Reflections on the recent events in the Netherlands By Astrid Essed

Reflections on the recent events in the Netherlands

By Astrid Essed

Al-Jazeerah, November 28, 2004

1 The murder on van Gogh

On the 2nd of November, 2004, a well-known Dutch film-maker and columnist, named Theo van Gogh, was shot to death by a Dutch young man from Moroccan descent. Of course it goes without saying that killing a human being is also a very big crime, being a violation of the right on life of every human being despite socio-political views or politico-social position. However, shortly after his death a couple of influential Dutch intellectuals and politicians were pretending that he had been killed because of his defense of the freedom of speech, which was NOT the case. Although obvious that T. van Gogh should have never been killed, the man consequently insulted Moroccan-Dutch people on the basis of their descent, cultural views and especially their religion, Islam. Now I'm of the opinion that freedom of speech is a basic human right, but that freedom of speech is NOT the same thing as freedom of insult, which is a violation of the right of other human beings also and one of the basic rights of human beings is apart from the right on life, food and shelter, humane treatment, and respect for their religious beliefs.

2 Demagogical conduct of the Dutch politicians:

However, not only this was a wrong conception of the man anyway, but also the Dutch politicians interfered on a demagogical way in the political and judicial investigation after the arrest of the suspect Mohammed B. In this case the Dutch minister of Justice, Donner had published two letters the suspect had left on the dead body of van Gogh despite the protests of the District Attorney, who rightly claimed that such evidence material should stay secret till the political and judicial authorities have finished the official investigation.

According to the leading politicians, the letters were a proof of ''Islamic terrorism'' [which nowadays is a mixture of groups which are not terroristic at all like Muslim-orthodoxy which has nothing to do with any politics, the views of people who rightly support the Palestinian, Chechen, and Iraqi resistance against the occupation armies, the views of people who are rightly opposing the American political-military conduct in the world, especially regarding the Middle-East AND the minor groups of real terrorists, which are supporting military actions and assaults on civilians and civilian-targets].

However, since they have published the letters, I also have read them and the letters from which one is containing an implicit threat to Mrs. A. Hirsi-Ali, a Dutch-Somalian female politician who is not a Muslim anymore and is supporter of very drastic measures against Islam, like forbidding Islamic schools, is however no terroristic at all, but a letter, containing religious texts from the Talmud and Koran, which is like I mentioned, an implicit threat to Mrs. A Hirsi-Ali. Of course that's unacceptable, but it is not a ''terroristric'' letter at all. Besides Mohammed B, the suspect, seven or more young Moroccans are being arrested, who are being charged from co-culpability on the murder of T. van Gogh. Also they are being claimed to belong to a terroristic organization and also Mohammed B.

Not only the facts till so far are according to me very vague [leading politicians are claiming that Mohammed B. was a friend of the other suspects, which is hardly any serious proof of planning any terroristic actions. I also know people who are perhaps ''radical'', that doesn't mean I'm a ''radical'' !] my main objection is the fact that politicians constantly are presenting presumptions, which has TO BE PROVED IN THE COURT YET as proven facts!

Also they allege, that ''there is Jihad in the Netherlands'' [without even knowing what the meaning of Jihad is!] and that ''the Netherlands are in war with Islamic fundamentalism'', so using the very dangerous and inhuman Bushian war-propaganda. You'll undoubtedly know that the Dutch parliament also has recently approved the new extended anti-terrorism measures, which are like in the USA, Great-Britain, Pakistan and other countries in the world a serious violation on the rights of suspects. Especially the so-called ''liberals'' [the Dutch right-wing party, which is supporting the capitalist conception of ''free trade'' and is the party of the Dutch well to do and rich people] and in lesser amount also the Christian Democrats [party of the prime-minister Balkenende] are using this demagogic language, which I think is unacceptable.

Not only because of the obvious violation of the rights of the suspects [in the Netherlands yet a suspect is not guilty until the guilt is proven in court], but also it is irresponsible because of the further criminalization and stigmatization of the Moroccan Muslim inhabitants of the Netherlands, who are being also stigmatized, threatened, and assaulted since the assaults 11 September 2001.

3 Attacks on Mosques, Churches and islamitic schools

But not only Dutch politicians acted very irresponsibly, also because of the already tense climate in the Netherlands after the murder of van Gogh and also the irresponsible remarks of a number of politicians, there were a number of assaults on Mosques, Churches and Islamic schools. So there were fire-attacks on Mosques, from which some were discovered in time and some not [yesterday a Mosque in the village Hedel in the southern part of the Netherlands was burnt out totally], in several Churches also fire-attacks were taking place [because of the fact, the Dutch churches directly expressed solidarity to the Dutch Muslim community], some Islamic schools were targets too [especially a school in Uden, which was burnt totally in the night] The presumption is that extreme right-wing younger men are responsible of this.

4 Solidarity

I'm glad to state that the greatest part of the Dutch population totally rejects this and many Dutch people have organized solidarity-actions to support the Muslim community in their environment. So many people have formed a human chain to defend mosques and schools and many good initiatives of alternative left organisations to bundle the resistance [from which I'm a member too] has been formed. Although NOT my political friend at all [he is a strong supporter of the Bushian-American policy and very pro-Israel too] I must utter my appreciation in this respect for the Dutch prime-minister Balkenende, who has directly visited the school in Uden, talked with the parents of the children and stated, that the fire-attackers must be punished very strictly. Also he called on the Dutch citizens to stay tolerant to each other and to build towards a peaceful society. Also the recent spontaneous visit of Queen Beatrix to a center for Moroccan young-people where she repeatedly said that all inhabitants of the Netherlands should be treated equally, was a very important positive signal.

5 Politics:

However, despite all those positive signals it is dangerous and worrying, that the Dutch politicians by taking presumptive measures like publication of the letters of Mohammed B. before the independent political and judicial investigation, giving presumptive, yet not proven statements, about the real and alleged ''terrorism'' of the murder on van Gogh and the connection of Mohammed B. to a ''terroristic'' organisation [it is not yet proven this organisation is terroristic at all] are further contributing to a huge polarisation in the Netherlands, which is open to all humanitarian consequencesl. Moreover, they are out of sight in that until now the only proven terroristic acts are the assaults on Mosques, Churches, and Islamic schools.

What worries me also is that the so-called Dutch leftist parties, like the ''Green-Left'' party, the Socialist Party, and the Labour Party [which is more positioned to right than the other two, is being compared with the British Labour Party]. These parties are also taking part in the Dutch witch ''hunt'' for real or alleged ''terrorists.'' Therefore it is time for me and the other democratic and humanitarian people in the Netherlands to take actions and organize protests for the maintenance of the Dutch judicial rights-rules and the basic humanitarian values, written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Astrid Essed: astridessed@yahoo.com, Amsterdam

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info