The Threat of Islam in Flanders

According to the researchers, the so-called “negative” picture of the Flemish people about Islam is due to a lack of knowledge about Islam. But the reverse is true! The Fleming knows more than enough about the nature and practice of Islam to judge it with common sense. — Filip Dewinter

Multicultural indoctrination is not working, at least in Flanders.

Despite forty years of non-stop propaganda in the media, the schools, and the universities, despite the best efforts of all the cultural enrichers and diversity consultants, the residents of Flanders remain remarkably — dare I say atavistically? — racist and Islamophobic.

It really is time to abolish the Flemish people and elect a new one.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled and translated a series of articles concerning a recent survey that reveals just how Islamophobic the Flemings are. Make sure you scroll down and read the eminently sensible quotes from Filip Dewinter. At the end of this series VH includes his own commentary.

First, from Het Laaste Nieuws:

Almost half of the Flemings consider Islam a threat

Almost half of the Flemish electorate has a very negative view of Islam and Muslims. No less than 46 percent of the Flemish electorate believes that Islam is not a contribution to the European culture. Barely 18 percent think that on the contrary it is a contribution.

Even more voters (48 percent) believe that Islamic values are a threat to Europe, and 37 percent are of the opinion that most Muslims have no respect for European culture and lifestyle.

Research

This is apparent from a research conducted by the Institute for Social and Political Opinion Research [Instituut voor Sociaal en Politiek Opinieonderzoek, ISPO] of the Catholic University (KU) in Leuven, Flanders [pdf can be downloaded here]. The ISPO team, led by Jaak Billiet and Marc Swyngedouw, asked 1,084 Flemish voters between September 2007 and January 2008 for their voting behavior. In the margins of this study they also measured the concept of “Islamophobia”, or the negative attitude towards Islam.

- - - - - - - - -
From De Standaard:

The strongest statement — Islamic history and culture are more violent than other cultures — is accepted by nearly 42 percent of the respondents, while only 21 percent do not agree with this argument.

When it comes to family life, is 81 per cent of the Flemish voters are of the opinion that Muslim men dominate their women too much. Just 3.5 percent of the respondents do not agree with that and 15 percent hold an intermediate position. On questions with a focus on school performance and authoritarian upbringing, only half state they have no idea.

The researchers also investigated the attitude of the voters opposed to the wearing of head scarves in public functions. This debate evolved in the run-up to the elections of 2007 after intense discussions. Among other things, the headscarf was banned in Antwerp, for officials with a visible public role.. A majority (53 percent) support the measure and apparently believe that Muslim women in public positions should not wear the headscarf. 35 percent have no problem with that.

The attitude of the Flemish voters towards Islam is more negative then the attitude towards ethnic minorities. The ISPO examined the attitude towards these minorities or migrants since 1991. The feelings of economic rivalry have continuously declined since then.

The investigation of 2007 shows that half of the voters are of the opinion that immigrants do not threaten the employment situation. At the same time, 40 percent of respondents do believe that ethnic minorities do not contribute to the prosperity of our country.

New immigration is not enthusiastically welcomed: 38 percent of the voters are for, but 47 percent are opposed to this, even if it would help to solve labor shortages. Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters (CD&V, Christian Democrats) announced last week that Flanders should by 2020 become one of the wealthiest regions [he does not say “countries”]. “There will, however, be a need for foreign workers to achieve that,” Swyngedouw continues, “If you see how negative the attitude is against foreigners, you’re stuck with a big problem.” According to Swyngedouw, the Flemings fear a new type of immigrants: the highly skilled: “The immigrants who are already are here are not wanted by the Flemings, and the new immigrants are seen as a competition on the labor market. “

The feelings of cultural threat decreased since 1991, as did the feelings of economic competition. But since the turn of the millennium, they began to rise again. The attacks of September 11, 2001 in the U.S. were clearly a turning point.

Today, 43 percent of Flemish voters are of the opinion that migrants are a threat to our culture and customs. A third of the electorate does not agree with that. The lifestyle of ethnic minorities is seen as incompatible with the Western European way of life by 41%.

Young people from 18 to 34 years are the most positive towards immigrants, the elderly the most negative. Especially those older than 55 show a rise of a strongly negative attitude. It is noteworthy that education has only a small effect on the feelings towards ethnic minorities. When it comes to Islamophobia, education still plays a role. Voters with tertiary education have a much less negative view of Islam than voters who only have a primary education. [emphasis added]

Finally, the researchers tried to assess the attitude of Flemish voters towards racist remarks. Only a tiny majority believes that a speaker at a public meeting or on television should be stopped when he utters racist speech. 45 percent believe that such a speaker must be able to say what he or she wants.

An article by Vlaams Belang concerning this report:

“Negative attitude of the Flemish towards Islam has nothing to do with Islamophobia but everything with common sense”

“Stirring up opinions of the Flemish on Islamophobia lead to politically-correct thinking and revisionism”

A few days ago, the results of a survey by the Institute for Social and Political survey of the KU Leuven were published. In the period between September 2007 and January 2008, 1084 voters were questioned about their voting behavior and their attitude towards Islam. The survey shows that about half of the Flemish voters have a “negative” view of Islam. 45% of the Flemings see Islam as a threat, 42% think their culture is violent and more than 80% find that Muslim men dominate their women.

