The federal public prosecutor, Johan Delmulle, has made an urgent call for more detectives to investigate terrorism leads and allegations.
Of the 103 investigators that were promised, only about 30 have actually been hired.
The shortage of personnel and means is discouraging for the people working in the field, warns Johan Delmulle, the highest ranking public prosecutor in Belgium.
The investigators have to prioritise because of the shortage of personnel and means. However, investigation into terrorist networks and allegations is an area "we should make no concessions on," says the federal public prosecutor.
"We cannot afford to not investigate certain leads and information." More importantly, according to Mr. Delmulle, key information on terrorist groups is sometimes simply not investigated.
Terrorists are using increasingly more sophisticated technology, which makes it more difficult to track them down, according to Mr. Delmulle. The anti-terrorism experts therefore also need more technical support.
Terrorist networks are making more use of internet for example. To combat terrorism the same methods and weapons must be used by the federal police, says the federal public prosecutor.
Source: Expatica (English)
See also: Belgium: Terror report
Sweden: Mobile Quran recitations
A little Swedish company has an ambition to become the leading mobile networking place for Muslims. With 46 million kroner in new risk capital, MyQuran (English) is now rolling out globally.
Björn Touqan of MyQuran explains that the main goal is to build a community, similar to Facebook, so that Muslims all over the world can network and contact each other via the mobile internet.
The company started in April and in September, during Ramadan, launched a service enabling people to get the Koran on their mobile in Arabic. Prayers are sent five times a day together with a prayer calendar with local prayer time for different places in the world. It also includes a mosque guide. The service is offered by all the big mobile operators in Sweden and will also be launched in Denmark.
During the test period the service got 4,500 members in Sweden who downloaded 30,000 recitations. Björn Touqan says the next stage is to roll out globally. The big markets are in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East.
Currently he's the only employee but after receiving risk capitals from Switzerland and Kuwait of 46 million kroner, he wants to expand. Next in line they plan to launch in England. The service will also be expanded, with chat functions and translations to Swedish and English.
The technical system was developed by MyQuran's sister company Dub Tools and enabler the user to get streaming to the mobile without having to download a program. The monthly charge of 30 kroner is paid through the mobile bill.
50% of revenue is directed to the Islamic Council in Sweden that help in social projects and integration activities. [ed. It's unclear to me which organization this is.]
Björn Touqan says that you can choose different reciters, which in Muslim countries are considered artists, with some reciting fast, other slow, and others chanting.
Source: Ny Teknik (Swedish)
Björn Touqan of MyQuran explains that the main goal is to build a community, similar to Facebook, so that Muslims all over the world can network and contact each other via the mobile internet.
The company started in April and in September, during Ramadan, launched a service enabling people to get the Koran on their mobile in Arabic. Prayers are sent five times a day together with a prayer calendar with local prayer time for different places in the world. It also includes a mosque guide. The service is offered by all the big mobile operators in Sweden and will also be launched in Denmark.
During the test period the service got 4,500 members in Sweden who downloaded 30,000 recitations. Björn Touqan says the next stage is to roll out globally. The big markets are in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East.
Currently he's the only employee but after receiving risk capitals from Switzerland and Kuwait of 46 million kroner, he wants to expand. Next in line they plan to launch in England. The service will also be expanded, with chat functions and translations to Swedish and English.
The technical system was developed by MyQuran's sister company Dub Tools and enabler the user to get streaming to the mobile without having to download a program. The monthly charge of 30 kroner is paid through the mobile bill.
50% of revenue is directed to the Islamic Council in Sweden that help in social projects and integration activities. [ed. It's unclear to me which organization this is.]
Björn Touqan says that you can choose different reciters, which in Muslim countries are considered artists, with some reciting fast, other slow, and others chanting.
Source: Ny Teknik (Swedish)
Labels:
Sharia
Denmark: Three convicted in terror case
A Danish court on Friday convicted a Palestinian immigrant, an Iraqi Kurd and a Danish convert to Islam of plotting a bomb attack in one of Denmark's most high-profile terror cases.
A fourth defendant was acquitted in the case, which stemmed from a 2006 anti-terror sweep prompted by tips from an informant who infiltrated the group.
A jury in the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen handed down guilty verdicts to Mohammad Zaher, 34, Ahmad Khaldhadi, 22, and Abdallah Andersen, 32. Riad Anwer Daabas, 19, was acquitted.
Zaher and Khaldhadi, described as the two most active, were each sentenced to 11 years in prison by a three-judge panel, while Andersen was given a four-year sentence.
(more on the trial and sentencing can be found on Western Resistance)
Khaldhahi told the court that he fears he will punished twice. He fears that he will be sent to Iraq to sit out his sentence there and that he will end up in Abu Ghraib prison.
If there were explosives in the apartments of the three men sentenced Friday, then their families will be kicked out, says Lars Andersen, manager of the Odense Cooperative Residence Association (Odense Andelsboligforening, OAB). Andersen also says that his associaiton can't inspect residences and therefore preempt similar situations in the future.
According to imam Abu Hassan, who knows the families from his mosque in Østergade in Odense, kicking out the families would be an injustice. He barely touched on the topic of the terrorism case in his sermon on Friday. According to Abu Hassan, the police informant "Lars" played a very big role in the case, setting a trap for the accused and gave them the ideas. However, he believes the Danish justice system and that nobody is sentenced without evidence.
Source: AP (English), Berlingske Tidende 1, 2, 3 (Danish)
See also: Denmark: Missing evidence in terror trial, Denmark: Terrorism update, Denmark: Mohammed cartoons possible motive for terror
A fourth defendant was acquitted in the case, which stemmed from a 2006 anti-terror sweep prompted by tips from an informant who infiltrated the group.
A jury in the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen handed down guilty verdicts to Mohammad Zaher, 34, Ahmad Khaldhadi, 22, and Abdallah Andersen, 32. Riad Anwer Daabas, 19, was acquitted.
Zaher and Khaldhadi, described as the two most active, were each sentenced to 11 years in prison by a three-judge panel, while Andersen was given a four-year sentence.
(more on the trial and sentencing can be found on Western Resistance)
Khaldhahi told the court that he fears he will punished twice. He fears that he will be sent to Iraq to sit out his sentence there and that he will end up in Abu Ghraib prison.
If there were explosives in the apartments of the three men sentenced Friday, then their families will be kicked out, says Lars Andersen, manager of the Odense Cooperative Residence Association (Odense Andelsboligforening, OAB). Andersen also says that his associaiton can't inspect residences and therefore preempt similar situations in the future.
According to imam Abu Hassan, who knows the families from his mosque in Østergade in Odense, kicking out the families would be an injustice. He barely touched on the topic of the terrorism case in his sermon on Friday. According to Abu Hassan, the police informant "Lars" played a very big role in the case, setting a trap for the accused and gave them the ideas. However, he believes the Danish justice system and that nobody is sentenced without evidence.
