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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:07 pm Post subject: I migrated to Europe with hope. Now I feel nothing but dread |
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Other posters may find this an interesting article.
I migrated to Europe with hope. Now I feel nothing but dread
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When I arrived with my mother in Rotterdam in the late 1970s, we thought we had found a safe haven. Coming from the sharp-edged mountains of north Morocco, the streets of the Low Countries felt like a place where everything could be done better. It did not seem possible that, 30 years later, the likes of Geert Wilders would wield influence, pushing his ban on the burqa, but then there were no burqas to be seen in the street.
The Netherlands felt like a country that would never betray me. I was greeted with enthusiasm at kindergarten; my name was the longest among the pupils and it was assumed I was very proud of that. Dutch culture was like a tattoo being imprinted on my brown skin. I learned the language and delighted in excelling at it in front of my teachers. I was their dream of multiculturalism: a foreigner who showed he could adapt to their culture through language. The mothers of classmates would inform me that they loved Moroccan cuisine, especially couscous. They would speak vividly, romantically about foreign cultures such as mine, and I felt proud. The fact that I was different made me feel special. And the Dutch created wonder in me as a child. They tolerated their dogs on their couches; they gave generously to faraway peoples suffering from disaster and sickness. I didn't only read fairy tales, I lived one.
Then came the fall of the Wall, the 1990s and change. Europe decided it needed immigrants. The first change I saw was at home. My parents, growing older, gave up hope of the family returning to Morocco. Slowly, the feeling took over that we were here to stay, maintaining the privileges and opportunities of living in Europe. With that came the unease that their children would lose their identity. Already, we spoke Dutch, not Berber.
Meanwhile, the Dutch were waking up to the reality that most immigrants would never go back. Friday evening in Rotterdam saw large groups of immigrant children in the streets, estranged from their roots, trying to find solace in consumerism and urban culture, but also feeling alienated from Dutch society. Turks hung out with Turks, Moroccans with Moroccans. The melting pot didn't heat up, the elements weren't mixing. In my neighbourhood, former convicts stopped me to talk about Islam. They felt that my staunchly secular lifestyle would not only bring disaster to me, but also to the spiritual community of Islam. A young friend introduced me to his uncle who had just came back from Afghanistan. He was a mujahid.
I failed to see the shift. Immigrants had been seen by most Dutch as a marginal, colourful people from whose shops they could buy their meat and vegetables at ridiculously low prices. I knew this because my father had a butcher's shop and I would sell them their lamb chops. As the 1990s progressed, the difference between allochtoon � one "originating from another country" � and autochtoon � "one originating from this country" began to be emphasised. Allochtoon started becoming synonymous for criminality, big families, bad living and Islam. This wasn't restricted to Holland. In Germany, questions were being raised about Turkish immigrants adhering to a fundamentalist Islam. Thousands of young French-Algerian football fans stormed the pitch when France played Algeria, their way of saying: "We don't feel we belong in this country."
So what had changed? |
Click on link for full article. |
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The Happy Warrior
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Multiculturalism is a sham and Europe is not an immigrant society.
Here in North America, we've been handling this with varying degrees of success for hundreds of years. Its part of our identity. And yet we still mess it up. But the Europeans are racial and ethnic peoples. That's part of their identity (yes, even the English). |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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| It's coming to an end, thankfully. It was a great big lie. A strategy. It is ending. Thank Allah. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| It's coming to an end, thankfully. It was a great big lie. A strategy. It is ending. Thank Allah. |
multiculturalism as a whole?
