Rural Residents More Negative Regarding Immigrants - "Wat de boer niet kent!!"

The Dutch have a saying, "Wat de boer niet kent, eet hij niet." Literally it means "What the farmer isn't familiar with, he won't eat." This story appearing in the Dutch wire services today seems to run on these lines.

1 December 2008
http://www.nu.nl/news/1864190/10/Plattelanders_negatiever_over_allochtonen.html

AMSTERDAM – Results of a recent research by the Social-Cultural Planning Department has revealed that rural residents in the Netherlands are far more negative regarding immigrants living in their country than are urban residents.

When asked the question, “Are there too many immigrants in the Netherlands?” a total of 48% of rural residents responded in the affirmative. Only 37% of city dwellers did the same. These countryside residents also felt that immigrants must adapt to Dutch culture much more than did city residents. And finally, they felt that having diverse cultures contributing to Dutch society was not a positive development, in comparison to city residents. They felt that their own cultural traditions were alive and well, in comparison to those living in the city, and desired to keep them that way.

Familiarity Breeds Appreciation?
That there are far fewer immigrants living in the countryside than in the city can on the one hand lead to tensions between different populations. On the other hand, it can also lead towards a certain familiarity between the groups.

Rural residents are less negative regarding the arrival of new immigrant residents. 44% of the polled found, in fact, that the arrival of new groups contributed to a certain vibrancy to country living. Conversely, roughly 50% think that these newcomers will never assimilate into Dutch culture and see this as a threat to the cohesive social structure.

Only The Lonely
This social cohesion and livability is felt to be of a better quality in the country than in the city. There is less loneliness, a stronger feeling of safety in public spaces and more satisfaction with living conditions.

Cultural traditions are measurably stronger in the countryside than in the city. Nearly 85% of countryside dwellers, for example, claim to speak a local dialect.

(c) Novum

Native Americans still fighting ignorance at Plimoth

Native Americans at famed Pilgrim site work to counter misconceptions
Some visitors make hurtful remarks about alcohol or genocide
It's a "delicate procedure" to dispel myths, Native staffer says

By Fran Fifis, CNN
PLIMOTH PLANTATION, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Modern-day pilgrims to Plimoth Plantation have much curiosity about life in the re-creation of an English village from the 1600s and a Native American homesite. But some of the thousands of people who visit daily to get a glimpse of how the first colonials existed and created the Thanksgiving tradition bring with them misconceptions about the Native people.

Paula Peters, of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, said one of the first things she learned when she started working at Plimoth in Massachusetts 30 years ago was: "People will say things that will hurt you."

A parent might reprimand their children by saying, "If you don't behave I am going to leave you with this Indian squaw and she will cook you for dinner," Peters said.
Officials who run the site say they have tried to educate visitors by putting up signs asking them to avoid stereotypes and showing a short film at the beginning of the tour explaining what really happened when the Pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth.
Still, "People take a lot of liberties with Native people," Peters said. Some have even told her: "I thought we killed all of you."

Linda Coombs has heard that too. She has been an educator and interpreter at Plimoth since the 1970s. She says sometimes the ignorance can be fairly benign, such as when a visitor looks at Native food and asks, "You're not going to eat that are you?"
But at other times, the misconceptions can be offensive. An adult chaperone recently asked a Cherokee, Tim Turner, "Where do you get your alcohol?"
Turner told the visitor that his comment was inappropriate and then walked away -- which is what Coombs trains her staff to do.
"We try to help people understand how offensive that statement is, and then replace it with truthful information," Coombs said.

Peters likes to quote another Native American, Ella Sekatau, a Narragansett, who says "ignorance is like a stone wall. If you try to fight it, you will end up with bloody fists. Instead you must take down each stone, gently, one at a time."
So when a child is war-whooping and the parent says "stop acting like a wild Indian," Peters said you have to "carefully dismantle the myth. It's a delicate procedure."