Source: AP (English), Berlingske Tidende 1, 2, 3 (Danish)
See also: Denmark: Missing evidence in terror trial, Denmark: Terrorism update, Denmark: Mohammed cartoons possible motive for terror
Labels:
terrorism
Book Review: Undercover in Little Morocco
Undercover in Klein-Marokko, Achter De Gesloten Deuren Van De Radicale Islam (Undercover in Little Morocco, behind the closed doors of radical Islam) by Hind Fraihi.
Fraihi went searching for radical Islam in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. She found it, but her book left me with many questions. After all, she also found radical Islam in much more unlikely places. Like other books on the subject, she finds that the unemployed, disenfranchised youth are the easiest prey for radical preachers and jihad recruiters, but she also finds that there are many well-off youth who become radicalized.
I also didn't understand why Fraihi, who is a journalist, went undercover as a sociology student. Do people really talk more if they think their words will be published in a study than if it will be published in a paper?
A bit about Fraihi herself: both her parents come from well-off Moroccan families and could have done well in Morocco. Her father came to Belgium in the 60's to seek his fortune and had worked on and off since. Her mother immigrated after getting married, but insisted that if they live in Belgium they live together with Belgians and not in a neighborhood full of immigrants. Fraihi therefore grew up in the country. Her Islam is an open religion, or as she sees it an anarchist religion with flower-power. Her parents have always stressed to her the importance of education and the equality of women.
She chooses Molenbeek for her investigation as the most Moroccan neighborhood in Belgium. A Muslim village where the prices are low, chaos reigns, Arabic in the primary language and the meat is halal. Morocco is far and so Molenbeek, in the center of the country, attracts Moroccans from all over Belgium who want to feel a bit at home.
Molenbeek is also a dangerous area. A 'no-go' zone where policemen don't hang around unless they have to, as it is deemed provocative. Fraihi is advised that she shouldn't be out after 7pm, when the youth rule the streets. It is interesting that she mentions that in Morocco, like 86% of women there, she had been sexually harassed on the streets. Though she first walks about alone, after meeting threatening youth in Molenbeek, she enlists her younger brother to act as a bodyguard.
In this neighborhood, she rarely sees a woman walking about without a headscarf. She meets women with burqas, most of whom refuse to talk to her. The only one who does agree to talk with her turns out to be a Muslim woman from a non-religious family, who had become religious on her own. Fraihi sees this as Muslim punk culture - a visible way of being 'anti'.
She starts off by becoming a roommate to a Moroccan woman named Amira. Amira had met a Belgian-Moroccan who had come to Morocco to get married, and after being wooed for three days, against her family's advice, she left a good job and loving family in order to come to a foreign country to get married. Once in Belgium, her husband turned out to be a stingy wife-beater. Though not religious, he expected Amira to uphold to the highest Muslim standards. And so Amira fled, and got herself an apartment.
Amira first tells Fraihi that she first wants to get her papers together in order to get government benefits before going back. When she hears Fraihi's parents pay for her studies she tells her that there's no need, she could get the government to pay for it. Later on, she tells Fraihi that she might go back, sometime. Though she has nothing in Belgium and every good reason to go back to Morocco, she prefers staying.
Fraihi seeks out the youth who hang around the neighborhood, especially in the evenings. Why do they hang out? Because they can make money without working too hard: trading in drugs, stealing, people smuggling. They blame the Belgians for discriminating against them, for not thanking their parents, who had slaved away to build the country's rail-system. But they also don't work because its much easier not to. They say the Belgians, who work hard, pay taxes and barely finish the month, are the real victims. They, on the other hand, make easy money. And girls can get 10,000-15,000 euro in fake marriages
She meets boys all over who claim that they will blow themselves up, that the Arab leaders are not protecting Muslims and that somebody must do it. But throughout the book, she doubts whether she this is just 'macho' talk or not. Whether it is or not, it strikes her that these youth so easily talk about martyrdom, in a way that she hadn't experienced even when she was in Israel. These boys do admit that there are jihad recruiters who walk about, trying to get these youth to join in though, she's told, they aren't that successful. She does not get to meet one, and she suspects that's because she's a woman.
She meets boys and girls who speak Modern Standard Arabic quite well, which shows they have gone on long study periods in Arabic speaking countries. She doesn't meet girls who hang out, as its not considered proper. The girls spend their time studying Islam, and Fraihi considers that they might either bring about a revolution, or radicalize their faith even further.
She meets three boys in the metro-station who tell her they spend their entire day there. They serve as lookouts for the minor kids, who go stealing.
Faisal (24) started stealing when he was 15, mostly from the Flemish, as they carry more money then Walloons or Brussels residents. When he reached the age of majority he stopped since he doesn't want to end up in jail. Now he still steals money from the Flemish, but he gives it all for the holy wars in Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and their victims.
Why only from the Flemish? Isn't that racist?
The Flemish have money and he doesn't want to steal from the Arabs who are poor and are willing to fight in the Jihad. He himself, he says, is willing to commit an attack, just give him the money for it. The Flemish state is rich, but does nothing for Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. Pickpocketing the Flemish becomes a political action and might even be a divine virtue. Stealing from the Flemish to give to the Jiahd is a good cause, which compensates for his bad deeds.
His two friends don't agree with him. Aboubakr (17) sees no reason to give his money to anybody, but he has his own logic for stealing. He doesn't want to use the money his parents give him for things which are 'haram', like cigarettes. For those things, he steals. His conscience does bother him, but the thief in him wins.
The three tell her that the cops abuse Moroccans and that they're at war with the police. One time they caught a cop and beat him, in retaliation for being beaten in the police department. What about their parents, she asks? If their parents know anything, they are powerless to stop them.
She visits mosques as well. The first time she visits a mosque in Schaarsbeek, a nearby neighborhood, the imam preaches that the believers should give up their lives and money for jihad.
In another mosque she finds a Saudi-Arabia pamphlet with very strict instructions for women (don't use the phone, don't go anywhere without your husband's permission) and she speaks about it to Jamal, an Arabic teacher in the mosque. Jamal turns out to be extremely moderate, and gives her a whole lecture about how the youth are drawn to radical teachings instead of a tolerant Islam. For Jamal, Islam is a religion that supports openness, respect and tolerance and therefore Muslims should be able to live in the West and in Belgium without any problems. The extremists want to increase the rift between Muslims and non-Muslims and that is why the Saudi-Arabians are banned from the mosque.
She meets more people like Jamal, but she feels they're fighting a losing battle against the fundamentalists. She says that the moderate Muslims are walking a tightrope, between the Muslim fundamentalists and the right-wing (ie, nationalist) Flemish extremists. I had trouble understanding what she meant, but she later brings example of Muslims who vote for Vlaams Belang. I doubt most Muslims are in danger of becoming nationalist extremists, though. As Fraihi says, if they vote for Vlaams Belang, they do it out of protest, fear and disillusionment.
