What You Should Do By 18

I have been tagged by my friend Abu Fares to list 6 things one should do before 18. He has specified the following rules that I should follow.

• Post these rules before presenting your list.
• List 6 actions or achievements you think every person should accomplish before turning 18.
• There are no conditions on what can be included on the list.
• At the end of your blog, choose 6, or less, people to get tagged and list their names.
• People who are tagged write their own blog entry with their 6 suggestions.
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.

My first reaction, as was that of Abu Fares, is that 18 is such a tender age. An eighteen year old is only separated from childhood by a few transformative years, mere nanoseconds for someone rapidly approaching fifty like myself. Can a sixteen year old really be expected to know what are the most important things -aside from success in school- that they need to accomplish before the age of eighteen? This is, by necessity, wisdom gained in hindsight and transmitted by parents to children. My advice contains things that I did before the age of eighteen and that I consider important as well as things that I regret not having done. So if I sound, to the younger readers, a little too preachy, it is no accident, it is a rehearsed delivery that I have been giving to my fifteen year old.

1. Travel: Exposure to a different culture will widen one's horizon. Having said that, one has to have explored and appreciated the country of their birth. I benefited greatly from the travel brought about by out involuntary exile but missed out on much of what my own country had to offer. One of those days, I will come to visit you ya Abu Fares.

2. Volunteer: Children tend to grow up sheltered within a cocoon built by their parents. Their life experiences are limited to those of their immediate family and environment. Doing volunteer work to help the less fortunate or for the benefit of the greater good builds character and exposes a child to the realities of the world.

3. Work: Work teaches personal responsibility and discipline. Doing menial jobs is a right of passage for most teenagers in the U.S. In the Middle East, however, such work done by the sons or daughters of the middle and upper class is frowned upon. Such attitudes need to change but not at the expense of rich kids taking away job opportunities from those in need. But the benefits of work do not necessarily have to come from paying jobs (see number 2).

4. Learn to play a musical instrument: Even for those with little innate musical talent, the knowledge gained in the process of trying to learn will lead to a greater appreciation of music which in turn greatly enriches one's life. I realized this too late at age twenty at which point I taught myself to play the piano one summer between my undergraduate years. I progressed to playing simple pieces before I had to drop it when classes restarted. I still love music, but I am envious of those who can effortlessly play an instrument.

5. Learn to cook from your mother: And no this advice is not limited to young women. In fact, it is more specifically addressed to young men who, in the Middle East, tend to be spoiled silly by their mothers (ya ibni, ya habibi!). Food is not only for nutrition, it is for the soul; it is one's connection to family and culture. Growing up, I hung out often in the kitchen with my mother, helping out some but mostly tasting and "cleaning up". By the time I left home, I had to necessary tools to fend for myself. Those talents have since shrivelled as Um Kareem has become the absolute ruler of our kitchen; but I can't complain, she is by far the better cook.

6. Keep an open mind and remain humble, there is still much that you don't know. This is not something that needs to be done as much as something that needs to be left undone. Eighteen year olds, in their physical and mental prime, often exude a sense of youthful arrogance and invulnerability. They can seem to be dead set in their ideas or thoughts. They need to keep an open mind, the world is mosty not black and white but infinite shades of grey.

These are some of my thoughts. I am interested in the thoughts of Wassim with whom I engage in verbal skirmishes from time to time and Golaniya whose candor and daring is well established.

A Plea to Syria's Sons and Daughters

A plea to Syrian expatriates in North America to support the principals of the Damascus Declaration and its imprisoned authors:

سورية اليوم بحاجة لأبناءها

صديقتي السورية
صديقي السوري

تحية عطرة وبعد..

في سبيل الحرية لشعبنا في سورية ندعوكم لتشكيل لجنة محلية في مدينتكم لإحياء "إعلان دمشق" والعمل على جعل لجنتكم منبرا ينافح عن حريات مواطنينا في سورية ويساهم في ازالة الدكتاتورية من بلادنا.

