DutchNews.nl - Labour amends hard line integration policy

The Labour party is to rewrite parts of its new policy document on the integration of immigrants following pressure from ordinary members, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

The draft document, published in December, takes a hard-line approach to young trouble-makers from ethnic minorities and calls on immigrants to leave behind their cultural origins and choose unequivocally to join Dutch society.

But the document has been criticised by party members for focusing too much on the negative side of immigration and for containing generalisations about young trouble-makers.

‘We are going to be more explicit about where things are going well,’ party chairwoman Lilianne Ploumen, who drew up the original document, told the paper.

For example, the document will include more about businesses set up by immigrants and about successes in further education, the Volkskrant said.

The paper says criticism of the original document, entitled Divided Pasts, Shared Futures, came from Labour party members at meetings in The Hague and Eindhoven as well as from MPs.

Another five local meetings are due to take place next week. In Noord-Brabant alone, dozens of amendments to the policy document have already been put forward, the paper says.

Thanks God that someone has realised forcing people to complete discard their culture is so bad to say the least.Please give the venues, dates and times of the meeting so that people can attend and express their contributions.

By Cm | January 23, 2009 12:07 PM

I don't see too many modern Dutch men and women walking around in 'Klompen' and wearing traditional customs commonly worn a few centuries ago. Apparently, some where along the way their culture was allowed to evolve into its present day form with plenty of influence from outside the NL. Tobacco, Italian mode and cars,French wines and Champagne, German beer, Russian vodka, U.S. films and music, Chinese carry out food, and on and on, all helped transform Dutch society into a different form than what it was 400 years ago. Social culture is not something that can legislated, neither can crime be stopped by stigmatizing certain ethnic groups. The laws on the books give the Dutch authorities full power to track down criminals without adding jingoistic amendments.

By HistoryTechDoc | January 23, 2009 7:42 PM