Posted on 02/26/2005 5:33:45 PM PST by Pikamax
More Dutch Plan to Emigrate as Muslim Influx Tips Scales By MARLISE SIMONS
MSTERDAM - Paul Hiltemann had already noticed a darkening mood in the Netherlands. He runs an agency for people wanting to emigrate and his client list had surged.
But he was still taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was shot and his throat was slit, execution style, on an Amsterdam street.
In the weeks that followed, Mr. Hiltemann was inundated by e-mail messages and telephone calls. "There was a big panic," he said, "a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country."
Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy?
The answer, increasingly, is yes. This small nation is a magnet for immigrants, but statistics suggest there is a quickening flight of the white middle class. Dutch people pulling up roots said they felt a general pessimism about their small and crowded country and about the social tensions that had grown along with the waves of newcomers, most of them Muslims."The Dutch are living in a kind of pressure cooker atmosphere," Mr. Hiltemann said.
There is more than the concern about the rising complications of absorbing newcomers, now one-tenth of the population, many of them from largely Muslim countries. Many Dutch also seem bewildered that their country, run for decades on a cozy, political consensus, now seems so tense and prickly and bent on confrontation. Those leaving have been mostly lured by large English-speaking nations like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where they say they hope to feel less constricted.
In interviews, emigrants rarely cited a fear of militant Islam as their main reason for packing their bags. But the killing of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a fierce critic of fundamentalist Muslims, seems to have been a catalyst.
"Our Web site got 13,000 hits in the weeks after the van Gogh killing," said Frans Buysse, who runs an agency that handles paperwork for departing Dutch. "That's four times the normal rate."
Mr. van Gogh's killing is the only one the police have attributed to an Islamic militant, but since then they have reported finding death lists by local Islamic militants with the names of six prominent politicians. The effects still reverberate. In a recent opinion poll, 35 percent of the native Dutch questioned had negative views about Islam.
There are no precise figures on the numbers now leaving. But Canadian, Australian and New Zealand diplomats here said that while immigration papers were processed in their home capitals, embassy officials here had been swamped by inquiries in recent months.
Many who settle abroad may not appear in migration statistics, like the growing contingent of retirees who flock to warmer places. But official statistics show a trend. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. For 2004, the provisional figure is close to 40,000. "It's definitely been picking up in the past five years," said Cor Kooijmans, a demographer at the bureau.
Ruud Konings, an accountant, has just sold his comfortable home in the small town of Hilvarenbeek. In March, after a year's worth of paperwork, the family will leave for Australia. The couple said the main reason was their fear for the welfare and security of their two teenage children.
"When I grew up, this place was spontaneous and free, but my kids cannot safely cycle home at night," said Mr. Konings, 49. "My son just had his fifth bicycle stolen." At school, his children and their friends feel uneasy, he added. "They're afraid of being roughed up by the gangs of foreign kids."
Sandy Sangen has applied to move to Norway with her husband and two school-age children. They want to buy a farm in what she calls "a safer, more peaceful place."
Like the Sangens and Koningses, others who are moving speak of their yearning for the open spaces, the clean air, the easygoing civility they feel they have lost. Complaints include overcrowding, endless traffic jams, overregulation. Some cite a rise in antisocial behavior and a worrying new toughness and aggression both in political debates and on the streets.
Until the killing of Pim Fortuyn, a populist anti-immigration politician, in 2002 and the more recent slaying of a teacher by a student, this generation of Dutch people could not conceive of such violence in their peaceful country.
After Mr. van Gogh's killing, angry demonstrations and fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools took place. In revenge, some Christian churches were attacked. Mr. Konings said he and many of his friends sensed more confrontation in the making, perhaps more violence.
"I'm a great optimist, but we're now caught in a downward spiral, economically and socially," he said. "We feel we can give our children a better start somewhere else."
Marianne and Rene Aukens, from the rural town of Brunssum, had successful careers, he as director of a local bank, she as a personnel manager. But after much thought they have applied to go to New Zealand. "In my lifetime, all the villages around here have merged, almost all the green spaces have been paved over," said Mr. Aukens, 41. "Nature is finished. There's no more silence; you hear traffic everywhere."