As one example she brings Fatima, a Moroccan immigrant in her 60s. She doesn't see herself as integrated and doesn't think she acts any different in Belgium then she did in Morocco. She came in 1968, got a hearty welcome, worked with Belgians and generally enjoyed herself. She followed up on her kids - went to PTA meetings and made sure she knew where they were going at all times. A friend of hers complains that her son lives off benefits, even though he could work. There is discrimination, she says, but the 2nd and 3rd generation don't want to work and just use it as an excuse. These youth are coddled by multicultural and integration organizations, all in the name of tolerance.
According to Fatima the problem-youth are problematic because they have become fully Flemish. She suffers from the extremist Muslims who demand that she wear a headscarf, soemthing that she'd never done in morocco. The moderate Muslims are the first victims of Muslim extremism, but nobody takes care of them. She supports the Vlaams Belang program: stopping immigration, reducing marriage immigration and cutting off the integration sectors. She sees Vlaams Belang as the only party which is upset at Muslim extremism, who wants to treat immigrants strictly but justly. Moderate Muslims are fed up and feel that they've been left on their own. Fatima wants to vote for a more moderate party, but only after the danger from Muslim extremism is dealt with.
She meets a worker at a youth center who tells her he blames the parents, imams and Belgian authorities for the Islamization of the youth. The parents blindly follow the Moroccan imams, who preach that almost everything is a crime, though many of them are former criminals themselves who have become 'born again' Muslims. Some have traveled to Afghanistan and are therefore barred from going back to Morocco, and yet the Belgian authorities don't seem to care. The parents were also not that religious when they were kids, but they expect much more from their children. Not only that, the parents had realized their dreams, but their children don't reach as far, don't get anywhere and are therefore easy prey for terrorist recruiters.
As she repeats in her interview, she feels the 'integration' sector has no reason to actually solve the problem, since that would take away their reason for being.
In Schaarbeek she goes to the Al-Hadith library financed by the Saudis, in a youth cultural center. There are many books there in French and Arabic and she picks up one of the few in Dutch: 'Islamistiche Richtlijnen' (Islamic Guidelines). The book calls to kill Jews and those who leave the faith, it advises parents that their daughters should wear a headscarf from the age of 7, and cover their face from puberty, and it calls for Jihad. El-Tamami of Al-Hadith doesn't understand why she thinks its extremist. After all, it's translated from Arabic and it's meant for people who study and analyze Islam, not for "disco-goers".
She finds this book elsewhere in Brussels. Like most of the Dutch language Islam literature, this book is published by Al-Tahweed in Amsterdam, and she goes to visit the publishing house there. The Al-Tahweed mosque is a known extremist mosque. When she arrives there's a police car outside, which according El-Tetouani of the Al-Tahweed publishers, is there to prevent reprisals against the mosque.
She gets to the women's section of the mosque, where she is immediately covered with a chador. The women explain to her that since the murder of Van Gogh, the mosque is closely watched, and that the infidels do nothing but attack Islam. El-Tetouani later tells her that they publish diverse books, and that they expect that their readers aren't dumb and will not be influenced by one quote from here or there.
She finds radical literature quite accessible in Brussels, including books which go into detail about Jihad.
Fraihi says that its not only the poor, unemployed youth who are drawn to extremism. She has a cousin in Morocco who had become radical, though he comes from a good , open family. A girlfriend of hers, from the Barbant village where she grew up, had also slowly radicalized. She complains that she can't find a job, but she wears a headscarf, refuses to shake hands and demands to work only with other women (though later she backs down and agrees to work with men, as long as she's not the only woman).
In Molenbeek there are mosques almost everywhere, but they are impossible to find. How will anybody know what's preached in them? Is the answer to extremism government control? How does that fit with freedom of religion? On the other hand, how is the fact that she was sworn at in one mosque for not wearing a burqa a sign of freedom of religion? She easily found radical Islamic literature, including books with detailed plans for Jihad and which call to kill Jews and ex-Muslims. Is that freedom of the press or tolerating a declaration of war?
She had met with Syrian sheik Bassam Ayachi, the most famous radical Muslim in Brussels, head of the Islamic Center of Belgium (CIB). The Belgian authorities acted against the center only in 2006, and Ayachi fled and currently lives in Syria. How did the authorities stand by for so long and let such a dangerous figure go on unhampered?
Fraihi doesn't give any answers, but she has many questions. Her book was written in order to encourage the debate about extremism in general and Muslim extremism in particular.
See also: Undercover in Klein-Marokko
Fraihi went searching for radical Islam in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. She found it, but her book left me with many questions. After all, she also found radical Islam in much more unlikely places. Like other books on the subject, she finds that the unemployed, disenfranchised youth are the easiest prey for radical preachers and jihad recruiters, but she also finds that there are many well-off youth who become radicalized.
I also didn't understand why Fraihi, who is a journalist, went undercover as a sociology student. Do people really talk more if they think their words will be published in a study than if it will be published in a paper?
A bit about Fraihi herself: both her parents come from well-off Moroccan families and could have done well in Morocco. Her father came to Belgium in the 60's to seek his fortune and had worked on and off since. Her mother immigrated after getting married, but insisted that if they live in Belgium they live together with Belgians and not in a neighborhood full of immigrants. Fraihi therefore grew up in the country. Her Islam is an open religion, or as she sees it an anarchist religion with flower-power. Her parents have always stressed to her the importance of education and the equality of women.
She chooses Molenbeek for her investigation as the most Moroccan neighborhood in Belgium. A Muslim village where the prices are low, chaos reigns, Arabic in the primary language and the meat is halal. Morocco is far and so Molenbeek, in the center of the country, attracts Moroccans from all over Belgium who want to feel a bit at home.
Molenbeek is also a dangerous area. A 'no-go' zone where policemen don't hang around unless they have to, as it is deemed provocative. Fraihi is advised that she shouldn't be out after 7pm, when the youth rule the streets. It is interesting that she mentions that in Morocco, like 86% of women there, she had been sexually harassed on the streets. Though she first walks about alone, after meeting threatening youth in Molenbeek, she enlists her younger brother to act as a bodyguard.
In this neighborhood, she rarely sees a woman walking about without a headscarf. She meets women with burqas, most of whom refuse to talk to her. The only one who does agree to talk with her turns out to be a Muslim woman from a non-religious family, who had become religious on her own. Fraihi sees this as Muslim punk culture - a visible way of being 'anti'.
She starts off by becoming a roommate to a Moroccan woman named Amira. Amira had met a Belgian-Moroccan who had come to Morocco to get married, and after being wooed for three days, against her family's advice, she left a good job and loving family in order to come to a foreign country to get married. Once in Belgium, her husband turned out to be a stingy wife-beater. Though not religious, he expected Amira to uphold to the highest Muslim standards. And so Amira fled, and got herself an apartment.
