The increasing gap between Muslim youth and European society.
The past days Jan Jambon, internal affairs, Belgium, has been under pressure from all sides after a comment made on the Brussels attacks.
“A significant part of the Muslim population danced after the attacks.”
He later claimed that state security shared that info, which was backed up by Prime minister Charles Michel: “It has been a minority, and we should not generalize, but the support for the attacks has been sobering. We should not deny that by glossing over it.”
Yet, right or wrong, after an article in The Wall Street Journal comparing Jambon to Donald Trump and a lawsuit being filed by terrorist appologist Djab Abou Jahjah (who has since been confronted on his statements by Jihad expert Montasser Alde'emeh), it seems his comments have stirred up a contest of political correctness rather than a debate on an existing issue.
Dutch primary schools and radicalized kids
Dutch primary schools are struggling to find a way to handle radicalized kids.
According to education alderman Van Engelshoven there are dozens of Muslim children on primary school in Den Haag alone, who carry extreme ideas. children who cheer terrorist attacks or directly sympathise with ISIS.
Smaller towns are more hands-on and capable, according to a town spokesperson, “We frequently meet with education professionals to try and give them the tools to work with radicalized children.”
But the problem is far more difficult in large cities, says the association for public education (VOO): “Political The Hague forgets to mention how we should handle this situation.”
Radicalization among very young children is clearly a taboo subject. The cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam claim to have received no signals of the sort, even when MP Ahmed Marcouch (PvdA) mentioned an entire list of schools in Amsterdam where the problem is present. Other cities deny that there are any issues as well.
“But those issues are real,” says CDA-councilor Ibrahim Wijbenga. He too claims the problems are present in various schools and that entire classrooms are taught to resent the education system. “It scares me that some teachers are incapable and afraid to provide sufficient support, people like that shouldn’t be in front of a classroom.”
Strict religious parents
Some schools have noted the difficulty of working with children of very strict parents. Kids who put their fingers into their ears during music class, kids who verbally attack other kids when they eat a ham sandwich and even parents who demand of the teacher to make sure their child never has to sit next to a child of the oposite gender.
“ISIS will destroy you and slice your necks.”
Belgian workmen who had been laying street tiles showed another bit of this issue. They said to have to work in a state of fear, “We get intimidated, robbed and beaten by students from the area.”
“This street isn’t near their schools so they tend to leave us alone here,” says a workman who has a small company with his two sons. “But the Goswin de Stassartstreet and the Saint-Jeanstreet are quite different. The harassment is constant there. They don’t respect the fences around the workyard and challenge us, even push us, just to get us to react. As soon as we react they get violent and say that ISIS will destroy us and slice our necks.”
Another worker continues, anonymously out of fear, “They’ve stolen our keys and tools, on the 9th of March they’ve beaten me up. Two guys trespassed onto the yard, once they started pushing the fences I went to their school. A group of 7 or 8 students jumped me there. I had to have stitches, I had bruised ribs and a concussion. I wasn’t able to work for five days.”
Police spokesperson and chief Dirk Van de Sande confirms that the police has intervened in two such situations for the workmen.
Other streetworkers have reported the same behaviour, and a local attested having windows thrown in with stolen tools three times, each time after school ended.
Tanja Janssens, school principal, avoided most of the comments, saying, “We aren’t really sure if our kids were involved, I did expel one student who we do know was involved.” She goes on to clarify that he did receive a punch as well. As if to say that that proves there really are no issues at all. She did however request police supervision around her school.
Source on Jan Jambon
Source on radicalized kids
Source on Charles Michel
Source on student violence
