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More from the Ignorance-Is-The-Problem Department: this test misses the point that one may know all about Dutch history and geography and still want to institute Sharia there. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to all who sent this in:
A DRACONIAN new law is expected to force immigrants to the Netherlands to sit a tough exam on Dutch history, geography and culture or face heavy fines.The rules, drafted by the country’s hardline immigration minister, “Iron Rita” Verdonk, and likely to be approved this autumn, will set a challenge for up to half a million mainly Muslim immigrants, including some who have lived in Holland for 30 years.
The legislation, which is due to come into force on January 1 next year, requires immigrants to attend 600 hours of coursework before being tested.
Failure to attend the course or pass the exam within five years will trigger an annual fine of almost £700, cuts in benefits or the termination of a residence permit.
Five years. How draconian.
The cost of sitting the course and taking the exam will be £4,000 per person, although local authorities will pay most of the fees.
Stop it, Iron Rita! You're killing me!
The measure is a further signal that Holland, once one of Europe’s most tolerant countries, has become the toughest point of entry for foreigners after a raft of restrictions in the past few years. “Several countries are looking at us, including Germany and the UK,” said a spokesman for Verdonk.The questions will be far tougher than the British test, Life in the UK, which was introduced for new citizens last November and poses simple queries such as “What are MPs?” Candidates in the Netherlands will be asked about the intricacies of Dutch shipping history and the country’s constitution.
Ah, Dutch shipping history. That will cure them of jihad in no time.
Questions will be asked about its harbours, dykes and churches. The candidates will also have to show an understanding of historical sensitivities in Dutch society, including attitudes towards anti-semitism and the second world war....Much of the coursework will have moral overtones, explaining liberal Dutch views on homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia....
But the coursework will not, evidently, touch on Judeo-Christian civilization, what it has given to the world, and how Western notions of equality before the law and the rights of the individual are superior to those of Sharia.
Anyway, even this milquetoast half-measure is facing stiff challenges:
The legislation now before parliament is so controversial that Verdonk may be forced to backtrack on her insistence that some naturalised Dutch citizens — immigrants who are unemployed, parents caring for children or religious workers such as imams — must also take the test.Jeroen Djisselbloem, a Social Democrat MP, said the measures against naturalised citizens were “discriminatory”.
“All other EU citizens will be exempted from this law, so actually being a Dutch national puts you back compared with an Englishman who lives in Holland,” he said.
Even if Dutch citizens are exempted, 150,000 to 250,000 immigrants face the exam.
Verdonk, 50, a former prison warden and head of state security, has previously angered Muslims by expelling imams accused of promoting terrorism and cancelling a meeting with Islamic leaders who refused to shake her hand because she was a woman.
She has argued that a ban on burqas might be needed on grounds of public safety.
In March she introduced a compulsory Dutch language and culture test for would-be immigrants before they left their home country.
Many are being asked to watch a teaching video with provocative shots of gay men kissing and a topless woman on a beach to introduce them to Dutch lifestyles.
Famile Arslan, 34, an immigration lawyer of Turkish descent, said the crackdowns were dividing society between westerners and non-westerners, Muslim and non-Muslim. “I don’t feel welcome here any more,” she said.
Fine. Nowhere have you been granted a natural right to come live in a Western country and endeavor to impose your values upon it.
Verdonk’s bold approach has struck a chord with many Dutch people who feel that as a small country of 16m with more than 1.5m immigrants they have been too soft.A poll earlier this month found that 63% of Dutch people believed that Islam was incompatible with modern life and one in 10 openly admitted to being racist....
Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician who has received death threats after criticising Islam, said all immigration should be stopped until the problem of integration had been resolved.
Posted by Robert at June 19, 2006 1:37 PM
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A poll earlier this month found that 63% of Dutch people believed that Islam was incompatible with modern life and one in 10 openly admitted to being racist....One is not a racist for hating a bonafide racist belief system and those that promote it.