Amira first tells Fraihi that she first wants to get her papers together in order to get government benefits before going back. When she hears Fraihi's parents pay for her studies she tells her that there's no need, she could get the government to pay for it. Later on, she tells Fraihi that she might go back, sometime. Though she has nothing in Belgium and every good reason to go back to Morocco, she prefers staying.
Fraihi seeks out the youth who hang around the neighborhood, especially in the evenings. Why do they hang out? Because they can make money without working too hard: trading in drugs, stealing, people smuggling. They blame the Belgians for discriminating against them, for not thanking their parents, who had slaved away to build the country's rail-system. But they also don't work because its much easier not to. They say the Belgians, who work hard, pay taxes and barely finish the month, are the real victims. They, on the other hand, make easy money. And girls can get 10,000-15,000 euro in fake marriages
She meets boys all over who claim that they will blow themselves up, that the Arab leaders are not protecting Muslims and that somebody must do it. But throughout the book, she doubts whether she this is just 'macho' talk or not. Whether it is or not, it strikes her that these youth so easily talk about martyrdom, in a way that she hadn't experienced even when she was in Israel. These boys do admit that there are jihad recruiters who walk about, trying to get these youth to join in though, she's told, they aren't that successful. She does not get to meet one, and she suspects that's because she's a woman.
She meets boys and girls who speak Modern Standard Arabic quite well, which shows they have gone on long study periods in Arabic speaking countries. She doesn't meet girls who hang out, as its not considered proper. The girls spend their time studying Islam, and Fraihi considers that they might either bring about a revolution, or radicalize their faith even further.
She meets three boys in the metro-station who tell her they spend their entire day there. They serve as lookouts for the minor kids, who go stealing.
Faisal (24) started stealing when he was 15, mostly from the Flemish, as they carry more money then Walloons or Brussels residents. When he reached the age of majority he stopped since he doesn't want to end up in jail. Now he still steals money from the Flemish, but he gives it all for the holy wars in Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and their victims.
Why only from the Flemish? Isn't that racist?
The Flemish have money and he doesn't want to steal from the Arabs who are poor and are willing to fight in the Jihad. He himself, he says, is willing to commit an attack, just give him the money for it. The Flemish state is rich, but does nothing for Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. Pickpocketing the Flemish becomes a political action and might even be a divine virtue. Stealing from the Flemish to give to the Jiahd is a good cause, which compensates for his bad deeds.
His two friends don't agree with him. Aboubakr (17) sees no reason to give his money to anybody, but he has his own logic for stealing. He doesn't want to use the money his parents give him for things which are 'haram', like cigarettes. For those things, he steals. His conscience does bother him, but the thief in him wins.
The three tell her that the cops abuse Moroccans and that they're at war with the police. One time they caught a cop and beat him, in retaliation for being beaten in the police department. What about their parents, she asks? If their parents know anything, they are powerless to stop them.
She visits mosques as well. The first time she visits a mosque in Schaarsbeek, a nearby neighborhood, the imam preaches that the believers should give up their lives and money for jihad.
In another mosque she finds a Saudi-Arabia pamphlet with very strict instructions for women (don't use the phone, don't go anywhere without your husband's permission) and she speaks about it to Jamal, an Arabic teacher in the mosque. Jamal turns out to be extremely moderate, and gives her a whole lecture about how the youth are drawn to radical teachings instead of a tolerant Islam. For Jamal, Islam is a religion that supports openness, respect and tolerance and therefore Muslims should be able to live in the West and in Belgium without any problems. The extremists want to increase the rift between Muslims and non-Muslims and that is why the Saudi-Arabians are banned from the mosque.
She meets more people like Jamal, but she feels they're fighting a losing battle against the fundamentalists. She says that the moderate Muslims are walking a tightrope, between the Muslim fundamentalists and the right-wing (ie, nationalist) Flemish extremists. I had trouble understanding what she meant, but she later brings example of Muslims who vote for Vlaams Belang. I doubt most Muslims are in danger of becoming nationalist extremists, though. As Fraihi says, if they vote for Vlaams Belang, they do it out of protest, fear and disillusionment.
As one example she brings Fatima, a Moroccan immigrant in her 60s. She doesn't see herself as integrated and doesn't think she acts any different in Belgium then she did in Morocco. She came in 1968, got a hearty welcome, worked with Belgians and generally enjoyed herself. She followed up on her kids - went to PTA meetings and made sure she knew where they were going at all times. A friend of hers complains that her son lives off benefits, even though he could work. There is discrimination, she says, but the 2nd and 3rd generation don't want to work and just use it as an excuse. These youth are coddled by multicultural and integration organizations, all in the name of tolerance.
According to Fatima the problem-youth are problematic because they have become fully Flemish. She suffers from the extremist Muslims who demand that she wear a headscarf, soemthing that she'd never done in morocco. The moderate Muslims are the first victims of Muslim extremism, but nobody takes care of them. She supports the Vlaams Belang program: stopping immigration, reducing marriage immigration and cutting off the integration sectors. She sees Vlaams Belang as the only party which is upset at Muslim extremism, who wants to treat immigrants strictly but justly. Moderate Muslims are fed up and feel that they've been left on their own. Fatima wants to vote for a more moderate party, but only after the danger from Muslim extremism is dealt with.
She meets a worker at a youth center who tells her he blames the parents, imams and Belgian authorities for the Islamization of the youth. The parents blindly follow the Moroccan imams, who preach that almost everything is a crime, though many of them are former criminals themselves who have become 'born again' Muslims. Some have traveled to Afghanistan and are therefore barred from going back to Morocco, and yet the Belgian authorities don't seem to care. The parents were also not that religious when they were kids, but they expect much more from their children. Not only that, the parents had realized their dreams, but their children don't reach as far, don't get anywhere and are therefore easy prey for terrorist recruiters.
As she repeats in her interview, she feels the 'integration' sector has no reason to actually solve the problem, since that would take away their reason for being.
In Schaarbeek she goes to the Al-Hadith library financed by the Saudis, in a youth cultural center. There are many books there in French and Arabic and she picks up one of the few in Dutch: 'Islamistiche Richtlijnen' (Islamic Guidelines). The book calls to kill Jews and those who leave the faith, it advises parents that their daughters should wear a headscarf from the age of 7, and cover their face from puberty, and it calls for Jihad. El-Tamami of Al-Hadith doesn't understand why she thinks its extremist. After all, it's translated from Arabic and it's meant for people who study and analyze Islam, not for "disco-goers".
She finds this book elsewhere in Brussels. Like most of the Dutch language Islam literature, this book is published by Al-Tahweed in Amsterdam, and she goes to visit the publishing house there. The Al-Tahweed mosque is a known extremist mosque. When she arrives there's a police car outside, which according El-Tetouani of the Al-Tahweed publishers, is there to prevent reprisals against the mosque.
