EU Imploring Immigrants to Learn 'Values'

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union justice and interior ministers agreed Friday that new immigrants to the 25-nation bloc should be required to learn local languages, and to adhere to general "European values" that will guide them toward better integration.

Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk, who chaired the meeting, said all countries agreed to make integrating newcomers a priority, considering the growing ethnic tensions as EU nations struggle to absorb a steady stream of poor, mostly Muslim immigrants.

Just this month in the Netherlands, the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Muslim radical unleashed a wave of attacks against mosques, churches and religious schools in a country once famed for its tolerance.

Tensions also rose in Belgium, where authorities arrested a suspect Friday accused of sending death threats to a senator of Moroccan heritage who criticized radical Muslims.

"It's not like we are against immigration," Verdonk said. "If you want to live in the Netherlands, you have to adhere to our rules ... and learn our language."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-eu-immigration,0,6101154.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

LIBERAL values, which is a good thing! :)

If they want theocrazies, they can migrate right here to the red parts of the USA! Heh heh.

are not allowed to preserve their cultural heritage and social customs are non-Europeans? The Netherlands is taking this step, because for decades their incredibly tolerant and progressive society has opened its doors to the world. A huge population of fundamentalist Muslims has immigrated, and formed a sub-culture within this nation. The last three Dutch who have offered mild criticism of radical fundamentalist Muslim practices, like institutionalized discrimination against women, have been MURDERED by these same fundamentalist Muslims. This measure is addressing this issue by stating the Dutch desire for immigrants to respect the practices and language of their new home. How is this saying, Muslims aren't welcome??? Please, if you can offer a logical explanation, I'm ready to hear it.

I am ready to be flamed.

Cultural heritage and social customs are not the same thing as values. On the opposite, one basic EU's value is cultural pluralism. Only when certain social customs clash with values of respecting others, there are problems. Islam is in contradiction to EU's values; all forms of fundamentalism and refusal to engage in dialogue are.

I trust the Dutch culture, they are not going to go bonkers because of couple tragic incidents.

and try to become a citizen with your European ways. If you would be allowed to immigrate at all, that is.

"It's not like we are against immigration," Verdonk said. "If you want to live in the Netherlands, you have to adhere to our rules ... and learn our language."

In other words, be white like me.

Are you saying that immigrants shouldn't be expected to obey the laws of their country of choice and that to expect them to do so is racist?

what is wrong expecting immigrants to adhere to the rules?

learning the language is a basic requirement to beeing able to communicate and sort things out, to make intents known in a civilized manner. Don't like the rules, vote your guy and try to change it like every malcontent citizen does.

both common basic rules and a common langguage are the very foundation to a working society. Not beeing able to communicate just nurtures misunderstandings, prejudice, fear and ultimately hate.

they are saying we don't want any fundamentalist fart be it American redneck or fundamentalist Islamic nut shooting up out neighborhoods and killing our people.
and why shouldn't you learn the language and the rules if you are going to emigrate to a country??????? geeeesh

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Nationalism is tied to culture. People don't want to see their nation's culture changed and/or destroyed. This is protection, not persecution. It is prevention of an abuse of the minority by the majority. You're free to develop your own nation and culture if you like.

You don't have to eat hot dogs and baked beans on the 4th of July to be an American. American values consist of tolerance, freedom of choice, contributing to society, common good, things like that. They have nothing to do with assimilating into a culture or even speaking the English language. Of course, if you want to compete economically, you have to learn the language. If you can manage to live out the American values while speaking a foreign language, maybe you're a housekeeper or something, that doesn't make you any less American.

People don't care about those. It's the things that do matter like language, religion, etc. that people fear newcomers may change. Look what's happening in our country despite our value of separation of church and state. In our case, it's insiders instead of newcomers but the fear is the same.

The culture and nation are something that each person identifies with, and the loss of that is similar to losing a body part (without the nasty bleeding or loss of utility.)

They ARE the values that matter. Those are the values that beat back the ignorance of fear, which is what you're suggesting we succumb to. I'll shut up, I have nothing nice left to say.

Of everything I posted, you focus on hot dogs???? It was an example of the culture the patriotic 'muricans want to protect, God, mom and apple pie. Speaking English and being a Christian nation are just thrown out there as cover for those who don't want minority immigrants in this country stealing their jobs and marrying their daughters. If there were great jobs for everybody and minorities "stayed in their place", you'd never hear another word about it.

of the excision of the female clitoris and sewing of the labia major over the vagina. Some African cultures do this, however, when it was done in France to some girls who having been born in France, those who performed the 'cermony' were prosecuted. Was this racist, wrong?

it's also about arrogance. Our culture and religion is better therefore we don't need to learn your ways. We will just wait because your birthrate is low and eventually we will own the place anyway.---Like it or not that may well be the prevailing attitude

The brutal murder of Dutch filmmaker and journalist Theo van Gogh, an acerbic critic of Islam, has added more fuel to the flames of an ongoing discussion in Holland. The debate has many branches, but the main one – if I may be allowed to paraphrase it rather crudely – goes something along the lines of: "what are we going to do about these Muslims?"

In the 60s and 70s The Netherlands hosted a stream of workers from Turkey and Morocco. They were given little encouragement to integrate into Dutch society or learn the language; it was assumed that after a few years they would go back to their respective countries to live comfortably on their earnings. That's not how it turned out.

These immigrants, mainly from farming communities in North Africa and Turkey, stuck to their traditions, their cultures, their language, and above all, their religion. They continued to speak Arabic or Turkish at home and their women stayed indoors and barely learned more than a few words in Dutch. Their children, however, straddled both cultures and these second- and third-generation immigrants grew up reluctant to go back to the countries their parents called home. At the same time, they didn't feel quite "at home" here in the Netherlands.

http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/cultureandhistory/041112vh

Its part of the price of immigrating, and I would hope that if you wanted to move to a new land, you would like that land and its practices. If you don't like the language, and don't like the culture, than don't move there.

If I moved to France, I would learn (more) French, and would participate in French customs. I would still keep my own, but would blend in and learn to apprecaite the culture. Same if I moved to Thailand, or El Salvador or Ethiopia.

The host country has a responsibility to offer language classes, and cultural help and encouraging the native population to be welcoming to the new immigrants, but the immigrants also have a responsibility to take advantage of these things and learn.

In the LA Times last week there was an article on an area set apart for day laborers, and one of the things they did was have English classes available for those workers who couldn't find work that day. They wanted to learn so they could communicate better and have a better life. I was glad the city was offering it. The repukes hated it, of course, but that's what we should be encouraging.