Allochtonen Weblog Roundup

Allochtonen Weblog collects news about the immigrant community in the Netherlands. Here’s a few interesting stories they’ve had this week.

Islamic banks in the Netherlands – a post on Wij Bljiven Hier explains the problems of a Muslim using the regular banking establishments, given that interest is forbidden. [note that here you can get into a long discussion about whether interest is really forbidden, what type of interest, etc.]. Banks in the Netherlands have considered going into Islamic banking, but so far only one company, Bilaa-Riba Islamic Finance B.V. (the name means: “with no interest”) caters to the Muslim public. Avoiding interest also means many Muslims do not buy a house, with all the consequences of that on their integration into the country.


A skit on Dutch TV has irked several Muslim youth associations – the skit, about Muhammad, aired on May 1st on the show Kannibalen, an improvisations comedy show. This episode was a compilation meaning the show in question appeared previously.

You can see the episode here, Muhammad on the Catwalk is a 2 minute segement which starts off ~25:25 You might be asked to choose Real vs. Windows player and slow vs. fast internet.


Q1 Immigration results – about 22,000 immigrants came to the Netherlands in the first 3 months of 2006. That’s a rise of 2000 people compared to last year, showing an end to the immigration decline. The increase is composed of mainly returning Dutch (about 5,000) and Poles (about 1,800). 29,000 people emigrated out of the Netherlands in the same time period, 13,000 of which were born in the country.


Muslim Education - Dutch Minister of Education, Maria van der Hoeven, announced during a vist to Australia that the two countries, possibly along with Indonesia will develop an Islamic education program. The program will be based on the Leiden University 4-year Islam education course.


Schools support asylum kids finish their education – 600 secondary schools have signed a petition calling the Dutch gov’t to enable kids of asylum seekers who are being threatened with expulsion to finish their studies in the Netherlands. The organizers are saying they do not expect such kids to go from kindergarten to university, but rather that they not be expelled right before doing their tests.


Narrowcasting in the mosques – by the end of the year 10 to 18 mosques will be connected up with a narrowcasting network. This will enable the mosques to inform their public of happenings in the Moroccan and Turkish community. The network is financed by advertising and broadcasts in Arabic, Dutch and Turkish.


Shame – According to a new study by Twente University, girls are more ashamed of themselves then boys, but Muslim girls are less ashamed of themselves than their non-believing classmates. Christian boys on the other hands are more ashamed of themselves than their non-believing classmates.

Muslim girls are proud of their religion, feel less shame and have a less submissive attitude. However, they are more depressive than other kids, probably because they don’t get enough respect.