The saying that the Netherlands is "full up" has become a national mantra. It was used cautiously at first, because it had an overtone of being anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim. But many of those interviewed now state it flatly, like Peter Bles. He makes a long commute to a banking job in Amsterdam, but he and his wife are preparing to move to Australia.
"We found people are more polite, less stressed, less aggressive there," Mr. Bles said. "Perhaps stress has a lot to do with the lack of living space. Here we are full up."
Space is indeed at a premium here in Europe's most densely populated nation, where 16.3 million people live in an area roughly the size of Maryland. Denmark, which is slightly larger, has 5.5 million people. Dutch demographers say their country has undergone one of Europe's fastest and most far-reaching demographic shifts, with about 10 percent of the population now foreign born, a majority of them Muslims.
Blaming immigrants for many ills has become commonplace. Conservative Moroccans and Turks from rural areas are accused of disdaining the liberal Dutch ways and of making little effort to adapt. Immigrant youths now make up half the prison population. More than 40 percent of immigrants receive some form of government assistance, a source of resentment among native Dutch. Immigrants say, though, that they are widely discriminated against.
Ms. Konings said the Dutch themselves brought on some of the social frictions. The Dutch "thought that we had to adapt to the immigrants and that we had to give them handouts," she said. "We've been too lenient; now it's difficult to turn the tide."
To Mr. Hiltemann, the emigration consultant, what is remarkable is not only the surge of interest among the Dutch in leaving, but also the type of people involved. "They are successful people, I mean, urban professionals, managers, physiotherapists, computer specialists," he said. Five years ago, he said, most of his clients were farmers looking for more land.
Mr. Buysse, who employs a staff of eight to process visas, concurred. He said farmers were still emigrating as Europe cut agricultural subsidies. '"What is new," he said, "is that Dutch people who are rich or at least very comfortable are now wanting to leave the country."
Eurabia, sooner, rather than later.
And, of course, the NY Times is late on this story...One of the British dailies ran this story more than a week ago.
Canada????? BBBBBBWWWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!
Words of wisdom. But the tide *will* turn. The Dutch aren't going to abandon their country wholesale. Eventually people will rise up and Europe will drive Islam out.
All of these people are liberal weaklings too afraid to effect a change. What ever happened? I thougt if you just thought peaceful thoughts that peace would break out?
Are the Dutch really this pussyfied?
The Dutch people created the mess that has become their country. Any country that takes them in granting them citizenship and the right to vote risks the same fate.
what do you expect them to do? they aren't going to take to the streets and engage in a civil war, they have the cash to go someplace else and they are doing it. its happening in alot of US states as well, people are fleeing California for Nevada and Arizona and Colorado.
the libs destroy the country and flee. the conservatives will clean up the libs mess
I'm not so sure....we have what, 5 million illegals living here........doesn't seem like we are doing a bang up job either......thank god they would rather pick produce than kill us....well for the most part....
a nice example of liberalism run amok.
When enough of the Dutch middle-class leaves, the welfare state will collapse. What happens next is left to the imagination
Reverse immigration is the answer. GWB is showing navel gazing Eurorats that freedom and democray in the ME will in the mid to long term, bring about prosperity and hope for millions who are seething with anger at their pathetic existence. People emmigrating from the ME to Europe carry with them the cultural incubators that fuels this hatred. Autocratic mindset, fascism and a sense that they have to "stick it to the white man" are but some. This mindset coupled with an absurd aquiessence on the part of europeans to pander to the whims and desires of an ungrateful immigrant population that wants nothing to do with their adopted nations (except live off the fat of the land!)is a sure recipe for disaster.
If people think they are going to encounter fewer problems with illegal immigrants in Arizona and Colorado than in California, they should reconsider.
And if you connect the dots you inevitably end up with fascism. Sad to say but it is the European way. Always has been!
Okay, but if they're liberal I hope they don't come here.
what do you expect them to do?Ohh I dunno... maybe fight for their culture/country?
