Rotterdam Goes Astray

Our Flemish correspondent VH reports on the deliberate creation of ethnically pure Moroccan enclaves within the Netherlands. First, a preliminary note from the translator:

I guess this is needed next, but with a little help of organizations like these, you’ll get this first.

Make sure you click the links so you can see what he’s talking about.

Here’s his translation of an article from the Vlaams Belang website. VH recommends a visit to the original to see the images:

Rotterdam goes astray

In Rotterdam-West a new residential area will soon be built, in Arab-Moroccan style. The houses will get distinctive colors, columns, mosaics and patios.

The district is expected to be called “Le Riad” [another slightly “modernost” example in Rotterdam is Le Medi, artists’ impressions here] and hopes not only to attract Moroccans, but also native Dutch.

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The well known Islam-critic Afshin Ellian writes (at Elsevier.nl) that he has fewer problems with Moroccan architecture than with Moroccan mosques, but argues that the plans still have problematic edges. They foster a sense of alienation and uprooting. “This feeling is reinforced by the spatial and physical change in the major cities of the Netherlands. The multicultural society was a metamorphosis for the big cities. And the metamorphosis is not always seen as an enrichment. It makes some people immediately think of crime, social delays, and other problematic issues.”

That is precisely why the government should pursue some caution in multicultural projects, warns Ellian. “Such a district does not emphasize the beauty of Moroccan architecture, but the alienation and uprooting of the original inhabitants of the Netherlands.”

We thought that our northern neighbors, the Dutch, had gradually had enough of the multicultural craze, but a “Casablanca on the Maas” may still be added to it. How such a project might contribute to the already ailing integration of immigrants is a mystery.