The Dutch Transformation

“It was a mistake, the (Dutch parliamentary) report said, to allow children to speak Turkish, Arabic and other native languages in primary schools rather than Dutch. And it criticized the policy vacuum that still allows between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of Dutch-born immigrants to import their spouses from ‘home’ countries, mostly Turkey or Morocco. The report concluded that Holland’s immigrants needed to become more Dutch, and spend more time learning the language”


While I, a first generation immigrant, do agree with the notion that learning the host country’s language is a primary duty of a newcomer, I find the criticism against “importing spouses from ‘home’ countries” quite absurd, especially when the Dutch Crown-Prince himself is not immune to importing one from, thank god, Argentina. Obviously, the criticism is against the origin of the import, not the process itself, another example of pragmatic racism of deluded ‘liberals’.

On the other hand, when I learn that some of my fellow Bangladeshi immigrants, primarily ‘barely legal’ female ones, are forced by their parents to marry someone from the ‘home’ country, available either in the local market (i.e., Toronto) or needs to be imported, to ‘save’ them from western ‘shamelessness’, I feel appalled.

My point is neither the state nor the family should be able to exercise any legal or otherwise power to restrict the choice of an individual, host or immigrant.