Call me crazy, but pulling up stakes is just delaying the inevitable.
the people who can leave, do so. only the dead-enders are going to "fight". the ones who can make it to Australia to live out the remainder of their lives in peace and prosperity, are always going to choose that route. especially when their own government is against them in the battle to turn the country around.
With pitchforks? Let them run, it's not worth saving.
Thirty....five....percent?????? After what has happened to their country? Words fail me.
"...people are fleeing California for Nevada and Arizona and Colorado."
Yes, and they are turning Nevada, Arizona and Colorado into California!
If I hear one more Californiac say, "Well, when I lived in LA, we did it this way..." I gonna put a bunch 'o whoopass on em.
They're starting to crank up their immigration laws.
[In a recent opinion poll, 35 percent of the native Dutch questioned had negative views about Islam.]
The other 65% also have a negative view of Islam but are afraid to say it as they don't want to be labeled racist.
Turns out that diversity and multi-culturalism might not be so great after all huh libs?
I'm trying not to be amused - a few months ago a few Euro's (dutch) insisted I was being an idiot, that Europe's muslim population was integrating nicely.
The Netherlands are Dutch! Kick the Muslims out!
I don't think it will matter - the birth rates of the ones already there, versus the birthrates of the indigenoue Dutch, will determine their demographic future. they may be able to slow it down, but it cannot be reversed.
And where do you think they'll go? The rest of Europe is no better, and much of it is worse (France). They'll come here or go to Australia.
I wonder, do any of these fine citizens want to live in America? They strike me as potential Republican voters.
One of the gun shops in Pocatello, Idaho sells a bumper sticker that reads, "I don't care how you did it in California"
I think the Dutch didn't create it. The vast majority of Dutch do not want these high levels of immigration. this kind of immigration has never been approved by popular vote anywhere. Debate is stifled, by accusations of racism, as it is in the entire western world. They are stifled and suppressed by political correctness.
I think the Dutch didn't create it. The vast majority of Dutch do not want these high levels of immigration. this kind of immigration has never been approved by popular vote anywhere. Debate is stifled, by accusations of racism, as it is in the entire western world. They are stifled and suppressed by political correctness.
Nah, Europeans love to shed blood. They're not pussies. They just haven't done it in a while. The sword will be unsheathed in due time.
This is the height of cowardice. Instead of staying and fighting for the land that their ancestors owned and died for, they turn tail and run. And over what?--A single, high profile murder. The lack of European backbone continues to astonish me.
I saw on another thread about our small Kansas towns giving away land to encourage people to move to Kansas....
A lot of midwestern states could draw fleeing Euro's and everybody would come out a winner.
Rural states get industrious, educated people who in turn get out of the Euro Caliphate...it's a win-win!
Why have people lost the backbone to control things in their own countries?
My prediction is many will flee to Australia and New Zealand where skilled immigrants have a good chance of entry. Unfortunately we prefer to take in the uneducated, the illiterate, the non English speaking of the 3rd world
I think they are fleeing their own government policies more then the islamofascists - they believe they see a trend that cannot be reversed, and are leaving.
And in Michigan, the Muslim call to prayer jangles the nerves 5 times a day. We will wonder what happened to our country soon enough.
This is what happens to a nation that's gone soft. Their tolerance is killing them. It all started with legalizing marijuana. That crap softened up their brains. I know a few people who visited Holland to get stoned in it's famous dope cafés. Just one big lark.
The backside of such laissez-faire freedom and fun is to lay your nation open to invasion by Islamics who are sucking off your welfare state and popping out kids that your taxes will pay for.
I live nowhere near, but the thought of that happening in
this country just makes me so mad. Muslimes should not
have special rights.
"And in Michigan, the Muslim call to prayer jangles the nerves 5 times a day. We will wonder what happened to our country soon enough."
FINALLY somebody gets it! It is not just the Dutch or Europe. Have you looked around the good old US of A lately. Do not be deceived, all our immigrants, and the problems that come with them, ARE NOT MEXICANS. Wake up call.
The Dutch, the new Jews? Edging towards annihilation at the hands of Islam, and no one will raise a hand in their defense.
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