فالنظام في سورية هذه الأيام يتوج ما يقارب نصف القرن من سياسات القمع المنظم بحملات اعتقالات تعسفية للمفكرين والمثقفين في سورية. فرغم محاولاته العديدة لدفن "ربيع دمشق" أبى مثقفونا إلا الصمود على درب الحرية، فكان "إعلان دمشق" نقطة علامة في تاريخ النضال ضد الإستبداد، ولم تفلح كل محاولات النظام لإرهاب مثقفينا، وأصر منافحوا الحرية في وطننا على المسير قدما على طريق تحقيق التغيير الديمقراطي، فكان انعقاد المجلس الوطني لإعلان دمشق بتاريخ 1\12\2007 وتشكيل أطره القيادية والتمثيلية، معلنيها صراحة بأن مسيرة ربيع دمشق ما زالت قائمة ولن يثنيها عن عزمها شئ.

إن حملة القمع هذه ليست جديدة على شعبنا في سورية، فقد تفنن النظام في ايجاد التفاسير لقمعه ولعقود طويلة، فتارة يتهم اعداءه بالرجعية، وتارة بالتطرف، وتارة بالعمالة. ولكن هذه الترهات لا تنطلي على أحد منا. فاليوم لا يملك النظام تهمة لمناضلي المجلس الوطني للتغيير الديمقراطي سوى تهمة "المس من هيبة الدولة" فسجناء الحرية هؤلاء ليسوا بطلاب للسلطة ولا يريدون إبدال حاكم بآخر، انما يريدون أن تعود السلطة ليد المواطن صاحبها الحقيقي.

قد نختلف فكريا أو حزبيا مع مناضلي ربيع دمشق، ففيهم المسلم والمسيحي والإسلامي والعلماني والشيوعي والليبرالي والكردي والقومي، ولكنهم بمجموعهم يشكلون صورة مصغرة عن فسيفساء وطننا الحبيب وتعدديته، وقد وحدهم حبهم للحرية لأبناء وطننا، و هو الذي عليه أن يوحدنا، إنها الفرصة المناسبة لنا جميعا لنعلنها صريحة بأنه لن نقبل بعد اليوم أن يسجن مواطنا في بلدنا من أجل فكره أو مبدأه أو عقيدته، وأن نرفض أن يصبح القانون ألعوبة بيد الدكتاتور، وان لا سلطة للحاكم إلا ما تمنحه إياها انتخابات حرة شريفة، وأن مصدر الشرعيات السياسية كلها ما هو إلا المواطنين الذين يقفون جميعا سواسية أمام القانون. إن إعلان دمشق كرس هذه المبادئ، وبتهمة السعي لإقامة هذه المبادئ السامية يلقي النظام اليوم نخبة مثقفينا في غياهب السجن.

مالذي يمكننا أن نقدمه اليوم:

إننا ندعوكم للاستجابة لنداء الأمانة العامة لإعلان دمشق، بأن تشكلوا في مدينتكم لجنة لتمثيل "إعلان دمشق" تقوم هذه اللجنة بتأسيس الإطارات المحلية لأقامة النشاطات الداعمة لحركة التغيير الديمقراطي في سورية ضمن الرؤية العامة لمبادئ "إعلان دمشق." وان تقوم هذه اللجنة بالتنسيق مع لجان المدن الأخرى. إننا ببناءنا لأطرنا المحلية في مغتربنا نفتح آفاقا جديدة لسجناء الرأي، ونبني القاعدة التي تتمكن من تقديم الدعم الضروري لمناضلي الحرية في سورية.

إن عملية تطوير الإمتداد العالمي لحركة الحرية في سورية مهمتنا جميعا. ونحن في "اعلان دمشق – لجنة شيكاغو-" نمد لكم يد العون لكي نعمل سوية من أجل الحرية في وطننا. وقد استجابت جماهيرنا في أوربا وشكلت بعض اللجان هناك. وهناك المزيد من اللجان تتشكل كل يوم، كما تداعى السوريون في كندا لتشكيل لجان مماثلة.

