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Roundtable: Managing cultural diversity in immigration areas

Thursday, 19 February 2015

The CCME organized a round table discussion on "Managing cultural diversity in the immigration areas" moderated by Mustapha Mourabit, research professor and former director of Al Jazeera Center for Studies, with the participation of prominent figures including Khalid Hajji, researcher and secretary general of the European Centre for the Moroccan ulemas (MOSC) Leon Buskens, anthropologist and law specialist in Muslim societies and Abderrahmane Aisati, professor at the University of Tilburg (Netherlands).

Leon Buskens opened the debate by highlighting the need to appreciate the historical dimension of this issue, in fact he speaks of the first wave of immigration to the Netherlands where it was believed that these people from elsewhere were not going to stay for long which turned out to be wrong as evidenced by subsequent generations of immigrant who have forged a new identity and managed to adapt to Dutch society while maintaining their links with Morocco.

 He therefore condemns the emergence of an overtly xenophobic discourse and the laxity of society and the change in tone of Dutch political and curing vis-à-vis the issue of immigration, which reinforces the behavior of some young people who become delinquent or who are on the margin of the extremism.,

Furthermore, he calls on Dutch society, government and different communities to acknowledge the fact that "immigrants will stay and that they want to live in a certain way which is their right and freedom"while emphasizing the importance of "respecting others’ sensitivities."

Meanwhile Mr. Aisati notes a protruding problem of identity reduction, he believes that "identity is a hierarchy" which begins from its direct environment before including several other factors.

He believes that the management of the cultural issue in the Netherlands is relegated to the background, and it focuses on the individual level  and although many schools and Islamic centers are funded by the Dutch State, they mostly benefit the Turks who are driven by the desire to preserve their culture while according to Mr.Aisati, Moroccans do not really have this fiber and strong attachment to their country and its customs.

For his part, Khalid Hajji considers that "culture is a symbiosis between time, place and others» the failure of European societies is explained by the fact that they thought they could curb immigration and manage the integration of all, he further speaks of integration and disintegration of society and Europe who feels threatened in its identity for being open to other civilizations.

He believes that it is up to the Muslim community to adapt to the culture of the host country while evoking the youth unrest of immigrant who remain torn between the customs of their families and the societal values of the Western countries in which they live.

This leads some to adopt the model of puritanical Islam that aspires to one and only religious identity and ignores his other identity claims which is a problem for coexistence and social cohesion.          

 

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