Zacht Ei - Oh, and if you're going to write a piece on Europe...

Sunday, May 1, 2005

Oh, and if you're going to write a piece on Europe...

...do your best to actually get to know the place a bit, will you?

The LA Times publishes an op-ed by one Irshad Manji, who tries to explain away the failure of some immigrants to integrate into European societies by refering to the class systems which are, according to her, still in place here:

'In Western Europe, by contrast, heredity, hierarchy and entitlement trump achievement.'

Makes you wonder why a guy like me, who's from the countryside and could be considered the Dutch equivalent of a hillbilly, is able to get published in several national media. My father is the son of a garage owner, who used to be a blacksmith before that. My mother's father used to be a chauffeur. Obviously, no nobility in my ancestry to help my career.

This difference between the United States and Europe feeds into the perception that immigrant communities have about whether they can ever be good enough for their host societies. That, in turn, can only influence how hard (or not) they try to integrate in each place.

Classic case of seeing the facts, but misinterpreting the causes. Yes, immigrants may feel that they can't be good enough. But that's not because we make them feel bad. On the contrary, it's because we don't allow them to feel bad enough. It's nearly impossible to hit rock bottom in Europe the way you can in America, and thus, it's also nearly impossible to get motivated to succeed. (Note: native Dutch sometimes suffer from similar problems, but that's another story.)

The problem is not that Europe has been too tough on its new citizens. The problem is that Europe should have been tougher. If you fail to get a job here, it hardly makes a difference, for the government will pay your bills. If you don't learn the language, it makes no difference, for the government will provide a translator and start publishing its brochures in seven different languages. If your son commits a crime, it makes no difference, for the government will provide counseling and send him off with a stern warning.

Don't believe me? This is the rap sheet of one of those guys. It should be clear enough even if your grasp of Dutch is limited to 'Heineken'. The brochure thing isn't made up either. If you want to come and live in the Netherlands, here's a brochure telling you how to do it. You should be fine, it's available in English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Servo-Croatian, Somalian, Spanish, Turkish, Papiamento and Dari. Oh, and there's a Dutch version, too. Plus, welfare is so high in the Netherlands that, especially for immigrants who tend to come from impoverished countries, the money is plenty for them. The difference between the minimum wage and welfare is virtually non-existent. Although the actual minimum wage may be higher, someone who's on welfare is eligible for perks such as rent stipends and the remission of council taxes. They may even end up with more money than someone who does want to work for a living. So why bother?

Or why learn the language, for that matter. Try finding a second generation Mexican-American (i.e., born in the USA) who still doesn't speak English properly. There may be a few of them around, but they'll be relatively far and few between. Now try finding a second generation immigrant in the Netherlands who still speaks with a heavy foreign accent. Thanks to government-subsidized 'Education in the Mother Tongue', you'll find plenty of candidates.

So indeed, why would immigrants try as hard as they would in the United States, if there's no demanding society to motivate them?

We brought this upon ourselves, but not in the way Irshad Manji supposes.

(BTW, Irshad Manji apparently published the book 'Big Ideas'. Sounds great. Please get some.)

23:07

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So now we're the extremists

I was going to write a rant about the Dutch secret service

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I know in Germany your career is mostly based on how well you do in school, the smarter kids get more control while those who aren't deemed as smart, learn viable useful trades. It kind of keeps the country working well with both types of employees. A country would have some problems if nobody would do skilled trades. I don't know if the system has worked well in Germany or not however.

ryanmscott (ip:172.164.247.181) 1 May 2005 - 2:37 uur

Excellent post, Arjan.
And you're making a good point, which most people seem to forget. Big cities tend to draw not just immigrants but also the natives from other regions in the country. They too come with a set of cutoms and sometimes even different accents that may put them in a slight disadvantage to make it in the big city. Just imagine the rivalry alone that exists from one city to another, whether it comes from soccer fanaticism or farmer mentality Vs city mentality doesn't make a difference. Fact is nothing comes easy, everyone has to go through their own struggles to make it. The biggest mistake in the Dutch legislation is lowering the threshold when it comes to expectations for the job market. Proper communication is essential in all aspects of life. The rules should be the same for everyone, everyone should be forced to learn the language.

