| Published on 07-10-2006 In General |
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Written by
T. S. V. Hari |
Some of my most pleasant memories of Europe are centred in The Netherlands – one of the marvels of medieval science that protected a country below sea level. The Dutch are jolly good people who love their beer (their world famous brand is Heineken which is fabulous to taste if you are drinking in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague or one of their lesser known cities Maastricht) and football.
For the uninitiated – Rotterdam is the one of the world's largest ports that can handle the biggest oil tanker or cruise ship created by man.
Though Amsterdam's Schiphol (a name yet to be learnt by Microsoft's latest XP version – and I hope their Vista will be better) is one of the biggest airports in the world after London's Heathrow and Frankfurt's Flughafen (the German term also means airport) and the neatest. The passport control at Schiphol used to be manned by relatively easygoing officials because the Dutch have great faith in their consular officers abroad and in the proliferation of democratic dialogue regardless of who tries to claim refugee status in that country.
All that has changed now – thanks to the most dreaded export commodity of the globe – terrorism.
In 2004 – Theo van Gogh – an international filmmaker of repute and highly read newspaper columnist – was brutally murdered by a baby faced 27-year old man called Mohammed Bouyeri whose parents had migrated to the Netherlands from Morocco. He holds dual citizenship.
Many may find it surprising but the most popular method of commuting in Amsterdam – the city of dykes, canals, its busy red light district which abuts central railway terminus – is the bicycle for a simple reason – there is no place to park.
Van Gogh was cycling to work when Bouyeri waylaid him, pumped twenty bullets into his body, stabbed the filmmaker more than 30 times and left a chilling five-page note on his chest predicting doom for the free world, several people in the Netherlands and a woman member of the Dutch Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ali is of Somali origin – who is still trying to attract the world's attention to the impoverished African country torn by civil war and terrorism, despite the fact that she had given up her religion – Islam. She makes it her business to tell the world how Islam ill-treats its women – young and old – at least in Somalia.
Somalia?
Many may not even be aware that such a country exists – in what was known once as the dark continent of Africa.
Somalia is also called the Horn of Africa. Its eastern side was the last port of call for the last tsunami. Some 300 people lost their lives then.
It is so impoverished now that at least about 500 people die there daily – not due to bullets – but due to hunger, malnutrition and disease.
If someone on from here does manage travel to Somalia, I can predict one thing for them – it would be easier to find an automatic assault rife (AK 47 and 56 variety) and the bullets they spew there instead of a carafe of water in Mogadishu. Parts of that country is bone dry due to famine. Once upon a time, the country was totally green.
Coming back to van Gogh, (no relation to the famous painter) he tried to reason with his assailant till his last breath. The Dutchman was repeatedly saying – "take it easy...we can talk this out..." till Bouyeri slit his throat.
For those who do not know anything more about Somalia, here is a small checklist. Like the rest of the world, it had British, French and Italian colonial powers ruling the place. It was "liberated" on July 1 1960.
After a number of "dictator-ruled-governments," Somalia slipped into anarchy in 1991. Its history reads like a historian's nightmare with so many secessions, successions, warlords, civil war, and so on. Today there is no government, but for several groups of clans and what is called an Islamic Council Union (ICU).
Somalia is one of the countries the world has forgotten. The former Soviet Union had said that the country was rich in Uranium. There were some unconfirmed reports of several thousand truckloads of Uranium ore being taken away from the mountains to Mogadishu and transported out of there.
Some say it was done by the USA. But nobody can vouch for that.
Instead of working up an ulcer amongst the readers on Somalia, I will take you back to the salubrious climes in The Netherlands where, now there are "no go areas" due to reverse colonisation by the refugee culture sweeping Europe, just as we suffer the Bangladeshis everywhere in India. There are several Islamic enclaves with mosques belting out calls for Friday prayers through loudspeakers. I am not saying that the areas aren't policed but it wouldn't be nice if some innocent tourist becomes a victim of yet another Islamic fanatic or a neo-Nazi.
This state of affairs has spawned outrage amongst the local population in Netherlands who have begun looking at anybody who is Asian or African extraction with suspicion. Last heard there are new vigilante groups of the Dutch version of neo-Nazis.
Of course, all this is very bad – for a country that thrives on commerce and tourism and swears by its democratic institutions including the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The Netherlands boasts of the best facilities to trade anywhere in Europe.
There are any number of "liberation" groups who have managed to get refuge in The Netherlands. One of them – from our own Nagaland has an office there. They call themselves Naga International Support Center (their spelling not mine) and have a website – www.nagalim.nl.
They keep sending hate mail against some of their own compatriots from the North East and generally criticising our central government.
Most of the information for this column was trawled from the internet when a friend suggested that I must read the book entitled "When Europe Slept" by Bruce Bawer. At the time of writing this, I am still trying to get a copy of it in India (it is available for an outrageous price on the net as an e-book).
I read an excerpt and was simply bowled over. I simply can't wait till I read the whole book. For those who do not believe in doomsday predictions – read Bawer. I have it on good authority that he has predicted that in the next three centuries – neo-Islamic colonists will swamp the world – USA included.
Before I tell you what happened to Bouyeri, here is an English translation of what he wrote in blood:
BAPTIZED IN BLOOD
So this is my final word…
Riddled with bullets…
Baptized in blood…
As I had hoped.
I am leaving a message…
For you…the fighter…
The tree of Tawheed is waiting…
Yearning for your blood…
Enter the bargain…
And Allah opens the way…
He gives you the Garden…
Instead of the earthly rubble.
To the enemy I say…
You will surely die…
Wherever in the world you go…
Death is waiting for you…
Chased by the knights of DEATH…
Who paint the streets with Red.
For the hypocrites I have one final word…
Wish DEATH or hold your tongue and …sit.
Dear brothers and sisters, my end is nigh…
But this does not end the story.
Certainly this is not the end of the story for Bouyeri. He was unrepentant throughout his trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment in a maximum security prison and will not be able to come out on parole.
Bouyeri had only contempt for the Dutch laws, its advocates and judges who tried him. He did not defend himself and reportedly said that he was disappointed with the fact that the police did not kill him when he shot at them after killing van Gogh.
By the way, van Gogh made a short film that depicted a woman with verses from the Koran painted on her with a see through dress. It was this act that infuriated Bouyeri who had become an Islamic radical after his father remarried in 2004.
But it was a small aside about Somalia which kept me interested in the whole thing.
Somalia was once the refuge of Osama bin Laden.
Till you get the book, sleep on it.
Cheers! |
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