She gets to the women's section of the mosque, where she is immediately covered with a chador. The women explain to her that since the murder of Van Gogh, the mosque is closely watched, and that the infidels do nothing but attack Islam. El-Tetouani later tells her that they publish diverse books, and that they expect that their readers aren't dumb and will not be influenced by one quote from here or there.
She finds radical literature quite accessible in Brussels, including books which go into detail about Jihad.
Fraihi says that its not only the poor, unemployed youth who are drawn to extremism. She has a cousin in Morocco who had become radical, though he comes from a good , open family. A girlfriend of hers, from the Barbant village where she grew up, had also slowly radicalized. She complains that she can't find a job, but she wears a headscarf, refuses to shake hands and demands to work only with other women (though later she backs down and agrees to work with men, as long as she's not the only woman).
In Molenbeek there are mosques almost everywhere, but they are impossible to find. How will anybody know what's preached in them? Is the answer to extremism government control? How does that fit with freedom of religion? On the other hand, how is the fact that she was sworn at in one mosque for not wearing a burqa a sign of freedom of religion? She easily found radical Islamic literature, including books with detailed plans for Jihad and which call to kill Jews and ex-Muslims. Is that freedom of the press or tolerating a declaration of war?
She had met with Syrian sheik Bassam Ayachi, the most famous radical Muslim in Brussels, head of the Islamic Center of Belgium (CIB). The Belgian authorities acted against the center only in 2006, and Ayachi fled and currently lives in Syria. How did the authorities stand by for so long and let such a dangerous figure go on unhampered?
Fraihi doesn't give any answers, but she has many questions. Her book was written in order to encourage the debate about extremism in general and Muslim extremism in particular.
See also: Undercover in Klein-Marokko
Labels:
Books and Studies
Sarkozy: 'too many Muslims in Europe'
The meeting between Sarkozy and Reinfeldt took place Oct 3rd. From what I can see Libération reported about it on Nov 14th, and Aftenbladet on Nov 20th.
---
In a meeting with Fredrik Reinfeldt in Paris (Oct 3rd), Nicolas Sarkozy shocked his surrounding with a long anti-Muslim dialog. The French president said that there are too many Muslims in Europe.
To Aftonbladet Sweden's prime minister said that he had defended Sweden's liberal position on refugees and immigration. From that its clear that Sweden and France have completely different positions on Turkey's place in Europe.
The French president doesn't want to hear about Turkish entry into the EU. Sarkozy has also made that clear when he met Ireland's prime minister Bertie Ahern several weeks ago.
Sources told French magazine Libération that the president held confusing monologues in his meetings with both Reinfeldt and Ahern. According to Libération, the French president devoted himself for close to 20 minutes to anti-Muslim abusive language.
Libération reported the talk was "hearty and familiar, downright shocking"
Nicolas Sarkozy made confusing statements about the clash of civilizations. The monologues he made to Reinfeldt and Ahern had tones of destructive sentiments.
The French president also said that Muslims have difficulties to integrate - to justify his position on the Turkey question, according to Libération.
A Swedish diplomat present at the meeting says he doesn't remember that the president said that there were too many Muslims in Europe, but that part of the discussion was certainly about whether different civilizations should live side by side.
Fredrik Reinfeldt's staff couldn't comment. But before he explained his opinions on Muslims, Sarkozy tried to be pleasant to his guest. By way of introduction to the meeting he asked his guest "Do you make jogging?"
The Swedish prime minister quickly showed that he doesn't speak better English than the Frenchman. Fredrik Reinfeldt runs both more often and longer than Sarkozy, who still profiles himself as a sporting and modern Frenchman.
The the president began to talk instead about Turkey. In French.
Source: Aftenbladet (Swedish)
See also: Liberation 1, 2 (French)
---
In a meeting with Fredrik Reinfeldt in Paris (Oct 3rd), Nicolas Sarkozy shocked his surrounding with a long anti-Muslim dialog. The French president said that there are too many Muslims in Europe.
To Aftonbladet Sweden's prime minister said that he had defended Sweden's liberal position on refugees and immigration. From that its clear that Sweden and France have completely different positions on Turkey's place in Europe.
The French president doesn't want to hear about Turkish entry into the EU. Sarkozy has also made that clear when he met Ireland's prime minister Bertie Ahern several weeks ago.
Sources told French magazine Libération that the president held confusing monologues in his meetings with both Reinfeldt and Ahern. According to Libération, the French president devoted himself for close to 20 minutes to anti-Muslim abusive language.
Libération reported the talk was "hearty and familiar, downright shocking"
Nicolas Sarkozy made confusing statements about the clash of civilizations. The monologues he made to Reinfeldt and Ahern had tones of destructive sentiments.
The French president also said that Muslims have difficulties to integrate - to justify his position on the Turkey question, according to Libération.
A Swedish diplomat present at the meeting says he doesn't remember that the president said that there were too many Muslims in Europe, but that part of the discussion was certainly about whether different civilizations should live side by side.
Fredrik Reinfeldt's staff couldn't comment. But before he explained his opinions on Muslims, Sarkozy tried to be pleasant to his guest. By way of introduction to the meeting he asked his guest "Do you make jogging?"
The Swedish prime minister quickly showed that he doesn't speak better English than the Frenchman. Fredrik Reinfeldt runs both more often and longer than Sarkozy, who still profiles himself as a sporting and modern Frenchman.
The the president began to talk instead about Turkey. In French.
Source: Aftenbladet (Swedish)
See also: Liberation 1, 2 (French)
Labels:
Islamization
Muslim population in European cities
I was recently asked which cities in Europe have the highest Muslim percentage. The following is what I found in my research.
I linked to my sources, but note that not all sources have the same reliability level. STAT - official municipal or national statistics, EUMAP - EU Research program, WIKI - Wikipedia, NEWS - mentioned in the news.
If my readers have more information, I will be glad to integrate it into this list.
Note that in some of these cities, there are neighborhoods which have a much higher percentage of Muslims (for example: Kreuzberg in Berlin, Molenbeek in Brussels and Tower Hamlets in London) and neighborhoods with a much lower percentage.