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at June 19, 2006 1:54 PM
They are still too soft. Why should ANYONE be allowed to come to a country and get financial benefits? So after five years the benefits might be cut? Why should they even be getting any benefits at all?
If the country would get harsher in just this ONE way, the immigration flow would surely reduce dramatically.
Posted by: Borg at June 19, 2006 1:55 PM
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, what's to stop them lying through their teeth and simply giving the answers that the Dutch want to hear on the social issues questions?
Posted by: Celsius at June 19, 2006 2:07 PM
"Questions will be asked about its harbours, dykes and churches."
I suspect many of the "immigrants" already know quite a bit about these jihad targets.
Posted by: perpster at June 19, 2006 2:13 PM
From the article:
"Famile Arslan, 34, an immigration lawyer of Turkish descent, said the crackdowns were dividing society between westerners and non-westerners, Muslim and non-Muslim. “I don’t feel welcome here any more,” she said."
Does this not say it all? Muslims are VERY susceptible to rumor, innuendo and outright conspiracy theories. I agree that this law is not strict enough, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Creating the impression (true indeed) that Islam is not welcome in Europe, and by extension Muslims, will at the very least buy the continent some time to gather its spine, and go a long way toward derailing the demographic death warrant countries like the Netherlands almost wrote themselves. I believe the Dutch have already all but cut off immigration from the Muslim world. Now they are ratcheting up the pressure on the 5th column in their midst. It is a great step forward, in my opinion. If they manage to stop the immigration completely and create a slow rate of emigration the danger will pass and the continent saved.
Posted by: Quijybo at June 19, 2006 2:19 PM
This all just beats around the bush. The bottom line is to outbreed the citizens. The muslims have no intention of getting off the welfare rolls and do anything to make their life better. They don't intend to change their ways. They just intend to takeover. If they truly wanted a better life, they would burn their korans, learn the language, toss the burka and honor killings and NOT teach their children to hate.
Posted by: freewoman at June 19, 2006 2:22 PM
The most dangerous and dedicated jihadists so far have been college-educated men from wealthy families. Surely memorizing a few facts about Dutch history poses no challenge to a person with a B.Sc. in Chemistry.
This measure accomplishes nothing.
at June 19, 2006 2:28 PM
US_infidel~
You are SO right. And if EU citizens are exempt, what happens if Turkey is allowed.
at June 19, 2006 2:34 PM
Draconian? Yeah sounds just brutal a few questions. Those poor muslims.
Posted by: pissedoffcanadian at June 19, 2006 2:35 PM
THAT's Draconian?? Please. Wait til we get fed up and force all Muslim immigrants to have implanted tracking chips. When three or more of these chips gather in one place, the alarms go off and the chip hosts are detained, interrogated and deported.
I bet ya won't feel too welcomed then, either, Arslan.
Reactionary policies like that will be the result of your escalated jihad in the west--not Sharia bliss.
Posted by: Know Your Enemy at June 19, 2006 2:54 PM
Actually, the law is so draconian that applicants are not even required to be able to read or write. This is something one of the government parties wants Verdonk to change. As a matter of fact, words like draconian have not even been used by the leftist opposition parties.
The weird stuff about "the intricacies of shipping history" must be a reference to Dutch colonial history and the role of the Dutch East India Company.
Posted by: digger at June 19, 2006 2:56 PM
I think some of you are being a tiny bit harsh on out Dutch friends. Remember this country has been scorned, the Dutch feel betrayed. They now know they have a legacy of ungrateful and some hateful aliens who they are determined to get to grips with. The Dutch are not stupid and these measures are not a sop to those concerned about immigration and non-assimilation.
I saw a TV programme about the entry test and I can tell you no more agricultural, backward peasant Muslims will be coming to the Netherlands to sponge off the state because the exam requires the prospective immigrant to fully understand Dutch language and history - not just an overview. As for the brighter variety, why learn Dutch when English is so much more useful? This test is deliberately harsh and the Dutch are making an intelligent attempt at deflecting the problem.
