AMSTERDAM—A slumping economy and the rise in support for far-right/anti-immigrant groups throughout the Netherlands could cause major setbacks for local integration efforts in Amsterdam, a city long characterized by vibrant and multi-ethnic populations, according to a report released today by the At Home in Europe Project of the Open Society Foundations.
“We are concerned that the numerous efforts to integrate Amsterdam’s Muslim population, be it through women’s centres or public awareness campaigns, could be undercut by the ongoing recession,” said Nazia Hussain, director of the Open Society Foundations At Home in Europe Project. “Today’s report recommends more projects that encourage social inclusion and shoring up funding for these efforts.”
Muslims in Amsterdam focuses on the neighbourhood of Slotervaart in the Nieuw-West district of Amsterdam, an area with a thriving multi-ethnic community. It explores the everyday experiences of Slotervaart’s inhabitants and analyzes a number of important policy measures and initiatives taking place. There are approximately 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands, representing 5.8 percent of the total population of the country. Muslims in Amsterdam make up approximately 12 percent of the city’s inhabitants or an estimated 90,000 people. Most are of Moroccan and Turkish descent.
“I am happy that the report shows that the vast majority of the respondents to the Foundations survey want to participate socially and economically. Muslims do not put emphasis on their religion but on good jobs, good education, and good schools,” said Achmed Baâdoud, Mayor of the Nieuw-West district.
Key Findings
- Forty-one percent of Muslim respondents feel that non-Muslims consider them Dutch, while 59 percent believed that others do not see them as Dutch.
- Among Muslims who wear visible religious identifiers, 82 percent felt a “very strong” or “fairly strong” sense of belonging to the Netherlands. For Muslims who do not visibly show their religious allegiance, this figure is 78 percent.
- Elected officials with a Muslim background can be found at the national as well as local level. This includes members of Parliament, senior government ministers, and a number of members of Amsterdam’s municipal council. In Slotervaart, the previous and current council president and a number of council members are Muslims.
- Muslims and non-Muslims trust the courts more than the national government or Parliament, with over 70 percent of Muslims and 55 percent of non-Muslims having “a lot” to a “fair amount” of confidence in the judicial system. The sense of confidence in local government was much higher from both groups when compared to national government.
The Muslims in Amsterdam report involved in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with Muslim residents, local government officials, Muslim leaders, academics, journalists, and activists in the district of Nieuw-West in Amsterdam. This study is part of a series of monitoring reports entitled “Muslims in EU Cities.” The series focuses on 11 cities in the European Union with significant Muslim populations: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Leicester, Marseille, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and the London Borough of Waltham Forest.