Myrtus (ip:205.188.116.5) 1 May 2005 - 2:56 uur

"Note: native Dutch sometimes suffer from similar problems"

Indeed they do. In fact, "allochtonen" are much more likely than "autochtonen" to start their own businesses. Oddly enough, all those wonderful social benefits that start pouring into their pockets the moment their flights land at Schiphol (which is a myth, of course) have had little effect on entrepreneurship among those eeeeevil immigrants.

vaara (ip:195.86.124.243) 1 May 2005 - 12:09 uur

Voor wie twijfels heeft:

"In 2002 telt Nederland 967.000 ondernemers; 1 op de 8 van deze ondernemers is allochtoon. Daarvan is 1 op de 3 van niet-westerse afkomst. In de periode 1999-2000 was de toename van het aantal ondernemers het grootst onder niet-westerse allochtonen: +3,1% tegenover +0,6% onder westerse allochtonen en +0,3% onder autochtonen. Vooral onder de tweede generatie niet-westerse allochtonen zijn nieuwe ondernemers te vinden."

Bron: Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Persbericht, 17 december 2004

vaara (ip:195.86.124.243) 1 May 2005 - 13:14 uur

@Vaara: I am not sure what you are trying to imply by introducing the word 'eeeevil', but it seems to me you are trying to suggest a racist angle. If so, why not just say it rather than merely suggest it? Then I would have been justified in responding: it is exactly this kind of knee-jerk 'racism!' reaction that has kept us from discussing and solving the current problems sooner, which in itself contributes to discontent amongst those natives who are less well off than you and I (either in financial or education terms), and in the end to the real racism you'll find on the street nowadays.

But since you don't say it out loud, neither will I. Ignore the previous paragraph.

I'm not sure what the number of business immigrants start has to do with this blog entry. If there are few non-western entrepreneurs, you don't need a huge absolute increase to get seemingly interesting numbers. n in the non-immigrant case is 24 times smaller (1 to 8 times 1 to 3) than that of the total number of entrepreneurs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_significance).

I took the liberty of looking up some numbers on my own. A lot of immigrant entrepreneurs are those from other Northern European countries (21 percent of total immigrant enterpreneurs) who are used to a western level of wealth. Yet another 20 percent come from Asian countries and are mainly in the restaurant business, which seems to be the same route chosen by many Asian immigrants worldwide (I've hardly ever been in a country without a Chinese restaurant). As far as non-western immigrants go, the Turkish population, which is fairly well integrated, ranks highest at 12.5 percent. The number of Moroccan entrepreneurs is substantially lower at 5 percent of all entrepreneurs, let alone the Moroccan population. (Although, of course, they are there. In fact, I have my car serviced by a Moroccan garage owner 30 kms out of Amsterdam.) Source: Chamber of Commerce, transcribed here

As far as welfare is concerned, nobody talked about 'wonderful social benefits that start pouring into their pockets the moment their flights land at Schiphol' either. It is, however, a cold and hard fact that immigrants make quite a bit more use of welfare than native Dutch. Check it at http://statline.cbs.nl if you want: in the age group 15-65 12.9 percent of native Dutch receive some sort of social security, against 20.4 percent for immigrants (CBS, 2003, western and non-western immigrants combined). Amongst non-western immigrants these percentages are higher still: 24.6 percent for non-western against 15.7 for western immigrants (there are non-western subgroups with ratings nearing 35 percent or one in three).

Which makes sense. Dutch welfare is a lot of money if you're from a poor country, whereas if you're moving here from Canada, the USA or Germany, you probably come for different reasons anyway (love of your life, your boss sends you here, career opportunities). In that case, you're likely to already have a job and/or Dutch welfare won't seem nearly as impressive. That is likely to have some bearing on your motivation.

Which, again, was what this blog entry was about.

