IN 2008 DUTCH JOURNALIST ARTHUR VAN AMERONGEN PUBLISHED HIS BOOK 'BRUSSELS : EURABIA' ABOUT MOLENBEEK. PREDICTED SUICIDE ATTACKS
"After Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen it will be the Netherlands' turn. Because in Amsterdam-West the same people live as in Molenbeek."
VOLKSKRANT, NieuwsBreak
http://www.volkskrant.nl/opinie/art...hash=90d104404a8e8c587224ac14af04e4cf2be5a017
NieuwsBreak. The Netherlands has so far been spared, says writer, Arabist and Volkskrant columnist Arthur van Amerongen today in the NieuwsBreak.
In 2008 you wrote in your book 'Brussels: Eurabia':" Brussels is a time bomb, there will certainly be a suicide attack. You have been vindicated. How did you know that for sure at the time already?
"I graduated in that subject.
My specialty is Salafism and Jihadism. In Molenbeek I saw before my eyes how the criminal Moroccans were becoming Salafist. People did not want to see it then while to me it was all in plain sight, for all to see. Incidentally, I was not the first who wrote about it. Wim van Rooy wrote it too.
But our kind of voice was swept under the carpet in Belgium."
Why did you go to live in a place like Molenbeek in 2008?
"I read a news item about a Belgian woman who had committed an attack in Iraq, the first Western terrorist: Muriel Degauque. She lived in Molenbeek. That was my the literary starting point, in the end it has turned out to be a very strange book, very different from what I had in mind, because at first I wanted to make a more anthropological-sociological book."
You write today in your Volkskrant Column. "Politically correct Belgistan found my findings outrageous and nonsense too." Is Belgium that politically correct?
"Belgians are broekenpoepers [literally: pant-shitters, chickens].
Leftish Belgians are afraid that if they say something negative about Islam, they will immediately be labelled as Vlaams Belang [right wing]. They would rather promote Islam than being put in the far right corner. These are old Marxists who believe that society can be made, engineered, but of course that idea conflicts with Islam."
Bart Eeckhout, commentator of De Morgen and living in Molenbeek said in an interview that the last five years Molenbeek has in fact improved. Is that nonsense, he lives there, after all?
"He's one of the worst. Then you have Koen Vidal and David Van Reybrouck.
Those are the types who while their head is being chopped off, still insist that Islam is love. Where that came from, I do not know, but I do not believe that Islam is love. Things have not improved in Molenbeek, I was there this spring for "Brussels Eurabia part two ', and it's just gotten worse. But someone who lives there, must obviously be fed up like crazy because you can never sell your house in Molenbeek. It is misery, nobody works, you can not buy alcohol, women have to walk in burka. If you are a woman wearing a skirt, you barely escape having hydrochloric acid thrown thrown into your face. Not quite yet. Molenbeek is spooky, with all these narrow streets. Those Belgians who promote Molenbeek are simply lying."
You said in an interview that after the publication of Brussels: Eurabia you were also ousted in the Netherlands. "I got a Berufsverbot, a professional ban"
"Yeah, I worked for various left-wing magazines but after that they gave no more assignments. Even though I had previously won the Prize of the Newspaper Journalism. They found me, I believe, somehow irritating after that book. Previously I had the reputation of an alcohol and drug user, and was not taken seriously. I was a kind of court jester."
And now you have been labeled as a prophet.
"It is not an official title, I think, otherwise I would use it. It is above all a laughing matter. I find it funny to see those liberal Belgians going flat down on in their mouths."
Martin Sommer wrote this weekend about The Netherlands and the potential terror threat that he had the impression "of a country that is very smug about itself."
"Yes, at the expense of Belgium we pretend that we have it all so well organized. That's not entirely true. Some of those terrorists were every week in Amsterdam. The only difference is that you can control the situation in Amsterdam better, it's more orderly there. And you do not have the French-speaking Syrians and Lebanese, but the rest are all the same families who come originally from the Rif Mountains, they are now living in the Netherlands and Belgium. Everybody knows everybody. The Netherlands has been spared so far. Perhaps this year something happens. After Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen is will be the Netherlands' turn.
Because in Amsterdam-West you have the same people as in Molenbeek.
You now live in Portugal, what's it like there?
"There have been a lot of raids, and six Portuguese jihadists have been killed in Syria, one of whom has a Dutch mother. These are radicalized converts, white junkies, addicted criminals who love to go shooting in Syria in the name of the prophet. There are in Portugal, unlike in Spain, almost no Moroccans."
Let's go back to Brussels. Doesn't the lock-down simply reinforce the fear?
"Belgians are the most frightened people of Europe. Now they have gone completely around the bend. Cafes are closed, schools are closed, the subway does not run.
They're in a psychosis of fear. While they should have acted earlier. They need to break up Molenbeek, comb it out completely. But they do not do that. They'll be overly paranoid for a whille but in a few days everything it will be business as usual. They now claim that they will combat Salafism but I do not believe it. They are a a fearful bunch. I find the Dutch not so brave either, but I think the Belgians are even less brave. "
How do the jihadists need to be dealt with in your opinion?
"Put on ankle monitors, take away passports, freeze benefits, and send them to an education camp. Never ever reward the returned foreign rebel fighters in the Syrian Civil War. All Moroccans have been pampered enough by an army of social workers. Every approach has failed, from the district father to the psychologist, nothing has worked. You must crack them down. They are tough guys, trained terrorists. The worst among them need to be sent to an education camp like [former Dutch PM] Lubbers proposed thirty years ago. Let them dig the earth in [the province of] Drenthe."
Is also often said, give them education and a job.
"Those are the old leftist theories about the proletariat. But it is the message of Islam itself that is causing this, it has nothing to do with external factors. The people who were behind 9/11 were all educated guys. The bombers in London were doctors. It is a misconception that all terrorists are paupers. The old adage 'give them a job and a missus, and they'll settle down, like it works with Dutch criminals, does not apply to them. They laugh at the Dutch government. They do not recognize the Dutch state at all, except for the benefits than that they love to collect.
What made you decide to study Arabic?
"It looked like a good trade to me. At that time, in 1985 I wanted to become a journalist. I succeeded. I have been a correspondent in Jerusalem and Beirut. Now it seems like a smart move but I want to move on
I have been writing about Islam for thirty years. I'm done with it, I want to write about something fun every now and then. It is a sad topic. I would rather write about food."
Do you have a tip for our readers?
"Do not buy a house in Molenbeek. And visit Brussels now because there's nowhere you have to stand in line."
BBM
