Islamist, at least, didn't get driven into anything. He wasn't a victim - he chose this course of action.

It turns out the letter also threatens Jozias van Aartsen, chief whip of the Liberal Party (which is a right wing party in the Netherlands). Unfortunately, the full text of the letter still isn't available.

22:22

The Economist on the Van Gogh murder

The Economist gets it largely right but shirks away from drawing any sharp conclusions:

'Despite the harsh debate begun by Fortuyn three years ago, the country suffers from little overt racism. Fortuyn himself insisted that he was no racist, and bitterly dissented from comparisons between his party and France's National Front. Many immigrant groups, such as Surinamese, Chinese or eastern Europeans, fit quite happily into the Netherlands.'

There is an implicit conclusion in the last sentence, mainly by what isn't said, but The Economist seems reluctant to voice it. The conclusion, however, is spot on: 'Many Dutch feel that the time has come for the Muslim minority to adjust to where they live and adopt Dutch values—precisely the view espoused by Ms Hirsi Ali.'

The Economist also points out that, unless the Dutch mood changes, the entire European Union might feel the backlash: 'After this week, more will feel threatened because their Muslim neighbours do not share their liberal values. Dutch hostility to the prospect of Turkish membership of the European Union may also intensify.'

19:53

permalink comment(s) (5)

Casablanca bombing link?
Reuters suggests a possible connection between the murderer of Van Gogh and the suicide bombings in the Moroccan capital Casablanca, which killed 45 people.
19:53	permalink comment(s) (0)

Battlestations
Lots of police all around, as Expatica reports. Not that I couldn't see this from my own window, looking out over the Amsterdam precinct of Bos en Lommer, with a large immigrant population. It's obvious that the Dutch government is afraid of riots, which they may get anyway. I fear for Saturday, when loads of Dutch as well as immigrants will hit the pubs, get liquored up - and just might end up beating the shit out of each other (or worse). I'll be glad to be proven wrong.
19:21	permalink comment(s) (3)

Dutch police has officialy gone bonkers
Apparently, there's a nationwide directive to remove 'offensive' material such as the 'Thou shalt not kill' slogan in Rotterdam. Didn't the uproar about the murder of Van Gogh have something to do with freedom of speech? This is outrageous.
18:22	permalink comment(s) (0)

Right, now it's our fault

Today, three Erasmus Prizes were given to an equal number of prominent Muslim scholars. One of them was the Moroccan sociologist Fatema Mernissi, who used this opportunity to explain that it isn't just Mohammed B. who is responsible for the murder of Theo van Gogh. Mernissi feels the community is also to blame.
I've never been a big fan of the idea of collective responsibility, but I guess if you're a sociologist you tend to think more in community terms rather than individualist ones. After all, if all you've got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
But whereas the former has already caused considerably annoyance with some (admittedly not very subtle) Dutch, it gets worse. For if I am to believe Mernissi, it isn't the Moroccan community that caused the problem, nor aspects of Islamic culture. No, it is Dutch culture which is the problem:

'He was a product of Dutch society. (...) We are criminals too, since we didn't help such young people (as Mohammed B., ed.) to communicate in a normal way.'

In other words, it's everyone's problem except ours.

Thank God there are also courageous Moroccans like vice mayor Aboutaleb of Amsterdam, who don't opt for the easy way out.

Update 17.41: readers of the Moroccan magazine Mzine feel MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali should step down. Hirsi Ali is a vocal critic of radical Islam and made a film with Theo van Gogh. According to the Mzine press release Hirsi Ali's course will create more casualties. Right. Well, at least the messages from Mernissi and Mzine are consistent.

14:29

Praise for the Moroccan vice mayor of Amsterdam

An interesting endorsement of our Moroccan vice mayor Achmed Aboutaleb, who has shown great strength of character in the past few days. Yesterday he claimed that people with a dual nationality who can't accept essential Dutch values such as freedom of speech would probably do best if they decided to leave the Netherlands. Those are extremely harsh words for a Dutch politician. And as an immigrant and a member of the Dutch Labour Party (full of people who often tend to shirk away from tough measures) this was definitely a courageous thing to say, whether you agree or not. It is also true that we will need people like Mr. Aboutaleb to rally well-meaning Moroccans against people committing atrocities such as the one on Tuesday. Criticism from within a community can be very effective, as well as extremely hard to deliver, and Mr. Aboutaleb deserves praise for making the effort.

