NETHERLANDS: OFFICIALS AND ACADEMICS SAY EUROPE MUST BETTER INTEGRATE MUSLIMS INTO EUROPEAN SOCIETY TO COMBAT FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM
Record ID:
648368
NETHERLANDS: OFFICIALS AND ACADEMICS SAY EUROPE MUST BETTER INTEGRATE MUSLIMS INTO EUROPEAN SOCIETY TO COMBAT FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM
- Title: NETHERLANDS: OFFICIALS AND ACADEMICS SAY EUROPE MUST BETTER INTEGRATE MUSLIMS INTO EUROPEAN SOCIETY TO COMBAT FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM
- Date: 6th April 2006
- Summary: (MER1) AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER 26, 2005 (REUTERS) 1. WIDE SHOT AN AMSTERDAM CANAL WITH BOATS 2. A SEAGULL AND THE BOAT BEHIND IT 3. PASSENGERS' TERMINAL AMSTERDAM, SITE OF THE CONFERENCE 0.23 4. JOURNALISTS AND A CAMERA OPERATOR 0.27 5. MS. RITA VERDONK, MINISTER OF INTEGRATION AND IMMIGRATION CLIMBS ON STAGE 6. WIDE SHOT OF THE CONFERENCE 7. MS. VERDONK ADRESSING AUDIENCE 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch), RITA VERDONK, DUTCH MINISTER FOR INTEGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, SAYING: "The question is how to take care of youngsters, well, Muslim youngsters, not to be radicalised. How can they stay connected to Dutch society? Like for example Mohammed Bouyeri. He went to a Dutch public school, but still something went wrong. How can you prevent that? The answer is not only in securing jobs for these youngsters but also to give them instruments for recognizing radicalization through their environment, such as their school, at sport, at home or in the mosque." 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch), RITA VERDONK, DUTCH MINISTER FOR INTEGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, SAYING: "We would like to consider possibilities to ban the burka in specific public places and specific times. We already have in the Netherands the ban on walking while unrecognisable on the streets. In a burka, a person is certainly unrecognisable. The question is now if we want this in our community." 10. MR. J.P.H. DONNER, DUTCH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, SPEAKING ON STAGE 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch), J.P.H. DONNER, DUTCH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, SAYING "Radicalisation as a cause of terrorism cannot only be combated by laws. Laws only allow us to fight the symptoms, but not to change the mindset behind it, or to minimize its appeal. The last thing will depend on the way society deals with the threat." 12. CAMERAMAN SHOOTING 13. AUDIENCE LISTENING 14. WIDE OF PROF. DR. BASSAM TIBI, SPEAKING TO THE AUDIENCE 15. PROFESSOR BASSAM TIBI ON STAGE 16. (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) PROF. DR. BASSAM TIBI, SAYING: "There is a war of ideas, [between] terrorist thought and democratic thought. The problem of terrorism is not a problem of police, it is not only a security problem, but also an intellectual problem. Terrorist thought tries to give a religious basis for terrorist practices, and there are some Muslims who subscribe to this. But it is [also] possible to tie Islam to democracy, and to say that Islam can be seen from a democratic point of view. And there is [also] a war of ideas within Islam [itself], a war between the the democratic view of Islam and the terrorist view of Islam. The terrorist view of Islam is the point of view put forward by the 'jihadists,' those who come from political Islam. But there is enlightened Islam. Enlightened Islam rejects jihadists terrorist thought, and looks at Islam in such a way that it can be tied to enlightened thought, democratic thought, and the separation of politics from religion." 17. APPLAUSE AT THE END OF CONFERENCE 18. DUTCH JUSTICE MINISTER DONNER, ABOUT TO LEAVE CONFERENCE 19. TOP SHOT OF THE AUDIENCE DISPERSING 4.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st April 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVADF3EVOFLQGK2LJZ6WQ22WQOF7
- Story Text: Officials and academics in the Netherlands say
Europe must better integrate Muslims into European society
to combat fundamentalist Islam.
Europe must move beyond tightening laws and security
to focus on education reforms and economic integration of
Muslims if it is to combat radical Islamists, Dutch
officials and academics said on Wednesday.
"Radicalisation as a cause of terrorism cannot only be
combated by laws. Laws only allow us to fight the symptoms,
but not to change the mindset behind it, or to minimize its
appeal. The last thing will depend on the way society deals
with the threat," Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner told a
conference ahead of the first anniversary marking the
murder of a Dutch filmmaker by a home-grown Muslim radical.
An Amsterdam court sentenced Amsterdam-born Mohammed
Bouyeri to life in jail in July after he confessed to
killing Theo van Gogh on Nov. 2. The murder stoked tensions
with the Muslim minority living in the Netherlands and
sparked a wave of tit-for-tat attacks on mosques, religious
schools and churches.
Rita Verdonk, the Dutch Minister for Integration and
Immigration who spoke at the conference, said steps must be
taken to better integrate the Muslim community
especially its youngsters -- into Dutch society.
"The question is how to take care of youngsters, well,
Muslim youngsters, not to be radicalised. How can they stay
connected to Dutch society? Like for example Mohammed
Bouyeri. He went to a Dutch public school, but still
something went wrong. How can you prevent that? The answer
is not only in securing jobs for these youngsters but also
giving them instruments for recognizing radicalization
through their environment, such as their school, at sport,
at home or in the mosque," she said.
The minister also said a ban might be imposed in the
Netherlands on wearing the burqa -- the head-to-foot dress
worn by women in some Muslim countries -- in public.
"We would like to consider possibilities to ban the
burqa in specific public places and specific times. We
already have in the Netherlands the ban on walking while
unrecognisable on the streets. In a burqa, a person is
certainly unrecognizable. The question is now if we want
this in our community," she said.
Professor Bassam Tibi, one of the speakers at the
Amsterdam conference, said the problem of militant Islam
was as much an ideological issue as a threat to security.
"There is a war of ideas, [between] terrorist thought
and democratic thought. The problem of terrorism is not a
problem of police, it is not only a security problem, but
also an intellectual problem. Terrorist thought tries to
give a religious basis for terrorist practices, and there
are some Muslims who subscribe to this. But it is [also]
possible to tie Islam to democracy, and to say that Islam
can be seen from a democratic point of view. And there is
[also] a war of ideas within Islam [itself], a war between
the the democratic view of Islam and the terrorist view of
Islam. The terrorist view of Islam is the point of view put
forward by the 'jihadists,' those who come from political
Islam. But there is enlightened Islam. Enlightened Islam
rejects jihadist terrorist thought, and looks at Islam in
such a way that it can be tied to enlightened thought,
democratic thought, and the separation of politics from
religion," he said.
The Netherlands is home to almost one million Muslims,
or about six percent of its population, around a third
of whom have Moroccan roots just like Bouyeri.
Dutch authorities have arrested about 20 suspected
Islamists since the Van Gogh murder -- including seven
people accused of planning an attack earlier this month.
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