So, give 'em a chance and let us see how it works......and Turkey in the EC? I doubt that will happen. Have a little bit of optimism. The fight is not lost, in fact it hasn't even begun or as Churchill might have said "....it isn't even the beginning of the beginning!”
The Dutch have made a stance. They should be applauded for that. Now, the UK government should make an entry test which is impossible for the self same to pass. In fact the whole of the EC should do likewise and close the door. If no one demands it, it will not happen.
at June 19, 2006 3:32 PM
Draco is chuckling in his tomb.
This is about a draconian as the sobriety test Steve Martin had to pass in the movie "The Man With Two Brains".
This era will be known (hopefully not by Muslim historians) as The Age of Pussyfooting.
Repatriations of Sharia-hostile, anti-assimilation aliens, and an end to all uncontrolled immigration -especially from Muslim lands- needs to be instituted throughout the EU. Or the infil-traitors will vote themselves into power within two to three generations in The Netherlands, -and a little later in France and England.
The longer you try to reason with a growing tiger, the less likely it is you will ever be able to evict it.
"Free trips to Mecca!" should be the call.
And:
"Muslims will feel much better in Islamic lands".
And start reversing this poisonous tide NOW.
Posted by: profitsbeard at June 19, 2006 4:49 PM
Even if the Muslims eventually conquer Holland demographically, they wouldn't have a clue how to keep it going---literally. They know nothing or care not about dyke building and water management---something the Dutch have in their genes(I noticed recently that while normal kids build sandcastles on the beach, Dutch kids build dykes and canals!) after centuries of keeping the sea at bay. So everything would fall apart and they'd all drown anyway.
at June 19, 2006 4:53 PM
They will still complain that they are being racially profiled and discriminated against. Best to just send them back where they came from. That way they can all live in a third world piece of feces country and have sharia, the Dutch will have peace and their country back and everybody will be happy.
Posted by: Bohemond_1069 at June 19, 2006 5:14 PM
We are not asking Muslims to apostate (though it would be utterly great if they would), all we want them to do is become Westernized ethically, politically, socially and emotionally, as well as live by their new nation's rules! Is this so much to frigging ask?
Posted by: skald at June 19, 2006 5:54 PM
Following up on yesterday's news item on Dhimmi Watch regarding the Dutch Professor who was censored for daring to criticise Islam, here are some more reports of today's press in The Netherlands on this affair:
Trouw: http://www.trouw.nl/deverdieping/religie_filosofie/article352519.ece/Hoogleraar_hekelt_ook_universiteit
Translation of the article in Trouw
Pieter van der Horst, the Dutch Professor firmly criticised the University of Utrecht in his parting farewell lecture that was censored. This becomes apparent from the text of his suppressed speech, which can be reviewed in full, in Dutch, on the Website of Trouw.
Van der Horst, who taught the New Testament, deplored the fact that in a time of increasing anti-Semitism, the University is decreasing the amount of academic researchers for Judaic studies. He is also demanding that Islamic experts should be carefully screened for their leanings before they are appointed to academia.
The farewell lecture of Van der Horst explores the myth of Jewish Cannibalism. He describes initially the deep roots which anti-Semitism has struck in the Islamic world. He subsequently turns against his own University: "What has the University of Utrecht done?"
While Elie Wiesel has shown time and again there is but only one remedy against the hate of Jews, namely information and more information which can rectify the absurd distortions of reality - yet the Theological Faculty has decided to marginalize the research of Judaism.
While in the second half of the 20th century a fulltime Professor and a fulltime associate were employed, only a part time academic presently remains. It is an irresponsible policy for these current times.
I forcefully ascertain that a theological faculty which does not assume its responsibilities through research and education in the fight against the hate of Jews, such a faculty is jeopardizing its moral right to exist.
In addition I emphasize ... that in recruiting Islamic scholars the faculty must carefully take into account their imprimatur... so that nobody will be appointed of the sort of politically correct Islamic academics of which the Netherlands have far too many of... but instead critical scholars of Islam having the courage to address the sinister sides of Islam so that students will be able to defend themselves.