Austria
Vienna - 8% (120,000) (NEWS)
Belgium
Antwerp- 6.7% (>30,000 of >450,000) (EUMAP)
Brussels (region) - 17%-20% (160,000-220,000) [some say 33% (City of Brussels?)] (NEWS, NEWS)
Denmark
Aarhus - ~10% (NEWS)
Copenhagen - 12.6% (63,000 of 500,000) ( EUMAP)
France
Ile de France - 10%-15% (up to 1.7 milliion) (NEWS)
Marseilles - 25% (200,000 of 800,000) (NEWS), PACA region - 20% (0.7-1.0 million of 1.5 million) (EUMAP)
Paris - 7.38% (155,000 of 2.1 million) (EUMAP)
Strasbourg - 10% (NEWS)
Germany
Berlin - 5.9% (~200,000 of 3.40 million) (EUMAP)
Cologne - 12% (120,000 of 1 million) (WIKI)
Hamburg - 6.4% (~110,000 of 1.73 million) (EUMAP)
The Netherlands
Amsterdam - 24% (180,000 of 750,000) (STAT), Greater Amsterdam - 12.7% (STAT)
The Hague - 14.2% ( 67,896 of 475,580) (STAT), Greater Hague - 11% (STAT)
Rotterdam - 13% (80,000 of 600,000) (EUMAP), Greater Rotterdam - 9.9% (STAT)
Utrecht - 13.2% (38,300 of 289,000) (STAT), Greater Utrecht - 7% (STAT)
Zaan district - 8.8% (STAT)
Russia
Moscow - 16%-20% (2 million of 10-12 million) (NEWS)
Sweden
Malmö - ~25% (NEWS) [percent of immigrants, foreign born or both parents foreign born: 36% (STAT)]
Stockholm - 20% (>155,000 of 771,038) (EUMAP) [percent of immigrants: 36% (STAT)]
United Kingdom
Birmingham - 14.3% (139,771) (WIKI)
Bradford - 16% (75,000) (NEWS)
Leicester - 11% (>30,000 of 280,000) (EUMAP)
Greater London - 8.5%-17% (1.3 million of 7.5 million) (NEWS, WIKI)
Luton - 14.6% (26,963) (WIKI)
Thanks to Nieuw Religieus Peil for helping collect the data.
Updated: September 7, 2010
I linked to my sources, but note that not all sources have the same reliability level. STAT - official municipal or national statistics, EUMAP - EU Research program, WIKI - Wikipedia, NEWS - mentioned in the news.
If my readers have more information, I will be glad to integrate it into this list.
Note that in some of these cities, there are neighborhoods which have a much higher percentage of Muslims (for example: Kreuzberg in Berlin, Molenbeek in Brussels and Tower Hamlets in London) and neighborhoods with a much lower percentage.
Austria
Vienna - 8% (120,000) (NEWS)
Belgium
Antwerp- 6.7% (>30,000 of >450,000) (EUMAP)
Brussels (region) - 17%-20% (160,000-220,000) [some say 33% (City of Brussels?)] (NEWS, NEWS)
Denmark
Aarhus - ~10% (NEWS)
Copenhagen - 12.6% (63,000 of 500,000) ( EUMAP)
France
Ile de France - 10%-15% (up to 1.7 milliion) (NEWS)
Marseilles - 25% (200,000 of 800,000) (NEWS), PACA region - 20% (0.7-1.0 million of 1.5 million) (EUMAP)
Paris - 7.38% (155,000 of 2.1 million) (EUMAP)
Strasbourg - 10% (NEWS)
Germany
Berlin - 5.9% (~200,000 of 3.40 million) (EUMAP)
Cologne - 12% (120,000 of 1 million) (WIKI)
Hamburg - 6.4% (~110,000 of 1.73 million) (EUMAP)
The Netherlands
Amsterdam - 24% (180,000 of 750,000) (STAT), Greater Amsterdam - 12.7% (STAT)
The Hague - 14.2% ( 67,896 of 475,580) (STAT), Greater Hague - 11% (STAT)
Rotterdam - 13% (80,000 of 600,000) (EUMAP), Greater Rotterdam - 9.9% (STAT)
Utrecht - 13.2% (38,300 of 289,000) (STAT), Greater Utrecht - 7% (STAT)
Zaan district - 8.8% (STAT)
Russia
Moscow - 16%-20% (2 million of 10-12 million) (NEWS)
Sweden
Malmö - ~25% (NEWS) [percent of immigrants, foreign born or both parents foreign born: 36% (STAT)]
Stockholm - 20% (>155,000 of 771,038) (EUMAP) [percent of immigrants: 36% (STAT)]
United Kingdom
Birmingham - 14.3% (139,771) (WIKI)
Bradford - 16% (75,000) (NEWS)
Leicester - 11% (>30,000 of 280,000) (EUMAP)
Greater London - 8.5%-17% (1.3 million of 7.5 million) (NEWS, WIKI)
Luton - 14.6% (26,963) (WIKI)
Thanks to Nieuw Religieus Peil for helping collect the data.
Updated: September 7, 2010
Labels:
Demographics,
Resources
Marseilles: Building of Great Mosque
"We have come to the end of a long and often painful road. We will do everything to have a up a powerful symbol rise up, a monument for the city of Marseilles, that at the same time respects that the republic doesn't want to associate with religion."
With these words Nordine Cheikh received the keys of the Great Mosque last evening in the Marseilles town hall.
The first stone must still be laid for what will eventually be one of the largest mosques in French. The mosque, which will cost about 8 million euro, will have place for about 3,000 believers. Cheikh, president of the association of the Great Mosque, expects that it will be ready in 2010.
Cheikh received the keys from Jean-Pierre Gaudin, mayor of Marseilles for the past twelve years. He had personally worked hard for the mosque. France is the land of laïcité – the republic stays away from religions. That makes the involvement of the city council even more exceptional.
Gaudin has a clear explanation: "The growing Muslim community doesn't have enough prayer space. All the cities where many Muslims live - Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier – have a great mosque. Marseilles cannot stay behind. We're obligated for our residents."
The port city of Marseille prides itself on being a place where various communities live well together. Or as the mayor says: "Marseille wants to be a city of hospitality." When in 2005 cars were set afire, Marseille stayed calm.
A quarter of the 800,000 residents are Muslims, and according to Cheikh 40,000 are practicing. They come especially from Algeria, Tunis and Morooco, but Marseille also has 70,000 residents from the Comoros. There are about 60 mosques in the city, generally in empty buildings, old shops or warehouses.
The new mosque is being built on the site of the city's slaughterhouse in the Saint-Louis neighborhood. The area currently has the scenery warehouse of the opera, which will be partially integrated into the mosque. Gaudin wanted to make the land available for 99 years, but the city council didn't like it. The Great Mosque now pays 24,000 euro a year for the area of 8,600 sqm, and has an option for 50 years.
Cheikh now needs to bring in funds from believersin Marseille and elsewhere in France. The lands of origin will also being considered. Algeria, Tunis and Morocco may each contribute up to 1.7 million euro, as agreed with the city council. This in order to limit the chance of state interference. According to Cheikh the first promises have already been made. The presence of the mayor of Marrakesh in the key handing ceremony gave the mosque council good hopes.
The drawings of architect Abdelouahab Khelif shows a building with a dome, a monumental facade and two minarets [25 meters high]. They will not sound the call to prayer, as that's forbidden in France.
The city council also approved this summer the plan to reserve the area next ot the mosque for a cultural center with Arabic leanings. The center must be strictly separated from the mosque in order to prevent a mixing of culture and religion.
The extreme right has protested, according to Cheikh there are also Muslims who object to the common character of the enterprise. Despite that there is barely any opposition in Marseilles to the building.
