Nationalist-populist rhetoric & the demise of Dutch multiculturalism: what future for Muslim minorities

Abstract

This research sets out to explore the implications on Muslims following the demise of multiculturalism and the rise of nationalist populist rhetoric in the Netherlands. For decades the Netherlands enjoyed a stable political system, a lengthy tradition of liberalism, tolerance and more recently multiculturalism. The apparent ease with which the Netherlands integrated immigrants in Dutch society through its ambitious policy of multiculturalism attracted the attention of many other European states experiencing problems assimilating ethnic minorities. But since the emergence of Pim Fortuyn in 2002, populist parties emphasizing anti-immigrant feelings have taken up an important position within the Dutch political landscape. Today, Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) whose objective is fighting the Islamization of the Netherlands and restoring the Dutch national identity is the third largest political party in the country and xenophobia and Islamophobia have reached unprecedented heights in recent years. These developments challenge the legitimacy of Muslim presence and citizenship in the Netherlands. This raises the question of how deep the roots of Dutch multiculturalism and tolerance have been in the past. In other words: did multiculturalism in the Netherlands ever take root? The fact that the above described developments not only occur in the Netherlands but are part of a larger trend in Europe raises the question whether a multicultural Europe in times of a financial and economic downturn can exist and what this means for the future of Muslim minorities in Europe and in the Netherlands in particular. In order to answer questions raised above, this study has made use of secondary literature (including a review of the media) regarding the developments of the debate on Islam, immigration and integration and employed a case-study based upon interviews, focus-groups and surveys in Amsterdam among Muslim youth focusing upon the future of race-relations in the Netherlands in the context of Geert Wilders rise to power.