Maarten A. Hajer and Justus Uitermark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281671
- eISBN:
- 9780191713132
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281671.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
When Dutch filmmaker Van Gogh is murdered by an Islamist extremist, local politicians Cohen and Aboutaleb face the task of giving meaning to the murder. Their tolerant, pluralistic approach of ‘de ...
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When Dutch filmmaker Van Gogh is murdered by an Islamist extremist, local politicians Cohen and Aboutaleb face the task of giving meaning to the murder. Their tolerant, pluralistic approach of ‘de boel bij elkaar houden’ (keeping things together) is publicly ridiculed by the so-called Friends of Theo. Protagonists and antagonists try to (counter-)script the meaning of the murder on constitutional and non-constitutional stages, using different repertoires to enact authority. The ruling media format privileges emotional repertoires over the factual genre of procedural assurance. The discourse analysis illuminates how the ‘soft’ approach of ‘de boel bij elkaar houden’ changes to include notions of tough action. Distinct divisions or roles between both politicians emerge. The chapter tries to make sense of the question: To what extend can the success of the administrators be attributed to their particular actions? It applies the notion of ‘performative habitus’ (embodied dispositions shaped over many previous years of symbolic labour) to transcend the dualism between the politician as a strategic actor and the politician as being determined by context; personal authority is a co-production of performative habitus and setting.Less
When Dutch filmmaker Van Gogh is murdered by an Islamist extremist, local politicians Cohen and Aboutaleb face the task of giving meaning to the murder. Their tolerant, pluralistic approach of ‘de boel bij elkaar houden’ (keeping things together) is publicly ridiculed by the so-called Friends of Theo. Protagonists and antagonists try to (counter-)script the meaning of the murder on constitutional and non-constitutional stages, using different repertoires to enact authority. The ruling media format privileges emotional repertoires over the factual genre of procedural assurance. The discourse analysis illuminates how the ‘soft’ approach of ‘de boel bij elkaar houden’ changes to include notions of tough action. Distinct divisions or roles between both politicians emerge. The chapter tries to make sense of the question: To what extend can the success of the administrators be attributed to their particular actions? It applies the notion of ‘performative habitus’ (embodied dispositions shaped over many previous years of symbolic labour) to transcend the dualism between the politician as a strategic actor and the politician as being determined by context; personal authority is a co-production of performative habitus and setting.
Sam Cherribi
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199734115
- eISBN:
- 9780199866113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734115.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter focuses on Islam in the aftermath of the killing of Theo van Gogh. The Dutch print media, as well as Dutch public and commercial broadcasters, have openly admired the heirs of the ...
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This chapter focuses on Islam in the aftermath of the killing of Theo van Gogh. The Dutch print media, as well as Dutch public and commercial broadcasters, have openly admired the heirs of the anti-Islam discourse broached by Pim Fortuyn, Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders. Their respective movies/ documentaries, “Submission” and, more recently, “Fitna” garnered intense media attention, especially in Europe. The prevalent lens of secularism in the media distorts the condition of faithfulness and alienates those who might otherwise be more inclined to seek greater assimilation.Less
This chapter focuses on Islam in the aftermath of the killing of Theo van Gogh. The Dutch print media, as well as Dutch public and commercial broadcasters, have openly admired the heirs of the anti-Islam discourse broached by Pim Fortuyn, Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders. Their respective movies/ documentaries, “Submission” and, more recently, “Fitna” garnered intense media attention, especially in Europe. The prevalent lens of secularism in the media distorts the condition of faithfulness and alienates those who might otherwise be more inclined to seek greater assimilation.
Sam Cherribi
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199734115
- eISBN:
- 9780199866113
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734115.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book exposes the “trifecta of coercion”—the triple pressures of Muslim orthodoxy’s expectations for individuals, Dutch—and European, in general—expectations for immigrants, and the individual’s ...