The gentle approach appears to be working. Evelyn Hardin from Shutesbury, Massachusetts, who makes the 100-mile trek to Plimoth every year at Thanksgiving to remind herself and her family where it all started, said her family "has learned to be more sensitive to the Native culture."

Peters agreed that many visitors do seem to get the message. "In a great many cases we do take a stone off the wall and sometimes you even see a light on the other side."
The best progress is made with schoolchildren who have not been tainted by inaccurate history lessons or so many old cowboy and Indian movies, Peters said.
And Plimoth, with its homesite staffed by Native Americans, is a great place for teaching, Peters said.

"We have a unique opportunity here because of our history to teach them about our culture and dispel the myths."

All AboutNative American Issues
Links referenced within this article Native peoplehttp://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Native_American_Issues

Native American Issueshttp://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Native_American_Issues
Find this article at: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/11/28/plimoth.native.americans/index.html?eref=rss_us

Blacks and Iranians Need Not Apply!

Two related stories from today's NRC Handelsblad:

Ghanian woman doesn't "fit" in neighborhood
A Dutch woman of Ghanian origin was denied an apartment in the South-Holland neighborhood of Poeldijk because she was "too dark". When an employee of the apartment co-op Ad Hoc saw the woman, she told the applicant that she was probably unsuitable for an apartment in the area because of her skin color. After discussing the matter with colleagues, the decision was reconsidered, but by that time the applicant had withdrawn her application. The Director of Ad Hoc said that while her organization doesn't discriminate, they do examine the potential renters to make sure they "fit" into the neighborhood.

"Denying Iranians an education is in violation with Article 1 of the Constitution"
Legal scholars in the Netherlands are in unanimous agreement that the recently instituted regulations denying Iranians the right to study certain subjects in the Netherlands is in conflict with the Constitution. Earlier this month the government let it be known that nine subjects at five locations in the Netherlands in the area of nuclear physics were off limits to those of Iranian descent. This edict included those who also held Dutch passports. This regulation was passed in supposed compliance with UN Security Resolution 1737 which restricts the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran. The Netherlands is up until now the only country that has interpreted this resolution so strictly.

Dutch TV Commercial for Knorr Stroganoff

VladislavModelevsky: The dances were Ukrainian and the voice was with a Jewish accent. LOL
Jeroen1983: I know, but to Dutch people every thing east of Berlin is Russian.

What, me worry?

Do you think there might have been one person at the Volkskrant who thought this headline might be offensive?

Some background: the title reads, "Only in China do they not know Klouif." The story is in connection wtih the Dutch football great Johann Cruiff's 60th birthday celebration. By spelling it "Klouif", the editors not only make fun of those who cannot speak the Dutch dipthong "ui" properly (sounds similar to the English "ow"), but especially the Chinese who cannot pronounce the letter "r".

Bi-Cultural?

This photo was on the front page of the NRC Handelsblad last week. The accompanying article conveyed the "curious" fact that the children of this heavily ethnically diverse school in Rotterdam celebrated Sinterklaas* at school but not at home. I find the picture wonderful for its irony: the Muslim Marokkan mother with the miter on her head ("The cross? It's just a symbol. For me it doesn't mean anything else beyond that," Saϊd Arab Hssyen was quoted as saying) dressed as St. Nicholas, and the Surimanese children wearing the trappings of St. Nicholas' servant Black Pete.

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* For those not familiar with the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, it is based on the story of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was born in 270 AD in the city of Patara, near the Mediterranean in Turkey. He was raised Christian and in 300 was named Bishop of Myra. He was beatified and eventually was named a saint because of his generosity with helping the poor. The tradition in Dutch speaking countries is that Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits, modelled after 16th century Spanish clothing. These helpers are called Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes). During the Middle Ages, Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas' eve, the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Pete later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure. This racialization is reflected in the reworking of the characters' mythos. From about 1850, Pete was said to be an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas. Today however, a more politically correct explanation is given: Pete's face is said to be "black from soot" (as Pete has to climb down chimneys to deliver his gifts).