نامل أن تساعدونا على نشر هذه الدعوة في صفوف المهتمين بالشأن السوري. وأن نبني معا جسور التواصل والتعاون لخير سورية حرة.



محي الدين قصار و موفق حمودة
kassarm@yahoo.com wild1103@sbcglobal.net
708-856-9816
2\6\2008

عن "اعلان دمشق – لجنة شيكاغو – “
للاستفسار والمعلومات أو المشاركة الرجاء الإتصال معنا بالهاتف أو بالبريد الإليكتروني

http://www.arraee.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=754

In Support of Tariq

Tariq Biasi is a blogger who had the misfortune of leaving a comment on a public website that the authorities deemed too critical of the government. He lost his freedom as a consequence. He is not the first and unfortunately will not be the last to lose his freedom for peacefully expressing their opinion.

• Here is Ayman Haykal's post on the topic (in Arabic)
• And here is Golaniya's extensive post on Tariq and other prisoners in English.

The Syrian regime's chokehold on its citizens' right to express themselves is unrelenting. Whether our expressions of outrage on the web really matter is highly debatable. The government knows that organized internal opposition, if present, is impotent. In addition, Syrian opposition outside is missing in action. They could care less about Western condemnations of their human rights records because they know that Western powers seem to care about the average Syrian only when it is politically expedient. The regime knows what buttons to push to get the pressure off their backs; it is a game that the Baathist regime has perfected over a span of two generations.

I despair...Real political reform in nowhere on the horizon.

Chief Rabbi's Gaza Solution: Throw Them Into the Desert

I was going to comment but I am afraid I would have lost my cool in the process. At any rate, the article speaks for itself.

Chief Rabbi says move Gazans to a Palestine in Sinai
By Saul Sadka, Haaretz, 1/28/2008

London - Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has been quoted as
calling for Gazans to be transferred to the Sinai Peninsula, to a
Palestinian state which he said could be constructed for them in the
desert.

In an interview in English with the British weekly The Jewish
News, the chief rabbi also said that while peaceable Muslims should be
allowed to pray in Jerusalem mosques, they should recognize that
Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. Muslims have Mecca and Medina, he was
quoted as saying, adding that "you don't need a third place."

Metzger called for Britain, the European Union and the United
States to assist in the construction of a Palestinian state in Egypt's
Sinai Desert.

According to Metzger, the plan would be to "take all the poor
people from Gaza to move them to a wonderful new modern country with
trains buses cars, like in Arizona - we are now in a generation where
you can take a desert and build a city. This will be a solution for the
poor people - they will have a nice county, and we shall have our
country and we shall live in peace."

Metzger was quoted as telling the paper that the plan was new and
he had not presented it to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"I have thought about it with some wise people only in the last
two weeks, and I think it is a great idea - nobody spoke about it
before." He expressed his intent to discuss the matter with Olmert and
anticipated that the idea would find popularity among Israelis. He
prefaced his comments by pointing out that he could not advise on
political matters as he is a religious leader in Israel, noting that
according to the law he "cannot be involved in political situations."

Muslims 'don't need a third place
Metzger also called for Muslims to have the freedom to return to
pray in mosques on condition that they do so peaceably: "We will welcome
every Palestinian man who wants to pray in his mosque. Every Friday they
can come, but with one condition, without violence. We have the same
feeling about prayers, we want to give you respect but let us live and
believe our land is the Holy Land and Jerusalem belongs to us. You have
another place, Mecca and Medina, you don't need a third place."

In the interview Metzger also described Jerusalem as "the capital
city forever to the Jewish nation." He argued that Muslims have no
connection to Jerusalem commenting that "behind the Kotel we have a
mosque. But when they pray even though they are in our holiest place,
they face Mecca. Their back is to Jerusalem. So you can see from only
one sign that it does not belong to them. They have nothing - no
connection."

