|
Campaign Against Discrimination on Eid al-Fitr in Holland
By Khaled Shawkat, IslamOnline Correspondent
ROTTERDAM, Holland, Dec. 15 (IslamOnline) - Local authorities in the Dutch city of Rotterdam decided this year to greet Muslims on the occasion of the feast of Eid-al-Fitr in a different way, by initiating a large awareness campaign against discrimination.
This campaign is aimed at overcoming the backlash in the Western world against foreigners, especially Muslims, following the deadly September 11 attacks in the United States.
There are large commercial banners all over Rotterdam, the economic capital of Holland, portraying a veiled Muslim woman.
Below the photo, there is a statement saying "Muslim, or neighbor? How is it going in your neighborhood?" The statement in Dutch is an invitation for locals to reassess the way they perceive their Muslim neighbors and enhance relations with them so as to promote a peaceful environment.
This campaign was initiated after the Dutch press on Wednesday highlighted the increase in racism and discrimination in Holland, pointing out how violence - especially against Muslims - has accompanied it.
According to the Wednesday issue of the Dutch daily, Metro, racial violence doubled last year, 2000, from 1996, whereby anti-discrimination organizations recorded 400 incidents of violence in the year 2000 alone, as opposed an earlier figure of 200 five years ago.
The Anne Frank Institution and the University of Leiden in Holland, which both supervised the racial studies, said that the extreme right-wing movements known as neo-Nazis have been continuously calling for the expulsion of foreigners, especially Muslims and Jews from Holland.
Specialists claim the legal system is also responsible for the increase in racial violence since the system of punishment is very lenient. Moreover, there are records of internal discrimination on behalf of the police body itself.
The Rotterdam campaign comes in response to recent demands by Dutch politicians and intellectuals who had called upon the government to take the necessary steps to combat the increased wave of racial violence and discrimination led by the extreme right in Holland.
However, political and media officials in Holland claim the anti-discrimination campaign is an attempt by the Labor party and leftist Green party to motivate the large number of Muslim voters to participate in the upcoming local parliamentary elections, scheduled for spring 2002.
There are more than 750,000 Muslims in Holland, with a large Muslim community in Rotterdam. They are mostly of Turkish, Arab or African origin. They comprise the third largest religious group in Holland after Catholics and Protestants.
|