Translation of another article in today’s Dutch NRC,
Rotterdam, 19 June. The University of Utrecht did not want Professor P. van der Horst (Judaism) to upset Dries van Agt and Gretta Duisenberg in his farewell lecture. This is the essence of the matter of academic freedom of speech which played out a week ago in Utrecht.
Last week Van der Horst delivered a modified lecture under the pressure of the rector magnificus. The parliamentarian Geert Wilders (Wilder Group) has raised the issue in the House.
In the controversial passages Van der Horst wrote: „a somewhat audacious brutality that out of all people their party claims the Israelis are the new Nazis. An idea which is also being propagated here in the Netherlands, by creeps such as Gretta and Dries (whose family names I will not utter out of abhorrence). Van der Horst now says that these passages were part of an old version. He did not intend to articulate them.
In his lecture he expressed concern over the anti-Semitism which presently engulfs the Islamic world. He describes the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hitler admirer Haj Amin al-Hoesseini, who perpetuated the anti-Jewish Nazi Propaganda after the Second World War. Especially the myth that Jews are cannibals is still widely spread throughout the Islamic world.
Van der Horst says he was utterly dumbfounded by the compelling advice of the rector magnificus Willem Hendrik Gispen to scarp some of the passages in the valedictory. "It is purely Islamophobic. I think the rector was afraid all Moslems would reach for their weapons relating to my text."
According to Van der Horst the rector magnificus applied two arguments for his instruction: the Professor's personal security, and an alleged lack of scientific quality. If Van der Horst would have insisted to maintain the contested passages, the rector would have exercised his "rectoral prerogatives" says the Professor, in order to deny him the access to his own farewell lecture.
at June 19, 2006 6:00 PM
While we're still going to see gross examples of submission from spineless infidels, we should not despair. The trend is with us, both in the US and Europe. Islam is a joke at this point, and Muslim behavior has become so incomprehensible that the great majority of people in the west just don't want them around. Europe is choking off Muslim immigration, Turkey has a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the EU, and criticism of Islam's canonical texts is popping up all over the place.
I am also noticing a stiffening of reason in the face of multiculturalist mumbo-jumbo that passed for revealed truth throughout my entire adult life. It might have something to do with the ascendency of the Republican party, such as when Bush talks about "the soft bigotry of low expectations", the rise of Christian political power in the US, and of course old fashioned Jihadis killing (what they do best), with sideline-Muslims claiming, in the face of all logic, that discrimination and a lack of Jizya is causing the terror. The French are starting to sympathize with Israel (!), all over Europe Muslims are being barred from entry, and the global Jihad is taking a brutal pounding that will not end, no matter who comes in after Bush.
My friends, there is much to be unhappy about, but I think we are winning in the hearts and minds of the west. Also, consider that laughing at Muslims and Islam works too. They can't stand it. Either it makes them violent and crazy, and we win, or some of them actually start to question. In the end, we are right AND we are the stronger, and that has to count for something.
Posted by: Quijybo at June 19, 2006 6:15 PM
Trouw newspaper also offers a copy of the lecture of Van der Horst
http://www.trouw.nl/redactie/pdf/afscheidscoll.pdf
The link in Trouw opens into a PDF file with Pieter W. Van der Horst's paper on The Myth of the Jewish Cannibalism.
Starting in antiquity, Van der Horst’s lecture deserves to be translated into English. It is an interesting paper with numerous references. But it is 38 pages long which cannot be translated on the fly.
The University certainly did not like Van der Horst’s extensive dealing with the Islamic phenomenon.
For example out of Van der Horst’s valedictory:
“Already 35 years ago George Habash the Palestinian terrorist said as follows: “The Arab goal is to wage war against Europe and America and to ensure henceforth there will be no peace for the West. The Arabs will advance step by step, millimetre by millimetre, year after year, decade after decade. Determined, stubborn, patient. This is our strategy. A strategy that we shall expand throughout the whole planet”.”