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This book exposes the “trifecta of coercion”—the triple pressures of Muslim orthodoxy’s expectations for individuals, Dutch—and European, in general—expectations for immigrants, and the individual’s day to day challenges which are complicated by his identity as a Muslim immigrant in a non-Muslim culture, or, as the imams call it, “in the house of war.” The trifecta of coercion, a cultural dynamic identified by the book, acts as a pulverizing machine that destroys the individual who happens to be Muslim and reconstitutes him or her as someone who is only a part of a larger, alienated, monolithic entity, in this case the so-called “Muslim threat.” These developments are marked by transformative trends and pivotal events along the road to the position of Islam in the Netherlands at the start of the 21st century. These trends and events include the introduction of Muslim guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s; the appointment of, first, uneducated imams and, later, more radical imams to European mosques in the 1990s; the emergence of Abu Jahjah in neighboring Belgium; the rise of Pim Fortuyn; the terrorist attacks on former New Amsterdam on Sept. 11, 2001; Fortuyn’s assassination in May 2002 followed by the celebrity of Hirsi Ali, the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004, and the anti-Muslim immigration campaign of Geert Wilders. The author’s own rich life and its Muslim-influenced, secular European structure underpins every page of a scholarly examination of the very personal realities of Muslim immigration in EuropeLess
This book exposes the “trifecta of coercion”—the triple pressures of Muslim orthodoxy’s expectations for individuals, Dutch—and European, in general—expectations for immigrants, and the individual’s day to day challenges which are complicated by his identity as a Muslim immigrant in a non-Muslim culture, or, as the imams call it, “in the house of war.” The trifecta of coercion, a cultural dynamic identified by the book, acts as a pulverizing machine that destroys the individual who happens to be Muslim and reconstitutes him or her as someone who is only a part of a larger, alienated, monolithic entity, in this case the so-called “Muslim threat.” These developments are marked by transformative trends and pivotal events along the road to the position of Islam in the Netherlands at the start of the 21st century. These trends and events include the introduction of Muslim guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s; the appointment of, first, uneducated imams and, later, more radical imams to European mosques in the 1990s; the emergence of Abu Jahjah in neighboring Belgium; the rise of Pim Fortuyn; the terrorist attacks on former New Amsterdam on Sept. 11, 2001; Fortuyn’s assassination in May 2002 followed by the celebrity of Hirsi Ali, the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004, and the anti-Muslim immigration campaign of Geert Wilders. The author’s own rich life and its Muslim-influenced, secular European structure underpins every page of a scholarly examination of the very personal realities of Muslim immigration in Europe
Paul Marshall and Nina Shea
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812264
- eISBN:
- 9780199919383
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812264.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
While blasphemy laws are dangerous, a more pervasive and deeper problem is threats and violence against those accused of insulting Islam. Those targeted include not only politicians but also Muslims ...
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While blasphemy laws are dangerous, a more pervasive and deeper problem is threats and violence against those accused of insulting Islam. Those targeted include not only politicians but also Muslims living in the West, converts from Islam, and others who are intentionally outspoken, attempting to reform ideas, or simply careless with words. Violent intimidation is becoming familiar in Western society, especially in some Muslim communities, where threats of violence follow words and actions are deemed “insulting to Islam.” The gruesome 2004 murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, and related death threats against Somali-born ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali, powerfully illustrate this growing trend. The murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was not enraged for any purely personal reasons. Instead, he declared, “From now on, this will be the punishment for anyone in this land who challenges and insults Allah and his messengers.” Western states still remain a relative haven for free debate, for voices of Islamic reform, and for those with unorthodox views of Islam but they stand at a crossroads between robust defense of free speech and a flaccid response to the persistent encroachment of anti-blasphemy restrictions, whether imposed through legislation, or enforced outside the reach of law by radical vigilantes.Less
While blasphemy laws are dangerous, a more pervasive and deeper problem is threats and violence against those accused of insulting Islam. Those targeted include not only politicians but also Muslims living in the West, converts from Islam, and others who are intentionally outspoken, attempting to reform ideas, or simply careless with words. Violent intimidation is becoming familiar in Western society, especially in some Muslim communities, where threats of violence follow words and actions are deemed “insulting to Islam.” The gruesome 2004 murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, and related death threats against Somali-born ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali, powerfully illustrate this growing trend. The murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was not enraged for any purely personal reasons. Instead, he declared, “From now on, this will be the punishment for anyone in this land who challenges and insults Allah and his messengers.” Western states still remain a relative haven for free debate, for voices of Islamic reform, and for those with unorthodox views of Islam but they stand at a crossroads between robust defense of free speech and a flaccid response to the persistent encroachment of anti-blasphemy restrictions, whether imposed through legislation, or enforced outside the reach of law by radical vigilantes.
