Being a devout practicing Muslim himself, Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb has urged Muslims to distance themselves from extremist attacks falsely linked to their religion, stressing that dialogue and education can eliminate misconceptions about Islam.
“More than ever, international tensions are having an impact on the local community. For that reason, there must be room for anger and grief,” Mayor Aboutaleb said in his speech yesterday in the White House in Washington.
“At the same time, we need to ensure that international conflicts do not degenerate into hostilities in our streets.”
Mayor Aboutaleb was speaking during a summit he is attending on countering violent extremism in Washington.
The summit was held after two attacks targeting Copenhagen and Paris, which were both rejected by Muslims as against the tenets of their faith.
One of the points he touched on is the importance of calling on residents to seek each other out and enter into a dialogue.
“As mayor and a practicing Muslim, I also call upon the Muslim community to take action and make their voices heard more loudly,” he said.
“In my opinion it is precisely that voice that is a valuable medicine: the 16 million Muslims in Europe and 2 million in the United States can show that their religious beliefs can be perfectly combined with our Western Values.”
The mayor stressed on the importance of a strong access to information, saying he frequently goes into the city to talk to residents about the safety of their neighborhoods.
“If you know what is going on in the city, you can respond quickly and appropriately to tensions in society and their effects, especially with respect to young people.”
Muslims make up one million of the Netherlands’s 16 million population, mostly from Turkish and Moroccan origin.
The mayor stressed that offering good education and jobs would end any chances of the appearance of extremist ideas between youth.
“Good education, adequate trainee-ships and jobs will always be necessary,” he said.
“Because a good education is important for finding a good job, of course. Because a paid job is the best remedy against poverty and a life on the margins of society. The margins where malicious people will find their victims.”
He also noted that it is important to set boundaries that are written down in the Constitution and monitor them.
“When new citizens are granted the Dutch nationality, I point out, during the naturalization ceremony, not only their rights but also the duties that Dutch law imposes on them.”
Anti-Muslim attacks have increased significantly over the past months.
In Almere, a man drove into a group of girls on his bike, kicked them and called them ‘c*** Muslims’.
In Rotterdam, a girl was spat at and mosques sprayed with graffiti.
Identitair Verzet, which has over 5,000 likes on its Facebook page, is led by right-wing extremist Paul Peters, according to anti-fascist research group Kafka.
A recent research on anti-Muslim violence in the Netherlands has found that approximately 69% of mosques have experienced at least one attack or more during the last ten years.
The most common attacks were smashed windows, followed by slurs or anti-Islamic comments sprayed with graffiti and arson.
Other types of attacks include aggression against mosque personnel, amounting to death threats to Muslims in general or to a specific Mosque by email or phone.
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