"The first donation for the mosque came from a Catholic lady, the second from the Jewish center," says Marie-Noëlle Mivielle of the mayor's cabinet. "In Marseilles the religion associate well together. If there's opposition it comes from outside the city.
Sources: Volkskrant (Dutch), Earth Times (English)
With these words Nordine Cheikh received the keys of the Great Mosque last evening in the Marseilles town hall.
The first stone must still be laid for what will eventually be one of the largest mosques in French. The mosque, which will cost about 8 million euro, will have place for about 3,000 believers. Cheikh, president of the association of the Great Mosque, expects that it will be ready in 2010.
Cheikh received the keys from Jean-Pierre Gaudin, mayor of Marseilles for the past twelve years. He had personally worked hard for the mosque. France is the land of laïcité – the republic stays away from religions. That makes the involvement of the city council even more exceptional.
Gaudin has a clear explanation: "The growing Muslim community doesn't have enough prayer space. All the cities where many Muslims live - Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier – have a great mosque. Marseilles cannot stay behind. We're obligated for our residents."
The port city of Marseille prides itself on being a place where various communities live well together. Or as the mayor says: "Marseille wants to be a city of hospitality." When in 2005 cars were set afire, Marseille stayed calm.
A quarter of the 800,000 residents are Muslims, and according to Cheikh 40,000 are practicing. They come especially from Algeria, Tunis and Morooco, but Marseille also has 70,000 residents from the Comoros. There are about 60 mosques in the city, generally in empty buildings, old shops or warehouses.
The new mosque is being built on the site of the city's slaughterhouse in the Saint-Louis neighborhood. The area currently has the scenery warehouse of the opera, which will be partially integrated into the mosque. Gaudin wanted to make the land available for 99 years, but the city council didn't like it. The Great Mosque now pays 24,000 euro a year for the area of 8,600 sqm, and has an option for 50 years.
Cheikh now needs to bring in funds from believersin Marseille and elsewhere in France. The lands of origin will also being considered. Algeria, Tunis and Morocco may each contribute up to 1.7 million euro, as agreed with the city council. This in order to limit the chance of state interference. According to Cheikh the first promises have already been made. The presence of the mayor of Marrakesh in the key handing ceremony gave the mosque council good hopes.
The drawings of architect Abdelouahab Khelif shows a building with a dome, a monumental facade and two minarets [25 meters high]. They will not sound the call to prayer, as that's forbidden in France.
The city council also approved this summer the plan to reserve the area next ot the mosque for a cultural center with Arabic leanings. The center must be strictly separated from the mosque in order to prevent a mixing of culture and religion.
The extreme right has protested, according to Cheikh there are also Muslims who object to the common character of the enterprise. Despite that there is barely any opposition in Marseilles to the building.
"The first donation for the mosque came from a Catholic lady, the second from the Jewish center," says Marie-Noëlle Mivielle of the mayor's cabinet. "In Marseilles the religion associate well together. If there's opposition it comes from outside the city.
Sources: Volkskrant (Dutch), Earth Times (English)
Labels:
Mosques and Imams
Netherlands: Pressure on freed doctor not to lodge complaint against Libya
Palestinian-Bulgarian doctor Ashraf el Hagoug is under pressure by the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs not to lodge a complaint against Libya. Hagoug was told in a meeting with the ministry would damage ties to the country and would endanger Bulgarian nurses in Libya. The doctor sat in jail for 8 years since he was accused of infecting 400 children with HIV. He was extradited at the end of July to Bulgaria, where he was pardoned.
A month later his lawyer announced that Hagoug would lodge a complaint at the UN due to the unfair process that he got in Libya and the torture that he says he's been through in jail. According to Hagoug, after his release Europe seems to care more about the relations with Libya than about his fate and that of the five Bulgarian nurses who sat in jail with him in Libya. The complaint is already ready according to his lawyer, but has not yet been lodged due to political pressure.
Hagoug, who after his release came to the Netherlands because his parents and his sisters live in Woerden since 2005, was also told recently that he wouldn't get Dutch citizenship. The reason is that he has Bulgarian citizenship, he was told by the Ministry of Justice. That passport had ensured at the time that he would be extradited together with the five Bulgarian nurses to that country. "My Bulgarian passport saved my life. Therefore I can't give up this nationality."
Source: HLN (Dutch)
See also: Freed doctor: Upset at the Muslim world , Switzerland: Hospital suspends Libyan program
A month later his lawyer announced that Hagoug would lodge a complaint at the UN due to the unfair process that he got in Libya and the torture that he says he's been through in jail. According to Hagoug, after his release Europe seems to care more about the relations with Libya than about his fate and that of the five Bulgarian nurses who sat in jail with him in Libya. The complaint is already ready according to his lawyer, but has not yet been lodged due to political pressure.
Hagoug, who after his release came to the Netherlands because his parents and his sisters live in Woerden since 2005, was also told recently that he wouldn't get Dutch citizenship. The reason is that he has Bulgarian citizenship, he was told by the Ministry of Justice. That passport had ensured at the time that he would be extradited together with the five Bulgarian nurses to that country. "My Bulgarian passport saved my life. Therefore I can't give up this nationality."
Source: HLN (Dutch)
See also: Freed doctor: Upset at the Muslim world , Switzerland: Hospital suspends Libyan program
Labels:
misc
Netherlands: Child abuse in immigrant families
There is no data about child abuse and sexual abuse in immigrant families, but it is much worse than believed, think those who are involved.
If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist, is the opinion in the Moroccan community. "But it is very serious," says agent Mohammed Cheppih at the congress of child and sexual abuse of immigrant youth, yesterday in Amsterdam-Slotervaart.
Nobody knows how serious. Nobody can ignore the number on the international day of children's rights. Every week somebody dies through child abuse, and per class three children are the victim or witness of ill treatment or abuse. There is no data from immigrant circles.
The numbers can be very dreary, came out in Slotervaart. Speaker Ben Rensen, youth doctor for 25 years in an Utrecht "problem neighborhood" spoke about risk factors for child abuse. Through one stress factor in the family , a kid has a 3% chance of being abused by a parent. In multi-problem families - difficult immigration, unemployment, language problems, poverty, small housing etc - with many stress factors that can get up to above 20%.
According ot the most recent study, 1 in 10 you with a Moroccan or Turkish background are victims of sexual coercion, often in the family circle. Researcher Oebele Kooistra says that sometimes the numbers are 1 in 4. A new study is seriously needed, and then the biggest problem would be getting past the front door.
Spitting in the face, hitting: it's part of upbringing, heard congress organizer Fatimazohra Hadjar around her. "I see the hidden scars of those youth. But society sees youth who hang around turn into rascals. And rascals into unscrupulous bulldozers, into criminals. Nobody asks themselves where this desire for self-destruction comes from. Society doesn't want to see them as victims, but as offenders."