Anne Norton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157047
- eISBN:
- 9781400846351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157047.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines how the Muslim question has been linked to the question of freedom of speech. A clash of civilizations that saw the West as the realm of enlightenment, and Muslims in the realm ...
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This chapter examines how the Muslim question has been linked to the question of freedom of speech. A clash of civilizations that saw the West as the realm of enlightenment, and Muslims in the realm of religion, custom, and tradition, has long been part of spectacles in the Western public sphere. Ayatollah Khomeini gave new life to these civilizational theatrics when he issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, whose The Satanic Verses became the center of a controversy that cast freedom of speech as a Muslim question. However, the martyr to free speech was not Rushdie but Theo van Gogh, the murdered producer of the film Submission. The chapter shows how the dramas surrounding Rushdie, van Gogh, the Danish cartoons and the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's copycat cartoon provocations mark Muslims as the enemies of free speech.Less
This chapter examines how the Muslim question has been linked to the question of freedom of speech. A clash of civilizations that saw the West as the realm of enlightenment, and Muslims in the realm of religion, custom, and tradition, has long been part of spectacles in the Western public sphere. Ayatollah Khomeini gave new life to these civilizational theatrics when he issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, whose The Satanic Verses became the center of a controversy that cast freedom of speech as a Muslim question. However, the martyr to free speech was not Rushdie but Theo van Gogh, the murdered producer of the film Submission. The chapter shows how the dramas surrounding Rushdie, van Gogh, the Danish cartoons and the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's copycat cartoon provocations mark Muslims as the enemies of free speech.
Sam Cherribi
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195307221
- eISBN:
- 9780199785513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307221.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter is divided into three sections. The first examines social science literature on migration and citizenship, and its relevance to the issue of Muslims in Europe. The second examines the ...
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This chapter is divided into three sections. The first examines social science literature on migration and citizenship, and its relevance to the issue of Muslims in Europe. The second examines the results of two sets of interviews conducted with European parliamentarians, and underscores striking convergences across the political spectrum in how the issue of Muslim migration is constructed. The third section looks at the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The handling of this in the Netherlands represents a dramatic example of the political discovery of a Muslim problem with far-reaching implications for the future of religious pluralism and democracy.Less
This chapter is divided into three sections. The first examines social science literature on migration and citizenship, and its relevance to the issue of Muslims in Europe. The second examines the results of two sets of interviews conducted with European parliamentarians, and underscores striking convergences across the political spectrum in how the issue of Muslim migration is constructed. The third section looks at the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The handling of this in the Netherlands represents a dramatic example of the political discovery of a Muslim problem with far-reaching implications for the future of religious pluralism and democracy.
Peter Van Der Veer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226443
- eISBN:
- 9780823237043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226443.003.0027
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter documents and analyzes the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, an event preceded by but not unrelated to the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the deaths ...
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This chapter documents and analyzes the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, an event preceded by but not unrelated to the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the deaths of whom have haunted Dutch politics ever since. It sketches the historical and socio-cultural context against whose foil we should place the murders of Fortuyn and van Gogh and especially the devastating impact they have had on the political and intellectual climate in the Netherlands, bruising its longstanding reputation for tolerance and diversity. It suggests that the recent upheavals exposed the fragility of this much-cultivated and somewhat self-congratulatory self-image of liberalism and the apparent inability of Dutch society so far to deal with the fact that its newcomers are there to stay or, rather, have already become part and parcel of a radically changed political landscape. In other words, it claims that van Gogh's murder was more revelatory of Dutch culture at the crossroads than of Islam and its perceived global militancy.Less
This chapter documents and analyzes the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, an event preceded by but not unrelated to the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the deaths of whom have haunted Dutch politics ever since. It sketches the historical and socio-cultural context against whose foil we should place the murders of Fortuyn and van Gogh and especially the devastating impact they have had on the political and intellectual climate in the Netherlands, bruising its longstanding reputation for tolerance and diversity. It suggests that the recent upheavals exposed the fragility of this much-cultivated and somewhat self-congratulatory self-image of liberalism and the apparent inability of Dutch society so far to deal with the fact that its newcomers are there to stay or, rather, have already become part and parcel of a radically changed political landscape. In other words, it claims that van Gogh's murder was more revelatory of Dutch culture at the crossroads than of Islam and its perceived global militancy.