The tenure of Metzger, 54, appointed as chief rabbi in 2003 for a
ten-year term, has been marked by controversy. In 2006 Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz called on him to resign his post in a report which
alleged that he had accepted discounted hospitality at a number of
Israeli hotels - a call that Metzger rejected.

Metzger has also proposed the establishment of a "religious United
Nations" comprised of religious leaders from around the world, and was
named one of the 12 most influential international religious figures in
a recent CBS documentary entitled In God's Name.

Gaza: The Great Escape

I could not help but cheer on the thousands of Palestinians, fed up with Israel's cruel and stifling siege, who staged the world's largest mass prison breakout, even if it is likely that their new found freedom is only a temporary respite. The images of the Palestinians breaking through the physical barriers that have made their existence a living hell, are loaded with symbolism.

My joy, however, was tempered by the annoying spin on the whole Gaza debacle by the mainstream American media. I tend to get my real time news form the radio (TV news is just hopeless) at National Public Radio, which usually offers fairly objective, unsensational reporting on most topics, except recently when it comes to the Israli-Palestinian conflict. This morning the first story was a live report from the Gaza-Egyptian border. The reporter, explains that the blockade (of food, fuel, medicine) is Israel's response (ie: self defense) to the firing of Kassam rockets. This sequence of cause-effect is a given here, never mind that, even assuming the veracity of this sequence of events, the "effect" is collective punishment of a civilian population. He goes on to explain, incredibly, that the Palestinians went on a shopping spree in Egypt because of the scarcity of goods in Gaza, a situation that began when "Hamas came to power two years ago"; apparently the physical lockdown of the Gaza by Israel not a contributing factor. He also at least once, in talking about the siege, would qualify the siege as "what the Palestinians refer to as the so called siege". He was apparently unconvinced that this is a real siege rather than the product of overheated Arab minds trying to inflame the masses.

National Public Radio, deeming this report too sympathetic to the Palestinians found it necessary to follow it with another story from the other side, lest the pro-Israel media watchers descend on them with a vengeance. The story was about the psychological trauma suffered by the residents of Sderot, an Israeli town a mile form the Gaza border and the major target of the Kassam rockets. I am not unsympathetic to the plight of these civilians, but it is a stretch to compare the suffering of 18,000 Sderot residents to the hellish conditions that a million Palestinian continue to endure.

Distilling the two stories down to their message, we get the following: Arabs deserve what they get, Israel is just protecting itself and Israeli lives are more precious than Palestinian lives. So there you have it in a nutshell, the reason why the US, barring a major shift in attitude, can never act as an honest broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

(Photo AP/ Hatem Moussa)

Yamli: Arabic Search Engine

I just discovered a new Arabic search engine tool that allows those of us with latin based keyboards to be able to search Arabic websites more effectively. What Yamli essentially does is tranliterate Arabic words typed phontenically using the Latin keyboard into Arabic script which is then used to search websites through Google.

Eboo Patel's Acts of Faith

I heard Eboo Patel in an interview and was intrigued by his story as told in his new book, Acts of Faith. Patel is the founder and director of Interfaith Youth Core, an international non-profit organization the aim of which is to build an interfaith youth movement. He is a Muslim American of Indian descent. His book, Acts of Faith, is an autobiography that traces the evolution of his thinking and philosophy on the necessity, indeed the urgency, of planting the seeds of interfaith cooperation among the youth in a world increasingly polarized by religion.

The following excerpt from best describes Patel's vision: "I believe that the twenty first century will be shaped by the faith line. One side of the faith line are religious totalitarians. Their conviction is that only one interpretation of one religion is the only legitimate way of being, believing and belonging on earth. Everyone else needs to be cowed, or condemned or killed. On the other side of the faith line are religious pluralists, who hold that people believing in different creeds and belonging to different communities need to learn to live together. Religious pluralism is neither mere coexistence nor forced consensus. It is a form of proactive cooperation that affirms the identity of the constituent communities while emphasizing that the well-being of each and all depends on the health of the whole. It is the belief that the common good is best served when each community has a chance to make its unique contribution."