(He's got his work cut out for him, as there have been reports of Moroccan youngsters spitting on a mural of Theo van Gogh. Equally sad: apparently, he also needs around the clock protection because of his comments.)

12:56

Murder link with Saudi Arabia?

Populist broadsheet De Telegraaf has published a biography of Mohammed B., who murdered Theo van Gogh. It states that B. visited Saudi Arabia at least two times. De Telegraaf has a tendency to jump to the chase and to exaggerate. However, if this is true, it is a legitimate matter to ask if there's any connection with Wahhabism, a fundamentalist branch of Islam which is the state religion in Saudi Arabia, and the faith Osama Bin Laden claims to be part of. In that case, it would show yet again the need for Western countries to put more pressure on the government of this country, which features one of the most orthodox forms of Islam in the world.

On a side note, according to the article B. also visited the El Tawheed mosque, who on their website claim one of their goals is the foundation of an Islamic society. This mosque got rather infamous around here because it sold a book which states the proper way to treat gays was to throw them off high buildings.

For the same reason that the murder of Van Gogh is an appalling attack on an essential Western value, namely freedom of speech, I partially defended the right of the mosque to sell such books in an earlier posting (partially in English, partially in Dutch). My core point at the time, which I still agree with, was: 'Democracy doesn't earn its right to exist by virtue of allowing only those opinions we all agree with. As J of N once said: it's not that hard to love your friends.'

(Still, I guess it's a good thing there are no skyscrapers in Amsterdam...)

10:55

permalink comment(s) (2)

Three in ten Dutch want to flee the country
According to a national survey, 28 percent of all Dutch would leave the country if they had the opportunity. Admittedly, my first emotional response to the Van Gogh murder was: "That's it. I'm moving to the USA."
7:41	permalink comment(s) (31)

Van Gogh's father worked for Dutch intelligence agency
This story is getting weirder by the day. Dutch populist broadsheet De Telegraaf mentions that Van Gogh's father used to work for the BVD, the old Dutch domestic intelligence agency, currently the AIVD. Even more ironic: Van Gogh senior worked in the so-called B department, which concerns itself with political extremism.
7:28	permalink comment(s) (0)

Call for Jihad pinned to Van Gogh's body
Not much is yet known about the pamphlet that Mohammed B. pinned to the body of Theo van Gogh. However, NRC Handelsblad, a national quality broadsheet somewhat comparable to the Washington Post, mentions the text calls for an Islamic holy war. I'm feeling better every day.
7:22	permalink comment(s) (0)

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Not too encouraging
I've been nursing a persistent cold for a week now and although good old American drugs (Sudafed, illegal in the EU) kept me going, I decided to have a bit of a workout and to visit the sauna, since the combination usually makes me feel better. Well, the day after, that is. My health club is located in the very same neighbourhood where Mohammed B., the 26-year old murderer of Theo van Gogh, lived. I ended up sitting in the sauna with an Iranian and a Moroccan immigrant. There was a third bloke of Arab descent there, though he left too soon to figure out his nationality. The men started talking about the Van Gogh murder. Then something happened. As the quote on the upper right hand side of the screen shows, I am none too fond of the word 'but'. It is almost always used in conjunction with a pre-emptive copout about the unpopular and/or unsavory thing you are going to say directly afterwards. My fellow sauna visitors told me they didn't approve of the murder of Van Gogh. ... BUT... .... I fear the worst is yet to come.
22:34	permalink comment(s) (1)

We (n)ever learn
On the one hand, the Dutch police arrested eight suspected radical Islamists today. On the other, Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali was threatened today, and the guy who did it was released within hours.
21:47	permalink comment(s) (0)

Wise words from Andrew Sullivan

And it's been a while since I thought that. Money quote:

