International

Yesterday I was in Amsterdam for, amongst other things, a meeting organised by the Culture and Leisure Centre, the world’s oldest organised gay and lesbian group. The guest speaker was the South Africa-born ‘pink imam’, Mushin Hendricks. It was an impressive and moving gathering. In total contrast to the zeitgeist blowing through Europe bringing tension between religions, between secular and believer, what we heard here was a message of hope. Just as in Egypt, Tunisia and all those other countries in which Muslims are taking to the streets to demand democracy and human rights, there appears to be talk of revolution in the Netherlands, too, though a relatively quiet one. Five years ago a meeting of this kind would have been impossible, but now Muslim gays and lesbians are daring to express their natures openly. And the imam? He looked, and saw that it was good.

In the European Parliament we spent the last week at plenary in Strasbourg, debating countless proposals and voting on them. One debate I took part in concerned asylum, and it was striking how Barry Madlener of Wilders’ PVV used the occasion to warn of the tsunami of Muslims which was hitting Europe. The SP has long warned what would happen if the problems associated with mass migration were simply swept under the carpet, but at the same time we don’t criminalise entire groups, which is precisely what Madlener was doing last week.

Such an attitude does no justice to the real developments. Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East are not demanding the introduction of Sharia law. They want democracy and a fairer division of wealth. Perhaps we are going to have to get used to it, but this popular movement has turned the Muslim world upside down. Suddenly, prejudices no longer seem to accord with reality.

Something similar is happening in the Netherlands. I still remember that when the first organisation was established for homosexuals of foreign descent it was extremely difficult to find Muslims who declared themselves to be gay or lesbian. Yet just a few years later they are there. And what struck me most, perhaps, was the promise from the union of Moroccan mosques in the Netherlands that the pink imam was also welcome there, should he wish to address them. And also that this is about respect for each other, even if you don’t always approve of the other’s way of life. In the eyes of the representatives of the mosque who were present, that is something between you yourself and Allah.

Developments in Dutch Muslim communities are moving unbelievably quickly. One thing, however, was completely clear: non-Muslims may of course be involved, and give help or support, but we must not think that we can determine this sort of process from outside. That would be counterproductive. Just like the demonstrators in Cairo, progressive forces within the Muslim community are active in the Netherlands. If we avoid sidelining them as an inferior or threatening group, cultural and social conflicts can be dealt with and reduced. With thanks to the pink imam.