The Dutch, Too Tolerant for Their Own Good?

The immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, "Iron Rita," is spearheading a number of reforms that strike deep into the hearts of Dutch liberals. New immigrants, particularly from Muslim countries, are being required to take courses in Dutch language and society and they will have to pass a test to show their proficiency in Dutch culture in order to immigrate to the Netherlands. The latest proposal includes banning the burqa -- the head-to-toe cover worn by some Muslim women -- in public places. And a new plan would have foreigners expelled from the Netherlands for committing even minor crimes. Some politicians, like the flamboyant Geert Wilders with his bleached blond bouffant hair, call for a ban on immigrants from the Muslim world. Wilders, also facing death threats and living in hiding under police protection, says Islam is simply incompatible with democracy.

Defenders of immigrant rights and other liberal groups worry that a climate of discrimination is spreading through the deceptively placid and sedate Dutch landscape. Others say the Netherlands has always had a nasty streak hidden beneath the charming facade of quaint canals, tulip gardens and its everything-goes society.

The atmosphere, as they say, is ripe for abuse by extremist politicians. The threat, however, is not a political fabrication. The danger from extremism is real, and the presence of a radicalized core of Muslim extremists requires action. There is every reason to believe that some of the actions the government takes will create more resentments and, at least to some degree, undermine the freedoms and tolerance that the Dutch have valued as the core of their national identity.

The Dutch system, say people like Hirsi Ali, assumed all sides would practice tolerance. In a world in which the ways of one culture can prove so deeply offensive to others, and in which some of those who take offense express their objections through murder, those rules simply have to change.

Author's e-mail : fghitis@yahoo.com

Frida Ghitis, a frequent visitor to the Netherlands, is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television" (Algora Publishing).