Posted by: Hugo Schmidt-Fischer at June 19, 2006 6:23 PM
"Famile Arslan, 34, ... said ... “I don’t feel welcome here any more,”"
Outstanding, When civilized people don't feel welcome, they usually go away, but this is like the Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi, Jane Curtin, and Dan Akroyd called "The Thing That Would not Leave."
at June 19, 2006 6:30 PM
"Dutch NRC,
Rotterdam, 19 June. The University of Utrecht did not want Professor P. van der Horst (Judaism) to upset Dries van Agt and Gretta Duisenberg in his farewell lecture. Gretta Duisenberg..."
-- from a posting above
Gretta Duisenberg is the well-known antisemite and the widow of the late Wim Duisenberg, high muck-a-muck in all kinds of international organizations. Dries van Agt is someone you may not have heard of if you are not Dutch; I haven't. But really, does one need to? Everyone already knows the dreary, nasty, vicious type. They never disappear; they have to be watched, constrained, mocked, understood to be the security threat to Europe that they were, as well, in the 1930s -- and for exactly the same reasons.
And then there is someone quite different: Professor Pieter van der Horst, retiring professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Utrecht.
My, how easy it is to tell Good from Evil.
Posted by: Hugh at June 19, 2006 6:32 PM
Dries van Agt used to be prime minister of the Netherlands.
In his retirement he lately has been promoting the "Palestinian " cause and is a brother-in-arms of Gretta "Cruella Devil" Duisenberg and it is an open question which of them is more disagreeable. It is merely is a matter of taste.
Van Agt has been available on Dutch state funded "documentary" TV programs walking around Gaza like a concerned gentleman anthropologist.
Posted by: Hugo Schmidt-Fischer at June 19, 2006 6:50 PM
Hugo S-F-
Bedankt for the Trouw link.
It looks like a perfect piece to read between two books on my recent list- "The White Goddess" by Graves and "Night" by Wiesel.
I would only retitle the professor's dhimmi boss a "rectum magnificat".
Tot ziens!
Posted by: profitsbeard at June 19, 2006 7:07 PM
I thought this (from the introductory piece) was something:
"A poll earlier this month found that 63% of Dutch people believed that Islam was incompatible with modern life and one in 10 openly admitted to being racist...."
I wonder how many of those 'one in 10' are self-flagellating because they believe the nonsense that mistrust of muslims is racist? I have a beautiful daughter who is often assumed to be Middle-Eastern - I wouldn't trust muslim men anywhere near her, but I am most definitely not racist.
Let's see more polls of muslim attitudes - the percentage that support random killing of civilians, the percentage that believe they should be allowed to live under sharia in civilized countries - etc...
Posted by: Obelisk1 at June 19, 2006 8:12 PM
A case that could harm Ankara's ties with the EU?
Turk Court to Try 56 Mayors Over Letter to Danish PM
Posted by: ummahnewslinks at June 19, 2006 8:32 PM
Obelisk1~
Try these polls.
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=814
http://www.yougov.com/
Search for the results on muslims and islam.
And this weeks feature - What does Sharia law mean for non-muslims.
http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/21475
at June 19, 2006 10:57 PM
And, a new link to save and send to friends
-thanks to americaningermany
Europe this affects you!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5871651411393887069
Posted by: Borg at June 19, 2006 11:16 PM
Prophet's pic in book raises Muslim ire
Posted by: ummahnewslinks at June 20, 2006 12:37 AM
Well, Freewoman's suggestion about outbreeding them sounds fun:) Jihadwatch dating anyone? ;)
Posted by: Worry at June 20, 2006 1:22 AM
Worry-
In vitro fertilization produces more multiple births, sadly for your suggestion.
Sitting at a candlelit table with a cute petri dish doesn't quite cut it.
Posted by: profitsbeard at June 20, 2006 1:30 AM
Quijybo is correct. Yesterday on a train in Paris, I placed 12 well informed leaflets with the warts and all biography of Mo. (Not sure that there is anything other than warts)
These leaflets are on a double side of A4 and take a good 20 minutes to read. I observed the passengers who came into the carriage to take a seat. 3 picked up the leaflet and took all the time required to read it.
