Alarming turmoil in the Netherlands in the wake of the alleged murder by Islamists of radical film-maker Theo van Gogh who was butchered as he rode through Amsterdam on his bicycle. Six Islamist radicals have been arrested for conspiracy to murder. As the Times reports, mosques and churches have been attacked as emotions unleashed by the murder and its aftermath boil over. An opinion poll shows that 40 per cent of Dutch people no longer consider Muslims welcome, while a Muslim school in the southern Dutch village of Uden was burnt down last night.

In this paradigm state of multiculturalism and tolerance, both are now spectacularly foundering. While the people are incensed, some official reaction has displayed a supine confusion. Artist Chris Ripke painted a mural in protest at the murder with the Biblical injunction:' Thou shalt not kill'. But as this Dutch article notes, because the head of the nearby mosque complained to the police that this was 'offensive' and 'racist', the police sent in city workers to sandblast the mural. And when a local journalist, Wim Nottroth,wanted to protest against this by standing in front of the mural, he was arrested.

Meanwhile, the threats of violence by Islamists increase, in line with the threats made against the wider world which were pinned to van Gogh's body (see earlier post). As the Times notes:

'Since the murder, other politicians seen as “enemies of Islam” have been issued with death threats and two have been taken into police custody.'

A fuller account of this crisis in Dutch society is conveyed by this article in the German paper Die Welt.Under the headline 'Jihad in Amsterdam', it says the Dutch have understood that the murder of van Gogh, the murder two years ago of the anti-Islamist politician Pim Fortyn and the increasing threats by Islamists to people in public life mean, as the head of the liberal/conservatives has said, 'We have the Jihad in the country'. All political parties agree that such a threat now has to be fought. The article observes that Dutch politicians and media have for years tried to conceal such ominous developments under the cover of political correctness and a society committed to tolerance and liberality. No more, it seems. The Dutch, it says, are now prepared to throw all this overboard. Meanwhile, there is a flight of the middle classes from Dutch cities as people seek to escape Islamicisation. And it quotes an article written in 2000 in NRC Handelsblad which predicted that 'the multicultural drama could become the biggest threat to social peace.'

We cannot ignore this.

Posted by melanie at November 10, 2004