Patel's beliefs are not the product of starry-eyed, naive idealism but are molded by his own life experiences as a brown-skinned Muslim growing up in a white America. The racial and ethnic taunts and his social marginalization in school left him angry and bitter. In college in the 90s, he found his voice and his intellectual stimulation among the left wing social and political activists. He read and absorbed the likes Malcolm x and Franz Fanon. Yet the anger and negativism that seemed to be part and parcel of much of this movement left him somewhat uneasy. He also noted that social and political activists always addressed social justice issues that had to do with race, ethnic, class or gender differences but never addressed issues of spirituality and religion.

Patel was most at ease and most satisfied when involved in active community service that tried to positively address issues of social justice. Most such service was provided by different faith based organizations a fact that made and important impression on him. Patel then takes us through his journey of discovery back to Islam by way of India all the while his family's experience with Hindu extremist terrorism and the events of 9/11 solidifies his conviction about the importance of interfaith understanding .

Patel argues, convincingly, that promoting interfaith understanding among the young is crucial. His organization brings together youths of different religious backgrounds to perform community service projects that conform to the shared ideals of all their faiths. They are then encouraged to share with each other narratives from their own faiths that promote these ideals. He shows, that far from diluting the individual religious identities, this type of sharing simultaneously reinforces the individual's religious identity and increases understanding of the faiths of others.

Much of Patel's struggles with issues of identity and faith will ring true especially for those Muslims living in the West. I fully share his concern for the need of interfaith understanding. In a world increasingly defined by an "us against them" mentality, the middle ground is quickly turning into a big gaping hole that threatens to swallow us all.

On Benazir Bhutto's Assassination

Today, yet again, we witnessed an act of savagery that now passes as part of the regular political discourse in the Middle East and neighboring Muslim countries. The culprits in Bhutto's assassination are probably al Qaeda or one of its associates from the North West Frontier province bordering Afghanistan. Also high on the short list is the ISI, Pakistan's all powerful intelligence agency. These suspects are not mutually exclusive as the ISI seems to play both sides of the political divide in Pakistan. Bhutto's courageous and vocal opposition of Islamic extremists put her in the crosshairs of al Qaida and their backers, but it was also her very public endorsement by the U.S. that made her politically radioactive.

Despite Benazir's checkered political past, there is something about her that has intrigued me. I am not sure what it is exactly; her intelligence, her charisma, her good looks or the fact that she was a powerful Muslim woman who shatters the stereotypes. It is perhaps a combination of the above. Whatever it is, there was the hope, the promise that she might...might... bring a new approach to the politics of a critical Muslim country the fate of which is now intricately linked to that of the Middle East.

An objective review of her stints as prime minister would suggest that I am wrong in having been hopeful about her. However, her last time in office was over a decade ago. She deserved a second chance; she certainly did not deserve this end.

Christian Muslim Dialogue in the Syrian Desert

Interesting story on the interfaith dialogue set up by an Italian Jesuit priest in Deir Mar Musa al Habashi monastery between Damascus and Homs.

Syrian Church Aims to Foster Religious Dialogue
by Deborah Amos;National Public Radio, December 26, 2007 ·