The other leaflets were still there when I left. Other passengers will enjoy the opportunity of being informed
Our message is not falling on deaf ears.
Posted by: Sebastien at June 20, 2006 5:22 AM
Do you think the authorities have the courage to include the story of Admiral Mooy Lambert in the Dutch history lesson?
Posted by: DrMack at June 20, 2006 10:07 AM
Where did you get those pamphlets? I have concluded that the only solution to the west's problem is EDUCATION. The fact that I can tell everyone I know anything thats been going on (or has been for over a thousand years) and they had not a clue except for what the media has spoon-fed them is more than disturbing.
I would like to peruse and order some pamphlets to start the grassroots education required to combat suicidal political correctness. Let me know, anyone.
Thanks.
Posted by: Corbin at June 20, 2006 12:04 PM
"Yesterday on a train in Paris, I placed 12 well informed leaflets with the..biography of Mo[hammed]
-- from a posting above by the tireless Sebastien
Information left on the seats of trains, RER or regular metro, about Mohammed and about his role as "uswa hasana" -- the Perfect Man -- could be supplemented with many similar flyers on related topics. Such topics as: "What Are the Instruments of Jihad?" and "What Is a Dhimmi?" and "What Are the Central Tenets of Islam?" and so on. They could also be put under the windshields of parked cars. At night, they could be affixed to the walls of buildings, to kiosks, to storefronts, to the sides of busses, to sidewalk Morris pillars.
Attention should be paid to graphics of the war period. Allusions can be made pictorially as well as directly, to Boris Vilde and Anna Malry, to le reseau Gallia, to the most famous heroes and heroines, to the songs and words, and deeds of the period, which a year or two ago might have seemed pretentious and play-acting, but no longer seem so today, and if done cleverly, will have an effect.
Think of this children's ditty:
"Radio Paris ment,
Radio Paris,
Radio Paris est
Allemand."
For "Radio Paris" read “RFI” or “Canal Cinq” or whatever best fits. For "Allemand" read a phrase ending in "Islam" -- and you have a little song. And others will present themselves, to drown out the primitive boorish and beurish hip-hip, and of course the nazi-like M'Bala Dieudonne. Their crudities disgust; they can’t hold a candle to French songs of the 1930s and 1940s; remind the French of their own popular songs.. La guinguette a ferme ses volets? Not yet, buster.
AT www.france-echos.com, the name Francis Percy Blake humorous evokes the bede Englishman, phlegmatic and unflappable representative of les anglo-saxons, the fliers who parachuted into France, in Les aventures de Tintin. Educate, but do so using whatever strange devices and mental weapons come to hand, including the appeal to a hunger to days when things appeared to be clearer (actually, they are just as clear today – its only that the spectacles need cleaning), not devoid of mockery and a sense of fun. Fun is on our side, homo ludens can only be recruited by us, for “there is no humor in Islam.”. The spirit of Bourbaki, the spirit of Perec and his "Experimental demonstration of the tomatotopic organization in the Soprano (Cantatrix sopranica L.)," the kind of inspired nonsense that makes perfect making-the-point sense. Vas-y, fonce.
Français, I speak to you from Brazzaville.
at June 20, 2006 5:17 PM
Thank you, Mr. Schmidt-Fischer for the translations from the Dutch.
George Habash, the terrorist leader of the so-called PFLP, and mentioned above in the translation of Dr. Van der Horst's speech by Hugo Schmidt-Fischer, was nominally a Christian. But his strongest identity was "Arab" (note from the content of the above quote: not "palestinian"). Habash's quotation demonstrates the intertwining of arab-ness and islam ("This is our strategy. A strategy that we shall expand throughout the whole planet" -- the worldwide caliphate), and utter dhimmification: Habash has dedicated his life to aping and serving islam.
Posted by: del at June 21, 2006 2:32 AM
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