Filip Dewinter believes that “the Muslim-critical attitude of majority of Flemings in respect to Islam is immediately branded by researchers and the media as ‘Islamophobia’. The fact that half of the Flemish consider the Islam as a threat has nothing to do with the so-called Islamophobic attitude of the Flemish and everything to do with Islam itself.” Islam is rightly regarded by the average Fleming as a totalitarian political ideology that stands at odds with our Western freedoms, standards, and values. The demonizing of a majority of the Flemings for their views on Islam will lead to politically-correct thinking and censorship. That any form of criticism of Islam is dismissed as Islamophobia means yet another victory for radical Islam.

According to the researchers, the so-called “negative” picture of the Flemish people about Islam is due to a lack of knowledge about Islam. But the reverse is true! The Fleming knows more than enough about the nature and practice of Islam to judge it with common sense. Filip Dewinter is satisfied. Though, and pleasantly surprised by the Islam-critical attitude of the Flemish population. Filip Dewinter: “Congratulations to everyone who despite the political-correct dictatorship dares to freely express his views about Islam. The stigmatization of all those who hold a critical view on Islam is yet another attempt to enforce politically-correct group-think on the man in the street. If Islamophobia means that one is critical of Islam, then I think it is the duty of every person to be Islamophobic. If Islamophobia means that one sees the Islam as a threat, than it is the duty of every person to be Islamophobic. The political ideology of Islam and radical Islam are indeed a threat to our Flemish and European cultural identity and identity. May Europe never be Eurabia!”

During the Question Hour today in the Flemish parliament, Filip Dewinter will interrogate the Flemish Minister of Integration, Marino Keulen [Open VLD, Flemish Liberals] about this study.

An interview with Filip Dewinter about the report:

Almost half of the Flemish are of the opinion that Islam does not contribute to European culture. Almost half of the Flemings consider Islamic values to be a threat to our society and finds Islamic culture violent. A research of the KU Leuven [Catholic University Leuven] pointed out earlier this week that we do not have a high esteem for Islam. Politicians reacted with shock to this “Islamophobia”.

Filip Dewinter (Flemish Interest) on the contrary expresses delight “My congratulations to everyone who, despite the politically-correct group-think, the intimidation and the brainwashing is yet resilient enough to continue not only to understand the violent nature of Islam but also to express that. The figures show that the population has not yet been fully affected by the multicultural virus.”

A number of politicians want to take action, you will find that not necessary?

“Absolutely not. We should just take into account the conviction of the Flemings. Politicians always give the same answer: indoctrination and re-education. They believe that the Fleming has insufficient knowledge on Islam. The opposite is true. The population is simply right.

“Politicians are profiling themselves too much as do-gooders. They immediately want to make the man in the street feel guilty. The adaptation of the law is the next step. Instantly, Islamophobia is a crime. It is surely impossible to label every form of criticism of Islam as Islamophobia. That way they kill any debate.”

Flemings are especially critical towards extreme manifestations of this religion.

“That is a misconception. Islam simply is unable to adapt to Western values: then it would not be Islam anymore. Look, cultural Muslims constitute the overwhelming majority here. For them the Islam is no more than a perception the passed on through family traditions.. They are not consistent experience religion consistently. Immediately they are not real Muslims. The radical Muslims, about 10 to 20 percent, are in charge. They bring the political ideology into practice. We have nothing against Muslims, but do so against their political ideology. This ideology is at odds with Western freedoms, standards and values. The Flemish government is by taking its stance, protecting radical Muslims.”

To you, Islamophobia is a form of good citizenship.

“Definitely. At least as long as Islamophobia means that one sees the Islam as a threat. It is about time that Flemish minister Marino Keulen [Open VLD, Flemish Liberals] understands this. Unfortunately, he persists in anger. With the recognition of Islam as a religion in Flanders he cooperates with the building of a social grouping, a Muslim pillar.”

Quote from an article by Yves Weinberger in Joods Actueel:

…If there is Islamophobia today in our Western world, then that is primarily because of the impotence of the Muslim world in adapting to modernity. A part of the Muslim world is dropping back into fundamentalism in which all blame is shifted onto Israel and the West. Although hundreds of millions of people are having a hard time on our planet, it is quite striking that Muslim militias are responsible for the bulk of the terror. And what do the moderate Muslims and the theologians say? They remain silent! Still no reason to be somewhat Islamophobic? Anyone who has seen the demonstrations of the AEL [Arab European League] and their ilk is aware of how the hatred against Jews in general, the West, and the US is being orchestrated. It was significant to see the clerico-fascist Islamists and atheist communists hand in hand and to hear slogans like “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas.

VH offers his own opinion:

A serious point of criticism of the report might be that the hosts, the Flemings are being researched for their attitude to colonizers they never asked for, and without researching the colonizers first. Just a thought: half your neighborhood is suddenly (within a few decades) flooded with Muslims who are in no way planning to join in or respect you or your culture and country, and then a research group comes to your house to see what is wrong with you and to count your books: “The participation in voluntary work — to have a socially wide life-style — and a broad knowledge (expressed in book ownership) have mitigating effects on both the negative attitudes towards minorities and the negative attitude towards Islam.” [p.20]

The immigrants should apologize to the Flemings for this harassment, pay back the damage and promise to behave from now on or leave, and take all those appeasing big mouth dhimmi politicians with them.