Arjan Dasselaar (ip:82.161.93.35) 1 May 2005 - 13:23 uur

"20.4 percent for immigrants"

The key here is how "immigrant" is defined. The official definition of "allochtoon" is "anyone with at least one parent born outside the Netherlands." So someone born here, and who thus has Dutch citizenship and is consequently entitled to the same welfare benefits as any other Dutch citizen, is still considered an "immigrant" for statistical purposes.

But I think many people here are under the impression that even non-citizens fresh off the boat (or plane) can ALSO claim full social benefits. This is simply not true. In fact, it's not even true for citizens of other EU countries. My partner is an Irish citizen, and his verblijfsvergunning clearly states that if he ever applies for any sort of uitkering, he'll lose his right to remain here. The same applies to me, and to any other foreign "family reunification" migrants. Do those CBS statistics refer specifically to *first-generation* allochtonen, or just allochtonen in general?

I won't dispute that many allochtonen do collect welfare, but when you say "If you fail to get a job here, it hardly makes a difference, for the government will pay your bills," you should make it clear that this applies only to Dutch citizens or permanent residents (i.e. people who have been here for at least 5 years and have a permanent residence permit).

(Or maybe I'm wrong, and I could have been collecting WW during the 5 months I was waiting for my verblijfsgunning! Doh!)

vaara (ip:195.86.124.243) 1 May 2005 - 14:22 uur

The definitions and breakdowns of various types of immigrants are all on the (very comprehensive) CBS website. You can even download custom made data files which you can then analyze, calculate SD values, etc (if you have a good statistical program). Feel free to check them out, it's a great site.

It's straying from the thread, but nevertheless I'm not sure if there's a five years criterium for social security. Are you perhaps confusing welfare ('bijstand') with unemployment benefits ('WW')? Not everyone is entitled to the latter (I am not, for example, despite my living here for 29 years, as I am self-employed; nor are employees who have been with a company for only a short time).

The main demands for welfare are: 1) having hardly any money of your own, 2) being in the Netherlands legally. According to http://www.kennisring.nl/smartsite.dws?id=22817 you need to have a residency permit to prove the latter. http://www.vragenboek.nl/smartsite.dws?drftg45g=2354h7&id=30972 (city of Amsterdam) explicitly states it doesn't matter what nationality you have. Currently, the VVD wants to abolish this right, but it's nothing more than that yet: a proposal. The VVD doesn't rule the country nor will they ever, not in the Dutch compromise system. http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/nieuwsbericht/asp/artnr/40774/versie/2/index.html

Arjan Dasselaar (ip:82.161.93.35) 1 May 2005 - 15:57 uur

"being in the Netherlands legally"

Well, there's the rub. To become a legal resident, you have to have a job pre-arranged (one that no EU citizen is qualified to do), or have yourself sponsored by a legal resident who has an adequate income (120% of the basic income level IIRC) and adequate accommodation. The government can, and does, routinely deny residence permits to people who don't meet these criteria. If you visit the Expatica.com forums, you'll find many stories of non-EU Westerners who want to live here with their Dutch partners, but aren't allowed to because their partners are self-employed and didn't make *quite* enough money last year. I wrote about one such story a few months ago: http://silt3.com/index.php?id=607 .

I should also add that the Dutch government is cracking down on partner reunification. Any Dutch resident wishing to marry his or her non-EU partner must obtain special permission from the IND.

As far as asielzoekers are concerned, they don't become legal residents until their cases are reviewed -- a process than can take several years, as you know.

And as far as second-generation allochtonen are concerned, few of them are likely to have first-hand knowledge of how much more generous Dutch welfare is compared to the average standard of living in their "home" countries.

vaara (ip:195.86.124.243) 1 May 2005 - 16:30 uur

It goes without saying that people cannot be influenced by that which they have never experienced. Which is why my article focused on (literally) 'new citizens', i.e. not those who have been born here.

As for migration policy, that's an entirely different issue, on which I have some rather libertarian views which I would love to debate, but I really need to get some work done...

Arjan Dasselaar (ip:82.161.93.35) 1 May 2005 - 17:02 uur

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Oh, and if you're going to write a piece on Europe...

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