december 2004

From Astrid Essed, Amsterdam

Perhaps you know that in the Netherlands we have some huge problems for the last two weeks.

1) The murder of van Gogh

On the 2^nd of November, a well-known Dutch cineaste and columnist, named Theo van Gogh, was shot dead by a young man of Islamic-Moroccan descent.
Of course it goes without saying that killing a  human being is a crime, being a violation of the right to life of every human being despite socio-political views or politico-social position.
However, shortly after his death a couple of influential Dutch intellectuals and politicians were pretending that he had been killed because of his defence of the freedom of speech, which was NOT the case.

Although obvious that T. van Gogh should never have been killed, these men consequently insulted Moroccan people on the basis of their descent, cultural views and especially their religion, the Islam.

Now I'm of the opinion that freedom of speech is a basic human right, but that freedom of speech is NOT the same thing as freedom of insult, which is a violation of the right of other human beings also, and one of the basic rights of human beings is, apart from the right to life, food and shelter, and a humane treatment, respect for their religious beliefs.

2) Demagogical conduct of the Dutch politicians:

However, not only this was a wrong conception of these men anyway, but also the Dutch politicians interfered in a demagogical way in the police and judicial investigation after the arrest of the suspect Mohammed B.
In this case the Dutch minister of Justice, Donner had published two letters the suspect had left on the dead body of van Gogh, despite the protests of the District Attorney, who rightly claimed that such evidence, material, should stay secret till the police and judicial authorities have finished the official investigation.
According to the leading politicians the letters were a proof of ''Islamic terrorism'' [which nowadays is a mixture of groups which are not terrorist at all: Muslim-orthodoxy, which has nothing to do with any politics; and the views of people who rightly support the Palestinian, Chechen and Iraqi resistance against the occupation-armies; the views of people who are rightly opposing the American political-military conduct in the world, especially regarding the Middle-East; and  the minor groups of real terrorists, which are supporting military actions and assaults on civilians and civilian-targets].
However, since they’ve published the letters, I have also read them. One is containing an implicit threat to Mrs. A. Hirsi-Ali, a Dutch-Somali female politician who is not Muslim anymore and is a supporter of very drastic measures against the Islam like forbidding Islamic schools. The other letter was however not terrorist at all, but a letter containing religious texts from the Talmud and Koran. Of course that's unacceptable, but it is no ''terrorist'' letter at all.

Besides Mohammed B, the suspect, certainly seven or more young Moroccans are being arrested, who are being charged from co-culpability on the murder of T. van Gogh.
Also they are being claimed to belong to a terrorist organisation as is Mohammed B.

Not only the facts so far are according to me very vague [leading politicians are claiming that Mohammed B. was a friend of the other suspects, which is hardly any serious proof of planning any terrorist actions....I also know people who are perhaps ''radical'', but that doesn't mean I'm a ''radical'' also!] My main objection is the fact that politicians constantly are presenting presumptions, which have TO BE PROVED IN COURT YET, as proven facts!

Also they allege, that ''there is Jihad in the Netherlands'' [without even knowing what the meaning of Jihad is!] and that ''the Netherlands areat war with Islamic-fundamentalism'', so using the very dangerous and inhuman Bushite war-propaganda.
You'll undoubtedly know that the Dutch parliament also has recently approved the new extended anti-terrorism measures, which are like in the USA, Great-Britain, Pakistan and other countries in the world a serious violation on the rights of suspects.

Especially the so-called ''liberals'' [the Dutch right-wing  party, which is supporting the capitalist conception of ''free trade'' and is the party of the Dutch well-to-do and rich people] and, in a lesser amount also, the Christian-Democrats [party of the prime-minister Balkenende] who are using this demagogic language, which I think is unacceptable.....

Not only because of the obvious violation of the rights of the suspects [in the Netherlands yet, a suspect is innocent until the guilt is proven in court], but also it is irresponsible because of the further criminalising and stigmatisation of the Moroccan-Islamic inhabitants of the Netherlands, who were stigmatised and are already being threatened and assaulted since 11 September 2001!

3) Attacks on Mosques, Churches and Islamic schools:

But not only Dutch politicians acted very irresponsibly, because of the already tense climate in the Netherlands after the murder of van Gogh. In addition to the irresponsible remarks of a number of politicians, there were a number of assaults on Mosques, Churches and Islamic schools.
So there were fire-attacks on Mosques, from which some were discovered in time and some not  [yesterday a Mosque in the village of Hedel in the southern part of the Netherlands was burnt out totally], in several Churches also fire-attacks were taking place [because of the fact, the Dutch churches directly expressed solidarity to the Dutch Muslim community], some Islamic schools were targets too [especially a school in Uden, which was burnt totally in the night]

The presumption is that extreme right young men are responsible of this.

4)  Solidarity

I'm glad to state that the great part of the Dutch population is totally rejecting this; and many Dutch people have organized solidarity-actions to support the Muslim community in  their environment. So many people have formed a human chain to defend  mosques and schools and there are many good initiatives of alternative left organisations to form the resistance [I'm a member too].

Although he is NOT my political friend at all [he is a strong supporter of the Bushite-American policy and very pro-Israel too] I must express my appreciation for the Dutch prime-minister Balkenende, who has visited the school in Uden, talked with the parents of the children and stated, that the fire-attackers must be punished very strictly.
Also he called on the Dutch citizens to stay tolerant to each other and to build towards a peaceful society. Also the recent spontaneous visit of Queen Beatrix to a centre for Moroccan youth, where she repeatedly said that all inhabitants of the Netherlands should be treated equally, was a very important positive signal.

5) Politics:

However, despite of all those positive signals, it is dangerous and worrying that the Dutch politicians, by taking presumptive measures like publication of the letters of Mohammed B. before the independent police and judicial investigation, giving assumptions, yet not proven statements, about the real and alleged ''terrorism'' of the murder on van Gogh and the connection of Mohammed B. to a ''terrorist'' organisation [it is not yet proven this organisation is terrorist at all] are further contributing to a high polarisation in the Netherlands, whith all the humanitarian consequences .

Moreover they forget that until now the only proven terrorist acts are the assaults on Mosques, Churches and Islamic schools.

What worries me also is that also the so-called Dutch leftist parties like the ''Green-Left'' party and the Socialist Party and the Labour Party [which is righter than the two other and is being compared with the British Labour Party] are also taking a part in the Dutch ''hunt'' for real or alleged “terrorists”

Therefore it is time for me and the other democratic and humanitarian people in the Netherlands to take actions and protests for the maintenance of Dutch judicial rights/rules and basic humanitarian values, written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I hope you'll spread this message also, so that your friends know what's happening nowadays in the Netherlands

With great feelings of friendship
Astrid
(Letter to togethernet.com)