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Thursday, November 4, 2004
Letter of Mohamed B. contained direct threat of Ayaan Hirsi Ali |
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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.
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22:22 |
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The Economist on the Van Gogh murder |
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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.'
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19:53 |
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Battlestations |
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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.
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19:21 |
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Dutch police has officialy gone bonkers |
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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.
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18:22 |
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Right, now it's our fault |
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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.
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14:29 |
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Praise for the Moroccan vice mayor of Amsterdam |
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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.)
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12:56 |
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Murder link with Saudi Arabia? |
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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...)
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10:55 |
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Three in ten Dutch want to flee the country |
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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."
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7:41 |
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Van Gogh's father worked for Dutch intelligence agency |
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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.
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7:28 |
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