THE
HAGUE, April 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The spiraling rate of
cyber-racism against Dutch Muslims is the direct result of policies
adopted by the government and politicians against the Muslim minority
in the country, said a Muslim activist.
“What
else would you expect in a country whose rulers ignite hatred and
discrimination both directly and indirectly?” asked Abdel-Rahim
Kajouane, the director of the multicultural forum center in The Hague.
“The
policies sponsored by the Dutch government and politicians against
Dutch Muslims, especially over the past few years, largely contributed
to mounting discrimination,” he told IslamOnline.net.
The
recent report by the Dutch monitoring center on racism and xenophobia
indicated that incidents of cyber racism against ethnic minorities in
the Netherlands went up to 1800 in 2004 from only 1300 in 2003.
The
report, released on Monday, April 25, said that Dutch Muslim bore the
brunt of cyber racism, which spiraled to 409 incidents last year from
231 in 2003.
It
maintained that the killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, blamed
on a Muslim extremist, contributed to fueling racist attacks against
the Muslim minority in the country.
Van
Gogh was widely known for his criticism of Islam and caused an uproar
with his short film “Submission” about Islam and women.
Dutch
Muslims, who expressed disgust and outrage at the hatred-inciting
11-minute clip, swiftly condemned the killing of the filmmaker.
Racist
Remarks
Kajouane,
of Moroccan origin, accused several ministers and leading politicians
of propagating discrimination through the media.
“They
are practicing discrimination by giving racist remarks and mobilizing
citizens against certain “ethnic” groups,” he added.
This,
said the activist, is being done as part of the government’s
campaign against “radicalism and extremism,” for which the state
allocated 900 million euros.
Last
January, Dutch authorities adopted new security measures to prevent
Muslims from joining courses of diving, aviation, throwing and
shooting under claims of “terror-combat”.
Kajouane
warned that such government policies would undermine tolerance in the
country.
He
further urged the Dutch politicians to avoid racist remarks against
ethnic minorities in the country.
Muslims
make up one million of the Netherlands’s 16 million population.
Turks represent 80 percent of the Muslim minority.