I've found it to be very successful in my life/upbringing. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes. It is a strategy to weaken European societies. I'm not going to get into it. Trust me, or not. The history of the multicultural idea is interesting. |
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The Happy Warrior
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Multiculturalism is just shallow. |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Europe is full. E.U. is no longer welcoming foreigners except to invest and tour around. Protectionism is the strategy most countries are playing as it costs a country money (and jobs) to bring on new citizens not bringing a load of cash to invest or spend. US might catch onto this at some point and tighten up the immigration and borders. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:59 am Post subject: |
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| AsiaESLbound wrote: |
| Europe is full. E.U. is no longer welcoming foreigners except to invest and tour around. Protectionism is the strategy most countries are playing as it costs a country money (and jobs) to bring on new citizens not bringing a load of cash to invest or spend. US might catch onto this at some point and tighten up the immigration and borders. |
Not "full" per se. Bankrupt. Of course bankrupting these countries has been the globalist agenda since the beginning (so the globalists/international bankers can consolidate power into its own hands). In welfare states illegal immigrants become a political and economic weapon. |
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bigverne
Joined: 12 May 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 3:18 am Post subject: |
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| Thousands of young French-Algerian football fans stormed the pitch when France played Algeria, their way of saying: "We don't feel we belong in this country." |
Then perhaps they should utilize there freedom of movement, renounce their French citizenship and go and live in....Algeria. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:28 am Post subject: |
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| AsiaESLbound wrote: |
| Protectionism is the strategy most countries are playing as it costs a country money (and jobs) to bring on new citizens not bringing a load of cash to invest or spend. US might catch onto this at some point and tighten up the immigration and borders. |
The US has plenty of land, natural resources and opportunities still. Compared to most countries, our population per square km of livable land is tiny. As long as my country doesn't start trying to use tax payers to pay for everyone's everything, and those immigrating actually want to be American, we should welcome all comers... though a CBC would be nice. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:09 am Post subject: |
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My perception of the guy's attitude is that he essentially feels entitled to the acknowledgment of others. This is something that is earned. Though he is from a different ethnic background from people in his country that should not stop people from liking him if he is a cool guy whose company is valued.
This article is bullshit. They want people to like those that are not valued for the sake of 'multiculturalism'. |
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Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| What is funny to me about this conversation is that I know all of you are probably immigrants, yet here you are bad mouthing multi-culturalsim and people wanting to leave their home countries. The whole ESL thing is based on globalization. If people want to leave their countries to have a better life than that is commendable. Why is it necessarily a threat that they want to keep aspects of their own culture? Wouldn't it be better if the host country focused on making integration easy and appealing rather than strong arm tactics like banning religious wear? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:51 am Post subject: |
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E2's are temporary foreign workers. You are all guests and the vast majority will return home within a year or two. This is completely different from importing millions of permanent welfare expenses from Somalia, Pakistan, Sudan etc and taking from people who paid into the system for their whole lives to give to people who have no business in the country.
...
This is funny. The trials and tribulations of a naive multi-culty:
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/007527.html
Follow the links and read the whole thing. Europe is waking up, thank god. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| Leon wrote: |
| What is funny to me about this conversation is that I know all of you are probably immigrants, yet here you are bad mouthing multi-culturalsim and people wanting to leave their home countries. The whole ESL thing is based on globalization. If people want to leave their countries to have a better life than that is commendable. Why is it necessarily a threat that they want to keep aspects of their own culture? Wouldn't it be better if the host country focused on making integration easy and appealing rather than strong arm tactics like banning religious wear? |
whoa hold on, you are confusing the issue here. I am not saying people cannot immigrate to European countries. What I am saying is that the individual that moves needs to adapt to his surroundings, the host nation should not have to bend backwards to accommodate the immigrant. |
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Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
E2's are temporary foreign workers. You are all guests and the vast majority will return home within a year or two. This is completely different from importing millions of permanent welfare expenses from Somalia, Pakistan, Sudan etc and taking from people who paid into the system for their whole lives to give to people who have no business in the country.
...
This is funny. The trials and tribulations of a naive multi-culty:
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/007527.html
Follow the links and read the whole thing. Europe is waking up, thank god. |
I of course realize that most in Korea are here for a short time, but was pointing out that one would think that all things considered that it would give a bit of insight into why people immigrate and what its like.
Anyways you're painting with too wide a brush. Multiculturalism in and of itself isn't the problem that you seem to be concerned about, but rather welfare and economic issues dealing with poor people, which are the same whether they are native or an immigrant. I prefer countries with several cultures, such as the United States, to ones with a mono-culture. |
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