Every 33 years, the major Christian and Muslim holidays of Christmas and Eid al Adha fall close together. This is one of those years.
While Christmas focuses on the birth of Jesus Christ, Eid al Adha centers on Abraham, a shared prophet from the Koran and the Bible's Old Testament. In the Middle East, these dual holidays are reminders of the many shared traditions of Muslims and Christians.
Deck the Malls
In the predominantly Muslim country of Syria, Christmas trees twinkle in shopping malls. Muslim neighborhoods are decorated with festive lights, a new custom borrowed from Christians.
The jingle bells are jazzy at the Damascus opera house – and the choir is decked out in gold robes. The horn players wear angel wings. Syria's Christian community celebrates the season with a traditional concert. Muslim families, also part of the tradition, join in the holiday cheer.
Across the Middle East, however, true understanding between Muslims and Christians is harder to find.
Leading the Way
One religious community in a mountaintop monastery is trying to lead the way to understanding. Dier Mar Musa is a long trek up a mountainside, up hundreds of stone steps that finally lead to an arched doorway, a courtyard and a church. The church was built more than 1,500 years ago, when Christians were a majority in the region.
"Christians in the Middle East, the numbers are going down quickly," says Rev. Paolo Dall'Oglio, who leads this community of Christians and Muslims. "Some of us are willing to create hope together, to build a complementary world vision in a way that we can work on our future world, hand-by-hand as minorities that have something to offer to majorities."
An Organic Life
Dall'Oglio makes sure there is tea after the long hike and a sumptuous spread of cheese, jam, olives and bread. The community produces the food it needs.
"We have only goats because this mountain is so high," says Luay Jubail, a veterinarian who takes care of the goat herd. "All the milk from the goats, only is special to produce cheese and everything is organic."
Sister Huda Faduil conducts tours of the church, the restored 6th century altar and medieval frescos of Bible stories. She has lived here for 13 years; she says she was attracted to the monastery's main mission.
"The first time I came for a visit only to see the place," she says. "It has attracted me, the simplicity of the place and our vocation, the dialogue with Islam."
To promote this dialogue, a place has been set aside within the church for Muslims to pray facing the holy city of Mecca. And on the wall, Arabic calligraphy in the shape of a dove spells out first phrase of the Muslim call to prayer.
Dall'Oglio, who came here from Italy in the 1980s as a young seminary student, says he found his life's work in this ancient place, promoting dialogue between Muslims and Christians.
"Each one of us, Muslims and Christians, we block the other in our concepts. We don't know about how the other build his hope, his relationship with God and others, his feeling about the secret spiritual dimension of life," Dall'Oglio says. "From that level, we are in a failure of dialogue and we have to start and start again."

What do Mormons and Muslims Have in Common?

No, you guessed wrong if you said polygamy. What they have in common is that in the United States both are vilified in the court of public opinion.

Since the events of 9/11 it has been open season on everything Arab or Muslim in the American media and among American politicians. What was considered unacceptable public discourse about any other religion, became perfectly acceptable when it came to Islam. This discourse served certain political and religious agendas intent on spreading fear and paranoia. One of the issues often remarked upon, usually with great indignation, is Islam's intolerance of dissent and of other religious traditions. This was always carefully contrasted with the West's superior and "exemplary" religious tolerance -history be damned.

So it is with great amusement that I now watch evangelical Christians, George W's constituency and the backbone of the Republican party, go after Mitt Romney, a Mormon, with the same zeal that they attacked Muslims. They accuse Romney of being the follower of a cult and insist that Mormons are not Christians. It makes them sound like a Wahhabi denouncing anyone who is not. It turns out, ultra-conservative evangelicals are as quick at pushing theTakfir button as Wahhabis are.

But the public preoccupation with Mormons does not mean that Muslims are off the hook. It turns out that one of Hillary Clinton's volunteer campaign workers was spreading email rumors that Barack Obama was (Gasp!!!) a crypto-Muslim. As if that is not bad enough, rumors have it that he sympathizes with Al Qaida types (double Gasp!!). Such garbage is not new as the not-so-Freudian slip of a conservative commentator a couple of years ago who called him Barack Osama clearly shows.

Doesn't look so good for the much vaunted religious tolerance of the Western, Judeo-Christian civilization.

Peace through Gastronomy

Interesting review from the New York times Magazine on Middle Eastern cooking books written by Oriental Jews. Makes me long for an alternative reality than the one we live where Arabs and Jews got along. Politics aside, it is not that far-fetched, the rift is not personal or cultural. If one applies Brillat-Savarin's axiom, then Poopa Dweck is first and foremost a Syrian as much as Roden is Egyptian.