'We saw yesterday, in the cold-blooded murder of a Dutch film-maker for his open criticism of Islamist misogyny, that the enemy is still at large; and aiming directly at our freedoms and security. In Fallujah, our troops are poised for a vital battle against terrorists and theocrats intent on derailing a free future for Iraq. Democracy is on the line there and throughout the world. I've been more than a little frustrated by the president's handling of this war in the past year; but we have to draw a line under that now. The past is the past. And George W. Bush is our president. He deserves a fresh start, a chance to prove himself again, and the constructive criticism of those of us who decided to back his opponent. He needs our prayers and our support for the enormous tasks still ahead of him. He has mine. Unequivocally.'

Mine, too.

11:38

A personal eulogy

Theo, I think you were pathetic.
And for that, I admired you.
There are few in this country of cultivated and idealized mediocrity who dare to show their own strengths and weaknesses as you did.
Your troubles in love showed in your attempts to film it, with the same passion which apparently prevented you from having something alike a stable relationship. I remember interviewing a woman at ABN Amro who, according to the rumor mill, was about to marry you. You cancelled it at the last moment - probably for the best. (Women tend not to like drinking from a firehose, even when they're thirsty.)
Your love for this country showed in the way you chastised it. I'm not going to quote Goethe here - you know what I'm referring to.
And your troubles with yourself - well - you didn't take care of yourself very well. The fact that your website is called 'The Healthy Smoker' says enough. Let's leave it at that.
Your weaknesses were your strengths, and the other way around. You dared to embrace chaos and criticize it at the same time. It's a dichotomy which could tear apart even the strongest of men.
Perhaps I should be grateful someone prevented that from happening, but I am not.

A faithful reader of your website,

Arjan

0:58

11-2: The Dutch 9-11
It's a coincidence which has been pointed out by many other people already. Nevertheless, when you write the date of the Van Gogh murder the American way (11-2, rather than the Dutch way, which would be 2-11), you end up with the Dutch version of the 911 alarm phone number. Of course, we all know what happened on 9-11.
0:40	permalink comment(s) (3)

Dutch police excels in stupidity
Yesterday was a day a guy got killed because of his opinions on the religion of Islam, which were deemed unsavory by some. Since the murderer turned out to be someone who is involved with a radical Islamist group, this of course provided a perfect opportunity for some fellow Dutch which I am sometimes ashamed of to share this country with: people who vented their anger by slurring immigrants. Nevertheless, I think it was extremely silly and downright condescending for police in The Hague to bust them for this. This is not because I want to redeem any sort of racial prejudice. But methinks there are better ways of dealing with anger after a horrific assassination than arresting frustrated and emotional countrymen. Wednesday night would have been a good opportunity to extend the now infamous Dutch tolerance regarding contrary opinions towards our native citizens as well. After all, after a murder because of a difference of opinions, shouldn't we honor the dead guy by not being too fussy about what people are saying, even if we deem what they're saying unsavory? (We can start arresting people again tomorrow.)
0:24	permalink comment(s) (0)

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Attack on Van Gogh: suspect was a friend of terrorist suspect

Three separate sources in journalism and at the police had already informed me that the perpetrator of the attack on Theo van Gogh was on an AIVD watch list. (The AIVD is the Dutch intelligence agency.) Initially I was uncomfortable to report this. Now, however, it has become known that the murderer was a friend of Samir Azzouz, an 18-year old terrorist suspect.

Please bear in mind that none of this, however likely I think it is, has been officially acknowledged. It does however, seem extremely likely, in which case I would like to ask an obvious question:

Why doesn't being on a terrorism watch list guarantee such people actually being watched?

Update 23.22: Secretary of Justice Piet-Hein Donner just acknowledge that there is 'a very serious possibility' the perpetrator was motivated by a 'radical Islamic background'.

Update 0.11: Secretary of Domestic Affairs Johan Remkes has acknowledged the suspect of the Van Gogh murder was indeed known by the AIVD. Some people will have some serious explaining to do in the forthcoming weeks.

22:22