Amikam Nachmani
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781784993078
- eISBN:
- 9781526128560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784993078.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Middle Eastern Politics
Gordon Allport, the founder of modern prejudice research, observed, “People who reject one out-group will tend to reject other out-groups.” In a country-by-country overview this chapter surveys the ...
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Gordon Allport, the founder of modern prejudice research, observed, “People who reject one out-group will tend to reject other out-groups.” In a country-by-country overview this chapter surveys the mutual views and practices of Europeans and Muslim immigrants and the relevance of Jewish European history in their encounters. In the Netherlands, where Muslims are 5.5 percent of the population and live in “Muslim ghettos,” Dutch liberalism and tolerance rankles Islamic conservative sensitivities. The Dutch minority government with the support of the far-right Party of Freedom (PVV) and its controversial leader Geert Wilders, who compares the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, has passed some of the toughest restrictions against immigrants in Europe, including a ban on the women’s burqa and dual citizenship. A “Pig Day” in Bologna, Italy, protested the planned construction of a mosque. In Sweden once anti-Semitic skinheads and racists moved on to targeting Muslims, while young Muslims torch synagogues and attack Jews in reaction to Israeli ME policies. The internet with its far-reaching potential to recruit new supporters to causes of all extremist persuasions and to spread hate propaganda has become a fast-growing EU-wide trend and favoured “free-for-all tool” for many individuals, groups and political parties.Less
Gordon Allport, the founder of modern prejudice research, observed, “People who reject one out-group will tend to reject other out-groups.” In a country-by-country overview this chapter surveys the mutual views and practices of Europeans and Muslim immigrants and the relevance of Jewish European history in their encounters. In the Netherlands, where Muslims are 5.5 percent of the population and live in “Muslim ghettos,” Dutch liberalism and tolerance rankles Islamic conservative sensitivities. The Dutch minority government with the support of the far-right Party of Freedom (PVV) and its controversial leader Geert Wilders, who compares the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, has passed some of the toughest restrictions against immigrants in Europe, including a ban on the women’s burqa and dual citizenship. A “Pig Day” in Bologna, Italy, protested the planned construction of a mosque. In Sweden once anti-Semitic skinheads and racists moved on to targeting Muslims, while young Muslims torch synagogues and attack Jews in reaction to Israeli ME policies. The internet with its far-reaching potential to recruit new supporters to causes of all extremist persuasions and to spread hate propaganda has become a fast-growing EU-wide trend and favoured “free-for-all tool” for many individuals, groups and political parties.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226289649
- eISBN:
- 9780226289663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226289663.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This chapter describes autochthony movements in Europe, where the language of belonging and autochthony spread especially in relation to popular concerns about immigrant labor. It concentrates on the ...
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This chapter describes autochthony movements in Europe, where the language of belonging and autochthony spread especially in relation to popular concerns about immigrant labor. It concentrates on the Netherlands and what appeared to be an abrupt switch in this country after 2000—marked by two shocking political assassinations—from a multiculturalist approach to a forceful policy of cultural integration. These include the murder of populist politician Pim Fortuyn, and the even bloodier murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Fortuyn's impact in politics may have caused a landslide. The notion of allochtonen appeared to be a neutral term that could cover all the various groups of immigrants. Culture and history became central themes in Paul Scheffer's articles and in the Dutch debate on integration in general. Culture is a useful notion in debates on how to live with immigration only if it includes difference rather than excluding it.Less
This chapter describes autochthony movements in Europe, where the language of belonging and autochthony spread especially in relation to popular concerns about immigrant labor. It concentrates on the Netherlands and what appeared to be an abrupt switch in this country after 2000—marked by two shocking political assassinations—from a multiculturalist approach to a forceful policy of cultural integration. These include the murder of populist politician Pim Fortuyn, and the even bloodier murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Fortuyn's impact in politics may have caused a landslide. The notion of allochtonen appeared to be a neutral term that could cover all the various groups of immigrants. Culture and history became central themes in Paul Scheffer's articles and in the Dutch debate on integration in general. Culture is a useful notion in debates on how to live with immigration only if it includes difference rather than excluding it.