Culinary Orientalism
By Jon Fasman
NYT Magazine, December 9, 2007

Tell me what you eat,” wrote the 19th-century French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, “and I shall tell you what you are.” In other words, an understanding of a community’s cuisine entails an understanding of the community itself. Of late, the cookbook industry seems to have made — perhaps unwittingly — a case that understanding Middle Eastern cuisine is the path to resolving the world’s geopolitical crises.

Consider Claudia Roden’s “Arabesque,” a cookbook that takes in the variant cuisines of Turkey, Morocco and Lebanon. In a review in Slate, Michael Lukas, an American living in Turkey, points out that “Arabesque” is not just — is not even primarily — an excellent cookbook: by socially, politically and historically contextualizing the three cuisines, he argues, Roden has also written an effective primer on the diversity of the Middle East. Lukas even goes so far as to suggest that the late scholar and activist Edward Said (the author of “Orientalism,” an influential critique of traditional scholarship about the Middle East) might have recommended Roden’s book as a reliable guide to the region.

Poopa Dweck has done something similar to Roden’s feat in “Aromas of Aleppo,” a Syrian-Jewish cookbook that was published in August. Like Roden, Dweck traces her roots back to the all-but-vanished Jewish communities of the Levant. Aleppian Jewish cuisine, she argues — like the cuisine of any community — reflects and defines the community’s history. The Syrian Jews’ version of the classic Arab dish laham b’ajeen, for instance, gets its bite from tamarind, which they use far more than most other communities in the Middle East. Add together a few hundred such small differences and you have a subcommunity.

Dweck says that “the Europeans built a wall around themselves. We didn’t. My mother was shoulder to shoulder with Arabs in the market. We learned all our recipes from them.” A message of hope? Sure, but underneath that, an understanding of the need to understand.

(Photo by Yasmina)

Holland and Its Muslim Immigrants

On a minibus transporting researchers to a medical conference, a Dutch colleague, sitting across from me said "look a mosque with TWO minarets". A sly smirk flashed across his face as he emphasized "two", as if trying to bait me. I turned around to look. Indeed, there amidst a drab urban landscape at the edge of Rotterdam, was a humble small mosque, not particularly attractive, with a central dome framed by two small, slender minarets. Refusing to bite, I said "yes, it is Turkish in style and their mosques often have two minarets". There was no further discussion. Now, I am not one to over read what people say, but clearly his statement was pregnant with what was left unsaid. "It is bad enough that we let THEM build a mosque, but then they have to rub it in by building TWO minarets" is what he meant to say. This sentiment, in a nutshell, summarizes the state of European suspicion, paranoia and distrust towards the recent -and not so recent- Muslim immigrants. The latest manifestation of this tension is the ongoing battle over the building of mosques.

In Holland, known for a long time for its liberal policies on immigration the tide turned abruptly in 2004 when the film maker and rabid Islamophobe, Leo van Gogh, was murdered by a home grown Muslim extremist. This murder was followed by numerous acts of vandalism against the Dutch Muslim community and resulted in a palpable hardening of Dutch feelings towards immigrants and asylum seekers in general.

Twenty to thirty years ago as the Dutch standard of living rose, these immigrants, mostly from Morocco and Turkey, streamed in to fill a void at the bottom of the labor market. In Holland, as many Northern European countries, they were provided with housing in communities physically separated from the rest of the population. The reasoning was that the immigrants were in Holland temporarily and thus keeping them together would maintain their sense of community and cultural integrity. Or perhaps the explanation was just a cover for a covert racist attitude among the Dutch who preferred that their "guest workers" remained out of sight. Whatever the true reason, this setup created second and third generation immigrants who are alienated and disenfranchised from the rest of the Dutch society and who became easy prey for peddlers of extremist ideologies. Some in Holland lay the blame on the immigrants themselves saying they prefer living in insular communities and that their closed and conservative faith prevents them from integrating into Dutch society. Yet some of my thoughtful Dutch colleagues tell me that me that racism and anti-Muslim feelings, present long before Leo van Gogh was murdered, are also largely to blame. A job application form with an Arab or Muslim sounding name, they assure me, stands little chance of being selected regardless of qualifications.