"Child abuse has no color but is a terrible taboo in the immigrant community." That is a problem, says Hameeda Lakho, who had been abused for years by her father and stepmother and has written three books about it. "There is shame, honor related violence, we close our eyes or try to solve it within the walls of the house or family. If we don't break through this circle, it will be passed on from generation to generation."
Source: Trouw (Dutch)
If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist, is the opinion in the Moroccan community. "But it is very serious," says agent Mohammed Cheppih at the congress of child and sexual abuse of immigrant youth, yesterday in Amsterdam-Slotervaart.
Nobody knows how serious. Nobody can ignore the number on the international day of children's rights. Every week somebody dies through child abuse, and per class three children are the victim or witness of ill treatment or abuse. There is no data from immigrant circles.
The numbers can be very dreary, came out in Slotervaart. Speaker Ben Rensen, youth doctor for 25 years in an Utrecht "problem neighborhood" spoke about risk factors for child abuse. Through one stress factor in the family , a kid has a 3% chance of being abused by a parent. In multi-problem families - difficult immigration, unemployment, language problems, poverty, small housing etc - with many stress factors that can get up to above 20%.
According ot the most recent study, 1 in 10 you with a Moroccan or Turkish background are victims of sexual coercion, often in the family circle. Researcher Oebele Kooistra says that sometimes the numbers are 1 in 4. A new study is seriously needed, and then the biggest problem would be getting past the front door.
Spitting in the face, hitting: it's part of upbringing, heard congress organizer Fatimazohra Hadjar around her. "I see the hidden scars of those youth. But society sees youth who hang around turn into rascals. And rascals into unscrupulous bulldozers, into criminals. Nobody asks themselves where this desire for self-destruction comes from. Society doesn't want to see them as victims, but as offenders."
"Child abuse has no color but is a terrible taboo in the immigrant community." That is a problem, says Hameeda Lakho, who had been abused for years by her father and stepmother and has written three books about it. "There is shame, honor related violence, we close our eyes or try to solve it within the walls of the house or family. If we don't break through this circle, it will be passed on from generation to generation."
Source: Trouw (Dutch)
Labels:
Crime
Netherlands: Proposal to ban cousin marriages
The VVD wants to stop import marriages by forbidding marriages between Moroccans and Turkish cousins.
Salua Mansouri read the integration memo of VVD parliament member Henk Kamp with mixed feelings. "A ban on marriages between cousin is not a bad idea," says the 32 year old self-employed from Nieuwegein. She just has the feeling that the VVD only want the ban in order to have less immigrants from Morocco or Turkey.
A shame, thinks Mansouri, since such a ban would have made her life a bit easier. "As a teenager I felt enormous pressure from the family to help my cousin from Morocco get a residence permit. A full cousin, note that we had the same family name. If a ban had existed then, I could have nicely set my family in place: not possible by Dutch law, end of story."
Historically, in Northern Morocco, the Rif mountains from where most of the Moroccans had come to the Netherlands (Berbers or Riffians), people don't get married with direct relatives. They do get married with members of the same tribe. For economic reasons (land and cattle ownership), but more because families know each other's reputation and it was safer to 'give' your daughter to somebody that you could trust.
At the end of the 80s this changed and first-degree cousins married more and more often with each other in order to get a residence permit.
For Mansouri, who has meanwhile divorced, that wasn't different. She says her mother always told her that it would be better for her to help her poor cousin come to the Netherlands than a complete a stranger. By the time she was 20 she has also been convinced. For her female cousins and girlfriends it went precisely like that.
Marianne Vorthoren, project head for the Islamic umbrella organization Spior in Rotterdam, regularly sees the social pressure weighing on Moroccan girls. "We try to make women aware that coercion is forbidden within Islam and that women, with the Koran at their side, can refuse a marriage." A ban on cousin marriages, meant only for Moroccans and Turks, is according to her contrary to the principle of equality and doesn't offer a solution. "People are more aware than before of the risk of genetic defects, it also plays a role by the parents. They also don't prefer now to see their kid getting married with a cousin."
Mansouri has never thought of future handicapped children. "We had to do a blood test in a village in Morocco, but I've never heard anything more about it. Luckily my child is perfectly healthy."
The total number of import marriages has gone down by both Turks and Moroccans since the implementation of the new family reunification law in 2004. In 2001 that was 61% and 59% respectively, compared to 36% and 29% in 2006.
Mansouri: "Through these import marriages more and more "mountain goats", as I call them, come to the Netherlands. They tell girls like me that we don't act morally enough or live too emancipated. We had been thrown fifty years back in time."
Source: Trouw (Dutch)
Salua Mansouri read the integration memo of VVD parliament member Henk Kamp with mixed feelings. "A ban on marriages between cousin is not a bad idea," says the 32 year old self-employed from Nieuwegein. She just has the feeling that the VVD only want the ban in order to have less immigrants from Morocco or Turkey.
A shame, thinks Mansouri, since such a ban would have made her life a bit easier. "As a teenager I felt enormous pressure from the family to help my cousin from Morocco get a residence permit. A full cousin, note that we had the same family name. If a ban had existed then, I could have nicely set my family in place: not possible by Dutch law, end of story."
Historically, in Northern Morocco, the Rif mountains from where most of the Moroccans had come to the Netherlands (Berbers or Riffians), people don't get married with direct relatives. They do get married with members of the same tribe. For economic reasons (land and cattle ownership), but more because families know each other's reputation and it was safer to 'give' your daughter to somebody that you could trust.
At the end of the 80s this changed and first-degree cousins married more and more often with each other in order to get a residence permit.
For Mansouri, who has meanwhile divorced, that wasn't different. She says her mother always told her that it would be better for her to help her poor cousin come to the Netherlands than a complete a stranger. By the time she was 20 she has also been convinced. For her female cousins and girlfriends it went precisely like that.
Marianne Vorthoren, project head for the Islamic umbrella organization Spior in Rotterdam, regularly sees the social pressure weighing on Moroccan girls. "We try to make women aware that coercion is forbidden within Islam and that women, with the Koran at their side, can refuse a marriage." A ban on cousin marriages, meant only for Moroccans and Turks, is according to her contrary to the principle of equality and doesn't offer a solution. "People are more aware than before of the risk of genetic defects, it also plays a role by the parents. They also don't prefer now to see their kid getting married with a cousin."
Mansouri has never thought of future handicapped children. "We had to do a blood test in a village in Morocco, but I've never heard anything more about it. Luckily my child is perfectly healthy."
The total number of import marriages has gone down by both Turks and Moroccans since the implementation of the new family reunification law in 2004. In 2001 that was 61% and 59% respectively, compared to 36% and 29% in 2006.
Mansouri: "Through these import marriages more and more "mountain goats", as I call them, come to the Netherlands. They tell girls like me that we don't act morally enough or live too emancipated. We had been thrown fifty years back in time."
Source: Trouw (Dutch)
Labels:
Marriage and Family
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