Meanwhile, in Dutch news, the parochial bigotry of that small minded, petty-bourgeois
Dutch government unveils new integration exam
4 February 2005
AMSTERDAM — Does a car have two or four wheels? Is it OK to sunbathe topless on the North Sea beaches along the Dutch coast?
These are just two of the questions would-be immigrants may be asked as part of the new inburgeringsexamen, or integration exam, included in draft legislation that was unveiled by Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk on Thursday.
The exam is intended for immigrants, who will have to take it in their home country prior to coming to the Netherlands, to test their ability to speak Dutch and to gauge their understanding of Dutch culture. A video accompanies the exam material to give candidates insight into life in the Netherlands. It includes images of women sunbathing topless on the beach and of gay marriage — two examples of accepted behaviour in the Netherlands.
The draft legislation provides for exemptions for certain groups of newcomers. These include citizens from other EU countries; the European Economic Area (EU states and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and Switzerland, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. These groups of newcomers are not required to sit the integration exam in their land of origin, according to the draft legislation. However, some may be required to undertake an integration course and exam when in the Netherlands. The draft legislation has to be approved by parliament before it is introduced.
The integration pack — exam material and video — will cost EUR 45 and students will need 250 to 350 hours preparation before sitting the exam, Verdonk said. People sitting the exam will communicate with the examiner in the Netherlands by phone. The immigrant will have to pay for the price of the phone call. Verdonk says the exam will ensure that people who choose to settle in the Netherlands for an extended period of time will have prepared for life here before arrival.
"As integration into Dutch society is a longterm process it is important that newcomers before arrival to the Netherlands have a command of the Dutch language at a basic level and developed an understanding of the society into which they are coming," Verdonk says.
The obligation to undertake an integration course will mainly apply, Verdonk says, to people who come here to form a family by marrying a Dutch person, for example, or who want to be re-united with family members already in the Netherlands.
The ministry estimates 14,000 people a year will apply to take the exam. And given that most family-reunification migrants come from Turkey, Morocco and Suriname, Verdonk says, the majority of applications will be dealt with in the capital cities Ankara, Rabat and Paramaribo."
As far as I am concerned the damned Dutch can take their "normen en waarden" and shove it. The sheer arrogance of Verdonk and other Dutch people, assuming that anyone not Dutch is an uneducated, uncivilised moron who must carefully be taught those wonderful Dutch ways before being allowed to set foot on Netherlands' sacred soil - well, I think I've made it pretty clear what i think of the Netherands' national qualities. But just for those who haven't caught it, here's a quick summation. The Netherlands is not tolerant, it is racist, intolerant and religiously bigoted: the citizens themselves may be some of the world's worst mannered: it's overcrowded, badly built, expensive, noisy, flat and greyly grim.
I am proud of my nationality and its characteristics, as are most people from whatever country, and while I'm perfectly willing to try and fit in to whichever city or country I reside, the whole inburgering system is not about helping anyone to settle. It's about forcing people to give up their national characteristics for the convenience of those indigenous Dutch living here , because the Dutch don't like it. Well, fuck them. I am an EC citizen, I have the right to be here, and I also have the right under the ECHR to a private and family life: this includes my cultural norms too. The Council of States declared that "Europe, characterised by solidarity and a rich cultural mix, is founded on respect for diversity and on tolerance. All member-states ... are continuously striving to build and maintain a Europe based on [...] the diversity of its cultures and languages, a Europe where [the] rights of Minorities are protected." Or, in the words of Commission President Romano Prodi: "We must never forget that Europe is all about diversity. Therefore it needs us to respect and reap the rewards of diversity. European integration has always been about diverse peoples with varied cultures [...] Diversity is one of Europe's greatest treasures."
But no diversity in the Netherlands: no no, too scary, too untidy, too... un-Dutch. Verdonk and her followers will not rest till all us allochtonen are turned into cheese-eating, elbow jabbing, Sjonny & Anita clones, who shop at Hema, eat ham kaas broodjes with their workmates at lunch every single day of their working life, and look down on anyone who doesn't do the same. Let us not forget that this is the same country that collaborated with the Nazis to send 104,000 of its Jewish citizens to the death camps, a fact that Verdonk and her kind would prefer to sweep under carpet while making these racist and oppressive laws.
"Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud,
adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority."
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Of course, the most typically Dutch thing about this plan is buried in the middle paragraph:
"The integration pack — exam material and video — will cost EUR 45 and students will need 250 to 350 hours preparation before sitting the exam, Verdonk said. People sitting the exam will communicate with the examiner in the Netherlands by phone. The immigrant will have to pay for the price of the phone call."
Ah yes, now we know it really is a Dutch plan. Not only do they impose their racist culture on you, they make you pay for the privilege.
